How many Muni Waste vinly LP colors?

Question: Hello Earache,

I\'d like to know the pressing info for the \"the Art of partying\" LP. On what colours and how many of each color will be pressed?

Thanks.

From: jorisvde@hotmail.com


answer: its pressed and onsale today from the Earache webstores.This Thrash-tastic soon-to-be-classic LP is available in a mindboggling -10 -count 'em -different colored slabs o' wax.200 of each exist.Snap em up to be assured of a collectible rarity thats surely gonna be worth stacks in years to come. First come first served!!

Coalesce on Earache circa 1996-7?

Question: two questions for you.

1) Is it true that Dig is the reason for the Book choosing death\'s existance, I read somewhere that albert originally only intended to interview Dig but then the book expanded from that.
2) How did Earache end up signing Coalesce, I mean they werent exactly the type of sound that you would associate with earache at the time and did you look into any other bands from that scene at the time such as botch and converge. From:


Answer:yeah- according to Albert, the catalyst for the book came from the 2 or 3 indepth interviews he did with me for a local Philly mag- around 2000 when we issued a label compilation called "Immortalised",which was 3 cds in a tin can,(to represent a kinda mini-time capsule).I guess he enjoyed me reciting the completely candid story of the explosive rise of this label, from humble beginnings to selling millions of records in early 90's to a kinda downturn in our fortunes in late 90's, and the subsequent rise of death metal acts on other labels- in essence he saw the potential to recount the complete story of the scene.I also reckon the success of books like Lords of Chaos and American Hardcore prompted him to take it further.
As for Coalesce- we signed the band early on to a 7inch record deal,because we saw they had potential and as a HC band they were highly unusual in taking an more open minded stance towards metal cos at the time the 2 scenes rarely mixed.Sadly line up problems meant the band did not progress too well.

EARACHE BAND DECEMBER 2000-2003

Question: What ever happened with December? I picked up The Lament Configuration a few years ago, and about 20 listens later, I finally found what I was looking for. The last news article is from \'04 saying they have a new singer and are recording, but I haven\'t been able to find out a damn thing more about them. \"December\" is a tricky word to google. From: cailinltj@hotmail.com

Answer: yes December were a great band-from Reno, Nevada, and played what might be described as stop /start hardcore with metallic riffs and breakdowns- or in other words-early metalcore.In about 2003 their long-term singer and leader Mark Moots quit the bqnd after 10 years service and the band sadly imploded after that.BUT-They made a great promo clip for the track "host" off the lament configuration album..filmed by Pete Bridgwater at a ranch just outside Reno, if you look carefuly you can see 2 disused jet fighter planes in the aircraft hanger the band are playing in..you can view it here;

Main players in UK extreme metal scene?

Question: I want to ask, who are the main talent agents and companies that earache deals with, I mean with indie and rock you have creation managment (alan mcgee) and hall or nothing( martin hall). Are there less managers working in extreme metal or somthing? From:

Answer:Extreme metal has its main movers and shakers, much like any scene- but because the whole metal scene is quietly shunned by,and exists pretty much under the radar of the music industry as a whole, these people are hardly household names.The scale of operations in extreme metal are basically smaller, as are the financial rewards,which makes the folks toiling away to grow and cultivate the bands more or less have to be fans first and foremost, making a financial 'killing' is the last thing on their minds usually.For example, A huge selling breakthrough extreme metal act-Shadows Fall, say, might sell 250,000 copies of an album in USA, 250,000 in UK&Europe-BUT this is not even in the same league as many of the leading UK indie bands- Kaiser Chiefs sell upwards of 1,000,000 in the UK alone, Kasabian also, Snow Patrol also sell a million here, Coldplay 3 Million.

To answer your question; After the USA heavyweights like Q-Prime (Metallica) and the UK equivalents like Sharon Osbourne(Ozzy) and Rod Smallwood (Iron Maiden) arguably, Craig Jennings (pic above) might be the most important Artist manager in the UK metal scene, handling acts like Bullet for My valentine, Funeral For A friend & Gallows.Andy Farrow in Yorkshire manages a stellar roster of Paradise Lost, Opeth and Skindred.Cradle of filth are managed by Faye Woolven.Many of these managers have grown with the acts after they made their sales breakthroughs.For promotions- many of the labels releasing extreme metal rely on their own in-house promo teams, as its such a specific type of music and you have to be steeped in the scene 24/7 to be respected within it.As freelance tho, Kaz Mercer at Mercenary handles Metallica and Lostprophets,so thats a pretty powerful roster! Owen at hero PR is also freelance, and does FFAF some bigger bands (he used to work at Earache ha ha).Anton Brookes at Bad Moon handles Foo Fighters and is open minded to work with newer acts too.

By and large, being an Independent minded and smallish scene- most people just work the bands they have an affinity with.

Viewing Earache bands tour dates

Question: hi in the uk we have a website called ENTS2 which after search i can find whats happening in any town in the uk. 2 things,is there a website which does simaliar in europe,of are yourselves thinking of doing one. save logging onto individial bands websites. thanks. From: 8haywah@uk.ibm.com

Answer: Earache offers fans to check our bands gigs ina calendar view. go to our front page www.earache.com and you'll see a map of the world.Clicking any continent, or UK graphic, brings up a calendar view of gigs by date/town.Now you can plan your gig viewing in advance..see you down the front!

Earache & Sub Pop ( how we nearly signed Nirvana!)

Question: It has been said before about how earache had negotiated with sub pop to release nivarna material, however im wondering why are godflesh listed as a sub pop artist on their wikipedia page and also in a book about the label\'s history, did earache license the material to them ( perhaps to sweeten the deal for getting nivarna or something) From:


Answer:Earache in the late 80's was making waves in the Uk Indie scene, supported by John Peel etc, and selling a lot of grindcore and Death Metal records.Our UK distributor was Revolver Distro based in Bristol, and working at the distro was an amiable American chap named Gary Held, who ran a DIY one-man label called Tupelo, with i think 4 or 5 releases out(including Sleep's debut).Meanwhile the Uk press were beginning to fawn over the coming Sub Pop-led Seattle grunge scene, most of which i thought was garbage, with one exception- Nirvana- who quickly became my favourite band on the planet, mainly thru the heaviness of the guitars and the sense that they were an intense band.
Meanwhile,Gary Held had pulled off a major coup for his label by licensing the debut Nirvana album for the UK- the story goes that he flew up to the Sub Pop office armed with $1000 in cash and said he's not leaving until they license Bleach to him for UK!
By the end of the day, he had the album! A genius move by any standards..
Tupelo quickly sold out of its first pressing of "Bleach" and The guy hired to do publicity for Tupelo/Nirvana in the UK (Anton of Bad Moon) was also doing Earache's publicity for a short while.Earache and Tupelo quickly became the biggest selling labels thru Revolver distro- so i had a front row seat to witness the Nirvana bandwagon starting to roll in the UK.
You gotta remember tho Nirvana on the debut were deemed very cool by the media,but the band were still quite underground and merely a promising US band among thousands of promising bands, and far from the superstars they(albeit reluctantly)later became.
Earache wanted to license the next album by Nirvana badly- and offered a whopping $13,000 to Sub Pop in order to license the next Nirvana album.It was a fortune for us at the time, but was never even considered, as events began to snowball and Nirvana quickly left Sub Pop to sign to DGC/Geffen.Oh well, - nevermind.


As for Godflesh- Earache licensed a couple of Godflesh tracks to Sub Pop for their 7 inch series, which became their Slateman single.Earache released it on CD for Europe.

Another piece of trivia- The second guitarist on the cover of Bleach is actually Jason Everman, who joined Nirvana briefly as a live guitarist, but did not feature on the recording.Later he joined the band OLD signed to Earache and appears on the lo flux tube album by them.

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!