Nuclear Gopher was a website, a record label, a recording studio, and a family hobby for four siblings from Minnesota and their friends. Over the course of 15 years, the Nuclear Gopher record label released tapes, CDs, downloads, and videos featuring the creative works of Rhett, Ryan, Reed, and Robbie Sutter as well as Cindy Ivy, Tim Galdunick, Sy Park, Lon Helland, Chad Astleford, Eric Elevendahl, and many others.

The seed of Nuclear Gopher was planted in 1980 when Rhett and Ryan formed their first band, The Rockboys, with neighbor John Geibel. Playing home-made instruments, The Rockboys designated a room in the basement of the family home as “the band room” and it stayed that way for the next 23 years. The boys grew up, real instruments were acquired, recording equipment was purchased, and nine years later Nuclear Gopher was christened, but that was the start.

The first six years were just goofing around where Ryan and Reed were concerned. Being a rock band was just a fun thing to play at. The Rockboys gave way to Electronic Reflex, Subra, and ROW but through it all Rhett was actually taking it seriously, learning to play, learning to write, learning to record.

In 1986, he an Ryan decided to stop playing with Reed and take it seriously as a duo, forming The Lavone. Three years later, upon acquiring their first four-track recorder, they named their “band room” the Nuclear Gopher Original Electric Recording Studio. They started distributing their album releases on cassette under the label Nuclear Gopher Cheese Factory that same year.

In 1994, Nuclear Gopher went online with a web page offering a streaming copy of The Lavone’s album Some Enchanted Evening. It was one of the first albums ever made available for online streaming over the Internet and was written up in a magazine article. In 1996 NG moved to a new website at nucleargopher.com and launched the Nuclear Gopher Network, a cross-promotional web service for independent musicians. At the same time, NG was selling cassette copies of their releases online.

Between 1996 and 2003, NG became a thriving online music community and multiple recording artists joined the fold, including some acts that had no Sutter siblings involved. Kloey and SP3! brought a lot of new attention to the label as well. The Lavone, who had last released an album in 1993, released two new albums, expanded it’s lineup and played shows again.

In late 2003 NG was planning a music festival to feature a number of artists but it was not to be. Ryan left the label in 2004 due to personal reasons, Rhett died in 2005, and Reed brought the remaining NG artists, including little sister Roberta and her band Akai, on to a new website and label. The 15 year run was over. It wasn’t long before the NG Studio was reclaimed as an exercise room in the basement of the Sutter home and that was that.

Nuclear Gopher was one of those things you kinda had to be there for, and for the ones who were, it still has a warm place in their hearts.