All I know about DNS is what can be gleaned from the labels: it seems to have issued a handful of records in or around 1979. The only three that I have seen were four-track EPs of popular songs; typical custom pressing fare, in fact. Numbering was slightly peculiar: for most of the issues the DNS prefix was followed by a number which seems to consist of the month of recording (or of issue) plus the last two digits of the year plus the actual number of the record. Thus the Tini McKenna EP shown above is DNS-47901, while a Tony Fellini EP from later in the year is numbered DNS-117907. An EP by Pete Boddis, however, was numbered DNS-6879; the '79' is presumably still the year but the other numerals need explaining. Pete Boddis was from Wollaston, near Stourbridge, and a press cutting says that he had 1,000 copies of his record cut by 'a local record company', so it would appear that DNS was from that region. DNS-87903, 'Played Out Angel' by Leargo, appeared on the Motor City Rhythm label (q.v.). The DNS releases that I have managed to trace are listed below; the gaps show that there should be a few others out there. The producer of the first EP was Norman Stagles, from whose initials the 'NS' in 'DNS' may have been derived; on the other hand the Pete Boddis EP was mixed by D. Snead, who may have provided the 'N' and the 'S'. Unless either of them reads this, DNS's origins are likely to remain obscure and the question of whether or not there were any DNS releases in or after 1980 is likely to remain unanswered. Norman Stagles worked at the Bird Sound Studios (see 'Tank' and 'Bird Sound') in the second half of the '70s, so it may be that DNS was a project that he undertook after the death of studio owner Monty Bird; but that is only conjecture. Thanks to Robert Bowes for the third scan.
Copyright 2006 Robert Lyons.