New Hormones was a Manchester independent record label founded by Richard Boon and Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley.
[3] After this, the band planned to release another EP, titled Love Bites (eventually the name was used as the title to their second album), through the label however when drummer John Maher decided that after graduating he was not going to get a day job and instead play in Buzzcocks for a living they decided to sign to a major label, United Artists.
Unfortunately, New Hormones could not escape the shadow cast on them and other Manchester independents by Factory Records, "Factory was the hip Manchester label in everyone’s mind so we were always fighting that a bit especially with press, which was so important then," said Pete Wright, who managed Dislocation Dance and later helped run New Hormones, since Spiral Scratch music had changed, many Manchester bands had gone from three-chord punk, to a more experimental Post-punk sound, Factory already had a roster including Joy Division, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.
[7] New Hormones did however manage to sign a few bands including Ludus, The Tiller Boys, Eric Random, and God's Gift, amongst others.
", after signing Buzzcocks to UA and lacking the means to release music by other hits, New Hormones could not find a similar success.
Money was scarce, Ludus' Danger Came Smiling failed to break even, and New Hormones teetered on bankruptcy constantly, and while it did have future plans, it ceased operation in late 1982, and in summer 1983 Boon went to work for Rough Trade, while distribution manager Peter Wright went on to Neutral Records in New York.
Boon realized that New Hormones would not have the money to release something of that magnitude and told him to talk to Rough Trade, which led to the band signing to that label.
New Hormones also set up tours for bands on the label, one, titled I Like Shopping, featured Ludus, Dislocation Dance, The Diagram Brothers, Eric Random and the Mudhutters.
The term Org originated with Org1 (the release ID for Spiral Scratch) or orgone, a reference to Wilhelm Reich's theory on a universal life force.
[13] In 1981, New Hormones released a series of limited edition cassettes (500 each), each came with a booklet, badge, stickers and a sweatshirt offer.