Question: This kind of relates to the pendulum question, how does it feel as a label always being too early to the party? by this i mean an earache band will come out with a sound and often then a decade later an often diluted version of said band makes it big. Of the two years ive been to download festival ive noticed this for example this year it was pendulum reminding me of pitchshifter and the first time i went a few years ago there was wolfmother who obviously have loads in common with sleep, theres also countless dubstep producers out there who owe their living to mick harris and nick bullen. Im curious does it fill you with pride with the feeling of you were right or do you wish you were around when the genre makes it big as obviously earache is a business. From:
Answer: Yes, I have actually been told this a few times by my peers in the music industry- and I have mixed feelings about it to be honest. It's a compliment to be known as 'ahead of the trend' on one hand, but we do regret missing out on the huge sales potential when the music finally acheives a 'mass-appeal' level. We can't have it both ways I guess.
The two bands you mention- Pitch Shifter and Sleep - were both snapped up by major record companies for big money deals in the 90's, bailing on their contracts with Earache in the process, as it happens. I guess some A&R guy at the major labels had a clue those bands were breaking new ground, it did not go unnoticed at the time. Pitch Shifter did have a few minor hits, but Sleep imploded before the major label album was released.
Its the sheep-like mentality of music fans which turns out to the problem, their conservative tastes dictate that its a least 10 years before radical sounds are accepted as OK, then they all buy into it en-masse, following the herd. Its normal crowd behaviour, and without being smug, we're Ok with being ahead of the curve.
We are absolute music nerds at Earache- we debate bands and upcoming trends all the time at work, and even after work hours aswell.Such nerd-like behaviour is not always welcomed by the average fan. One time after work we got into a discussion with a dude from a local Death Metal band about his favourite band, Cannibal Corpse- he was wearing the T- shirt at the time.So we got some beers at the bar and proceeded to debate their various line ups, the pros and con's of the albums, and the production job done on each.The dude got up and walked away saying were we dickheads. Oh well, turns out he merely 'liked' the band - and couldn't handle our full analysis of their career. I don't blame him actually, I only mention it to show that we are far from casual fans here.
Regarding SCORN - Heres a Spotify Playlist of some of my fave bass-quaking dubstep. Open the application SPOTIFY (Not in USA yet, sadly) and click this PLAYLIST. Scorn from 12 years ago (Twitcher) sounds exactly the same as contemporary Dub Step like La Roux's amazing Skream remix, isn't that remarkable?
SCORN 1997
LA ROUX (SKREAM RMX) 2009
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