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

Favourite Earache release?

Question: Kind of a stupid question, but I was curious. What are your favorite Earache releases? Are there any that you really dislike, or wonder what you were thinking when you released it? From: johnwalbridgeiv@yahoo.com


Answer:I've been asked this question a few times over the years- out of the 300+ titles Earache has released in 20 years, my all time favourites are Napalm's Scum and Carcass' Reek and Terrorizer's album, and i can honestly there are none or very few which i actively dislike..most bands have been carefully selected after much consideration, after all, and i personally signed their contract, so its a given, I must surely have liked them.Out of the newer bands- faves are Berzerker, Akercocke, Deicide,Ephel Duath, Municipal waste,Cult Of Luna, Biomechanical, Decapitated,Evile.

Generally, i tend to like our more out-there, more unique-sounding releases, most titles in the catalog are groundbreaking in a some way, sonically, lyrically, or in terms of the scene they represent, sometimes it might take a decade or more for the music to be accepted as such tho!!.Earache traditionally is ahead of the curve- we actively dislike to jump on anyones bandwagon, to mercilessly sign a string of bands sounding like the latest new new thing- we just dont do that.We prefer the mavericks, the outsiders, the bands unafraid to try somthing different.

Bands which i loved the most are some of Earache's least succesful..like OLD, Ewigkeit, Shortie.All unique, forward thinking and extremely talented musicians, but cruelly overlooked by fans at the time of their releases.

No Glen Benton on Deicide Euro tour?

Question: Why Glen Benton did not show in the venues in Spain and Portugal, on European\'s Deicide tour?!? From: bradifasik@hotmail.com


Answer: He is in Florida attending to a court case to do with matrimonial/custody matters- it was meant to end a week or so ago, and it was hoped- even reported- that he would fly to Paris to join the tour, but other circumstances have caused further delays to his departure date. He will join the tour at some stage,Glen is desperate to travel and play for the fans in Europe, we hold flights daily to diferent cities in case he can finally leave.Meanwhile the rest of the band decided to show their commitment to the fans and promoters on this tour by carrying on so, they recruited a new singer from Polish band Dissinter, who is doing an admirable job filling in at short notice, fans are seemingly happy to acknowledge the bands perseverance in pretty unusual circumstances.
Deicide are actually Earache's most toured band-with Glen they have played approx 200 shows in the last 2 years, travelling across the globe to places like Korea, Australia, new zealand, plus numerous USA and European tours.Sometimes personal matters infringe on the best laid plans, I'm afraid.

Lock Up & project bands

Question: Did Earache ever look into signing lock up when the band was around being that the majority of the musicans were contracted to earache anyway? From:


Answer:We did all the napalm death members projects in the early 90's- Meathook seed, Blood From The Soul, hell, even Terrorizer was classed a project- but none of them did as well as the main band.So, nah- we had no interest in Lock-up, as from memory we had just dropped Napalm death in 1999, and Tomas quit ATG in 1998 or so- we thought of shane and jesse as ex-artists at that point, and wanted to steer well clear of anything they did-So we had no actual contractual arrangements with the members as they formed lock up.Nick barker has never been signed to Earache actually- and it was Nuclear blast who snapped up Lock up instead.
If i gave ya a list of all the side projects that Earache signed artists have tried to get off the ground, while being signed or soon after being dropped, we'd be here all day.Its almost fashionable for band members to be 2-3 bands at once nowadays, but we prefer for our artists to focus on their "main" band, and advise them to do so as touring a project band can be troublesome.But we also give a lot ofour acts freedom to do other things- hence a lot of Earache artist's projects come out on other labels.right now i can think of sam from berzerker's project called Senseless, coming out on Anti-culture,after it was rejected by us.There are hundreds of other projects our artists have been involved in.

Is There A God?

Question: is there a god
From:

answer: Wow you certainly ask some searching questions here!.Personally i beleive there is NO God. No Allah, Baal,Zeus or Wotan- all are irrational concepts distilled in weak minds.All religions are causes of conflict- imagine a world with no religious beliefs- there would be no suicide bombers, no 9/11, no crusades, no witch hunts, no Northern Ireland troubles..it would be much happier place if people could escape the trap of Religion.In my opinion, there is no God but yourself.Read the lyrics of Deicide, penned by Glen Benton, for further information.

Agnus Meat plow- The home of metal?Errr....

Question: What is it exactly is it a band has to bring to the table to get a record deal. I know a band has to bring a prospect of success and knowledge of music. However, being in a metal band is also about raw agressive attacks on humanity. So does attitude, and metal integrity have any say anymore. If so check out www.myspace/agnusmeatplow.com
the home of metal From: mearl@telus.net


Answer:Its also about giving us your correct website URL dude..this doesnt link...so we cant check out your band...i guess you blew yer chance.Oh well..

Does quality of demos matter?

Question: does quality of demo\'s on myspace affect your judgement of the songs? From: corey250@hotmail.com


Answer: no it doesnt- we are listening for originality of the music, and especially we listen out for tightness of the musicians playing together- we listen for microsecond sloppiness in the playing, and bands with great, tight, grooving drummers stand a better than average chance of being picked up.

The number of myspace plays is becoming increasinglty relevant- especially the daily plays, as many bands now have figured how to acheive 500,000+ plays...y'know It's hard to pinpoint why some bands get signed and some dont,its all about the elusive x-factor (or should it be axe-factor?), which having sold over 9 million records across 350+ releases, almost all of them exclusively of the extreme music genre,which we kickstarted, we think we have a slight clue about this stuff by now.

We make allowances for the fact that most bands cant afford a slick production, when we listen to them.We actually have bands coming to us with professionally recorded demos or full albums in some cases but it doesnt affect our interest.We recently had an unsigned band offer us an andy sneap produced album, which is sonically incredible,as he is a world class producer,sadly we're not feeling the band's vibes, so passed on it.This proves that quality of demo recording has no effect on signings.

What are ex-earache employees doing now?

Question: i remember reading that one of the heads of anti-flag\'s AF records is a former employee of earache (US) is this true?
also of the former earache employees do most of them remain working in the music industry after they have left the company and how many have started their own labels. From:

Answer:Yes- its Jorge, an esteemed ex Earache USA staffer from the mid- 90's.This is a question we think about a lot here in the office cos actually an astonishingly high percentage of staff who have left Earache over the years,do still work in the music business, at all levels.We deal with our ex-staff nearly every day in some capacity or other.Some are very famous in their chosen fields.

Given that most of the folks starting here have no music industry experience whatsoever- which is partly to do with our longstanding policy of taking on newbies, and partly because recruitment of experienced music industry professionals in Nottingham, UK is hard, as its 100 miles from London,it could be argued that Earache is a the perfect starting point for anyone trying to break into the music industry.Statistics bear it out.

Currently our alumni are working as:

A&R Vice president for Atlantic Records/Manager of Shiny Toy Guns
Press officer of Virgin Records
Press officer of Century Media Records
Press Officer- SPV records
Editor- metal maniacs magazine
Owner of PR firm - Hero Pr
Marketing manager of Jagermeister
Art director Eagle entertainment
Accountant Hot Records (eva cassidy)
label manager of Koch Records
label manager of Equal Vision records
Label manager of AF records (antiflag)
Owner of darkwave records
owner of boss tunage records
Owner of gentle electric records
Running NYC's only metal club- Precious Metal Mondays @ lit club.
guitarist and drummer in upcoming NYC band- Wetnurse

our ex-staff have also worked for Columbia & Roadrunner as Radio Promotions,Rockstar Games (grand theft auto etc),sales manager @ Doc data pressing plant,Tour booker for Fugazi, manager of Carcass & Echoboy, manager of Sixbyseven, Founder of Whitby Gothic weekend, resident DJ at Nottingham the Social..etc..basically, our staff get bloody everywhere!

Earache mispressings & misprints- any value?

Question: I bought a cd of napalm death\'s from enslavement to obliteration a couple of weeks ago but didnt get a chance to listen to it until now. I think that there was a mistake when the cd was made because although all of the artwork (the insert, the booklet and the priting on the cd itself) is how its suppose to be, the songs are not. The cd turned out to be a copy of entombed\'s wolverine blues instead. Not that i\'m dissapointed or anything, just a little confused. Do mistakes like this happen often, and would this cd be worth more because of it. From: berenpbj@aol.com

Answer: It's the first i've heard about this mispressing, it sounds like a weird one.As for its actual value, i think its possibly worth more as a mispressing to an avid collector than the regular CD, beleive it or not!These things are basically mistakes by the plant and are damn rare,and happen when the cd machine operator doesnt replace the art/on body at the same time as the master audio for a pressing next inline- so the next print run goes onto a different disc- until its noticed within 1-50 discs,and should be scrapped but some get through.Strangely such events are getting more common as our catalog gets larger.Recently i heard about a terrorizer cd containing opera music and years ago i think a Carcass contained Queen.try to buy them on ebay?You will need a lot of dosh!

I guess its an American pressing of the Napalm death FETO- because in USA all earche's titles are pressd at a single plant -Cinram- its an EMI owned plant,and presses all EMI catalog as well as earache's because our distro (Caroline) is an EMI owned distro.the possibilities of mispressings like the one you mention are higher than in Uk/Europe where we use about 4-5 different plants to make our cds.

We are waiting for a Napalm death CD to be pressed in small numbers containing The Beatles music..or a Beatles CD pressed with Morbid Angel's music by mistake--haha that would be priceless to Beatles collectors.

Is webstore secure?

Question: I noticed that Internet explorer does not show your site as secure. I would like to order some cds and have friends that i know would love to order, but we are hesitant to do so if we have to enter our credit card numbers on an insecure page. Can i mail order a different way? Or call in an order? Please let me know. From: theabatisofdaliana@yahoo.com


Answer: our webstore is a secure site and is encrypted, so you can order in confidence.

Nocturnus The Key out of print

Question: Do you ever intend to re-release The Key and Thresholds by Nocturnus? I know The Key is on iTunes, but I\'d rather give you my money for the actual CD than pay between $30 - $60 on Amazon.com From: oconnotron@gmail.com


Answer: The key was made available again a few years ago, for the first time in a decade, if you missed out on this Florida Death metal classic, then too bad. You are in luck with Thresholds though- its available right now from the Earache UK WEBSTORE

Early Earache bands NOT on CD

Question: Will you ever be issuing older earache tiles on CD such as Filthy Christians,Old Lady Drivers and Sore Throat. I\'ve wanted these on CD for a long time but never scene or heard of them issued on CD. From: anthonydesino@yahoo.com


Answer: beleive it or not, when Earache was a brand new fledgling label, in its early years late 80's operating outta my apartment, the CD format was a new deluxe luxury format, costing a lot of money to master and release, and sold hardly any copies compared to vinyl and casette, as most punk and metal fans did not then own a cd player.Thats why all the early Earache cds contain so many bonus tracks, even barely different mixes as was the case of the Morbid Angel debut on CD, as an incentive to shell out for this luxurious (at the time) format.

Filthy Christians was released on CD- but the other bands you mentioned did not warrant a CD release at the time, as expected sales were small.I think out of the classic run of first 21 mosh numbers, only mosh 3, 6, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16,17, 18, 19, 20, 21 were debuted on CD.The rest did not, much to the annoyance of collectors later.

Napalm Death rare 7" "The Curse"

Question: i have a limited 7 \" record of napalm death with a naked kid running down a street with other kids as well trying to find info on it and finding out its worth has the songs the curse, musclehead, your achievment, dead, and morbid deceiver any help would be great From: cowlitzfan@netzero.net

Answer: this is probably the rarest Napalm death 7 inch vinyl ever made on Earache.It came out as a bonus free single with the original gatefold LP release of the second album by the band-1988's "From Enslavement To Obliteration".The curse is a slow dirgy number and is exclusive to this single, while the other 4 tracks are the extra tracks on the cd version.About 8000 from memory were made i think?The picture on the front is a classic image from Vietnam war- the kid has just been hit with a napalm bomb, and her flesh is in tatters and burning.Its a real,live napalm death.

John Zorn's Naked City Line up?

Question: I wonder if you can help me out regarding the actual line up of one of your bands
I was listening to a recording of a Naked City show a few years back and on it there was mike patton singing yet on the earache bio for them hes not listed, did mike join later or somthing and is this the only earache band hes been involved with? From:


Answer:Noted New York jazz- saxophonist John Zorn formed Naked City, as an rotating ensemble of accomplished and open minded musicians to explore the avant garde,to scale the outer reaches of music.Naked City recorded "Torture Garden" in 1991, a record at least a decade ahead of its time- it features 42 cuts of intense grindcore/jazz/country/you name it blasts with vocalist Yamatsuka Eye from japanese noise band The BOredoms.

John Zorn asked Earache to release it at the time on Vinyl LP and cassette MC only, saving the CD release for his friends label Shimmy Disk. It was also released by Toys factory in japan.

Mike Patton is not the vocalist on the Torture Garden recording,and he doesnt appear on any Earache release,sadly, but i guess he joined John Zorns ensemble after leaving faith No More and he has featured in many John Zorn projects since.

Industrial Strength Comp 2 x CD 1996

Question: Hello there,

I have only one question; how many pressings are there from the first Industrial
F**king Strength CD, CAT# MOSH150CDL?
Thank you,

Jerri. From: jerr80@hotmail.com

Answer: First UK pressing on release in 1996 came in cardboard sleeve, about 6000 copies. After that it was in 2 x cd plastic jewel box, approx 15,000 worldwide?In about year 2000 the title was deleted from the Earache catalog because it was licensed from Industrial strength and the license period ran out.

Earache PS2 game- now Feb 2007 release!

Question: I have been asking my local game shop to reserve me a copy of the Earache extreme racing game but now they say its not out on December 8th as your site says.I want to get it for a Christmas present so how can i buy it?
from: finalfantasygame344@gmail.com


Answer: Sorry but due to circumstances out of Earache's control the PS2 game is delayed till after xmas- we hear FEb 2007 release date now, which sucks if you planned to get it for xmas. Sorry, but it DOES EXIST! seee photos the final actual game in my hands here.

Earache DVD easter eggs?

Question: please can u tell me what the hidden tracks on the immortalised dvd are
thanx
paul From: paul.lynch@talktalk.net



Answer:that was answered here in January 06 blog.

Akercocke:Intractable clip- where is it?

Question: WHERE IS THE INTRACTABLE VIDEO FOR AKERCOCKE??? From: awny_mcprawny@yahoo.co.uk


Answer: It was filmed and completed but the label and band decided to shelve it due to substandard production values.Its unlikely to see the light of day because it just looks horrible, sorry.
Anyone who knows Akercocke knows they have a red-blooded, eager admiration for the female form, so on the release of the last album "Words That Go Unspoken.." the band fancied a concept video this time- it was to be a softcore porn movie-esque type of affair, with no band members in it, just girls in various state of undress.Not a bad idea in principle, but Earache could'nt see the point in it, having done a similar tho much much more hardcore-porn type clip for December Wolves some years before. No Tv stations can ever play it and we had to be careful about the legalities of even streaming such material from our website because nudity is strictly for over 18's, and there are laws to abide by, so the idea faded away.

Earlier this year by sheer chance a well-known Uk soft-porn director contacted us about using a band in a scene from his new movie.We jumped at the chance to resurrect the 'intractable' video clip idea, but with no nudity- so the band duly arrived at the soho strip club in london where they were filmed performing the song with a host of strippers gryrating around them.The photo above is from the shoot, and it looks visually ok, but for some reason the resulting video footage is quite amateurishly shot, sub-par, and not really usable.So thats why we shelved the clip.The filmed scene will no doubt appear in the porn movie sometime soon tho, so check your local adult shop, dodgy Uk porn section.

As an aside- Earache has shelved a few clips over the years because they are simply too substandard for showing, mostly cos of lame subject matter; The Haunted's 'Chasm' clip off their debut featured BMX riders wipeing out hard on concrete..Iron Monkey's clip is just ECW wrestlers..Massacres clip was too dark..Ultraviolence clip featured schoolkids headbanging to 'Paranoid', which looked shite.

Earache 90's techno Sub label- SUB BASS?

Question: I don\'t know if anyone has ever asked this, but what is the history behind Sub Bass records? Was it an actual Earache imprint, or just a distro deal? It seems like it came and went pretty quickly though. From: johnwalbridgeiv@yahoo.com


Answer: In the early 90's Sub Bass was the label where Earache released its non- metal titles, like Lawnmower deth's pop offshoot 'Six Yard Box' and manchester's heavy Industro- grind-sampling duo-'Mighty Force'..but within a short while in the UK a brand new style of street music was taking shape- Jungle Rave- (later named drum n bass)which was solely powered by the pirate radio stations and underground clubs and DJ's and MC's.It was a world away from the metal/grind scene Earache had spearheaded, but to my ears it was an genuinely exciting new form of music- cos it was literally quite alien from anything that had gone before, being mostly created by Black and Asian kids using drum loops on computers.Prodigy had broken the mainstream, but behind them was a whole underground of acts like Acen who were a stalwart on the pirate radio stations...

By sheer chance I came to know Steve Gurney who was Sound engineer for Cathedral, and his acid- techno act Larceny became the first proper Sub Bass release on 12", closely followed by Jungle Rave Dj's like DJ Senator,Fenetik, and the Belgium-esque Aciiid sounds of F.U.J.Famed BBC Radio DJ played a few of the records on his show which was cool, but the label itself was no more than a dalliance of mine, our efforts were still 100% on the metal acts, sub bass was side show.Out of the blue another UK rave techno label called Suburban base (Sub Base) issued us with a cease and desist order over use of the name, so Sub Bass was duly folded.

Looking back it was probably a precursor to the extreme hardcore techno/gabba sounds Earache released later in the decade like Industrial strength, Ultraviolence, DOA etc.

Earache xmas party 2006

Question: when is the Earache Christmas Party this year. What bands are playing and how can I get 2 tickets.From Mike.
From: geordiemetallica@gmail.com

Answer: Yeah its fast coming- better book 12 dec off work cos the Xmas Thrash bash is set for Monday 11th december at Junktion 7 in Nottingham.We have our new signing EVILE playing a set but the main club is actually regular monday extreme metal night@ junktion 7 called Overdrive, hence the £2 entry on the door. You dont need any tickets- just turn up!leave yer liver at the door..

Rarest Earache release? how many copies?

Question: Do you have a list of production runs for every Earache release? I am trying to compile a list of the rarest metal cd\'s, and was wondering if you keep track of this sort of thing.

Thanks!
M!ke From: entropy9203@earache.com


Answer: Hi mike- you can find a sort of complete-ish list of the pressings numbers and differnet versions of our releases on our CATALOG page on our website.You can see that many releases have had for instance a 1000 pressing on vinyl or picture disc.Some titles by our major bands have had weird events which made them rare- a good example is the first pressing of Carcass "choice cuts" which did not have "This Is your life" on it- limited to approx 70 copies or so that went out to journalists..that version was a promo disc which was pulled from circulation because of the onset of ken's serious illness in 1999.Later in 2004 it was issued with that extra track.

Earache "death metal special" VHS from the 90's

Question: Hi,
I have asked this question before but didnt recieve an answer, I am looking for the name of a VHS tape or maybe its been made a DVD now that had a bunch of Death Metal bands featured as a Death Metal band special, the first feature was on NAPALM DEATH and they had just released HARMONY CORRUPTION, There was a big special on the FLORIDA DEATH SCENE with interviews featuring Chuck from DEATH, CANCER, OBITUARY and also a Morrissound report as well. I can not find it anywhere and I think its because I am getting the name wrong. Can you help me out.?
Lee From: angry_mob2005@yahoo.com.au


Answer: yeah those bands were interviewed, along with me for a special episode of the early 90's metal documentary VHS series called'Hard n Heavy' - its now been repackaged by some enterprising fellows, renamed "Grindcore"with some truly awful artwork, and released on DVD on Universal.Earache has nothing to do with this by the way.BUT there is no florida scene report on this DVD- i think you might have to search for the actual hard n heavy original VHS, some of the original VHS are now released on DVD but mainly the ones featuring OZZy or Nirvana etc from that era.

Earache online reviews?

Question: WHere can I find some new reviews specifically on Exmortem, and Cult of Luna? The links page for some reason or another is down and I have checked out almost every webzine under the sun....Any new ones to look for Earache bands on? From: m3tal_ch1ck666@yahoo.com


Answer: we collect a lot of the reviews and features on our bands and place them online in our Press Archive. You can read all the reviews HERE if you hit last modified button twice it arranges the collection of reviews in newest order.

Earache Extreme Metal racing PS2 game- December 8th!!

Question: Hey guys, is Extreme Metal Racing being released in Australia? If so, when and where can I get it (if you know). Keep metal extreme guys! From:


Answer: Well after a few false starts -mainly cos Sony wanted to improve the load times of the game before it was released--its definately finally coming out just in time for xmas.Friday December 8th sees the release of PS2 game Earache Extreme Metal Racing in UK. You can order it for £14.99 delivered, from HMV online- they ship worldwide.Also check out the competitionto win it free along with a BC Rich guitar!

Municipal Waste album cover question?

Question: This might be a real dumb question but I\'m just curious to know this:

I have a copy of Municipal Waste\'s \"Hazardous Mutation\" but it\'s slightly different from the present day pics I see of the album cover. Mine has a yellow logo in the top middle of the cover while other versions have a red logo to the right top side. Any particular reason there are two existing album cover versions or am I just looking into the cover thing too much? From: davidaloca@gmail.com

Answer: the yellow logo cover is the only one we have released. the red logo image used on our website was an early mock up which the webmaster uses on the site whenever the album is referred to, but it was'nt released like that actually. Sorry for the confusion.

System Of A Down on Earache?

Question: Is it true that earache discovered System of a down, Hatebreed and Converge, as aparently their first big shows were supporting earache bands ( ok napalm death) did earache look into signing any of them after the event? From:

Answer: Yes this is partly true in the case of SOAD..Earache was the very first label to offer a record deal to System Of A Down..sounds unbeleivable now but its 100% true.Our good friend Dino of LA band Fear Factory dropped by the UK office with the demo of SOAD, produced by non other than ex-earache artist Alex Newport, and we loved what we heard, especially their political stance which was unheard of in the burgeoning LA nu-metal scene, they stood out in what was a mass of korn clone bands, or Sugar Ray type jokey acts, they had more intensity.

I immediately flew to LA to meet with the band and manager and the band were flattered that a UK label had taken a major interest in them, so we got close to signing offical contracts, but in the end the major labels began to make them offers nd they signed wit h Rick Rubin's American Recordings.Serge still to this day remembers that Earache was the first label to appreciate what they were about.

Any French bands on Earache?

Question: c\'mon now...you can\'t keep avoiding the FRENCH question...WHY WONT YOU SIGN FRENCH BANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!There\'s Psychobolia, Kaizen, Trepalium, Pitbulls in the Nursery, 7th Nemesis, Kronos, Inhumate, so much quality, what\'s up dude?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From: jcarricaburu@hotmail.com


Answer:Thats a pretty stupid question- everyone knows we sign bands from all over the damn place,well, eveywhere except Germany and Japan.Yup- your theory is wrong cos we had french crazy-core band Carnival In Coal on the Elitist sub-label just last year.Why Earache has never signed a German band, i just dont know, it is pretty strange after all this time in business.
As for Psychobolia, thanks for the CD but it didnt grab us, sorry.

The NEW UK Indie Metal labels

Question: two questions for you guys

1) Is it true what some magazines have said in that the founding of the band to-mera is what killed elitist, because lee wanted to conectrate on being in a band again?

2) Out of the newer earache style uk indies visible noise, anticulture, in at the deep end and so on which one has impressed you the most, of those labels which one do you think will reach the status that earache is at now in a few years?
From:


Answer: Elitist was closed by Earache,mainly through our loss of confidence in the label due to underperforming sales, it was purely a business decision.We also stopped working with The Codebreaker and Willowtip as sub-labels for the same reasons.Some months earlier, Lee had founded To-mera with Julie Kiss and considered releasing it on Elitist but we declined.I guess To-mera is touring a lot now and seems to be going down well.
As for the new UK indie metal labels- Visible Noise is hands down the most impressive 'new' label in the UK, it sells more Cds than the rest of the labels you mention combined, and in the summer of 2006 had a UK number 1 album by Lostprophets, which is an unbeleivable acheivement for a truly Indie label,in any genre in fact, never mind Metal.VN is run by fabulous folks too, who genuinely look after their fans, hence 100% deserve the success they acheived.
The owners of Anticulture and In At The Deep End i have met a few times, and they too are committed to the Indie cause but do not have any massively succesful bands,not yet anyways, so can hardly be compared to VN.Steev from Anticulture has too wide a range of tastes i think, with acts ranging from Interlock to Gutworm or Miksha all sounding a bit too different to give the label an identity which it needs early on. In At The Deep End has Send More Paramedics who are a great band (epic double album coming next we hear!)and could be a huge success if the breaks go their way.

No Black Metal on Earache?

Question: Is there a specific reason that there were none, or a very minumum number of black metal bands signed to Earache records? I notice the only black metal band Earache obtained in sometime is Annal Nathrakh but that\'s about it I can see from the catalog of bands. Is it based on preference (maybe Earache isn\'t too fond of the black metal genre) or is it based on just the idea that Earache is soley for death metal and grindcore? I believe I read that somewhere once... From: davidaloca@gmail.com

Answer: Yes you are right, there is precious little Black Metal on the Earache label catalog,sure, its deliberate, and its for a variety of reasons.When Black Metal began to break out of Norway, in the early 90's, Earache at the time was enjoying its golden period..we had acts like Entombed appear at number 3 in the Swedish National sales charts for instance, and our Grindcore and Death Metal acts like Napalm Death & Morbid Angel were selling well.I wouldnt say we looked down on the new BM scene but our acts certainly did- due to pure arrogance,bands like Entombed would just laugh at the shambolic playing, the non-existant production of the early recordings, and the 'panda' make up and DIY spike armbands that did admittedly make the early BM acts look and sound kinda cheesy.Little did they know it would usurp them in popularity within a few years.

The world exteme music scene was damn tiny in late 80's so naturally I had known Euronymous, I sold Mayhem's first LP Deathcrush for him in the uk, when I had a mailorder, plus I met him in Oslo on tour with Napalm Death, he was a cool guy who worshipped, and looked a bit like, Cronos from Venom- he seemed to be involved in a cool growing scene in Oslo that was keeping the flame alive to true satanic metal,a style which had died out everywhere else.Later he named the catalog numbers of his newly formed label Deathlike Silence "Anti Mosh" which was a blatant jibe at Earache's then runaway success,so our friendship immediately cooled a lot after that, as was our interest in BM, because it seemed to be anti-us!

Earache was also put off getting involved by the fact that many of my UK friends had formed new fledgling labels to sign the first wave of BM bands and we didnt want to rock the boat of such new start-up labels- Neil(Nihil) started Cacophonous to release Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth,Lee Barrett (tho I didn't know him then) had formed Candlelight to sign Emperor, Hammy at Peaceville had signed Darkthrone (via Deaf records).Earache did not want to encroach on those labels.

However,it was obvious in 1992 or so, we had to sign one of the new Norwegian BM acts tho - and frankly, The ONLY band which Earache wanted to sign was Burzum, because they stood out musically and seemed to offer something very different to the rest.Varg was very interested, so he flew into the UK for a meeting at our Nottingham offices, and a deal was struck, but we had problems with his right wing racist views, so quietly backed out of the deal.You can read that story here in Julys blog.

So for various reasons Earache ended up with NO black metal bands during the 90's.

Is ANYTHING too extreme for Earache?

Question: I know earache has some vile bands on the roster, but is there such a thing as \"too extreme\" for your taste? If so what would be too much? From: butcher@wombraiders.us

Answer: hey- don't kid yerself bro, your band is'nt too extreme for us,sadly its just too predictable, and unoriginal.Earache has seen all the gore and guts before,we signed it,released it and promoted it over a decade ago, and still continue to release bands like Severe Torture in 2006, who thankfully back up the ultra-horrific imagery with actual killer music.To quote Alex in A Clockwork Orange its " Real horrorshow".

There are some things we cant sign or promote- mostly illegal or in bad taste- mainly because our distributors will not touch it.Any overtly racist or white power band like the ones on Resistance Records or say Skrewdriver from the UK, (pictured above)could never be signed for instance.Notorious Nazi skinhead band Skrewdriver were actually from a town close by Nottingham, Earache's HQ, and their leader and singer Ian Stuart died in the mid-90's in a car crash coming back from a gig,late at night.10 years later a local record collector dude drops by our office to buy tons of Mortiis vinyls, turns out he was the driver of the car that had Ian Stuart in it that night,which he survived of course.Weird huh?

Earache's video directors

Question: Hi!
I was just wondering who you normaly hire to do your videos?

Sincerly
Emelie From: emelie danielsson@hotmail.com



Answer: We use a ton of different people to make our video clips and live filmings.None are massive names, we always tend to use up n coming, creative directors, mainly cos they are cheaper!About a year ago we commissioned Shane Drake in USA to make a clip for Shortie, and in 2006 he won an MTV video award for Panic!In The Disco.In the Uk we recently hired the immensely talented Adam Mason make two incredible clips for us- Mortiis and Biomechanical..he has recently become an accomplished film maker in the horror genre.Deicide's recent clip for Homage for satan was directed by Scrambled visual.One video director we are yet to work with is Patric Ullaeus who is notable for his work with In Flames, Lacuna Coil etc but he's incredibly in demand.The director Earache has worked with most in recent years is Nottinghams' own Pete Bridgewater who is nothing short of a legend round here.

What does the label look for to sign a band?

Question: What type of bands are you guys looking for to sign? Obviously bands that will sell records and be a sound investment on your end, but more than a press pack and good audience; what are you looking for? I see why you signed With Passion , we share a practice studio with them; really good guys and diserve all the credit they can get. My band is hoping to send you a press pack soon after our EP is finished, so i just want to know what you\'re expecting from bands that want to be on a label such as yours. thanks. our myspace and website have songs from over a year ago, we\'ve been writing and preparing for the EP so we havent released anything; so you can expect the EP we\'re relasing in november to sound completely different.

www.excoriatemetal.com
www.myspace.com/excoriatemetal

Answer: We get asked this question a LOT.There is no easy answer, but the more work you do to make the labels job easier to sell your music the more chances of being signed.Labels LOVE a no brainer. The more well-known labels are totally swamped with bands,I think Earache must get upwards of 200 approaches per week either directly via our 'submit a demo' link or from recommendations from others/managers/ or cds arriving in the post.We sign maybe 3-4-5 bands a year now so work out the math- its about a 1 in 5000 chance, which is no chance. The wacky thing is- when we get round to playing them,we find most demos are pretty decent, its the final 1% of star quality or orginality (not to mention sheer luck) which seperates the signed acts from the unsigned.With Passion were introduced to us by the manager of another Sacto act on Earache- Shortie- and we were impressed enough by this recommendation and their work ethic, plus their undoubted musicianship,to sign them up right away.

Having upwards of 100,000+ profile views on myspace is gonna make labels stand up and take notice, regardless of your style- but by then you will have a decent fanbase so can really call the shots.Being part of a happening scene is a plus, so being totally unique in sound can be detrimental in many cases.Playing shows is a must, getting in the van and touring is the sure fire way to build a fanbase and you never know who is in the crowd who can help your career- managers, label A&Rs and influential journalists really do hang out at every shitty little gig in their town trying to discover the new hot band, its their job infact, so you can never know who is in the audience,even when the gig is like 30 people, as it so often is in the early days of a career.

I wish you luck and hope the breaks go your way.

Dischord/SST influences on Earache label?

Question: I remember reading that earache was influenced by the old school US hardcore labels such as Dischord and SST, if this is the case which one was the biggest influence on the foundation of Earache? From:

Answer:Both equally I would say.Obviously,Earache's musical output is nothing like the music those labels put out but their commitment to the independent spirit was a major influencing factor on myself as a fan before i started the label.So,yes,sure- Earache was and is most certainly still influenced by those early 80's USA hardcore labels, because they both demonstrated (and continue to do so actually) an immense affinity to the underground scene.Minor Threat, Dagnasty, Rites Of Spring, Black Flag,Descendents, Husker Du- all superb bands, legends of American hardcore all of them.
Dischord and SST are the textbook definitions of "Long-standing Independent label" which Earache itself kinda aspires to be eventually, albeit in a totally different musical scene.In The UK, Crass Records (Crass) and Clay Records (Discharge) were also blueprints for how i imagined the future Earache label to be like.
Earache also had other wildly different influences which affected its style/graphics and type of thinking in the early years of the label.Notably i was massively into Rick Rubin's late 80's hip hop label outta NYC- Def Jam (Run DMC/ LL cool J/Beastie boys)- the acts all seemed to be street-level and larger than life.In terms of style and presentation and graphics, USA Skateboard magazine- Thrasher -was also a major fascination of mine.It might be considered similar to say, Vice mag today, but for the mid-80's it was completely futuristic, everything i know about photography/typography/cutting edge layout comes from avidly reading that magazine back then.
A casual glance at the mag shows that even the Earache records logo itself is a variation on the legendary Thrasher mag logo.Nuff said.

I had no direct involvement with any of the labels or mags in USA- just a wide-eyed, fan-like enthusiasm and appreciation for what they stood for, from afar.

Closer to home, in the UK,for the day to day operations of the fledgling Earache operation, I gained immense moral support and encouragement from a similar one-man operation label-Children Of the Revolution (COR) outta Bristol.COR kindly co-released my debut record by The Accused(Mosh 1) and got Earache going as a proper label.Pusmort in USA and the Vinyl Solution label outta London also showed me that Indie DIY labels could actually release cutting edge new bands,and survive and even thrive.Heros all.

Iron Monkey on vinyl?

Question: Did earache ever issue any Iron Monkey vinyl? From: thehunchback.net

Answer: I don't think we ever made any vinyl of Iron Monkey's 2 albums for Earache.This is kinda dissapointing because the band were complete DIY/vinyl HC collectors themselves, as is the label manager at Earache, so i can only assume that back then during IM's short career (96-99) we werent into it.I remember well, Earache during that time had a major downer on vinyl, because it just didnt sell,even for the bigger bands.
Iron Monkey did make - with Earache's blessing- a vinyl 12inch for the USA based Man's Ruin label, but the label is long since defunct. Now that vinyl is king again we often wonder what items in the Earache back catalog deserve to be released on wax, maybe Iron MOnkey albums on LP might appear one day after all.We are planning a major set of LP Picture discs of classic back cat titles soon.

Slipknot on Earache?

Question: It says in the Slipknot \"welcome to our neighbourhood\" biography that earache along with metal blade was two of the labels involved in the bidding war for the band, is this true? From:


Answer: Nah,Slipknot passed Earache by completely.We never heard about Slipknot until their 1999 debut on Roadrunner, so how could we be bidding for them?Tho after the event I think we realised we had at some stage gotten hold of their Mate.Kill.Repeat demo. Obviously, it didnt make any impression on us- cos we are dumb like that!In fact the whole Nu-Metal explosion passed us by.Hard to beleive- but Earache had released another bunch of masked maniacs called The Berzerker before Slipknot's debut hit the racks.The Berzerker were so so extreme, they were actually off the scale.
Hats off once again to Monte at Roadrunner,who saw Slipknot were the kings-in-waiting of extreme music and snapped them up.1 Million sales of the Slipknot debut was a hella impressive achievement, unsurpassed in extreme music, either before or since.
Actually years later Jim Welch told me (who was then A&R at Columbia- or was it Atlantic Records?)he was massively into bidding for Slipknot. Jim was of course formerly the USA label manager of Earache records in America , during the early-mid 90's. So that might be where the -mistaken- Earache connection comes in.

Scum 20th anniversary edition- coming soon!

Question: since next year will mark the 20th anniversary of Napalm Death\'s Scum album, will Earache be considering re-issuing this album? I read somewhere that there was some expressed interest in this. it definitely needs it, especially a digitally remastered sound would be a great improvement. From: selfinduced@rcn.com

Answer: yes we are finally preparing to re-issue this classic piece of hate.Will include a full remaster job and an exclusive bonus DVD with interviews with Nik, Mick and Justin -yet to be filmed- getting their thoughts on the 20th anniversary of the recording of "scum". Should be a good way to re-introduce a new generation to the legendary album that kick-started extreme music and coined the grindcore genre.look for it early 2007.

Earache Extreme Metal Racing - OUT 27th Oct on PS2

Question: when is earacher extreme metal racing due for release in the uk? From: ruf_200@hotmail.co.uk

Answer: its finally finally, definately OUT IN UK STORES Friday 27th October.Collectors of our catalog will note its MOSH 333.If you pre-order from the chain of UK videogame stores called "GAME", the PS2 game comes with free bonus CD and DVD (Chop Your Own head off sampler), packed with extra Earache material.

We will soon announce a massive day of FREE showcase gigs, and FREE launch parties at various locations across London, UK on that day & long into the night, for game journalists, metal journalists,liggers,gamers, boozers and metal fans alike to attend and celebrate with us the worlds first exclusively Extreme metal/Death metal/grindcore-themed PlayStation 2 game.Welcome to our world...

Internships @ Earache?

Question: I saw your posting about Earache internships and I\'m really interested in trying out for one. The only question I have is what experienced is needed for the internships there?

I know I have a big knowledge on extreme music and music is my passion. I used to promote bands for a club, about to join my radio at my college and am willing to learn anything new.

I\'m just wondering what skills are really needed or if there are any required things to have before applying. Thanks. From: Davidaloca@gmail.com

Answer: The Indie music scene would collapse without the help of Interns, or unpaid work experience as we call it in UK.Earache, like most labels, could always use the extra help, plus its hands down the best and most fool-proof way to get a job in the industry.Currently the UK assistant label manager and USA Sales manager both started off here as interns, doing long stints as unpaid helpers- eventually becoming full time paid employees, because they were outstanding in the workplace.You don't need any particular skill set-a knowledge of, and a passion for the music we do, err THAT is a given, as is Internet/Pc/Mac/ (+Hoover/Xerox ha ha !!) related experience, as more and more record label activities take place online.Being hard working, punctual,a team player,personable- that is the main thing we look for.Working at a label at Intern level is often unglamorous- mostly shifting boxes of CDs or T-shirts, or doing the postroom stuff, but if you show a willingness to do even menial jobs brilliantly, with a passion and in an organised fashion- then other more creative aspects of the industry can follow.The pay off is in being involved in breaking new acts and knowing your efforts are helping build Earache's ever growing reputation for putting Extreme music on the map,by actually becoming part of its folklore.
Budding entrepreneurs need not apply however, we are not a training ground for your own HC label.

Rabies Caste?

Question: Hey Earache. I wanted to know what happened with Rabies Caste and why there is no news from them? For me this is a true and totally heavy and innovative band, I wonder what are they doing nowdays. From: natasha_svetlova@mail.ru

Answer: Yeah i signed Rabies Caste after hearing the demo of whats was to become their "Let The Soul Out And Cut The Vein' album- it sounded totally fresh with great production- it was finally something new in heavy music! Earache released this one album by the Russian-Israeli 3-peice Sludgecore mob, but even tho it showcased the band's heaviness and originality, it failed to sell in significant numbers. Being based in Israel meant the band did not tour too often.
After the Earache split, the band took a couple of years to regroup, and have made a 7inch split with Sourvein and last month a new full length cd arrived.You can buy it for $8 here

Napalm Death 'scum" vinyl editions- full story.

Question: OK, once again a question. Please which cover colors and vinyl color were released from the MAIN GRINDCORE LP \"SCUM\" from Napalm Death? I saw that you posted another question from a ND fan ( nazi punks..)and the picture with ALL releases would help me to see what I have to collecT Because I WANT IT ALL!!! Btw I HAVE ALL ND releases from the nazi Punks 7\". I would built the biggest ND Vinyl collection anybody has seen. SO PLEASE ANSWER ASAP. thanks markus From: markus.strehlau@arcor.de

Answer: hi Markus- theres not THAT many versions of this grindcore classic on vinyl.Most are 12 inch black vinyl - but with different sleeve colors-pictured and listed HERE
The first edition original pressing is pictured above in front- lime green 2000 copies, with front sticker black writing on white sticker.Next pressing blue sleeve, next orange, next yellow..all black vinyl,with no bar code!We also later made a splatter vinyl edition (mostly white vinyl actually, with gold sleeve, 2000 copies. And that was it- 1987-1990.
Vinyl remained out of print from earache until 2002, where we made 700 red vinyl, 300 green vinyl in USA and 1000 reprinted on 220gm black vinyl, all with a more yellowy sleeve color(pictured above behind), plus bar code.No picture disc has ever been made, or any weird LP sizes.

good luck collecting them all!

Between The Buried & Me- Earache?

Question: It was said in an interview with between the burried and me that earache was one of the first labels to take interest in them, however the reason why they didnt sign to you is because negotiations with victory were so far underway at that point, is this true? also did earache consider signing their death metal/ grindcore side project glass casket at all? From:

Answer: yeah we were really into BTBAM, and tried to sign the band.They ended up at Victory.I guess their offer blew ours away, as they are riding high on the success of emo-core etc and so Victory can really afford to splash BIG $$$.We still love the band and are watching how they do.As for Glass casket- we never heard it actually, and so didnt consider it.

A Broken Machine.

Question: hello, i am a vocalist in a band from st.pete FL usa called a broken machine and my question is how does one go about becomming a signed band. every one has there theories but we are still just local bands so figured i would go strait to the sorce. you can check out my band at www.myspace.com/abrokenmachine tell me what you think of the music if you think its cool or shit just your own personal thoughts thank you
thank you for your time.
phil a broken machine From: engelcorpsexxx@aol.com

Answer: Sure phil- I've signed a ton of bands from Florida- in the 80's-90's admittedly, so its cool to check out a new one from St Pete-A Broken Machine. You were right to send me the link to your myspace page- its the hands down BEST online way to cultivate a fanbase and so, get a career going.I see you have 9000 profile views, thats about typical for up n coming bands like yourselves..however, labels like us get really excited to see 100,000+ profile views, so you have 91,000 more to go.

The production is decent- so well done on that..As for the music- i didnt like the begining to Wishlist and Murder Hymns was just an instrumental (i see what you mean by the progressive tag now) but labels like us make judgements in literally the first 10 seconds of a song about how competant the band is, in terms of the tightness of the players- i'd give ya 6 outta 10 on that score- 'Running Out OF time', is in parts not out of time exactly, but doesnt groove in time to my ears...the drummer and bass/guitars need to lock in more tightly to catch and create that power that is the essence of metallic playing.Simple solution is-Rehearse more, together in the same room.

Of all the songs- the opening part of Prosthetic was my fave- it was an ear-catching riff- you need snappy, catchy riffs right away to get the ears of fans and A&r's alike.Its your best song imho.

I thought with mentioning Killswitch as an influence,that maybe there would be some melodic vocals, but none materialised so i was kinda bummed on that one-maybe try some melodic chorus passages?

One last tip- never pose for band pictures as individuals.You are a proper band right? so act like one- always pose for pics together, as a gang, a band, never alone.

well- hope that gives ya some pointers for the future..

Jesse Pintado RIP

Question: I tried to get the free mp3 downloadable Jesse album from the site but it did not work?
From: steeobtq@yahoo.com

Answer: Sorry the server crashed the minute we announced the FREE downloadable album in memory of Jesse Pintado, i guess so many folks tried to get the album at the same time, it broke.2 days later we haven't fixed it..so i suggest you try ina few days time.

Regarding Jesse's passing, it was a total shock to myself and everyone it seems that he died so young..we hear it was liver failure, and his family were at his hospital bedside as he died in Holland last week.Jesse recorded for Earache both as Napalm Death and on the seminal, groundbreaking debut Terrorizer album (pictured above recording the album in 1989, and below with his band mates), during the late 80's-90's, but it must be over 10 years since I had a proper sit down chat with him,which I regret.Usually it was a quick "hi, how ya doing man?" grabbed between soundcheck and showtime.I can't claim to have been close,cos typically,everyone was so busy doing their thing to make time.

I'll fondly remember Jesse as a gentle soul-his stock reply was "I'm chillin' dude" or "just kicking back, man"in a friendly laid-back Californian way that always put everyone at ease, no matter what the situation.Musically he is responsible for being involved in the birth of grindcore with Terrorizer, thats a fact, and probably his genius work, his lasting legacy.
I sincerly hope he finally found the peace he sought.
Adios.

RIP Jesse Pintado.

Earache PlayStation 2 game- instores Fri Oct 27!

Question: I read that the Earache Extreme Metal Racing Game was delayed. When is it released? From: Gamerjames63@hotmail.com

Answer: yes its had a slight delay BUT its officially released in the UK on October 27th, just in time for Halloween!If you buy it on pre-order from the GAME chain of videogame stores in the UK you will get a FREE extra Earache CD+DVD. good luck and happy racing!

Earache/John Zorn connection.Police raid.

Question: Is the story about john zorn personally being the reason why earache got raded by HM Customs true? According to Alex Newport\'s website they found some offensive images in his suitcase and followed up where he was delivering them to. From:


Answer:Yeah this was another wacky episode in Earache's illustrious past, it's not been an easy ride promoting the worlds most extreme music by the most extreme artists, and the crazy thing was, John Zorn was not actually signed to Earache,he was ( and still is) a world-recognised Jazz saxophonist and a music nut, specialising in exploring obscure music genres.After showing up at several Napalm Death shows in Japan, he kinda drifted into the grindcore thang Earache had going on, contributing the phenomenally groundbreaking album, Naked City's 'Torture Garden'(1991) performed with an ensemble of avant-garde musicians who played mash-up grindcore but with an unsurpassed before-or-since level of technical skill.Plus 2 releases called Painkiller in collaboration with Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris. A year or two later,he was gone from Earache's radar, presumably exploring fresher musical avenues, but the waves he caused with his short-lived output were long lasting.



Zorn firmly beleived that extreme music deserved accompanying extreme album art, tho most of the other Earache acts aside from Carcass never saw Grind as much of a visual artform.Thats why Naked City has stills from Japanese bondage films as the sleeve.For Painkillers debut "Guts Of A Virgin" Zorn sent us by Fed Ex from New York the album cover image-an autopsy photo of a young woman with abdomen sliced open showing an unborn baby. Grotesque imagery to be sure.However, we never received it- as it turns out the UK HM Customs had opened the package and seized it,deeming it offensive material, and informing the UK police of Earache's intention to import it.The police duly raided our Nottingham offices at 10 am one morning (I wasnt there at the time)to seek and take away more 'offensive' material (they took exception to Carcass and Filthy Christians and Cadaver album sleeves, plus a Fudge Tunnel art layout for the debut FT album). I was served with an arrest warrant under the Obscene Publications Act.It was heavy stuff.I encouraged our bands to be repulsive with their artwork but I had no idea it was actually borderline illegal to do so.

After about 6 months of waiting to be prosecuted,the charges were dropped, much to my great relief.

Mogwai on Earache?

Question: Has earache ever considered signing mogwai or are they just fans of the label, in interviews when they are asked to name a playlist for a radio station they normally choose stuff ( such as on a recent bbc radio one regions broadcast for wales) like sleep, godflesh and napalm death as well as the more expected stuff like joy division and the cure. So did earache consider them or is it the john peel conection again From:

Answer:Nah- Mogwai never pressed the right buttons round here.I personally never got into them, tho if they are playing our bands on the BBC 1 Radio, then ,well, you can't fault their impeccable taste in noize can ya?they are good lads, tho they forgot about the best of the lot, and due a massive revival soon- Naked City.
Don't get me wrong tho-myself, the A&R bods,and even speaking for the Earache staffers in general,we're far from cliched dyed-in-the-wool blinkered metalheads, we're open minded about a ton of different music- so long as it caves yer head in, we like it.

Earache's bands all come from the street- Earache itself came from it (as opposed to say, a studenty/art school type background) and remains welded to it...so bands like Mogwai, or any such heavy bands with a strong artsy streak just don't register on our radar, i'm afraid.

Melt Banana on earache?

Question: im a collector of japanease extreme music bands such as sigh and melt banana and so on, i was wondering if earache had any interest in any of the bands from the region at all? being as import cds are so expensive and it would help that truely unique scene to grow From:

Answer: I have pretty old school tastes regarding extreme japanese bands- one of my first flexi-discs, pre-Earache, contained 2 crossover punk/metal acts from japan- namely, Lipcream and Execute, but thats about the only time we have released any japanese band.we should have done SOB in the early 90's but it didnt pan out.The truth is the latest wave of bands like Sigh and Melt Banana are not too interesting to us.Dunno why-- i think they are a little to artsy/weird/chaotic/random for our tastes actually.japanese bands like SOB,324,merzbow, Masonna, Gauze are my preferred listening.

Carcass on Red Dwarf/Earache on the BBC

Question: I got a few questions relating to earache\'s relationship with the BBC and mainstream Media in general.
How on earth did carcass end up playing as craig charle\'s backing band in the red dwarf episode \"timeslides\" i belive its called?
Also who was the first earache band to do a peel session i belive its Extreme Noise Terror am i correct? Also relating to ENT how did their brit awards collaberation a few years back come about? From:

Answer:Yeah - you are damn right! Looking back its fairly unreal that what was a self-run, dirt-poor, start up DIY label operating outta my apartment in Nottingham,releasing what was basically unlistenable noise,managed to garner an unprecedented amount of mainstream media coverage on the BBC Radio and TV and NME magazine for so many bands. Two words- JOHN PEEL.Now he's sadly passed away, and music in the uk has sorely missed his presence- no one comes close to the impact he made by supporting new bands.


Hats off to the bloke- he 'got' what Earache was all about, immediately, and almost telepathically, he warmed to the burgeoning Earache Grindcore sound as it was taking shape, and his active support by giving Peel radio sessions to our acts (about half of Earache's first 10 bands recorded Peel sessions, the first being Heresy), actually helped shape how the scene turned out.John Peel described what turned him onto the extreme music scene in general in his foreword to the excellent book "Choosing Death" by Albert Mudrian,which chronicles the Earache-led birth of the worldwide extreme metal and grindcore scenes.

John Peel's support naturally gave the scene a veneer of credibility, and it kinda snowballed into other media- mainstream music mag NME placed Napalm Death on the cover, and UK TV shows like Snub TV and Whats That Noise?(Craig Charles was the presenter) began to request Napalm Death on the show,as well as the infamous BBC Arena-series documentary called 'Heavy Metal.It seems ridiculous now, but yes, Grindcore was the talk of the A-list Uk media dahlings for a while around 1988.We never asked them why - but in the Uk, a genuinely new, intelligent,unpretentious, raucous, street-level musical movement, which actually was popular with fans, was staring them in the face.

There was one early gig in London, at the Marquee I think-where as well as John Peel,the backstage fans included Vic Reeves and Craig Charles, both young up-n-coming stand up comedians at the time, but now both mega-successful TV personalities. Noted NYC jazz saxophonist John Zorn also came and supported Napalm Death and the scene in general, helping spread the word in USA.
Craig personally requested Carcass to appear the Red Dwarf show- i imagine because of his Liverpool roots, as some of the members of Carcass were from the well-heeled village of Heswall,in the Wirral,outer Liverpool.Heswall was also John Peel's birthplace, i expect he related to Carcass for that reason also.


Extreme Noise Terror were not actualy signed to Earache when recording Peel sessions-but again, a quirk of geography helped their case.Like other peel faves The Stupids(who arguably were the main band that got Peel into the Uk hardcore scene) ENT hailed from Ipswich is a small town in Norfolk close to where John Peel lived, and he seemingly went out of his way to support his local bands.
The KLF - a big selling UK band of the time, famous for anarchic media stunts,became friendly with ENT and actually recorded an album of grindcore together with them called "the Black Room"- but shelved it before release.When the KLf were asked to perform at the annual Brit awards show, around 1992 or so, broadcast on primetime TV, they played with ENT onstage with them.

Earache DVDs- the Intro music?

Question: Hi,

I recently purchased the Deicide \'When London Burns\' DVD. When the DVD starts, the Earache logo appears on the screen with a minute or two instrumental music clip with lots of double bass and heavy riffing. Any chance you know what that clip of music is

Steve From: stevejwallace84@aol.com


Answer: Yeah its taken from Decapitated's track 'Spheres Of Madness'taken from the 2002 album "Nihility" which can be found here to download