Earache & the Pathological Compilation (1990)

Question: I\'ve got a CD called the \"Pathological Compilation\", from the label \"Pathological\" (PATH 1). It was distributed by Revolver/Cartel and marketed by Earache. There\'s no date on the disc, but IIRC I picked it up new around 1993. It\'s got Earache bands from that era like Carcass, ND, and Godflesh; along with other bands like Coil, Silverfish, and God. The whole compilation is more industrial than grind - the ND track in particular is uncharacteristically industrial. What was the story behind this disc? Were there anymore releases on Pathological through Earache or otherwise? From: tsukaesugi@yahoo.com


Answer:Earache's leading grindcore bands were starting to make breakthroughs in the wider UK Independent music scene during the late 80's and came to the attention of noted London Indie scenester Kevin Martin.Kevin had earlier promoted one of the earliest Napalm death shows in London- at his 'Mule' club, which was a hotbed of the more open-minded underground London scenesters at the time.
Kevin was a major supporter of the early Earache bands and fancied doing a compilation of the more adventurous UK independent bands around at the time- which included a few of the Earache bands, as well as some of his fave traditionally Independent bands who were doing the rounds at the time, Silverfish, Terminal Cheesecake etc.

Kevin gathered the tracks from the bands (which was probably the first time the Earache bands had the freedom to record songs outside of the album framework, which is why they went for more experimental material)He also named his compilaton and did the art but crucially couldnt find the funds to press the record or distribute it.
Earache liked what he was trying to accomplish so I took on the marketing of the CD for him.Earache released the debut Pathological compilation- i think we did 5000 copies, and after the first pressing sold out we didnt repress it anymore.
After the debut,kevin/Pathological went on alone, to release several more records,- Earache was not involved anymore by that stage- by bands like Terminal Cheesecake and Oxbow..and notably, kevin started the first of his many artist collaborations with Godflesh's Justin Broadrick on the Techno Animalproject (Pictured with kevin, right) which Pathological also released.
Pathological folded a few years later.Kevin and Justin Broadrick went on to record countless collaboration projects for the next decade.

Earache give away 5000 FREE 'Thrash is King' T-Shirts in Hammer mag

Question: Where can I get one of these Thrash is king white shirts? And by the way congrats on signing Evile. From: sdobson666@gmail.com

Answer: we gave out a load of Thrash is King promotional T-shirts to journalists in London recently, maybe its that you have seen.Sorry but that one is now out of print.
However Thrashers in the UK be aware--we are also giving away 5000 Thrash is King shirts (see pics) FREE with the next issue of Metal hammer magazine in the uK, if you buy it from an HMV record store. So- buy your copy of Hammer in HMV from June 6th and claim your FREE thrash T-shirt, packed in the bag.

Earache bands in Guitar Hero Game?

Question: did i hear that you were creating an \"extreme guitar hero game\"? cuz that would be amazing, please say its true. cheers From: purehatred666@hotmail.com


Answer: Our PS2 game -Earache Extreme Metal Racing -is still the only extreme metal type rock game on the market, and its selling quite well. The initial concept was by the developer- Metro 3D, tho we had a large part in choosing the music (obviously) and some input on vehicles.The publishers of our game are currently porting it to the Nintendo Wii platform for release in approx october, and are also working on an 18+ hardcore blood and gore version, and also trying to work in some support for playing it via the Guitar hero controller in a later version.
Meanwhile Earache is also talking to harmonix (Guitar hero developer) about the inclusion of some of our bands in the next Guitar hero game- called "rock band", where players can choose an instrument, form a band and eventually play together in-game and even online.

Tyrant- speed metal band

Question: WE ARE AN UNSIGNED SPEED METAL BAND TRYING TO GET SIGNED. PLEASE LISTEN TO OUR DEMO ON OUR MYSPACE PAGE.www.myspace.com/tyrantthrash

THANKS
-BEAR
DRUMMER OF TYRANT From: WWW.METALBEAR87@YAHOO.COM

Answer: yeah , i like your style, but the songs and riffs you play arent as catchy as fellow Californian Thrashers like Merciless Death or Fueled By Fire, i'm afraid.Good luck to you tho...

Indonesian Death metal bands

Question: is EARACHE looking forward to sign Indonesian Death Metal bands? From: annodaemoni@yahoo.ca

Answer: we never heard any Death metal bands from indonesia, but yeah why not, if they are brutal and original?

Earache DVD music

Question: Who play the music song in the Earache\'s DVDs (Napalm Death DVD, Carcass DVD, Entombeb DVD........), where appears a screen with Earache Logo flying in a purple sky with stars? Remember: I don\'t talk about Decapitated song \"Spheres of Madness\"! From: xcabalax@bol.com.br

Answer: It's Cathedral- the riff is from the middle section of a song called 'Voyage Of The Homeless Sapian'.The song is 20+ minutes long and the riff we used to open the title sequence of the early Earache DVDs is at about 16 minutes from memory. Its classic huh?

Municipal Waste Special edition CD w/ Patch - out June 11

Question: Is there going to be a pre-order for the new MUNICIPAL WASTE cd? and if so will it come with any free cool shit?? From: darthauclair@hotmail.com


Answer: see the special editions HERE
The main special edition is CD with FREE Woven Patch, and bonus songs, limited to 5000 copies.This will be available to order from the earache webstore soon.Vinyl LP will be also available in an assortment of colors.Set your calendars for Monday 11th June- its "Thrash Monday"

Akercocke- Can you crack The Antichrist Code?

Question: how can i listen the new akercocke album on line? From: panosenn@otenet.gr

Answer: The new Akercocke album Antichrist is available at a secret location online for listening ONLY to people who crack the online treasure hunt called The Antichrist Code.A series of about 8 Akercocke related puzzles and questions have been posted online on myspace and youtube websites.If you correctly follow the clues they will lead you to the reward.Though difficult,(so difficult that Jason himself could not crack the final puzzle) The hunt was suprisingly completed by 15 fans within 24 hours of it being announced, but the location of the prize was leaked by news sites like blabbermouth etc, which spoiled the fun of the hunt for the hordes of avid akercocke fans still searching- so we relocated it.

Begin your quest with the first question here: http://www.myspace.com/akercockeantichrist http://www.myspace.com/akercockeantichrist

Godflesh/ PSI etc - are they Grind?

Question: Can you maybe explain why people always consider bands like Godflesh, Pitchshifter and Dead World grindcore? It\'s really annoying to see bands such as the ones above labeled that when they ironically were the total opposite of fast, blast beating madness. Hell, even the Earache webstore labeled one of Pitchshifter\'s album \"industro-grind\", which actually sparked the question I have in mind. From:


Answer: Early Godflesh was most certainly Grindcore, more accurately "Industrial Grindcore" at least on the debut and streetcleaner abums...grindcore was not just about speed of drums, blast beats etc- it actually was coined to describe the guitars- heavy,downtuned, bleak, harsh riffing guitars "grind", so thats what the genre was described as, by the musicians who were its innovators & proponents.
Obviously with Justin being ex-napalm Death, the attachement was there because he was from the same scene that birthed grindcore anyways.PSI were similar, in the early incarnation. I agree that both bands by the time of album number 3 were less grinding in the guitars dept, and as they became more adept at programming their drum machines, the music became mroe beat driven, and at that point both bands became morre accurately described as Industrial metal, not grindcore.

Earache & The New Breed of Thrash.

Question: Has earache spotted somthing the rest of the world hasnt signing so many uk thrash/crossover bands in such a short space of time sss and evile by name? out of interest is earache interested in the bands that are left at all eg suicide watch ( formerly stampin ground), gamma bomb and nebukadnezza. From:

Answer: We've been spotting something for years, namely good original metal bands of all varieties.
Muncipal waste were signed in 2004- there was no media talking about a New Breed of Thrash back then..it was unheard of to embrace such a long lost genre as 80's crossover thrash.


As for Evile- they have been quietly playing storming sets to a handful of fans for 2 years,i was lucky enough to see them at Nottingham's junktion 7 club, where DEADFALL were ace too (but we didnt attempt to sign them, due to line up problems), and then the killer was seeing Evile at Bloodstock open air 2006 where they destroyed the tent with their devastating early Metallica meets Slayer perfomance.



SSS also came to our attention and we loved them from the get go- like The Waste, they are spearheading the more crossover-thrash vibes.Excellent stuff to circle pit to.


As for the other bands- we like GAMA BOMB and are following their progress.

So, YES we are pleased to announce-

THRASH IS KING!!

THRASH IS BACK!!

Napalm Death 1 second 7 inch

Question: I work at a radio station and we often get old LP records as donations to put up for sale, while i was going through a box I discovered a Napalm death/Electro Hippies single ( Side 1. You Suffer, Side 2, Mega Armageddon), with 1 second of music and scratched text on each side. I looked in vein for more information about it online but came up emptyhanded.
What was it all about? I\'d be interested to know

Thanks From: wlewies@gmail.com


Answer: thats our world record 7 inch single from 1989. Its the shortest single ever released, and was given away free when we did a compilation called "grindcrusher".Worth a few quid on ebay probably, tho about 8,000 copies do exist from memory.Wired mag recently namechecked the single as a forerunner to snack size culture which is the current vogue, ie short attention spans.

Muncipal Waste- are they actually thrash?

Question: is municipal waste a thrash band or a crossover band? From: turdburglar22@yahoo.com

Answer: well the virginia 4 peice certainly DO PLAY Thrash in my book!But you are right- Municipal waste do play the more punky crossover-thrash (think DRI, suicidal tendencies, Accused from the 80's wave)rather than the more straight up metal-thrash played by and made much more famous than the crossover thrash by the likes of the big 4 thrash bands of the 80's-Metallica and Megadeth etc.

Basically bands like Municipal Waste are injecting a new youthful energy into a long lost genre- they emphasise the fun aspect of metal,and crowd surfing/circle pits are all part of the fun. watch for the new MW album "The Art of Partying" due instores on 11th June.

Does Earache sign One Man bands?

Question: Dear Earache Records,
Do you sign one man bands? In the vein of Burzum and Nine Inch Nails? Recording, I play, write and record all of the music, but I have a band that I tour with, on occasion. On all recordings, it\'s only me playing and writing the music, but on stage, there are five of us playing my music. Do you sign bands of this nature? If not, would you? From: the.true.deathcrush@hotmail.com

Answer: yes we do, there are quite a few examples of bands we have signed who are just one person...like Mortiis, The berzerker, ultraviolence- in fact many of the hardcore techno/industrial acts we signed are one person acts,the main thing all these bands have in common is they are mostly computer/programming/sampling type acts, or rather used to be.We sign bands based on their originality and quality of music, not how many members are in the line up.The problems arise when you have to go on tour..(burzum doesnt have this probem- ;-))

To be honest most bands have a leader, or a person who dictates the direction and music of the band, and its more and more common for those people to declare themselves as "the band", and treat the other musicians as hired hands for on the road work.Sounds like you are one of those?

I personally dont agree with it..it might work fine for a time, but as your band gets bigger and tours more, because their is no commitment for the hired hands, you get a revolving line up on stage that changes from tour to tour.


I dont think fans appreciate getting a suprise line up - often unfamiliar faces-on stage each time.

Earache bands in the Guinness book?

Question: I\'m sure I remember hearing that Brutal Truth were/are in the Guiness Book of Records for the shortest promo video or something similar.
Is this true, and are any more Earache artists featured in the pages? From: Evil__Jeff@Hotmail.com



Answer: Earache has had two bands featured in the famous book of world records.Napalm Death's 7 inch single from 1989 was the worlds shortest single- clocking in a 1.5 seconds.In recent years we had Brutal truth included in the book for the record of worlds shortest pop promo video clip.For Collateral Damage clip, clocking in at 2 seconds.Beat that!

demo bands- Fatal Taunt & FUBAR

Question: Hello, my name is Sean Howells. I am management for SB promotions and am contacting you as i feel that i have two of my bands ready for singning. Please forgive me for being short but i shall get straight to the point.

If you could PLEASE check out my top 2 bands webpages which has demo\'s on both and contact me if you have any interest. If you have no interest, some hints and tips for them, feedback would be VERY appreciated. The bands are named Fatal Taunt and FUBAR. Their site addresses are :

http://www.fataltaunt.com

http://www.wearefubar.com

Thank you for your time and effort in reading this. If for any reason you would like to contact me my details are :

Sean Howells
SB promotions management
tel : 07983548448

Hope to hear from you soon. From: sbpromotions@ntlworld.com

Answer: hi Sean, well you are certainly in the right place as it seems Wales is a hot-bed of talent at the moment- has been for years actually..dunno whats in the water, but there seems to be a production line of bands coming thru- and many labels' A&R activity is centred on South Wales, thats a fact.The link you sent for FUBAR didnt work- D'oh! you fell at the first hurdle dood! BUT- i searched around and found them on myspace instead- and i'm glad i did, i enjoyed their music more than Fatal Taunt to be honest.We have no interest to sign either band, because they both are not what we are signing, and seem to have no ready made scene to slot into..but the singer of FUBAR has a good voice and thier songs are stronger than most new bands...the drummer of Fatal lets them down imho..its kinda out of time in places which rules them out right away.I thought it was cool that the FUBAR singer wears a cardiff city football team shirt- an individual touch -as many rock bands do not ever wear such team clothes, to not alienate fans from other cities...so, I wish you the best with them.

No Sabbat on Earache in 80's?

Question: Digby-why are you thanked on certain sabbat albums, but earache never signed the band did you help set them up with gigs or somthing when they first started or are you just friends with them. Also did you ever consider signing them when they were first around considering they were one of the bigger bands from nottingham at the time. Also i was talking to a staff member at a games workshop store and they said that GW at one point tried to set up a label to release \"gaming music\" with earache\'s help is this true? From:


Answer;I guess it does seem a little odd that Earache did'nt sign one of Nottingham's leading Metal bands in the late 80's era.The reasons are twofold really- 1) I saw them play really early on as Hydra at a pub in Nottingham but the spandex pants they wore were cringeworthy-in truth, my head was more into extreme hardcore punk bands who sang about political lyrics, such as Napalm Death & Heresy at that time plus 2) I had'nt actually got my label set up properly before Sabbat broke through- i had barely released 2 or maybe 3 records, it was still a bedroom operation.Seemingly,In the course of a few weeks,Sabbat went from budding local hopefuls to Kerrang cover stars-due to the founding editor of kerrang- Geoff Barton- taking an immediate liking to their unique style.A lucky break which propelled them to a deal with the well-established Noise records in Germany.I dont remember them thanking me on any albums, but Nottingham has always had a small tight scene, so our paths used to cross a bit, espcecially as members of Earache band Lawnmower Deth were friendly with Sabbat, coming from the same North Nottingham villages.
What was weird was that much later, when Return To The Sabbat formed, in 2001 or so, Earache declined to sign them.


As for Games Workshop- we did work with them in 1989 licensing the cover art for our Bolt Thrower album.This was prompted by the band themselves, because their name is taken from a GW game, personally I didnt know what Games Workshop was-it was a blast to work with such a hive of creative talent-GW were a local small independent fantasy wargaming firm at the time, not the corporate behemoth they are nowadays, so such a deal was easy to do.My recollection is that Bolt Throwers album actually sold quite well thru the GW stores, which prompted the marketing guy there to try their hand at doing a GW themed record label, with the first and i believe only signing of hard rockers D-Rok, who had a short lived career.

What do we look for when signng a band?

Question: In signing a new band, if the task were ever to strike you, what typically would you look for?Recording skill? Musicianship? An active band who tours regularily? Please respond and feel free to add any other qualities or guidelines that you would wish for. Thank you.
Yours Truly,

ORB DECAY.

Answer: Man, we get asked this question maybe 5 times per day, its all you guys think about!!..if I wrote a book called "How to get your band signed to a Record label" it would be a bestseller, I think.Having signed maybe 100+ bands in the extreme metal genre its hard to analyse what factors got them signed, to pass on the info to you, but i'll try...y'know, In this era of myspace and social networking sites and mp3 downloads its kinda arguable that bands dont actually need to be signed to a label anymore.The ultimate aim is to gain fans- which if you do it well enough, will make the labels come running to you.

Its a given that your band must be tight, proficient musicians, team players, hard working-and you must tour- bedroom bands are destined for obscurity. What bands often dont realise is what the standard of the competition is like- its a high level out there, the competition to be signed is intense..Earache is literally bombarded with hopeful up n coming bands myspace links, demos, cds every day of the week- we worked out we maybe get 4000 approaches a year (10 a day)- and sign approx 2-3-4 bands from that, so we ae saying "no" most all the time.Most hopefuls are decent bands, but a lot are making the mistake of sending us the first recordings they've done.No band is killer within 3 months of picking up instruments..

Many labels of some long standing are very picky indeed- Earache amongst them- this is a fact many bands dont appreciate-the A&R people at labels are paid to have their fingers on the pulse of whats new and happening in the rock/metal scene, but they are incredibly sheep like, at the same time- so it helps a lot if your band is part of a current trend, or more likely the next upcoming trend.Do your homework about the labels too...if you read that a label is signing bands which are in your particular style, then approach them, rather than labels who are working other stuff.
Finally- even when you do get signed..labels still need you to work even harder than before..as the expectation level ' bar' is raised for 'signed acts'.

last bit of advice i can give is- send a 6-pack of beers in the package with your demo- i'm not kidding! it will guarantee your band a comprehensive listen at the label,plus it will show your impeccable skill in marketing/promotion of your band, which is highly prized.

So I wish you the best of luck with your band.
We drink Stella Artois.

Earache PlayStation 2 Game is OUT NOW!

Question: Hi remember reading an article about a year ago, about an Earache records video game. It was gonna be for ps2 and pc i think. I remember seeing development pictures. What happened to that? From: venturesagogo@yahoo.com


Answer: yes its finally, finally OUT..in UK and across some European territories.USA is still in the works for later in the year. After a slow start ( i guess after a year and a half of talking about it, the extra delays caused some fans to doubt it was actually real) its starting to sell well in the second week, its even in the amazon.co.uk chart for PS2 Games.The developers are currently talking to us about a Nintendo Wii version later in the year and a much more gory 18+ blood n guts version is due out in July too.Some discussions are taking place about adding Guitar Hero support into these later versions.

Sending CD demos to Earache..

Question: Hi,I need an address(not web)to send you my band s promo-album with a biography an a letter from me to give you all the infos,please dont ignore this,the album is really good,i think you should listen it,give us a way out from the stupids we got around,thank you all anyway,bye From: fran.martino@hotmail.it

Answer: sure-we do accept demos on CD- but a myspace link sent using our form on the contacts page is better. send CD to

Earache Records A&R
Pox Box 144
Nottingham
NG3 4GE
UK

thanks and good luck.

Skindred- formerly Dub War?

Question: Do you happen to know how to get in touch with Skindred - the band formerly known as Dub War?

-aztrid From: aztrid@gmail.com

Answer: Yeah Skindred is the new band formed by the members of Dub War (who recorded 2 albums and numerous singles on earache in mid 90's).They play a similar style of punk-ed up ragga metal, but are getting much more successful than Dub war were. As it happens only Benji the singer remains from the Dub war line up.Jeff and Ging now work as production team in South wales, and actually recorded the early Bullet For My Valentine demo(as Jeff Killed john).You can check out Skindred on myspace