Third Mind originated from the group and fanzine
Tone Death that Levermore had founded in the middle of 1982 together with two friends. During that time Levermore started contacting bands he had discovered through diverse media and on concerts which would finally be featured in
Tone Death. While writing the editorial for the second issue of the fanzine, to be released around February 1983, Levermore "began considering the possibility of releasing a cassette containing contributions by some of the groups that had been featured in the two issues to date." The
Rising From The Red Sand series was met with stronger demands than Levermore had anticipated.
Third Mind started off with
Rough Trade as distributor which changed between 1987 and 1988 when the label switched to
Play It Again Sam. In 1991,
Roadrunner had already bought a 50 per cent stake of
Third Mind which gave Levermore a greater financial leeway since
Roadrunner paid Levermore "a salary for three years to continue running the label while they financed new releases." The second release was born out of collaboration between Levermore and Johnson as
flexi disc for
Grim Humour. Johnson had already thought about starting a label by himself and "when Gary told me he wouldn’t be operating FD after this second release, it just made sense for me to continue with the name." ==Artists==