Fon Records

FON Records was an influential Sheffield record label, shop and studio that played a key role in the city’s 1980s music scene and helped lead to the creation of Warp Records.

Founded around 1985 by Sheffield industrial-funk band Chakk and manager Amrik Rai, FON (often said to stand for “Fear of Nazis” or “Fuck Off Nazis”, referencing old Sheffield anti-fascist graffiti) operated as FON Records, studios and a record shop on Division Street, Sheffield. FON became a creative centre for Sheffield music during the mid-1980s. The studio and label grew out of Chakk, whose members built FON Studios using money from their major-label deal. The studio attracted local and national artists and developed a reputation for innovative electronic and dance production.

By the late 1980s, FON was importing and selling Chicago house and Detroit techno records through its shop. Staff members Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell, working alongside producer Robert Gordon, turned the back-room studio into a launch pad for electronic music projects. This collaboration evolved into Warp Records in 1989. Early FON-associated artists and projects included:

Chakk, Cabaret Voltaire (studio connections/production links), The Human League (production links through Robert Gordon/FON studios), Krush – “House Arrest” (produced by Mark Brydon/FON connections), Yazz, David Bowie recorded at FON Studios (Music Is My Sanctuary), Forgemasters, FON Force production team and early Sheffield electronic and house acts that fed into the Warp scene. Although FON itself was relatively short-lived as a standalone label, its legacy is enormous. It provided the infrastructure and culture that directly shaped Sheffield’s late-80s electronic explosion and laid the foundations for Warp Records, one of Britain’s most influential independent labels.