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

CULT OF LUNA- Free 7inch?

Question: what is the story with the free single by CUl OF Luna? how do i get it?

from thomas

Answer: CULT OF LUNA Exclusive free 7 inch single

UK based fans of Sweden’s CULT OF LUNA are being offered a special treat
when they rush out to purchase the band’s fourth sonic outing ‘SOMEHERE
ALONG THE HIGHWAY’ on Monday 24th April.

At participating Indie stores across the UK any one who snaps up ‘SOMEHERE
ALONG THE HIGHWAY’ on any format will take home a free exclusive 7 inch by
Cult Of Luna containing 2 unreleased tracks which are unavailable anywhere
else:

CULT OF LUNA 2 track 7 inch limited 1000 copies

A) Bodies (Smashing Pumpkins cover)

B) Recluse (Unbroken cover)

Offer available while stocks last from the following participating UK Indie stores

copies are also available from the band on tour.

‘SOMEWHERE ALONG THE HIGHWAY’ will be released on Earache on April 24th.
Formats available: Digipak CD, Regular CD or Limited edition 2 x 12"Vinyl LP

MA 'Altars' pic disc

Question: How many copies will there be printed of the new \"Alters of Madness\" picture disc LP? From: minuutje@yahoo.com

Answer: 1500 copies of the new pic disc with extra vinyl track"Lord of All Fevers and Plague' added were made. 750 of which exported to USA. The orginal Pic disc came out in early 90's and had a colour pic of the band on the reverse.this new edition has a b/w pic of the band.see the editions on Earache's catalog page

Slaughterhouse Studios- the story

Question: is the \'slaughterhouse studios\' still in existance?
napalm death recorded the mentally murdered ep there and bolt thrower did war master there, i just love the sound on those albums.
cheers From: Unknown.

Answer:In the late 80's I booked Napalm Death into this unknown (for metal) studio in Driffield, a small town in East Yorkshire, UK -based on Mick Harris rating the clear cut sound/seperation on a recent album by The Sundays, a successful UK indie pop act of the time.A few other notable Northern Indie rock acts had used it too- Sisters Of Mercy etc.It was called Slaughterhouse Studios- built on the site of an old abbattoir- and it even offered bands the use of a house down the road where they could stay during the recording, it was the fist time Earache could afford any band such luxury.

When we showed up we met for the very first time the in-house studio engineer/producer Colin Richardson,who we all got on with right away.His friendly and unassuming manner and dedication to his craft was a refreshing change, as the only studios Napalm Death had been in before were pretty dismissive or downright hostile to the noise the band were making.Colin was different- he clicked with me when he casually mentioned he had engineered a record by a UK punk band some years previously while at another studio- Discharge's WHY? EP.Blimey! this fact alone made him a God to me and I knew I had the man for the job of creating Earache's brand of extreme metal, as the early Discharge sounds were and still are the earthshattering blueprints for extreme music, and Colin was instrumental in creating that sound.

Colin proved to be on the top of his game, and his expertise literally changed the labels fortunes as i booked a procession of bands up to Driffield- they would walk in average bands, taking the first toddler steps in their careers, and within weeks would emerge with World-Class productions to their name- he produced a good percentage of the first 50 or so mosh number albums, including Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Massacre, Fudge Tunnel, Brutal Truth- Hellbastard, Lawnmower Deth even( with fellow Slaughterhouse co-engineer Stephen Harris - who a decade later mixed U2's hit singles!) , and I made damn sure Colin was properly credited as Producer on those early albums even tho, with typical modesty, he didnt ask for such a credit.

By the mid 90's Colin was THE main man for extreme metal and he often chose to record at other locations- Chapel Studios in the village of South Thoresby,Lincolnshire was and still is his fave etc- Slaughterhouse kinda fell off our radar,bookings had dried up, and we heard the owner burnt it down one night as an insurance job.

The final album we had Colin produce was the Pulkas album "Greed" in 1998, but that was immediately marred by some shady business shenanigans between Earache and Colin's wife Lora (who became the acts manager) over the band's future.

THE NOW on Earache?

Question: did you ever have a band called the now signed to you at all. i really want there cd but i cant find it anywere From: myeyesaremycamera@hotmail.co.uk

Answer: No they are not on Earache but they sound quite decent for an Indie band, they will be massive when A&R guys catch up with them, thats for sure. Hear em On Myspace

At The gates logo?

Question: I have been hunting for a perfect pic of the at the gates logo. the one with the three bullets. The reason why is so I can get it tattooted. could you please send me one or refer a web site? thank you for taking the time to read this. From: zero_hour_is_here@hotmail.com



Answer: you could try the bands own mini website here

Mortiis' book- where to buy?

Question: I am looking for Mortiis\'s book \"Secrets of my Kingdom\". Do you sell this item and if not where would I be able to find it. From: shari3schneider@hotmail.com


MORTIIS's book, "Secrets of My Kingdom," was available for sale beginning July 2nd 2001 in Europe and July 10th 2001 in the U.S. Contained therein was Mortiis' prose and lyrics, spanning the last decade and illustrations from such artists as Mark Riddick, Juha Vuorma, and Kerry Bartlet, depicting the fantasy world of Mortiis's visions. The book was a 144-page leather-bound tome in a severely limited edition of 850 copies, each signed personally by Mortiis, and the book came packaged with a special 'gold disc' version of the Mortiis CD, "The Stargate."
Many fans are unaware it even exists, its by far the rarest and most collectable of Mortiis' official releases on Earache.Try ebay and expect to pay $150+.

Morbid Angel -24 bit remaster CD?

Question: Can you explain the entire remastering of the first two Morbid Angel albums \"Altars of Madness\" and \"Blessed Are The Sick\"? The sticker says 24 bit remaster, what is that? Also, can you personally tell a difference symphonically from the original cd issue? From: usmc2621@hotmail.com


Answer:Both albums were re-issued a few years ago and were indeed remastered digitally to boost the sound levels -we thought the albums were showing their age and could use a modern upgrade so they sounded like more contemporary albums which are usually louder compared to stuff released 16-17 years ago.We used the now commonplace digital mastering software operating at 24 bit resolution whereas the original CDs of both were originally mastered from tape, in analogue environment, during late 80's early 90's.

For the new remastering we actually made a 24 bit remaster from the very original mixdown tapes but it sounded scarily different from the already released CDs fans are used to,instruments came out sounding much different, so for this re-issue,we resorted to remastering from the originally released cds.

We think the results are - a better,clearer, louder sound. The irony in all this is that Cds themselves are 16 bit technology, so the 24 bit mastering process is a bit of a misnomer.The main improvment is a louder sounding CD.

Intense degree- where to buy it?

Question: is there any way i can purchase a copy of intense degree war in my head on cd other then ebay,if i can buy direct from you that would be amazing?!!please let me know!!!thanks From: hortz@blueyonder.co.uk


Answer: Intense degree on CD is available ONLY at Disk Union in japan.

Sending a demo to earache (Part 3,128)

Question: HI I KNOW YOU PROBERBLY GET THIS A LOT, BUT CAN I SEND A COPY OF MY BANDS CD TO YOU ?
(INSIDE ARCHAM/PRELUDE TO A MASSACRE) From: CATHERFOSTER@XTRA.CO.NZ


Answer: sure- fill out the form on the contacts page!

Earache Realtones- in UK only?

Question: Hello earache! i\"m swedish and wondering how i can order your mobile stuff to my mobil?? for ex. a realtone with Decapitated... must i be in USA/England land or something? Jimmy From: jimpa_8@hotmail.com

Answer: The mobile phone graphics and realtones and ringtones we currently offer are only for sale to UK phones at the moment. Our mobile service provider- Mobiq, based in Birmingham , UK - do intent to spread the reach of the service to more European countries and USA soon, but have to secure more deals with the European mobile networks.If that happens there will be a select your country option added to the ringtone/realtone subsite.We also plan to offer full track mp3 downloads to mobiles in the near future.

At The Gates- Slaughter Of The Soul dualdisk edition.

Question: Are you re-releasing At the Gates - Slaughter of the soul again in 2006-04-28?
Which extra tracks and/or other bonus material will be on it?
Sorry to say I missed this great album when the limited slip-case was out in 2002. From: shamaatae@gmail.com

Answer:This weekend 5th march, Earache has arranged for the old members of ATG to gather together at Fredman Studio in Gothenberg to be filmed for a Documentary style DVD, by acclaimed video director Patrick Ullaeus. This will form the DVD side of the Slaughter Of The Soul Dualdisk we have down to release late april/may.

The band are not scheduled to actually 'play' anything( sadly)- but instead will talk on camera about the making of the legendary album and the bands history.Original producer of the album Fredrik Nordström will be playing back songs from the multitracks masters for the fans to hear and band to reminisce about .It should be essential viewing for any fan, and a history lesson in the making of a groundbreaking cd which set the Gothenberg scene alight on its original release in 1995.

The Cd side is the original album.

Elitist- what happened?

Question: What happened to Elitist Records and all of their bands? And what was Necrosis all about years ago? From: Unknown.


Answer: Elitist was founded as a Sub-label of Earache due to a chance meeting in 2001 between Lee (ex Candlelight founder) and myself (Dig, Earache founder). Lee was looking to try again with a label and needed financial backing as he was eyeing up some cool new bands.I thought, given Lee's pedigree in signings in the past ( the only thing bigger than signing Emperor and Opeth, is- arguably- signing Napalm, Morbid and Carcass etc ha ha ;-)), his undoubted A&R skills would bring some much-needed new acts of a different style in-house to the Earache roster.A deal was struck between us, and then Earache did not get too involved with the label ,beyond the actual signingof acts and stumping up the dosh-it suited us to leave the day to day contact with the bands, the Elitist website, and overall Elitist A&R planning mostly to Lee, working independently of us.

Sub-labels are by their very nature limited in lifespan.The sole aim from the outset was to unearth some new big selling prospects for my label, not fund Lee's A&R talents for evermore.This is an important distinction. Earache has done a similar thing in the past many times: In early 90's Necrosis was a similar setup with Bill and Jeff from Carcass doing the A&R- lasted 3 releases but released Mike Amott's Carnage tho.Also, I funded a 7" vinyl label called New Chapter in mid 90's, spearheaded by then UK A&R co-ordinator Mitch Dickinson, but that lasted about 4 releases but did unearth the mighty Coalesce, err and Resinate anyone?

As well as inhouse labels we also license a couple of established 3rd party labels -The USA Willowtip label is currently licensed to us, as is Uk's Codebreaker, tho that also ended recently too as Duncan chose to fold the Codebreaker to go work for Prosthetic.More longer term, Wicked World is the sole A&R of Dan Tobin, the UK Earache label manager( who signs the greatest proportion of the new acts on Earache anyways).Wicked World is 100% worked by Earache staff, and is Earache in all but name, specialising in the more Underground metal sounds.

In late-2005, circumstances meant that Earache chose to concentrate its resources on its main label acts as opposed to the sub labels.When we shake the tree, the dead wood tends to falls out.Most of the Elitist acts had never performed more than a handlful of live concerts,some had more albums out than actual gigs,overall sales were poor, and so my faith in the label had undoubtedly waned.After operating for about 3 years, the closure was messy- one was given the money for an album but never delivered, and some bands felt left high and dry because their plans were indefinately postponed or outright cancelled, meanwhile the two biggest selling Elitist acts- Biomechanical and Ephel Duath -moved up to Earache 'proper' and they appear quite content with that.Lee stood firm for the rest of his stable of acts-amid wild accusations,messageboards lit up with the outpourings of thwarted ambitions and crushed egos, but the writing was on the wall, my support for Lee and the rest of the acts had evaporated,Elitist was over, and that was that.

In time, I think fans will appreciate the eclectic cutting edge nature of the label from 2002-2005 (Rakoth's 'Tiny Deaths', anyone?)- it has left a great legacy of 14 or so highly innovative albums which was the original intention accomplished, I'm sure you'll agree. Now in 2006 we are gearing up for the task of making sure Biomechanical and Ephel Duath create a long term successful career for themselves.Of the others- some like Wolverine will sign to a new label (Candlelight) which can give them attention, and should do well, Carnival In Coal have quickly signed to an Osmose records offshoot, Equilibre.The rest will carry on furthering their 'career' to their adoring 'fans' via the medium of the messageboards, same as they always did.

Decapitated art mistakes?

Question: Who\'s doing was it that ended up having the same thankyou list printed twice in the New Decapitated album sleeve. lol. From: the_pig_destroyer@hotmail.com


Answer: Same as all their album art on their 4 albums to date- it was 100% conceived, created, and delivered to Earache by the band- or rather their management. I guess its kinda strange that we didn't check it for such glaring errors,in our defence we had little time to put it into production- maybe a day- tho i do recall the actual album nearly was called 'Organic Halucinosis' on the spines of the CD, rather than the correct 'Organic Hallucinosis', err so thats one typo we did spot!
Anyways it wouldnt be an Earache release without the obligatory typo or two,its our trademark, and will no doubt be corrected in later pressings.Early buyers will then -unwittingly- have a collectors item, no doubt worth stacks on ebay in years!

BORG 64- release or no release?

Question: what happen to the planned release of borg 64s debut album theyre using nanoprobes? ive seen it in you catalog before. but not now.. :( From: b156509@bredband.net


Answer: yeah- we had this down for a release in USA under licence from the UK Codebreaker label, but Duncan folded the label for reasons we are unsure of, but suspect he was losing a lot of money and chose not to continue with the label, or at least dramatically downscale the operation.(He now works for the US Prosthetic label,running their UK office).Since Codebreaker is not fully existing any more, our license deal is deemed finished so the releases by both Lolita Stasi and Borg 64 on Earache in USA are cancelled, before they were officially put into production.

Both release are available and are already released and for sale on The Codebreaker in the UK of course tho.You can get them here - feel free to buy them!!

Strapping Young Lad- on Earache?

Question: devin townshend said in an interview that earache along with roadrunner were the labels that turned strapping young lad down is this true and if it is do you as a label regret this decision now?
Also are there any other artists that earache regret not signing From: Unknown.

Answer: We honestly don't remember getting contacted by Devin about SYL, so it cannot be true.Maybe a cd arrived in the post as a demo, which we didn't pick up on, but we'd remember it, if it was by SYL.Nah- not true.But we would sign em now tho!

As for other bands we did'nt sign in the past, and regret it .. there's not many-we have usually had our pick of the Extreme metal bands without trying too hard, as Earache has its undeniable early 90's putting-extreme-music-on-the-map historical status and catalog behind us.The main band I wish Earache had signed back in the day is DEATH, such a legendary,innovative band, led by a charismatic leader, but chances to sign them never came up sadly.Theres not many acts who have actually approached us at their own demo tape stage, who have since gone on to be huge- Fear Factory and Sepultura being the 2 main ones we stupidly turned down during Earache's very early days 1988-9 or so.D'oh!!


Theres quite a few bands we have approached, usually after a well received debut release, but being a relatively small-medium sized Indie we have lost out in the bidding war many times.Nirvana is one.We offered a huge deal (for us) to Sub Pop to licence the album after "Bleach' for Europe, but Geffen signed the band worldwide and the rest is history, oh well, never mind....You won't believe this, but in late 90's Earache was the first ever label to offer a deal to System Of A Down, having many meetings in LA in with the band and management.It did not come off, they signed to Rick Rubin's American instead., but at least Serj remembers Earache was pretty much the only indie who rated their music and ideas early on.Good on him!

On the underground metal side Burzum is a band we were set on signing, and had personal meetings in Nottingham with Varg in 1992, but we got cold feet on the deal after discovering Vargs shockingly extreme right wing views ( this was a year before the murder).
Cradle of Filth were due to sign with Earache after Cacophonous in mid 90's, we had heavily negotiated contracts for months, which were ready to sign ,but on the day they were due to sign Dani called to say they had opted to sign with MFN instead.Fair enough,they have done brilliantly since. Opeth we made an offer for last year after MFN closed its doors- we lost out to Roadrunner, y'know, we had earlier offered for Opeth in the 90's aswell, so thats twice they turned us down now ,dammit!.Emperor we made offers to when they were inbetween Candlelight deals,again, with no luck.
On the metalcore side,Dillinger Escape Plan on their debut were a band we eyed up to sign, but we declined to make an offer in the end- they have since ended up on Relapse and we do regret not making that move. In recent years we offered to Red Chord and Between the Buried and Me, but lost out to Metal Blade and Victory respectively.

Nowadays, most of the indie metal labels make similar offers to nearly all of the big selling bands who come up out of contract.The bands have the pick of maybe 6-7-8 deals,some of the labels now have major label affiliations- Century Media with EMI, Roadrunner with Universal, Nuclear Blast with East West, Metal Blade with Warners USA- which makes their offers sometimes much more attractive than the others.

Deicide- to do cover songs?

Question: Can you suggest to Deicide to do some cover songs? I would personally love to hear them cover some Slayer like Jesus Saves. From: Unknown.

Answer: what a great suggestion!As it happens Deicide are about to record their new album when they return from South American touring- and it will include a cover song. Its not Slayer but a classic Rock/Metal track that everyones knows-but done in a whole new jesus-slaughtering Deicide way! So expect to hear the cover tune on 'The Stench of Redemption' when it lands instores on 6th June 2006.
Mark the date of the beast on yer calendars now- 6.6.06!!

EWIGKEIT= GENIUS!!

Question: Whats going on with Ewigkeit ? Conspiritus was pure genius, and I\'m surprised I havent seen more press for the album. Will there be more albums on earache in the future ? From: UNknown.

Answer: Yeah- you're right- Conspiritus IS genius! It made my personal album of 2005 list, and Radio Ixtlan was my album of 2004 before that.I suppose i'm biased- cos I actually signed them to the label.
Press has been a bit scarce, i'll admit- its been quite favourable with online sites- many declaring the album a fantastic peice of work and also one of the albums of the year 2005.Metal Hammer mag in the UK did cover the band with a feature which we were pleased about, but thats about it.We are very used to this situation at Earache- we have countless examples of bands signed who received very little attention in the press at the time but who - years later- became revered and worshipped, in hindsight. Ewigkeit is set to be one of those, I feel.

Napalm Death in their heyday had little press( outside John Peel support)- same for At The Gates in mid 90's- Iron Monkey springs to mind also, even Dub War & Pitchshifter- all were breaking new ground in extreme music but had no supporters in the UK music mags at the time we were doing their first couple of albums.Years later of course, all those bands are considered legendary, but i swear, at the time we were actively promoting them, we would be calling up the mags to cover them - to a frosty if not downright hostile response- its not the press' job to promote new bands they'd say.Usually they only cover bands that are already big and popular and are the ones who buy advertising space.Back then, there was only about 4-5 mags covering heavier stuff anyways in the 90's,and it was pre internet, so if they were'nt interested that was it.

Nowadays there are plenty of media, even dedicated TV stations, supporting heavier bands- its trendy, even - but Ewigkeit are suffering badly thru no live gigs for the press to latch onto.Its the easiest way to reach out and win over fans cos the live circuit is exploding, but Ewigkeit are sadly not part of it.

James has to put a fully functioning live gigging outfit together to progress, which we keep telling him. So - keep ypur eye on earache.com for tour dates.If not- look out for Ewigkeit features in the press, i would say, around about 2013.

USURPER RULES!!

Question: Usurper. Please tell me you thought this band was going to sell some records. Both albums on Earache have been very disappointing. Does the mighty EARACHE listen to demos from bands before they go in and record as a way of quality control? I\'m thinking no because those records are flat.

Their website and myspace pages seem to boast about all the cocaine they do. Why don\'t they use some of the cocaine money and fund a tour? From: Unknown.

Answer: Of course we thought Usurper would sell some records- as proper Pure Old School Metal bands are in seriously short supply- and we want to keep the vibe alive.We love em cos Usurper are a band who are proud to be called Metal and wear their denim, leather and spikes as a badge of honour,not a fashion accessory.

As for the music, no we dont make bands do the 'demo the album' routine so we can 'quality control' the tracks.- we give bands 100% free-reign to record what they like, mostly.We might give advice on the eventual song sequence on the final album but thats about it.I agree, alot of bands could make better albums with some outside advice and quality control- but we find our bands prefer the freedom to record what they like- so Earache doesn't do it.