Slipknot on Earache?

Question: It says in the Slipknot \"welcome to our neighbourhood\" biography that earache along with metal blade was two of the labels involved in the bidding war for the band, is this true? From:


Answer: Nah,Slipknot passed Earache by completely.We never heard about Slipknot until their 1999 debut on Roadrunner, so how could we be bidding for them?Tho after the event I think we realised we had at some stage gotten hold of their Mate.Kill.Repeat demo. Obviously, it didnt make any impression on us- cos we are dumb like that!In fact the whole Nu-Metal explosion passed us by.Hard to beleive- but Earache had released another bunch of masked maniacs called The Berzerker before Slipknot's debut hit the racks.The Berzerker were so so extreme, they were actually off the scale.
Hats off once again to Monte at Roadrunner,who saw Slipknot were the kings-in-waiting of extreme music and snapped them up.1 Million sales of the Slipknot debut was a hella impressive achievement, unsurpassed in extreme music, either before or since.
Actually years later Jim Welch told me (who was then A&R at Columbia- or was it Atlantic Records?)he was massively into bidding for Slipknot. Jim was of course formerly the USA label manager of Earache records in America , during the early-mid 90's. So that might be where the -mistaken- Earache connection comes in.

Scum 20th anniversary edition- coming soon!

Question: since next year will mark the 20th anniversary of Napalm Death\'s Scum album, will Earache be considering re-issuing this album? I read somewhere that there was some expressed interest in this. it definitely needs it, especially a digitally remastered sound would be a great improvement. From: selfinduced@rcn.com

Answer: yes we are finally preparing to re-issue this classic piece of hate.Will include a full remaster job and an exclusive bonus DVD with interviews with Nik, Mick and Justin -yet to be filmed- getting their thoughts on the 20th anniversary of the recording of "scum". Should be a good way to re-introduce a new generation to the legendary album that kick-started extreme music and coined the grindcore genre.look for it early 2007.

Earache Extreme Metal Racing - OUT 27th Oct on PS2

Question: when is earacher extreme metal racing due for release in the uk? From: ruf_200@hotmail.co.uk

Answer: its finally finally, definately OUT IN UK STORES Friday 27th October.Collectors of our catalog will note its MOSH 333.If you pre-order from the chain of UK videogame stores called "GAME", the PS2 game comes with free bonus CD and DVD (Chop Your Own head off sampler), packed with extra Earache material.

We will soon announce a massive day of FREE showcase gigs, and FREE launch parties at various locations across London, UK on that day & long into the night, for game journalists, metal journalists,liggers,gamers, boozers and metal fans alike to attend and celebrate with us the worlds first exclusively Extreme metal/Death metal/grindcore-themed PlayStation 2 game.Welcome to our world...

Internships @ Earache?

Question: I saw your posting about Earache internships and I\'m really interested in trying out for one. The only question I have is what experienced is needed for the internships there?

I know I have a big knowledge on extreme music and music is my passion. I used to promote bands for a club, about to join my radio at my college and am willing to learn anything new.

I\'m just wondering what skills are really needed or if there are any required things to have before applying. Thanks. From: Davidaloca@gmail.com

Answer: The Indie music scene would collapse without the help of Interns, or unpaid work experience as we call it in UK.Earache, like most labels, could always use the extra help, plus its hands down the best and most fool-proof way to get a job in the industry.Currently the UK assistant label manager and USA Sales manager both started off here as interns, doing long stints as unpaid helpers- eventually becoming full time paid employees, because they were outstanding in the workplace.You don't need any particular skill set-a knowledge of, and a passion for the music we do, err THAT is a given, as is Internet/Pc/Mac/ (+Hoover/Xerox ha ha !!) related experience, as more and more record label activities take place online.Being hard working, punctual,a team player,personable- that is the main thing we look for.Working at a label at Intern level is often unglamorous- mostly shifting boxes of CDs or T-shirts, or doing the postroom stuff, but if you show a willingness to do even menial jobs brilliantly, with a passion and in an organised fashion- then other more creative aspects of the industry can follow.The pay off is in being involved in breaking new acts and knowing your efforts are helping build Earache's ever growing reputation for putting Extreme music on the map,by actually becoming part of its folklore.
Budding entrepreneurs need not apply however, we are not a training ground for your own HC label.

Rabies Caste?

Question: Hey Earache. I wanted to know what happened with Rabies Caste and why there is no news from them? For me this is a true and totally heavy and innovative band, I wonder what are they doing nowdays. From: natasha_svetlova@mail.ru

Answer: Yeah i signed Rabies Caste after hearing the demo of whats was to become their "Let The Soul Out And Cut The Vein' album- it sounded totally fresh with great production- it was finally something new in heavy music! Earache released this one album by the Russian-Israeli 3-peice Sludgecore mob, but even tho it showcased the band's heaviness and originality, it failed to sell in significant numbers. Being based in Israel meant the band did not tour too often.
After the Earache split, the band took a couple of years to regroup, and have made a 7inch split with Sourvein and last month a new full length cd arrived.You can buy it for $8 here

Napalm Death 'scum" vinyl editions- full story.

Question: OK, once again a question. Please which cover colors and vinyl color were released from the MAIN GRINDCORE LP \"SCUM\" from Napalm Death? I saw that you posted another question from a ND fan ( nazi punks..)and the picture with ALL releases would help me to see what I have to collecT Because I WANT IT ALL!!! Btw I HAVE ALL ND releases from the nazi Punks 7\". I would built the biggest ND Vinyl collection anybody has seen. SO PLEASE ANSWER ASAP. thanks markus From: markus.strehlau@arcor.de

Answer: hi Markus- theres not THAT many versions of this grindcore classic on vinyl.Most are 12 inch black vinyl - but with different sleeve colors-pictured and listed HERE
The first edition original pressing is pictured above in front- lime green 2000 copies, with front sticker black writing on white sticker.Next pressing blue sleeve, next orange, next yellow..all black vinyl,with no bar code!We also later made a splatter vinyl edition (mostly white vinyl actually, with gold sleeve, 2000 copies. And that was it- 1987-1990.
Vinyl remained out of print from earache until 2002, where we made 700 red vinyl, 300 green vinyl in USA and 1000 reprinted on 220gm black vinyl, all with a more yellowy sleeve color(pictured above behind), plus bar code.No picture disc has ever been made, or any weird LP sizes.

good luck collecting them all!

Between The Buried & Me- Earache?

Question: It was said in an interview with between the burried and me that earache was one of the first labels to take interest in them, however the reason why they didnt sign to you is because negotiations with victory were so far underway at that point, is this true? also did earache consider signing their death metal/ grindcore side project glass casket at all? From:

Answer: yeah we were really into BTBAM, and tried to sign the band.They ended up at Victory.I guess their offer blew ours away, as they are riding high on the success of emo-core etc and so Victory can really afford to splash BIG $$$.We still love the band and are watching how they do.As for Glass casket- we never heard it actually, and so didnt consider it.

A Broken Machine.

Question: hello, i am a vocalist in a band from st.pete FL usa called a broken machine and my question is how does one go about becomming a signed band. every one has there theories but we are still just local bands so figured i would go strait to the sorce. you can check out my band at www.myspace.com/abrokenmachine tell me what you think of the music if you think its cool or shit just your own personal thoughts thank you
thank you for your time.
phil a broken machine From: engelcorpsexxx@aol.com

Answer: Sure phil- I've signed a ton of bands from Florida- in the 80's-90's admittedly, so its cool to check out a new one from St Pete-A Broken Machine. You were right to send me the link to your myspace page- its the hands down BEST online way to cultivate a fanbase and so, get a career going.I see you have 9000 profile views, thats about typical for up n coming bands like yourselves..however, labels like us get really excited to see 100,000+ profile views, so you have 91,000 more to go.

The production is decent- so well done on that..As for the music- i didnt like the begining to Wishlist and Murder Hymns was just an instrumental (i see what you mean by the progressive tag now) but labels like us make judgements in literally the first 10 seconds of a song about how competant the band is, in terms of the tightness of the players- i'd give ya 6 outta 10 on that score- 'Running Out OF time', is in parts not out of time exactly, but doesnt groove in time to my ears...the drummer and bass/guitars need to lock in more tightly to catch and create that power that is the essence of metallic playing.Simple solution is-Rehearse more, together in the same room.

Of all the songs- the opening part of Prosthetic was my fave- it was an ear-catching riff- you need snappy, catchy riffs right away to get the ears of fans and A&r's alike.Its your best song imho.

I thought with mentioning Killswitch as an influence,that maybe there would be some melodic vocals, but none materialised so i was kinda bummed on that one-maybe try some melodic chorus passages?

One last tip- never pose for band pictures as individuals.You are a proper band right? so act like one- always pose for pics together, as a gang, a band, never alone.

well- hope that gives ya some pointers for the future..

Jesse Pintado RIP

Question: I tried to get the free mp3 downloadable Jesse album from the site but it did not work?
From: steeobtq@yahoo.com

Answer: Sorry the server crashed the minute we announced the FREE downloadable album in memory of Jesse Pintado, i guess so many folks tried to get the album at the same time, it broke.2 days later we haven't fixed it..so i suggest you try ina few days time.

Regarding Jesse's passing, it was a total shock to myself and everyone it seems that he died so young..we hear it was liver failure, and his family were at his hospital bedside as he died in Holland last week.Jesse recorded for Earache both as Napalm Death and on the seminal, groundbreaking debut Terrorizer album (pictured above recording the album in 1989, and below with his band mates), during the late 80's-90's, but it must be over 10 years since I had a proper sit down chat with him,which I regret.Usually it was a quick "hi, how ya doing man?" grabbed between soundcheck and showtime.I can't claim to have been close,cos typically,everyone was so busy doing their thing to make time.

I'll fondly remember Jesse as a gentle soul-his stock reply was "I'm chillin' dude" or "just kicking back, man"in a friendly laid-back Californian way that always put everyone at ease, no matter what the situation.Musically he is responsible for being involved in the birth of grindcore with Terrorizer, thats a fact, and probably his genius work, his lasting legacy.
I sincerly hope he finally found the peace he sought.
Adios.

RIP Jesse Pintado.

Earache PlayStation 2 game- instores Fri Oct 27!

Question: I read that the Earache Extreme Metal Racing Game was delayed. When is it released? From: Gamerjames63@hotmail.com

Answer: yes its had a slight delay BUT its officially released in the UK on October 27th, just in time for Halloween!If you buy it on pre-order from the GAME chain of videogame stores in the UK you will get a FREE extra Earache CD+DVD. good luck and happy racing!

Earache/John Zorn connection.Police raid.

Question: Is the story about john zorn personally being the reason why earache got raded by HM Customs true? According to Alex Newport\'s website they found some offensive images in his suitcase and followed up where he was delivering them to. From:


Answer:Yeah this was another wacky episode in Earache's illustrious past, it's not been an easy ride promoting the worlds most extreme music by the most extreme artists, and the crazy thing was, John Zorn was not actually signed to Earache,he was ( and still is) a world-recognised Jazz saxophonist and a music nut, specialising in exploring obscure music genres.After showing up at several Napalm Death shows in Japan, he kinda drifted into the grindcore thang Earache had going on, contributing the phenomenally groundbreaking album, Naked City's 'Torture Garden'(1991) performed with an ensemble of avant-garde musicians who played mash-up grindcore but with an unsurpassed before-or-since level of technical skill.Plus 2 releases called Painkiller in collaboration with Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris. A year or two later,he was gone from Earache's radar, presumably exploring fresher musical avenues, but the waves he caused with his short-lived output were long lasting.



Zorn firmly beleived that extreme music deserved accompanying extreme album art, tho most of the other Earache acts aside from Carcass never saw Grind as much of a visual artform.Thats why Naked City has stills from Japanese bondage films as the sleeve.For Painkillers debut "Guts Of A Virgin" Zorn sent us by Fed Ex from New York the album cover image-an autopsy photo of a young woman with abdomen sliced open showing an unborn baby. Grotesque imagery to be sure.However, we never received it- as it turns out the UK HM Customs had opened the package and seized it,deeming it offensive material, and informing the UK police of Earache's intention to import it.The police duly raided our Nottingham offices at 10 am one morning (I wasnt there at the time)to seek and take away more 'offensive' material (they took exception to Carcass and Filthy Christians and Cadaver album sleeves, plus a Fudge Tunnel art layout for the debut FT album). I was served with an arrest warrant under the Obscene Publications Act.It was heavy stuff.I encouraged our bands to be repulsive with their artwork but I had no idea it was actually borderline illegal to do so.

After about 6 months of waiting to be prosecuted,the charges were dropped, much to my great relief.

Mogwai on Earache?

Question: Has earache ever considered signing mogwai or are they just fans of the label, in interviews when they are asked to name a playlist for a radio station they normally choose stuff ( such as on a recent bbc radio one regions broadcast for wales) like sleep, godflesh and napalm death as well as the more expected stuff like joy division and the cure. So did earache consider them or is it the john peel conection again From:

Answer:Nah- Mogwai never pressed the right buttons round here.I personally never got into them, tho if they are playing our bands on the BBC 1 Radio, then ,well, you can't fault their impeccable taste in noize can ya?they are good lads, tho they forgot about the best of the lot, and due a massive revival soon- Naked City.
Don't get me wrong tho-myself, the A&R bods,and even speaking for the Earache staffers in general,we're far from cliched dyed-in-the-wool blinkered metalheads, we're open minded about a ton of different music- so long as it caves yer head in, we like it.

Earache's bands all come from the street- Earache itself came from it (as opposed to say, a studenty/art school type background) and remains welded to it...so bands like Mogwai, or any such heavy bands with a strong artsy streak just don't register on our radar, i'm afraid.

Melt Banana on earache?

Question: im a collector of japanease extreme music bands such as sigh and melt banana and so on, i was wondering if earache had any interest in any of the bands from the region at all? being as import cds are so expensive and it would help that truely unique scene to grow From:

Answer: I have pretty old school tastes regarding extreme japanese bands- one of my first flexi-discs, pre-Earache, contained 2 crossover punk/metal acts from japan- namely, Lipcream and Execute, but thats about the only time we have released any japanese band.we should have done SOB in the early 90's but it didnt pan out.The truth is the latest wave of bands like Sigh and Melt Banana are not too interesting to us.Dunno why-- i think they are a little to artsy/weird/chaotic/random for our tastes actually.japanese bands like SOB,324,merzbow, Masonna, Gauze are my preferred listening.

Carcass on Red Dwarf/Earache on the BBC

Question: I got a few questions relating to earache\'s relationship with the BBC and mainstream Media in general.
How on earth did carcass end up playing as craig charle\'s backing band in the red dwarf episode \"timeslides\" i belive its called?
Also who was the first earache band to do a peel session i belive its Extreme Noise Terror am i correct? Also relating to ENT how did their brit awards collaberation a few years back come about? From:

Answer:Yeah - you are damn right! Looking back its fairly unreal that what was a self-run, dirt-poor, start up DIY label operating outta my apartment in Nottingham,releasing what was basically unlistenable noise,managed to garner an unprecedented amount of mainstream media coverage on the BBC Radio and TV and NME magazine for so many bands. Two words- JOHN PEEL.Now he's sadly passed away, and music in the uk has sorely missed his presence- no one comes close to the impact he made by supporting new bands.


Hats off to the bloke- he 'got' what Earache was all about, immediately, and almost telepathically, he warmed to the burgeoning Earache Grindcore sound as it was taking shape, and his active support by giving Peel radio sessions to our acts (about half of Earache's first 10 bands recorded Peel sessions, the first being Heresy), actually helped shape how the scene turned out.John Peel described what turned him onto the extreme music scene in general in his foreword to the excellent book "Choosing Death" by Albert Mudrian,which chronicles the Earache-led birth of the worldwide extreme metal and grindcore scenes.

John Peel's support naturally gave the scene a veneer of credibility, and it kinda snowballed into other media- mainstream music mag NME placed Napalm Death on the cover, and UK TV shows like Snub TV and Whats That Noise?(Craig Charles was the presenter) began to request Napalm Death on the show,as well as the infamous BBC Arena-series documentary called 'Heavy Metal.It seems ridiculous now, but yes, Grindcore was the talk of the A-list Uk media dahlings for a while around 1988.We never asked them why - but in the Uk, a genuinely new, intelligent,unpretentious, raucous, street-level musical movement, which actually was popular with fans, was staring them in the face.

There was one early gig in London, at the Marquee I think-where as well as John Peel,the backstage fans included Vic Reeves and Craig Charles, both young up-n-coming stand up comedians at the time, but now both mega-successful TV personalities. Noted NYC jazz saxophonist John Zorn also came and supported Napalm Death and the scene in general, helping spread the word in USA.
Craig personally requested Carcass to appear the Red Dwarf show- i imagine because of his Liverpool roots, as some of the members of Carcass were from the well-heeled village of Heswall,in the Wirral,outer Liverpool.Heswall was also John Peel's birthplace, i expect he related to Carcass for that reason also.


Extreme Noise Terror were not actualy signed to Earache when recording Peel sessions-but again, a quirk of geography helped their case.Like other peel faves The Stupids(who arguably were the main band that got Peel into the Uk hardcore scene) ENT hailed from Ipswich is a small town in Norfolk close to where John Peel lived, and he seemingly went out of his way to support his local bands.
The KLF - a big selling UK band of the time, famous for anarchic media stunts,became friendly with ENT and actually recorded an album of grindcore together with them called "the Black Room"- but shelved it before release.When the KLf were asked to perform at the annual Brit awards show, around 1992 or so, broadcast on primetime TV, they played with ENT onstage with them.