Saturday, April 29, 2006

Anaal Nathrakh -on Earache?


Question: have earache recently signed Anaal Nathrakh properly or somthing as you never had a bio for them before just their cds under license From: Unknown.

Answer: Anaal Nathrakh have 2 albums just re-issued by Earache (for the world outside EU) with many extra bonus tracks taken from their Peel sessions, issued under licence from original label, Mordgrimm.The band currently remain actually signed to Seasons Of Mist.We are proud to be associated with this most extreme of extreme bands and so naturally plonked their bio and info page on the site.
I say naturally, because the members of AN are also in Mistress, who are actually signed up to Earache proper, so it seemed obvious that we get involved in their AN project to some extent. Mick and Dave do- quite rightly -keep the 2 bands seperate, as they are 2 completely different animals, and sound totally different, with a different line up and band ethos.

Friday, April 28, 2006

Eternal Damnation calling!!

Question: Hey whats up guys? My name is Rico and im a drummer for a Melodic Death Metal band from Laredo Texas called \"Eternal Damnation\". We get alot of our influence from a couple of bands in your lable such as: At The Gates, Decapitated, Deicide, and Carcass. As for bands not in your lable it would be: The Black Dahlia Murder, Vehemence, Graveworm, The Absence, Vital Remains, and Opeth. Im also guitarist for another Melodic Death Metal band called \"Constantine\", we also have simmilar influnces from these bands but a much more different sound. The question I wanted to know was what are you looking for in a band to make it into your lable? We hope to someday be signed with you guys and soon begin playing under your lable. Write back soon. From: stitches_rico@hotmail.com

Answer: Great stuff Rico . Sounds like your band could be killer judging from your impeccable taste in metal...but having good influences is only half the story.We are looking to sign original, talented, creative, driven, hard working, networked, fan friendly bands at all times- esp ones who will lead a new wave of metal into the future..its easier said than done believe me.For every signed band there's 50+ who don't make it- the hard work involved soon weeds out the bullshitters/wannabees / pussies and quitters. ..My advice to any band to 100% guarantee being signed is: achieve 100,000+ profile views on your myspace page- then watch the label offers roll in.It might take a few years and a few demos,,but i swear, this is a foolproof way to get signed..because you will have shown your ability to build a fanbase,making the labels job easier.Good luck.

Earache staffers at Nottm gigs


Question: i wonder if you can answer this one as its more to do with my own personal curiosity did earache attempt to sign any of the following bands sikth, eden maine, johnny truant, taint (uk) and black eye riot the reason why i am asking is because ive seen people who i know are earache staffers hanging out at their shows in nottingham From: Unknown.

Answer: yeah- well spotted mate .Earache staffers live and breathe music- so we turn up everywhere where quality music is played in Nottingham.Its our home town, and the HQ of the label, so after a hard days work in the office, we more or less live in the pubs and clubs checking new bands. (If you are in New York you'll see our USA staffers at every show there too).If you spot any of us in the old angel or rock city or junktion 7 (ok even the bloody rescue rooms/social sometimes too)-buy us a drink- we don't bite! But yeah we have seen all those bands you mention at their Nottm shows-sometimes at their debut Nottm gig-but it doesnt mean we are actively trying to sign them, more like merely checking em out cos like everyone else we have opinions on most bands- some we like, some we think are shite....I can state that none of the above bands have had an official approach to sign to Earache, but we considered them all - Sikth are an office fave-but not enough to make offers.An interesting fact is that Dorian from Black Eye Riot used to do work experience at the Earache office.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Earache acapella/instrumental releases?


Question: Hey there Earache, I just wondered if the label\'s ever thought about releasing tracks in fragmented formats (EG: Acapellas, Instrumentals, Solo Instrument Backing Tracks) so fans and other artists could have a go at remixing them? I\'m sure there are plenty of budding musicians who would benifit from layering their own guitars/bass/drums/vocals over an existing track for practice, as well as producers and DJs who could remix tracks into their own unique sound. From: gabber_foxx@yahoo.co.uk

Answer: Earache's never really thought about actually releasing stuff broken up into individual instruments like that, even tho I am a big fan of so-called mash-ups etc. but check this out!!--some enterprising guy has already taken earache music to new mash up extremes! read about it here
Hear some crazy earache mash ups here

Bands we release tend to be mostly live, gigging, metal bands, many of whom dont embrace any kinda remix culture themselves.A few years back we did have an amazing offer from a japanese company to release karaoke versions of some Earache tracks - i thought it would be jolly good fun to hear drunken japanese salarymen trying to shout "auuuuugh" in time to Brutal Truth or Napalm Death in downtown Tokyo karaoke bars, but after we stopped laughing at the prospect, we declined the offer.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Morbid Angel Best of= BOOTLEG!


Question: hailz!
after reading one of the following \"ask earache\" segments about entombeds wolverine blues album and why both you and morbid angel parted ways it dawned on me when that a little while ago i saw ane last MA title in your catalog,ignonamos i beleive it was called from recollection,and it was a 2 disc best of in the vein of napalm deaths \'noise for musics sake\',since then ive noticed its been removed,i was just wondering if theres still plans to release this album and/or mosh299 which is just classified as a morbid angel dvd??
(p.s,also i was wondering why the release of carcass\'s choice cut was delayed by 8 years?(due in september \'96 under the name of \"dead,and buried\" i beleive)
anyway,cheers for all especially the almost 20 years of great releases,keep it comin\'!
From: thatweirdlookingguy@hotmail.com

Answer: Fuck- well spotted matey- it annoys the hell out of us and the band- that Morbid Angel fake "i" album is a complete fabrication and has been presumably compiled and released by some enterprising and soon-to-have-their-ass-sued bastard bootlegers. Avoid like the plague..The band and Earache have nothing to do with it.. they even have the audacity to include an Earache logo and give it a mosh number. The bands manager even suspected us of releasing it,cos it looked so convincing, plus, it was very embarrasing, as we were discussing that very same topic with the bands manager at the time but we had firmed up no actual concrete plans.The body of work Morbid have amassed on Earache is vast and we all agree it is begging for a 'best of 2 x CD' compilation at some stage, when band and label are good and ready, but that album IS NOT IT!

The title of the next "i" album by Morbid Angel is a closely guarded secret known only to Trey and presumably, the band.A stand alone Morbid Angel DVD was planned but the band felt it more appropriate to release 1989 era footage with the album it was recorded with, as for ease of royalty accounting purposes, they like to keep the Vincent era separate from the Tucker era - and totally separate from the Browning era-..hence the Dual Disc(CD+DVD on one disc)of Altars of Madness.


As for Carcass- yes, Earache was working on a simple 1x CD 'best of Carcass' comp in 1998 or so- without the bands involvement, as they had been split up for ages, and the ex-members seemingly had no interest in promoting Carcass any longer..our working title was "Dead and Buried" which made it onto some websites including our own..I think Jeff Walker kindly offered the alternative title 'Choice Cuts', which is much better anyway...so it was due to come out like that and some early "Choice Cuts" promo cds ( we estimate 50 max) were mailed to press...then totally unexpectedly in Feb 1999 drummer Ken Owen suffered a brain hemorrhage while at home, which put him into a coma for 6 months and left him severly disabled. All plans for that album were shelved indefinatley out of respect for Ken's critical health situation, which was the correct thing to do we felt.

5 years later Ken's health had improved somewhat- tho still disabled, he walked into our office, albeit with the aid of a walking stick- to discuss the final release of the long-delayed "Choice Cuts " album.The album was released on May 17 2004 with an extra track which Ken particularly liked. A exclusive interview with Carcass discussing these events can be read here.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Decapitated- 10/10 review!

Question: Hi there!

Just wanted to let you know, the review for your album on "The Metal Observer" is now online!

Decapitated - Organic Hallucinosis:
http://www.metal-observer.com/articles.php?lid=1&sid=1&id=9787

from : Val

Answer: THATS GREAT THANKS!!

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Entombed-W. Blues & Morbid -Earache split


Question: Hi, I bought a copy of Wolverine Blues by Entombed way back when it first came out. During a period of acute poverty in my early twenties I was forced to sell it (along with a bunch of other stuff). After more than a decade I have just got round to buying myself a replacement copy and I am pretty sure there were a couple of samples in the original version of the album that appear to have been edited out in this version. One was right at start and another \'wake up you little shit...\' from the movie Flatliners I think cropped in in Rotten Soil.
I am going senile or is this some kind of sample clearance issue?
Thanks and keep up the good work.
p.s. Any chance of telling me why you parted ways with Morbid Angel??!! From: Stuart.Bell@scotland.gsi.gov.uk


Answer: You have a good memory Stuart- so no sign of senility yet! The original Wolverine Blues recording as delivered to us by the band at the time in 1993 did have a healthy sprinkling of movie samples (usually speech), and I think the promo Cd did contain the unedited album (itself a collectors item as it also contans a still unreleased bonus track),as maybe even did the first pressing of Wolverine Blues to retail stores in UK.It sort of dawned on us- probably prompted by the fact that a major record co- Columbia -was to release Wolverine Blues in USA, that the use of such samples is pretty much illegal, without the express permission of the holders in the copyright in the recordings sampled.The band were oblivious to such legalities and were quite upset when we made them remove the offending samples from the album, though we probably extended their career by such intervention.
We did try to legally 'clear' the samples but using speech from major motion pictures is so hard to get permission for- it entails the agreement of the actor/ producer/director/film studio/ distributor its kinda ridiculous to even try.One notable exception was some of the speech/effects from the film Hellraiser- where we did secure clearance, as it was an independent film at the time, and quite simple to get an oK from.

As for Morbid Angel- well I signed them in 1989 and everything they have ever recorded in their career is released on Earache, our discography encompasses the landmark early classics the A-B-C-D albums, but by the later era ones E-F-G-H sales had kinda become disappointing, also some big dramas were happening within the camp, the later era vocalist Steve Tucker had recently quit, the band was deemed in disarray somewhat, and so in 2005 we decided to decline to pick up the next - "I" - album and thus parted ways with the band, on fairly friendly terms I must add.In a super ironic twist, original vocalist David Vincent was announced as rejoining the fold on the same day we ended our deal with Morbid Angel -it didnt make us change our mind, even tho it was best thing the band could have done.

I doubt many acts can boast 16 years on one label (they signed and re-signed 3 contracts during that time), but dealing with any band on a daily basis for like 16 years is a trying experience I can tell ya- all the daily dramas and subtle tensions can add up over time, and similarly the band had pretty much grown tired of Earache a little bit also I expect, cos some other, newer labels were having the massive success Earache and Morbid had enjoyed in the early 90's and the big sales numbers were taking place in other less extreme metal genres..anyways, things move on and some times both sides know its time for a fresh approach.Thats more or less the actual reason we parted, sorry theres nothing more juicy to report....

We at Earache note they have yet to sign a new record deal, but we will watch their future career closely and wish them the very best of success.Earache is still proud to boast we are to date the only label to ever release anything by Morbid Angel (Giant records in USA aside).

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

At The Gates- Dual Disk?


Question: What is up with the At The Gates Dual disk release? when is it released, what is on it?
from :Terry

Answer: Its taking shape now, for release in about June, we have 6 hours of interview footage to edit to about a 30-40 minute documentary about the album, which will form the DVD side of the re-issue of this legendary CD- there are some amazing anecdotes and stories being told on this DVD-- ATG fans will love it!

Mortiis- not on Earache any more?

Question: Hi - I interviewed Mortiis last Friday in Bergen, Norway for a student newspaper. He told me that they have cut out Earache. Is this correct? If so, could you comment this? From: ktgulden@hotmail.com

Answer: yes, its true- Mortiis signed with Earache in 1999 to a 3-album deal,we released The Stargate 1999,The Smell Of Rain 2001, and 2004's the Grudge which marked the finishing of his commitment to Earache, and also the end of Earache's commitment to Mortiis.When we signed him he was making solo Dark Dungeon music and when he left us he was almost a Top 40 Act in UK.Right now, Mortiis remains a free agent and unsigned to any label.Tho we have co-operated together on the re-issue of the 3 Era-1 albums on CD with original artwork/expanded liner notes/slipcases etc- due out 24 april.

Naturally, Earache is in talks with Mortiis about signing a record new deal, as we love to sign creative and driven artists, we actually like what he does musically, and can see a splendidly successful long-term career developing for Mortiis- regardless of whatever label he signs to next..so, watch this space- he might be back!

Indie Store list to get COL 7inch from?

Question: Hi there. Having a bit of trouble with the Earache web site. I\'m trying to find out which stores near Birmignham will be stocking the free 7\" with the new Cult of Luna album on the 24th of this month, but the map doesn\'t give any info about the stores, just vague locations indicated by icons on the map which simply reload the page when clicked. From: robin@dps-int.com

Answer: yeah - i prodded the webmaster from his slumber and asked him what was up with the flashing red dots on the map..the name/town of each store was meant to show up if you hold your mouse over the red dot for a coupla seconds..it wasnt working tho.. now we have replaced the interactive map with a simple list... look at it NOW