to the label when both Normington and Jennings agreed they would buy their records themselves. Phantom inspired other labels such as Waterfront Records and Citadel Records catering to the emerging local scene. The label's momentum slowed in the mid 1980s. During this period, Jennings began to focus on his 100% Mambo clothing company and gradually reduced his role with Phantom, and Normington was focused on the range of records and magazines available in the store. In 1987, Normington renewed his interest in the label, with releases by The Hummingbirds, The Sparklers, The Deadly Hume, The Mark of Cain, Even As We Speak and Vanilla Chainsaws. In the late 1980s, Normington formed a small new label called Messiah Complex devoted to "crushing and fierce garage-punk and grunge 45's only", which released records by Big Chief, Superchunk, Mudrac, Sugar Shack, and Sydney punk band Downtime. After several years, with Jennings leaving the company altogether, Sebastian Chase, formerly of rooArt Records, became a partner in Phantom Records. In 1991, Chase had left rooArt after a split with partner Chris Murphy and approached Phantom. Normington and Chase signed bands including Def FX and The Whitlams, and formed a subsidiary label called Freakzone, which released the first several releases by funk band SWOOP. Eventually, Phantom was divided into three companies: the shop, the record labels, and a music collectibles arm. Normington increasingly focused on Phantom Collectibles. Every three or four months, he published auction catalogues under the title: "Plunder The Vaults". Finally, the label declined in activity due to business differences between Chase and Normington, and the shop closed in April 1998. In 1999, Normington formed Laughing Outlaw Records with writer Stuart Coupe as a partner. Normington left Phantom in 2000 to run a music collectables business, cutting his ties with Laughing Outlaw two years later. Artists First phase (Jennings and Normington) The Passengers Surfside 6 Flaming Hands Sunnyboys Stiv Bators and The Dead Boys The Visitors Shy Impostors Le Hoodoo Gurus Machinations The Dagoes The Cockroaches The Kelpies Sardine v The Rockmelons The Sparklers Second phase (Normington only) Shrinking Violets The Hummingbirds Even As We Speak Vanilla Chainsaws The Mark of Cain One Million Pieces Crow Strange Alchemy The Godbotherers Whole World Fear Of Falling Third phase (Normington and Chase) Def FX Nitocris The Violets The Whitlams Downtime Parkside Killers Purple Avengers See also List of record labels References External links AMO Label Profile