SENDING A DEMO TO EARACHE

Question: im sure you guys get thousands, but do you listen to unsolicited demo\'s? and where do your a&r guys hang out for new talent? From: gimpychimp21@msn.com

Answer: we do sign bands from unsolicited demos- we have a pile of them in the UK and USA offices, we listen to them all eventually- the latest band to be signed that way is URKRAFT.Our website explains the procedure to send a demo in the contacts section. We also have a form where you can send a link to an mp3. Our A&R guys are based in Nottingham UK and NYC USA- where our offices are.The rock hang outs of Nottingham are Rock city, Old Angel, Tap N tumbler, Junktion 7- and we are in them all the time, seeing bands. Plus when our bands play we always check out the opening acts.The best way to get signed is just get out there - TOUR!..if you can attract a crowd on the live circuit..we will get to hear about you!

Actually myspace.com is the most brilliant tool for presenting your band now..with one click we can hear your music.

DECAPITATED LIMITED EDITION FREE live CD?

Question: is there any limited edtion cds of the new decapitated cd? From: jpit088@sbcglobal.net


Answer: yes- but only in the UK/european versions.A limited edition Dual Disc is available- featuring CD+ DVD, the DVD side is a live show from November 2005 with new singer Covan on vocals. Also available is a FREE decapitated live CD from december 2004 ( Earache's xmas party actually) available while stocks last, with any purchase of Organic Hallucinosis, from Independent high street stores in the uk or selected internet retailers in Europe (cdon.com in sweden for instance, or play.com in UK). So get out there on Feb 13th into your local independent retailer in the UK and buy the CD or Dual disc to get the FREE live CD too.

OLD LADY DRIVERS CD?

Question: Earcahe did a crucial service to the underground music scene in the late80\'s/early90\'s, releasing several landmark LP\'s, and putting grind on the map. Most of the stuff has been kept in print with one exeption-Old Lady Drivers! Plotkin and Dubin made some of the most diverse, eclectic and influential music of the last decade, but finding it is difficult. Lo Flux Tube, Sleastak, Formula, Hold on to Your Face-are all out of print, not to mention the fact that the first LP never got a CD release! While I realize that re-issues of OLD material won\'t exactly be a cash cow for Earache, it would be worth it to preserve musical histoty! Re-issue CD\'s with extra trax-like the 3 songs from their split 7\" with Assuck-would be awsome, and essential listening for kids who have never heard them! Perhaps I\'m flogging a dead horse here, but it\'s worth a try, after all it you guys put out AC\'s \"It Just Get Worse\" Cd, so I figure that $$$ can\'t be the ONLY consideration. Thanks for reading! From: stephenfeltner@bellsouth.net


Answer: thanks Stephen for bringing up the ASK EARACHE readers' favourite topic once again it seems- OLD LADY DRIVERS!!we recently offered to manufacture 1000 Cds of the debut from 1988 - first time on CD- but no distros have so far been interested to take them.So i guess its back to Ebay if you want to hear the classic Plotkin/Dubin songwriting combo- not forgettting the long forgotten speedy drummer Ralph Pimintel's contribution!!
OLD suffered because in 1988 Cd was not the standard format for earache , it was still Vinyl LP only days..so here we are al these years later and still no CD.

What was MOSH 1?

Question: What artist and what album was Mosh 1 on earache records. Ive noticed that you number each album that you record, and it was bothering me. Thanks From: irishleprechaun@wowway.com

Amswer: Its Seattle metal/hardcore band The Accused- Return Of Martha Splatterhead, which carries the honoured MOSH 1 tag.released on vinyl LP only in about 1986.Earache never worked with the band for long tho..they did deals with other labels like Combat for future albums and split up in the mid-90's.

what HOFFMAN BROTHERS doing now?

Question: what are the hoffman brothers doing these days?
From: Unknown.

Answer: Deicide did some amazing work on the 2004 Album "Scars of the Crucifix" which reaffirmed the bands place as Death Metal leaders,with the proud boast of having kept the same original line up since the beginning-all was going GREAT- then quite unexpectedly, Glen and the Hoffman brothers developed a deep rift, based on the % split of songwriting shares on publishing income from the album. The Hoffman brothers quit the band whilst on tour, it seems in protest at Glen claim over the lions share of Publishing money.Both sides got legal advice and exchanged legal letters for a while, arguing their cases over who wrote what songs etc- meanwhile Glen recruited Jack Owen and eventually Ralph Santolla aswell to keep Deicide on the road and in fact played more shows further afield, South America, korea etc with the new line up. The Hoffman brothers discontinued their case when it was proved their share was fair- they did not write as much of the album as they claimed.By then the damage was done and it seems there was no way back into deicide for them..Earache took no sides in the arguement, encouraging the parties to settle their differences, as both sides remained signed to the label.

The Hoffman brothers have now regrouped and are talking about forming AMON- trying to recruit a Floridian drummer and bassist/vocalist is proving difficult tho.When they do complete the line up, an AMON album should surface on earache at some stage.

SHIP TO INDONESIA?

Question: 1. Are you receive orders from Indonesia?
2. Why you didn\'t ship any order from the country like Indonesia, Malaysia anymore?
3. Where Can I get the product from Earache Records beside from your Earache Webstore? From: Ilimneo2yahoo.co.id


Answer: 1. No we don't accept orders from the following countries: Morocco, Indonesia, Malaysia
2. The reason we dont ship is because of widespread use of stolen/fake credit cards- for many years we have lost a LOT of money cos many fans in those countries use fake credit cards to order online.The true fans who do not rip off are very very few unfortunately...but if you can prove to not be a rip off we will ship to you.
3. try amazon.com? play.com? i think they ship all over the globe.

Morbid Angel DVD?

Question: Hi Earcahe, congrats on the new year. I got a question. With the release of the Alters Of Madness DualDisc coming up, will there ever be any official Morbid Angel DVD out in the future ? Maybe something like the Entombed, Carcass or Napalm Deah DVD with all the band\'s videos and old concerts and things like that ? Thanks. From: chuloloc@yahoo.com

Answer: Actually we have no plans for a stand alone DVD by Morbid Angel- the dualdisc edition of Altars Of Madness is the official debut of MA on DVD, featuring an entire live show of the original line up from 1989, with killer sound mixed by Heretic's sound engineer 'Punchy' and edited from 3 decent camera angles.

CARCASS T-SHIRTS?

Question: The store here has been trying to order me a Carcass shirt (dunno from where) for a long time, and hasn\'t been able to get any. Are they still available at all? I don\'t have a credit card, so would make ordering one myself harder if you had them through yourselves. Please let me know, as I have been trying to get my hands on one for more than 10 years now...
Liz From: eajanzen@ucalgary.ca


Answer: You will be waiting till doomsday for a Carcass shirt!Legal Carcass shirts don't exist anywhere cos the band never granted anyone the license to manufacture their shirts.Earache used to do shirts in the early days, and the band themselves were quite self sufficient whilst touring in 92-95 or so,they made and sold countless shirts of their own design.But since then- nada. Actually the best bet for a proper carcass shirt from the era is on ebay- the seller 'lee marvin' in Nottingham is the actual old manager of the band, he sells original carcass shirts that happen to be 'lying around' - he has a seemingly endless supply. Good luck.

MORTIIS DVD in USA?

Question: hey i\'m in the US and i been trying for months to get the Mortiis dvd every site i go to says its backorder but all the UK sites say they have can you explain this to me From: pantera1283@hotmail.com

Answer: yeah- its out instore for months in UK/Europe on DVD encoded (by mistake) in the european PAL system, and that is the problem- USA TV system is different- its NTSC- so this version will not play on US tv's (actually modern TV sets made in recent years can handle both PAL and NTSC it seems, as can dvd players on computers, luckily)..BUT very soon the USA edition of the DVD will be on sale!! Rest assured!

y'know, this DVD is a complete mess from beginning to end..the standing joke at earache is ~ Mortiis must be cursed or something!!To start with,the original film of the show that makes up the main feature of the DVd was almost lost for ever, as by the time Mortiis got round to finishing the audio mix, the girl who filmed it, and had the master tapes in her possession, had left the film business, disappeared, and was uncontactable, so we had to literally call at her old house countless times to collect the tapes.Its a miracle its even out at all...so, please Enjoy it !

DECAPITATED- BROKE UP? Errr -NOPE!!

Question: i have 2 questions. first is why have i stopped recieving things from you guys. i was on the street team and i dont recieve stuff anymore. I passed it all out everytime i got it. I currently moved my new adress is 6318 w. 60th street chicago illinois and my name is ted gruenwald. my second question is.... is decapitated gunna still play that show the 28th with nile and hypocrisy in sauget, illinois??? i heard that they broke up and pulled off the tour From: metalted@comcast.net


Answer: I guess you are a Blabbermouth.net reader huh? they wrongly proclaimed that the band had split, but they were wrong.No,Decapitated did not break up, they are playing with Nile on that tour RIGHT NOW!As for the street team we have been a bit slack lately with geting promo and stuff to you guys..but we might be sending packages out again soon.

MORBID ANGEL Altars Dualdisc details

Question: what is happening with the Morbid Angel dualdisk you have mentioned in the catalog,when will it be available to buy on the webstore, how much $$ inc postage?
from heavenburning666@aol.com

Answer: the Morbid Angel dualdisc is currently down for release on march 13th in Uk/Europe and possibly around that date in USA too. Our webstores will offer it around that date,. as the DVD side is region zero and NTSC it will play on USA TV as well as european.the first pressing also comes with a unique replica ticket for the actual show which is filmed - 14th November 1989.

MUNICIPAL WASTE UK TOUR?

Question: Hi, could you tell me where on the bill Municipal Waste will be on the upcoming UK tour? Just am travelling to gig and dont want to miss them!!
Thanks. (also any other bands to be added as Beecher have split) From: amanwhofollowshell@gmail.com

Answer:Brummie grinders Mistress replace Beecher on the upcoming Earache Tour. Featuring Mistress, Municipal Waste and Linea 77 its a showcase of the freshest bands on the roster, all of whom are making waves and gathering fans in their own right(linea 77 hit the top 10 charts in Italy recently), but we thought it would be a cool thang to have them all tour together.Its a shame beecher chose to split up, but Municipal Waste will now close the show on all the uk dates, ie headliners.

ELEGIES, MUTATIONS & PROPAGANDA TOUR 2006
MISTRESS - LINEA 77 - MUNICIPAL WASTE
09.02.2006 NL HAARLEM Patronaat
10.02.2006 BE KONTICH Lintfabriek
11.02.2006 NL DEN BOSCH W2
12.02.2006 NL HENGELO Innocent
13.02.2006 DE ESSEN Turock
14.02.2006 DE BERLIN Knaack
15.02.2006 DE LUDWIGSHAFEN Das Haus
16.02.2006 IT MENDRISIO Arena Live
17.02.2006 IT BOLOGNA Palasport
18.02.2006 IT VENICE CS Rivolta
19.02.2006 CH       tba, Zurich
20.02.2006 FR ROUEN Brooklyn Cafe
21.02.2006 UK MANCHESTER Phoenix
22.02.2006 UK BIRMINGHAM Edwards No. 8
23.02.2006 UK PLYMOUTH Viaduct
24.02.2006 UK YEOVIL Flicks
25.02.2006 UK NORWICH Ferryboat
26.02.2006 UK LANCASTER Yorkshire House
27.02.2006 UK LEEDS Josephs Well
28.02.2006 UK LONDON Electric Ballroom (sick of it all headline show)

DECAPITATED CD online listen?

Question: where can i listen to samples of decapitated\'s new cd organic hallucinosis on your website? From: marsdude88@hotmail.com


Answer: sure you can hear the new Decapitated album organic hallucinosis HERE

GRINDCORE DVD from early 90s?

Question: Hi,
You used to have a VHS title that was called something like DEATH, THRASH AND GRIND SPECIAL. It had a Florida Death metal segment on it and it also had NAPALM DEATH interview that was around when they released Harmony Corruption. I really want to track this down again.
HELP ME.
Lee From: lee_g@that70shorrorguy.com

Answer: what you want is the Hard n Heavy DVD 'Grindcore-85 Minutes of Brutal heavy metal' released in USA on VME/Fuel 2000.It is a re-issue of a VHS released in around 1992 in the uk on the now defunct Fotodisk label, who took an interest in the burgeoning death metal/grind scene in the uk and put together a now-classic look at the scene, with Earache founder Dig explaining what the bands all stood for along with now priceless footage of napalm death. morbid Angel, carcass, Nocturnus, Bolt hrower, Entombed, paradise Lost, godflesh, + sonic violence and cerebral fix and more.searching the web I find its available from a UK back catalog company

HAUNTED- why did Earache lose em?

Question: why did you lose the haunted From: Unknown.

Answer: At The Gates signed a 4-album deal with Earache in 1995 or so, and released their final classic "slaughter of the soul' Album the same year before splitting up, after grueling touring schedules.The contract allowed for us to pick up any new projects the ex-members formed.Tomas went on to form some short lived Hardcore-type bands which Earache did not pick up, the rest of the band teamed up with Jensen and Peter Dolving to form a brand new outfit, The Haunted, which 'inherited' the previous Earache deal.
This formed the seed of the long standing grievance between The Haunted towards Earache- the new members never had a chance to shop for a record deal properly, because the majority of thier band mates-the Bjorler twins and Adrian -already had one with us, which after the situation was explained to them, Jensen and Peter then sort of signed into, albeit very reluctantly.
Anyways- after 3 further Haunted albums from 99- 2003 their contract was duly completed with Earache. Pure n simple.We and the band were quite happy with how the sales were shaping up at that point, but the seeds of doubt always remained between band and label spoiling any chance of us re-signing the band.The Haunted signed to Century Media records in 2004 where they currently remain.

URKRAFT release date?

Question: When will the new Urkraft be released? From: mirtennossen@mail.dk

Answer: well its been recorded a while, so thanks for your patience. We plan to release Urkraft "The Inhuman Aberration" CD in April or May, roughly around the time of the new Deicide studio album-"The Stench of Redemption".

CD packaging and design?

Question: Hello,

My name is Sophie Neumann, and I am currently in my final year at Derby University studying Graphic Design.

For my major project I am looking into the music industry and how illegal downloading/filesharing is affecting the sales of music media (mainly CDs)
As part of my project I am looking to come up with a concept that will make people buy CDs rather than get them for free online. I am not only trying to appeal to people who are file sharing, I want to appeal to those who also pay to get downloads, as I would like to see CDs have more to them than just the music,lyrics and artwork. The digipak style CDs have become collectable, especially with special editions and limited editions being bought out, but I want to come up with something that hasn\'t been done yet, and that you cannot get from just downloading digitally.

Being one of the biggest Record Labels for \'Extreme\' music and providing the UK with the top Metal acts out there, I was wondering what you think about CD sales as a whole. Do you think that they need a boost? How do you think it could be done? By including more special features, or being in a different format?

As a major fan of your record label and the bands you have signed to it, if given the choice to buy an album with a jewel case, or one with a digipak \'cardboard fold out\' case, I would definitely buy the digipak, especially if it had more artwork or bonus extras.

I will be starting this project at the end of January and I would love to make this a \'live\' project, and work for a client that could give me objectives and feedback. This would be especially helpful as I would be getting advice from people that work in this industry, and also what ideas would be practical and be able to be bought into the industry.

Alternatively any feedback or information on CD album production and design in the music industry, or on your thoughts about album sales, and if they need a boost would be very much appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

Kind Regards

Sophie Neumann (University Of Derby)

Answer: thanks sophie, we are keen to see what you suggest and might try it out 'live'. We have tried all sorts of packaging and extras +bonuses over the years and in 2006 we are releasing our first Dual Discs- both the Berzerker and Decapitated will come with CD and DVD material in the package for the normal price of a CD,( Dual discs are double sided, CD one side, DVD the other which play in most standard Cd players and DVd players,its the best of boith worlds on one disc). the packaging side of things can be quite expensive to produce, often multiples of the cost of the disc itself, but standard digipacks are reasonable.

Scott Brown remix of Ewigkeit

Question: when is the scott brown remix of \'ewigkeit - its not reality\' due for release? From: kannix_in_the_brum@hotmail.com

Answer: yeah we have been a bit slack with this gem of a remix by the God of UK bangin' hardcore techno himself- Scott Brown..its been planned to be released for retail sale on an Ewigkeit 12" and CD single for a while now, along with a different dancefloor re-mix of the "Its Not Reality' track by Ewigkeit mainman James Fogarty himself. When Ewigkeit plan some live shows I think it will see the light of day.Meantime you can see the very interesting video clip for the track.

Exitium join Deepsend records!

Question: Was wondering if you put up unrelated metal news on the earache news page. if so, i was wondering if this could possibly be posted...

Norman, Oklahoma based grindcore act Exitium have officially joined the Deepsend Records roster. Formed in 2001, Exitium have one prior full length release entitled \'Mechanical Expressions of Purpose\' on Compulsive Blasphemer Records. Already recorded and mastered, Exitium\'s sophomore effort \'Outsourcing Morality\' is to be relased on Deepsend sometime in the spring of \'06. Look for Exitium to be on the road supporting \'Outsourcing...\' immediately after the official release.

Check out the band here: www.myspace.com/exitiumgrind From: exitium@exitiumgrind.com


Answer: here it is. posted. Not quite the front page of earache.com but this 'ask earache' section is a better quality read anyway, right?!

Praise be to Earache & Napalm Death!!

Question: Just a quick \'shout out\' and thanks to Dig and Dan Tobin. Been breaking down parts of the Napalm Death \'The DVD\' and a big \'thank you\' for the \'89 gig. I think this gig really demonstrates the bands past present and future at that time and it just so awesome to watch everyone invading the stage on \'unchallenged hate\' to where Jesse had to stop playing. But more importantly I think this gig captures the \'best of\' on the track \'human garbage\' one of my favorite tracks that never got the production it deserved in the studio. Live this track just blows me away by the speed and guitar tone and overall \'sound\' colin got from this lineup.

A big cheers to you both for this!!! Definitely a conversation piece for the new school and old school fan.

Cheers!
Jim From: jgalvin@charter.net

Answer: thanks Jim! glad you enjoyed the DVD...yeah in 1989 Napalm death were pretty much the flagbearers of a new super-extreme music, and earache was the only label releasing that stuff, dubbed 'grindcore' by Mick harris.At the time i dont think anyone involved had any clue that almost 20 years later we'd be watching extreme music be so massive and popular worldwide.it's quite satisfying to see how it turned out.

Work experience at Earache?

Question: do u guys offer internships? From: awilishe225@yahoo.com

Answer: we most certainly do, and its fair to say that most of the current staff in the UK office and USA office were originally unpaid interns (work experience) who worked with us for a few weeks, or in some cases, months, and we found them to be hard working individuals who we just couldnt do without, so made them employees.Its the easiest way into the 'biz', i guess from our perspective we are always looking for folks who will go the extra mile to acheive an aim, who are reliable and intelligent and can work as part of the team- showing us your talents for free for a week or two demonstrates you have what it takes to succeed in the biz, and will, in turn, give you a look at what a real indie label is like to work at- its not pretty!

If you thrive on long hours of hardwork during the day, plus attending gigs in the evenings and weekends,standing at the bar buying your fellow co-workers beers all evening, for little or no reward, hardly any gratitude from the artists you are slogging yer guts out for, all for the 'satisfaction' of working in the music biz, then the Indie label Rock music industry NEEDS you NOW!!

Still interested? - send cv (resume) to the contact email addys in the contacts section of this site, we get many seeking this opportunity, so you'll have to make your application stand out in some way- we find sending it by post with 4 cans of quality beer in the package mark you out as already highly skilled in the art of persuasion, and you'll no doubt go far..(Note: Rob Harris, the current UK Assistant label manager sent tea bags in with his work experience application, bless him) .

Goes without saying, you'll need to be able to attend our offices @ either 38th Street, New York City USA or Theatre Square, Nottingham, UK to qualify.

DUB WAR on Myspace.com?

Question: Hi, go to myspace.com/dubwar1
I think someone\'s made a hoax page with a downloadeable version of \"respected\"
thought you might want to know
cheers From: wolff_95@hotmail.com

Answer: thanks for pointing that out. We are'nt too bothered.its good promotion after all for the new issue of dub wars classic "pain" with 6 bonus tracks, coming soon in USA on Earache.

Secret Earache DVD 'Easter Eggs'

Question: Ok now I don\'t know whether you\'ll be able to answer this, but here goes...I bought the icrusher 2 dvd but there was supposed to be a code on it to reveal the hidden Rabies Caste video and I can\'t find it. I was wondering whether you could direct me to the code or tell me what the code is if you know.

Thanks From: autonutter

Answer: Many of the Earache DVDs carry hidden rare bonus material, accessed by a secret code to unlock it - known as Easter Eggs-(or alternatively you can use ripping software nowadays to reveal all the files on the disc) So, yeah it is there.First pressings of the Icrusher 2 DVD will have the code written on the back(white) side of the paper cover, you can see the rabies caste clip by entering code 219 114 3677 during the main menu screen. On Icrusher 1 DVD enter 2698 during the main menu screen to access a rare video gem.Immortalised DVD has bonus live footage of some bands accessed by highlighting the earache logo.Good luck finding the easter eggs!

Morbid Angel show in Morocco?

Question: would morbid angel accept to do their show in morocco?
i know it s weired but they have fans every where here
they are all killers by nature i can tell
i know already your answer but i tried
thanks for nothing...
From: kamjeff@hotmail.com

Amswer: Morbid Angel have played all over the world in their lengthy career, so why not Morocco? you need to email their booking agent with a concrete offer to perform a set, earache does not get involved in setting up shows for any of our bands actually, we leave the choice of wether they choose to play or not to the artists.

Anal Cunt License to do Vinyl LP?

Question: Hi.

Will the 2:nd AxCx album ever come out on vinyl??

I would be interested to do a lim.. ed LP of that one (top 40 hits) if not.

Do Earache or the band own the right of the recording.

Let me know if you are interested or not.

thanx /OLA www.goryfied.com From: goryfied@hotmail.com

Answer: we own it and you are right it never came out on vinyl, tho the debut AC album did. From time to time we license the rights to others to manufacture some of our older catalog bands, if you want to do top 40 hits on vinyl we ask for a standard $2000 or so advance, we imagine you intend to sell 1000 copies of it a least. if you are interested email digby@earache.com we are flexible on the terms.

DEATH METAL's top 5 all time bands

Question: Death metal is fun. Who are the best selling deathj metal bands of all time according to record sales and overall popularity (and /or success)? Please list at least the top five and not five of the top something else. From: nreimche@yahoo.com

Answer: thats a tough question- on sales it easy enough to add up the totals of each band in USA via a system called soundscan that reports actual over the counter sales to labels. Blabbermouth website did that about a year ago and discovered the top selling death metal album of all time is Deicides 'Legion',with about 140,000 sold in USA, but soundscan only started counting sales in 1994, so sales before that were not included.Bands that have released more albums invariably have sold more over their career too.
Heres our top 5 All time Death metal bands- based on guesswork of worldwide career sales and 'popularity/influence'
1. Morbid Angel
2. Cannibal Corpse
3. Deicide
4. Napalm Death/Carcass
5. Death

Of the newer bands around some of the European bands are fast approaching the sales once achieved by the original wave of 90's USA acts- In Flames, Archenemy and Cradle of Filth and Emperor and Opeth are obvious contenders.

MYSTERY BAND w/ 'Black wednesday' track

Question: I was given a free CD a few years ago, (roughly 1999) I think it was a lable sampler/promo type thing for earache records. It had Misery Loves Co.\'s Your Vision was Never Mine to Share, and some stuff by Mortiis on, among other stuff. Anyway, There was a tune on it called Black Wednesday ( I think) Would you be able to tell me who it was by? Do they have any other records out? All attempts at Googling/searching internet sites has been fruitless. Cheers :) From: hellolewis@hotmail.com

Answer: it might be Cathedral's Black Sunday- taken from the 1999 album Caravan beyond Redemption

ANAL CUNT CDs in UK?

Question: Dear people at Earache

I was wondering - why aren\'t we europeans allowed to buy anal cunt records from your store? They are in the US-one only.

Sincerely
Mikkel

Answer: the UK store must be temporarily outta stock- both stores sell Anal Cds, try again ina few days