Godflesh and Hammett/Metallica

Question: Here\'s another question that\'s been bugging me... sorry for all the questions but there\'s so much about these bands I wanna just find out:

Godflesh is probably one of my favourtie bands ever and probably the most unique band to ever sign to Earache. I actually read from the official Godflesh fansite (Godflesh.com) that Godflesh and Kirk Hammett of Metallica fame actually had some bad blood... well sort of.

Kirk supposedly said that Godflesh was one of his favorite bands and that their music is unbelieveable crushing. Justin Broadrick and Godflesh were flattered and they supposedly actually had contacts with one another here and there. Later however, Kirk Hammett and Metallica made the album \"Reload\" and some of the artwork for the album was taken from Godflesh\'s music video \"Crush My Soul.\" Kirk or no one in Metallica credited Godflesh or the director of that music video for the cover art or the artwork credit. Hence Godflesh and Kirk had some bad blood but in the end, one time Kirk mentioned in an interview that the most heaviest band in the world is Godflesh, which was his way of easing the tension between the two bands.

Long story I know but I made it short for ya... now this is according to Godflesh.com but it just sounds too good to be true so would you know if this is somehow valid?

Also, just one more question that\'s Godflesh related: I heard that Justin Broadrick was once asked to join bands like Danzig and Faith No More full time but he declined the offers... was this a rumor or is this true to your knowledge that he was asked to join these two bands?

Thanks once again! From: davidaloca@gmail.com


Answer: well- as this page says-if you wanna know something- you came to the right place! Its pretty much 100% true actually.Godflesh was one of Earache's most innovative bands in the early 90's grind/death era, by having more industrial and arty leanings, their truly crushing, drum machine driven sound was totally heavy but also stood out from the pack.
Godflesh quickly became very famous with the SF and LA alterna-metal crowd- i think a Kerrang! magazine writer Steffan Chirazi was responsible for this- he seemed to be turning on all his friends like Metallica, Faith No More and just about everyone else in California into Godflesh fanatics, such that when they toured West Coast for the first time around 1994, Kirk Hammett actually asked Justin to drop by his palatial home and studio and to jam together and hang out and shoot the shit about each others bands - Kirk generously gave him a guitar and some 'tallica momentoes, and naturally attended the Godflesh gig later ( i think Lars came too?)

I guess that was where Justin mentioned to Kirk that Godflesh's new video "Crush My Soul' had been directed by the up n coming avant garde artist Andres SerranoThe artist had become famous for graphic artworks like Piss Christ(a controversial photograph of a crucifix immersed in a beaker of piss), and Godflesh was the first and only music video he directed.

It seems that the next Metallica album cover-1996's " Load" utilised the same artists work, no doubt influenced by Godflesh's video years earlier.I guess Justin felt he had given kirk the idea, which is no doubt true, i dont actually think any of Godflesh 's art itself was used by Metallica tho, that would be cheesy.It was the idea of using Serrano in the first place he was upset about.

And yes its is true that both Faith No More and years later Danzig asked Justin to join their band on guitar- both times he refused, prefering to make his own music.
Justin nows plays in his incredible new band -Jesu.

The Fookin' Macc Lads?

Question: this one is for digby, are you the dig pearson whos in the thank you list of various macc lads records just out of interest. From: unknown.

Answer: yup its me..tho i doubt I was actually 'thanked' on any Macc lads records when they were going during early-mid 80's..its the first time i heard they mentioned me, since i have none of their records to bother to check.
I used to slag them off in my column in Maximum Rock n Roll fanzine for being sexist cunts, and rubbish musically aswell.Hmmm-I guess i had a sense of humour bypass when i was younger, being yer typical UK angry politico crass/discharge anarcho type back then, so macc lads lyrics were deemed a complete fucking sexist nightmare. This was before PC (political correctness) came into fashion!

Earache later signed Anal Cunt- an obnxious grind band,who were not too different to the macc lads really.. Nowadays i think they are pretty funny actually- fair play to them,they are a 'Sid the Sexist' cartoon character out of Viz comics, come to life as a band.Its Extreme, and Hilarious.

Thrash Lives in Nottingham

Question: i read in on of the latest \'ask earache\' thingys they were going on about SANZEN getting signed and maybe a metal revival around notts/etc. we\'ll i\'d just like to say that your a bit late, a new wave of thrash is gonna take over the uk, e.g. DEADFALL/EVILE/HEADLESS CROSS/etc... From: Unknown.

Answer: yeah we know! see you at the junktion 7 on thursday for some THRASH!!

Deicide album pushed back- why?

Question: I think you guys owe us Deicide fans an explanation why the Deicide cd wasnt released on tuesday?? All the press before said it would come out on tuesday. Then, right before it came out you said, \' Oh wait, now its just going to be two songs\'. And not only that, but then you expect us to pays for it!. I think you guys should stop jerking the Deicide fans around and tell us officially when the thing is coming out and stick to it!! From: Sherfoto@comcast.com


Answer: Sorry BUT YEAH - we ARE expecting you to pay for it- DAMN RIGHT.twice over actually.

Glen Benton on Roadrunner united album

Question: maybe you can kill a rumour hear, is it true that earache recomended against glen benton apearing on roadrunner united as has been reported on several roadrunner fansites and zines. From:


Answer: Nah, thats complete hogwash.We never had any opinion about it actually, apart from a measure of suprise as Glen had previously led us to beleive that he hated RR. First we knew was Glen announced he was off to the studio to record his vocals, and it turned out great, the song he guests on is the best on that compilation, by far i think.

Earthtone 9 never signed with Earache?

Question: This is a question that i have wondered about for a long time why didnt earache sign or attempt earthtone 9, i mean they had all the ingredients that most earache bands at that time had eg nottingham based, former members of earache bands either in live line up or for collaberations eg working with members of iron monkey and so on. It just strikes me as weird as of all the nottingham metal bands at that time earthtone9 seemed to be the one that slipped through the net From: Unknown.

Answer: yeah you are right, it is weird i suppose,Earthtone 9 were a brilliant and important Nottm band but we never worked with them. Earache does historically support and get involved with new Nottingham bands, if they are any good- from HERESY,LAWNMOWER DETH, FUDGE TUNNEL, PITCHSHIFTER, IRON MONKEY, even the short lived but amazing SILENCER there's probably not another label out there that has given a chance to so many Nottm based bands in their early stages, since we live in the city we catch a lot of bands playing early on.

But if you asked any of those bands what they thought of their time on Earache none would be very complementary i expect, and thats always been our problem in our small provincial Uk city- small talk, bitching and backbiting take precedence over actually getting off their arses and building a career for many bands in this wonderful gun-crime-infested place on the banks of the river Trent.Its a long standing mystery in the Nottm music scene why exactly has no Rock/metal band from this area ever become absolutely huge on the world stage, and i personally think that that tendency is the major reason.

Naturally we approached Earthtone 9,(guitarist Owen used to work at Earache for a short time, and played us his Blastcage demos while here, which sucked) but they had just inked with new label Copro, so to do the right thing we made a license offer to their label- Copro- which as just starting out and was putting a hell of a lot of faith in E9. Copro rejected the offer.We put a lot of it down to the bad rep the label has garnered locally, plus the strong DIY ethic which the band subscribe to, which is another local trait.

A similar thing happened when we tried to sign DAI LO- another set of local hopefuls from 4-5 years back, who rejected our deal offer and after a stunning debut on Copro, disappeared without trace.

Earache still watches out for local bands, but is not trying to sign any at the moment.A new label in town -In At The Deep End Records- has recently signed SANZEN, so maybe there is going to be another revival in Nottingham's metal scene soon?

Sleep with Earache- what happened?

Question: in a recent interview in a DC fanzine mike pike spoke about the signing of high on fire to relapse after the split of sleep and he made the comment \" i doubt earache would have me back\". not trying to chase a feud or anything but what does he mean by this did sleep leave earache on bad terms? From:

Answer:Yeah if ya wanna know: Sleep walked out of their deal with Earache barely a year into it,  to chase their major label contract with London Records which their high powered management secured for them after their1992 Earache debut on the label "Sleep's Holy Mountain' had garnered high praise among the cogniscenti and industry scenesters. Earache agreed to not stand in their way, do the right thing, so we -reluctantly- let the band go so they could chase the major label dream. This was done under a " settlement deal" see above-the settlement also waived all the bands royalty rights in their one album recorded under our 4 album deal. This was 1995 or so, and explains why they don't receive royalties- they walked away from them, willingly and gladly.  Presumably the band assumed they would go on to greater  financial rewards on London Records except it did not quite pan out like that as they were dropped from the major and spent 1996-2009 split up.

Anyway its a  classic album which has stood the test of time..but even right after its release it was highly rated, being a fantastic Sabbath/Stoner album. its hardly been bettered since..I recall in 1992 Earache made the first Black Sabbath tribute album which we sent personally to Tony Iommi.We heard back that he loved it, especially Sleep who according to him, "embodied the spirit of early Sabbath". This got quoted a lot by us as a hype thang- and within a short while things got outta hand, Sleep began to entertain managers/lawyers/ etc to extricate themselves from our record deal.

In 2014  the band  had reformed and recently set up a webstore and asked us why they can't press up Holy Mountain themselves-- then had the sheer  gall to claim no royalties via a Facebook post (since removed). Meanwhile we intend to apply to court for the unpaid settlement monies still due to Earache. Be careful what you SIGN, indeed.

Ewigkeit = ex-meads of asphodel?

Question: Is it true that Ewgiket was or is a member of the meads of asphodel, the reason why i ask this is because there are meads like riffs on ewgiket cds and vice versa, also hes rummoured to have several side projects in the works do you know anything of the status of them and if they are likely to sign to earache From:

Answer: James Fogarty of Ewigkeit was indeed a founding member of The Meads duo, from the very first demo up until and including the release of the Jihad mini CD - He was known as "Jaldaboath".
It is likely that some comparisons of material during those releases share similarites to Ewigkeit as James had written, arranged & recorded all the instruments & music (save for some lead guitar parts). Other "band members" (i.e drummer "Urukabaramel") had been invented by the vocalist to "fill out" the line-up. The Meads now seems to consist of a full line-up and various guest musicians.

Any similarities since are open to interpretation (for instance the Meads track "80 grains of sand" was released long after James had quit the Meads and yet had a whole section surprisingly similar to the track "Dragons Burning" from the Ewigkeit debut album "Battle Furies", released in 1997).

On this matter, James Fogarty had the following to say ;

"...my mate Nick Moberly who used to contribute to Terrorizer Magazine got an advance copy of the album that was recorded after I had quit. He telephoned me to ask if I had contributed to it, because he said there were some parts that sounded very like my stuff... maybe it was done to show some kind of continuation ? ... to be honest i couldnt give a shit anyway ... it was originally supposed to be like the "monty python" of Black Metal, but I started to get bored with the Black Metal stuff in general ..."

James Fogarty's main "metal" concern right now is Ewigkeit, although "The Blacksmoke Organisation" of which he is an integral part does often venture into metal territory with remixes and original material.

 You can now listen to 3 full tracks from EWIGKEIT's new album "Conspiritus" at their myspace page and also download the free MP3 E.P "Return to the land of Fog" at this location

 

How Sore Throat got signed

Question: I realize that Earache made Sore Throat\'s cult LP \"Disgrace to the Corpse of Sid\" reissued on CD with their first LP \"Unhindered By Talent\" but only available in Japan... why can\'t it be avaiable in the US as well; I\'ve been dying to get that release from them on CD.

On the topic of Sore Throat, I like their stuff very much but don\'t know much about the band. Can you give a brief history or story about Sore Throat and how they signed to Earache and if they still exist today?

Thanks! From: davidaloca@gmail.com


Answer: I though you were'nt gonna ask about our old bands dude!!? ha ha no biggie- i'll answer anything here.Yeah Sore Throat were a Yorkshire based UK politico-crust-grind band in the late 80's, it was a kind of project band formed by musicians from other more well known, but less harsh sounding acts- notably Instigators & Doom, both of whom were on Peaceville Records at the time.

Sore Throat was formed in the wake of Napalm Death's trailblazing acheivements-as one part homage, one part parody,and 2 parts comedy.With tongue half-in cheek,they railed against everything that was 'wrong' with the late 80's Hardcore Punk scene during the first stirrings of its soon to prove-fateful crossover towards metalheads-first DRI, then ND's 'success' in the crossover scene was ample ammunition for Sore Throat's vitriol.

To the uninitiated fan it sounds just like prime UK grindcore, but Sore Throat's music was less important than their rhetoric- they set themselves up as almost 'scene-police', berating the exploding, Earache-inspired grindcore scene, and constantly baiting Napalm Death- I presume cos they were too untalented to actually form part of it.

ST were amazingly prolific, churning out countless albums for many different labels-late on, Earache actually got in on the 'fun' of ST too, and encouraging the band to make a 101 track noisefest monster of an album "Disgrace to the Corpse of Sid'.

How Cult Of Luna got signed

Question: I have another question regarding a recent band in your rooster. I see that you\'re making jokes about how people don\'t talk about recent bands but rather talk about the old bands so here\'s something that\'s not a big question but I\'ve been wondering...

I love Cult of Luna... and I know that Earache has signed many bands that aren\'t per-se the heaviest band or even metal... but how did Earache come across Cult of Luna? They certainly aren\'t the most metal band and I know Earache is famous for it\'s promotion of extreme metal so how did Earache stumble upon Cult of Luna? If I may say so myself, they certainly are a great catch of a band for your label. From: davidaloca@gmail.com


Answer: Cult Of Luna was discovered and signed to Earache by Dan Tobin the UK label manager + A&R Director responsible for most of the additions to the roster in later years.He was friends with Duncan who ran the small, short lived but very influential Yorkshire, UK- based label 'Rage of Achilles', which had actually issued the COL debut CD, pre-Earache.(I think Duncan says he discovered them by chance via scouring the net for new acts mp3's, which was not as easy as you think in the pre-Myspace era ).

Duncan pressed 2000 cds of the debut-Naturally Earache got to hear that cd early on, and Dan instantly became a big fan of the band...it became an Earache office fave-their expansive, expressive twist on metal was quite breathtaking to us.

Earache approached to sign COL, and also negotiated with Duncan to re-issue the debut as his label unfortunately was'nt able to press any more copies after the first 2000 - now collectors items- sold out.

At The Gates- Dual Disk trailer online now!

Question: what is happening with the AT THE gates reissue you mentioned on your site? any info? From: sven666@hotmail.se


Answer: yeah its out on July 17th in Uk/Europe a bit later in USA. features a 35 minute documentary where the old members of ATG discuss the process what went into recording the classic melodic death metal album that put the Gothenburg sound on the map. see trailer above.

Deicide 1 tracks online on 6.6.6

Question: So am I correct in that I read the new Deicide cd wpnt be coming out noe tipp August?? That sucks. Looks like Earache is treating Deicide like Roadrunner did. More respect please, not only for the band , but for us fans. From: sherfoto@comcast.com

Answer: The album & art is not even completed yet- and its what- 6 days to go to that special 'once in a 100 years' evil calendar event!!So, I'm sorry but the delays to the CD album were unavoidable i'm afraid and are mainly due to the band taking the time in the studio to perfect what is easily the BEST Deicide album ever. First, it was remixed again as the band were'nt happy with their first mixdown, and secondly the band had to take time off over Easter to complete an important West coast USA tour right in the period of the recording process, so delaying things further.Lastly, The band are also on their second photoshoot for the booklet as the first session pics were scrapped.Hence-we are now looking at August 21 in UK/Europe and August 22 in USA..tho it should more realistically be TBC.

Slayer have done exactly the same thing it seems....originally announced date of 6.6.6 pushed back to July. and a 1 track advance online at iTunes on 6.6.6 aswell..sound familiar? is their label disrespecting their fans too?

Because we felt all the hype we had generated (BBC, New York Post, Washington Post, Inside Edition TV, USA Today, the myspace website) about the originally announced date of 6.6.6 was worth at least some kind of 'release' on that unholiest of dates, the 1 downloadable track seems a kinda compromise to fans, as downloads take seconds to set up and require no artwork/packaging- fans can now get a taster in advance of the album proper, and be blown away by the quality of the songs.No release at all would have been lame.Ok maybe the band are victims of the runaway success of our hype- but fear not- IT WILL BE WORTH THE WAIT!! This one is categorically the best Deicide album ever...the proof is online on 6.6.6.

Y'know, even the most satanic and brutal of bands are powerless in the face of the unrelenting nature of the calendar.

Check out the video trailer here;

Berzerker=Generated X-ed? Err- no!

Question: Two The Berzerker questions for you, first of all I\'ve seen for sale by a couple of US eBayers a copy of a The Berzerker album called \'Protest and Survive\' apparently released on \'EARACHE RECORDS/CAROLINE\' on \'4/11/2000\' featuring tracks called \'Industrial Is Dead\' and \'LSD Recharge\' amongst others - is this release genuine?
Also, I\'ve heard the brilliant remixes of Morbid Angel\'s \'Day of Suffering\' and \'Abominations\', where can I get a copy \'The Ancient Ones\'?
Thanks From: Evil__Jeff@Hotmail.com

Answer: nah mate- you are getting bands mixed up..the album you are referring to is by Berlin based Generated X-ed, not berzerker.It is a genuine Earache release tho..it sounds like extreme drum n bass, the main man from Generated X-ed was part of the Digital Hardcore scene from late 90's in berlin and I liked his stuff enough to release it.Its an undiscovered gem and will blow your mind i think, if you like harsh electronmic music, a bit like Berzerker but less guitars.You can hear it and download it at metaltracks.com As for the track "the Ancient Ones' by Morbid Angel remixed by the Berzerker, its unreleased i'm afraid. It was done at the same time as the other tracks for our Hellspawn comp- Extreme metal meets extreme techno, but did not get released. (pictured is Generated X-ed main man- Tha Bomb)

Earache PC game demo on cheap label comp in July.

Question: Will the upcoming Earache Game have Online play? If it has multiplayer online play included, I am definately interested in this game! From Rob.. \\m/etal From: robgamer345@hotmail.com


Answer: Sadly i don't think the game has online play facility- but according to the developers it will be out on PC CD-ROM, as well as PSP and PlayStation 2.The FREE playable demo for playing on PC's launches from this website www.6-6-06.co.uk and is also available on the upcoming Earache CD + DVD cheap Label Compilation "Chop Your Own Head Off" - due onsale late june.We beleive it may be the first label sampler to include FREE video game, who knows?More details of the low price sampler are here.

Napalm Death Scum original colour LP ?

Question: was the original napalm death scum vinyl release the green one or the orange one? From: mjwallage@hotmail.com


Answer: Original release was in June 1987 on LP in 2000 copies with black n white cover + Bright Yellowy Green. See here. A sticker (black text on white) was also affixed.Later editions followed in years 88- 90 or so..with Orange being next to be pressed and later Green, also Blue later.A Gold colour edition was pressed for the supposed splatter-color vinyl edition.Interestingly, no picture disc edition has even been issued.Maybe we'll rectify this when we release the expanded remastered 20th anniversary Scum release soon.

Deicide cancel entire European 2006 Summer festival dates

Question: And Deicide did it again... whole Eurotour cancelled, without good reason. yieehaa!!!!

What`s going on? Where is some official news with reasons behind this never ending farce? How on earth Earache keeps tolerating this kind of behaviour? From:



Answer: Earache has no say in or control over the live performances of Deicide- we do their retail CD's + DVDs, not live shows.Earache do the bands recordings basically, and thats the extent of our involvement.I know Deicide recently split from their long time European agent (Metalysee), also splitting from their long time USA agent (First Row talent) at the same time, in order to be represented exclusively for the world by Tammy Taylor booking out of Austin Tx.This is the actual reason why the remaining European festival dates- totalling 3 gigs- Graspop/Full Force/Waldrock etc - are cancelled.Don't forget that the bands appearance at France Hellfest was cancelled by the promotor,not them,after the organisers got nervous about the band playing so soon after a spate of Deicide-inspired satanistic grave desecrations in the area.The new Cd is running late too- its just been recorded and mastered at the weekend- so is expected to land instores in Uk/Europe now on August 21, Aug 22 in USA.The band want to wait till its out to perform the new live show set including many new songs from 'Stench'.
Deicide have no website they control themselves, and the Earache site and myspace page is the nearest to an official news source for Deicide's happenings you can get. The rest is just rumour.

Sure, these cancellations are high profile festival shows, and its tough on the European fans, but since the new members were drafted in I think they have done more far flung touring stints- including South America, Korea etc -than any other Earache act..Deicide are self-managed, so operate according to their own rules. Overall we are totally stoked that they have made an incredible album, and we 100% respect their choices in who represents them on the live circuit, and when and where they choose to play.

No Deicide news on Earache site?

Question: Hello,
Why is it that I can read more about the new Deicide album on Blabbermouth.net(owned by Roadrunner) than I can on the Earache site. As a big fan on Deicide, I am really looking forward to the new Deicide album and keep checking the Earache site for info, but I can find out so much more about it on Blabbermouth. Cover art and studio news and track listings being an example. Why are we not seeing this on the Earache site?
Also, there has been a news item on the Earache site for sometime saying that there has been some old TV footage of Deicide found, I try to click on the link and it does not work. I find this happens alot with your site. From: Unknown.

Answer: The album is not yet finished and thats why nothing official has been announced from Earache.(This page is just my personal rambling blog, where i try my best to answer your questions).All news on Blabbermouth etc is gleaned from unofficial sources usually,tho i admit,most of the time Blabber is pretty much correct, but it always lacks the finer details.As I write this, 'The Stench Of Redemption' is STILL being recorded and tweaked and its on its second mixdown at Morrisound studio, due to be finally completed this Saturday night. Obviously the original album release date of 6.6.6 is blown- its more like August now..we call it -TBC. But to celebrate that most unholiest of days coming in 2 weeks time -6.6.6 - we are currently hopeful of offering fans an exclusive Deicide downloadable EP via iTunes Music Store on that date- it will include a brand new track from the "Stench" sessions, probably an early mix.Again, nothing is set in stone, as we have no actual album!

As for the bad links on the news at earache.com-errr dunno what you mean matey?the links work fine for me and the webmaster - if you have some crappy browser and slow machine then maybe the page takes a while to load but invest in some patience for once- wait about 10 seconds and then the story appears.If you are tired of your browser taking an age to open the link, then heres the link direct to the You Tube clip of Amon 1988 well worth watching- Its fucking prime Glen Benton- killer!

Napalm Death's 3 inch CD?

Question: hey there, my question is related to the digipack version of NAPALM DEATH\'S \'Utopia Banished\' cd. When i initially purchased this disc it came with a limited edition \'mini\' CD with a few tracks on it. Problem is, my copy of utopia banished was stolen, and i was wondering if the tracks from the mini disc are available anywhere else. Thanks alot From: carl_smith@telstra.com

Answer: yeah the 3 inch CD given away with the 1992 Utopia Banished album was quite a unique looking extra, and contained 4 bonus tracks. Obviously the 3 inch disc is long sold out. However those same tracks are included on our recently released 2 x cd best of set from Napalm Death called "Noise for Music's Sake" so they are available on that release.

Earache- the good ol' early days (Part 2,876)

Question: I have a question that was inspired by an answer you gave to one of the questions, Why do you think people cling to the old days of earache as opposed to concentrating on the new stuff. My personal theory is that people get a nostalgic feeling when they listen to old earache in that they know the guys tried to achieve alot with the little and basic equipment they had i mean justin broadrick used to build gear in his shed from what i read in an article.another reason is because during the 80s and 1990s earache was really the only label other than peaceville having the sort of bands that existed on the label at the time
im interested to hear your opinions on this From: Unknown.

Answer: Yeah, looking back, its what 20 years ago now- Earache's early era was explosive and was the fireball that the late 80's-90's metal scene badly needed-you gotta remember the metal scene back then was dominated by mega-selling-but-dire Glam bands, (Def Leppard anyone?) meanwhile we prefered a selection of excellent DIY politico-hardcore bands (Discharge,Disorder,Minor Threat, DRI, LARM etc) who were highly regarded, but who lacked the ambition to break out of the safety of the tightly-knit HC scene, and of course the big 4 Thrash bands too-Slayer and Metallica and even Death had all begun to make serious waves with their debuts, influencing the direction of metal music back towards the heavier end of the spectrum.

Earache's style was a Frankenstein-esque hybrid of all that- a mixture of the most crushing downtuned metal riffs allied to blistering punk/HC drumspeeds, with vocals sung thru the garbage disposal- the whole package was released with OTT artwork, for added extremity.We were literally the first label to do this which such singleminded purpose-so, naturally our stable of acts caught the attention of much wider media not connected to the metal scene, people like the revered DJ John Peel played us constantly on the radio,and the UK's NME music paper even covered Earache's acts,and highly regarded Jazz saxophonist John Zorn helped promote Napalm Death by personally arranging thier debut stateside show too. All those folks embraced the early MOSH catalog, and the effect snowballed until even the average joe in the street became aware of the extreme sounds of the bands coming outta our little office in Nottingham.

The words 'extreme' and 'music' were hardly used together until Earache made it the labels aim to release 'Extreme Music'.We also coined the term Grindcore- that word first appeared in printed form on the sleeve of our 1989 "Grindcrusher" LP.Excess was always an admired attribute in metal but no other label seemed to revel so single-mindedly in making excessive volume, speed and unlistenable noise its whole core and ethos, with no exceptions.

I think fans soon realised Earache's bands really were truly pushing the envelope as far as they could, and i'm certain the fans could relate to that struggle, and supported it for that reason.As Albert Mudrian correctly points out in his magnificent book "Choosing Death" which accurately recounts the birth of the Extreme Metal scene,Earache and its choice of early acts were the catalyst and blueprint for a good percentage of the myriad Extreme Music 'scenes' that exist today, with the notable exceptions of Black Metal and Gothic Metal which we-stupidly, in hindsight-ignored. (Peaceville's Paradise Lost kick-started the latter, after they turned down our offer of a contract)

As for the present set of Earache bands.... we think Akercocke, Decapitated, Mortiis, Municipal Waste, Anata, Ephel Duath,Cult Of Luna, the Berzerker, Biomechanical, et al, all stand up to whatever has gone before.They are all putting their own original stamp on extremity in music in 2006- thats exactly why we signed em..Earache does'nt peddle 20+ variations of Carcass clones or 3rd rate At The Gates wannabees in its catalog- we stick with the originals who were - and those that currently are-the first and the best.

Jap Grind Legends SOB on Earache?

Question: Why did Earche not release SOB with Napalm Death split? Rise Above Records released the Japanese grind legends instead. From: Russcore@hotmail.com

Answer: Errr thats a good question Russ..but why do so many of you folks out there on the inter-web want to know historical facts about Earache and its old bands?- don't any of you care about our current acts?Hmmm.
Anyways-I loved Japanese HC back in the day..getting hold of the hella obscure and totally OTT extreme Japanese HC records was part of the record collecting fun.I did my bit to expose Japanese HC bands to a world audience-The early pre-earache flexis i released DIY style included bands like Lipcream and Execute on them..but when we heard SOB's "Leave Me Alone" 7inch they literally blew the roof off everything. SOB arranged the very first tour in Japan for Napalm Death in 1990, and both acts became good friends, Lee especially had a good friendship with SOB's singer Tottsuan.When Lee started his Rise Above Records he did a Napalm Death/SOB split 7inch.For some reason- maybe out of respect for and not rocking Lee's new label boat,Earache didnt really think about doing SOB.Tragically, years later, Tottsuan commited suicide by jumping under a train.