Earache package tours down the years

Question: Back in 2007, I remember reading an interview with Evile where they were talking about a \"forthcoming\" UK tour with Municipal Waste and SSS. While Waste and SSS have toured together, nothing ever came of a 3-band tour? What happened?

Speaking of Earache tours, have you ever considered reviving Grindcrusher? Was there ever any intention of making a follow-up after the original tour? If you could put together a \"dream Grindcrusher\" tour of Earache acts today, who would be on it?

Also, you wouldn\'t know the reason behind why Fueled By Fire have been replaced on the Bonded By Blood UK tour by Cauldron, would you? From:


Answer: Evile have only shared the stage once with Municipal Waste & SSS, that was in August 2007 at Liverpool Barfly.I dont think the bands can ever arrange their schedules to tour together, they all have different agents and differing plans, but you never know, it might happen one day.

As for Grindcrusher- Earache hit on the idea back in the 80's that if 2-3-4 new bands on the rise can tour together as a package, it makes the label's job of promoting them easier as it becomes possible to brand the tour, give it a name and identity which in turn attracts more attention from fans and magazines, than if the bands toured separately on their own. Promotors have known this for decades, see "Clash of the Titans Tour", labels had even done it before - the 70s Stiff Tours' etc. Nowadays it seems nearly all tours come with a branding, a list of sponsors, and a massive line up, its totally commonplace now.

We did the original UK GRINDCRUSHER tour of 1989 which featured BOLT THROWER, CARCASS, MORBID ANGEL & NAPALM DEATH.This tour was only about 8 dates but it really cemented the bands reputations in the UK. See photos.

As the bands' popularity spread to USA with the releases selling well there (I licensed the albums to Combat/Relativity for a time) it was decided to run a USA version of the Grindcrusher aswell in 1991 with a line up of NAPALM DEATH, GODFLESH & NOCTURNUS. This tour was huge, 4000 people showed up for it in LA, but this show became infamous as it was marred by insanely vicious rival LA gang violence.Read photographer Kevin Estrada's report of the fatal stabbing which happened right in the moshpit during Napalm Death's set.

Nowadays I think the dream-package tour might involve Earache bands past and present, that would be interesting for me, but I highly doubt it could be made to work because all the bands have differing people taking care of their business (agents, managers) and differing plans.
Personally, I'd be excited to see a concert of MORBID ANGEL, CARCASS, SLEEP, MUNICIPAL WASTE, EVILE & opening up,our new LA HM band WHITE WIZZARD - shit, I would pay good money to witness that gig- perhaps even 5,000 of you lot would show up with me, I dunno.

You ask about FUELED BY FIRE being replaced by CAULDRON on the UK leg of the BONDED BY BLOOD European tour coming up in May.Simple reason is that the UK leg of the tour is booked by a different agent (Earache actually) than the European leg (Insano booking).Earache wanted to showcase our new HM act CAULDRON here by adding them to the bill.The UK leg is a last minute addition to the lengthy Euro tour which had been planned for ages.It meant plans for flights and visas etc had to change at short notice, but FBF didnt fancy changing their travel plans for a measly 5 uk shows, which is fair enough, and decided to drop off the UK leg, as did SUICIDAL ANGELS from Greece. UK line up is BONDED BY BLOOD CAULDRON and local openers, MUTANT in London. EU line up is BONDED BY BLOOD, FUELED BY FIRE & SUICIDAL ANGELS.

Cult of Luna FIRE WAS BORN DVD +/- CD

Question: Hi, i am a massive cult of luna fan, so i cannot wait for the dvd to be released. However, i\'ve noticed that in the U.K. it is only coming out as a bonus disc with eternal kingdom, as i already have this cd and plan on getting it on vinyl soon i don\'t want another copy. This dvd is more than worthy of its own case and i dont think having it as a free bonus disc does it justice. Is there any way i can get my hands on the proper dvd release and will it work on my dvd player here in england? Where is the best place to pre-order it? Sorry for the long winded question and thanks in advance,
Gaz From: garryevo@hotmail.co.uk

Answer: The DVD on its own does exist, but only in Sweden.You could order the DVD on its own from Sweden's biggest online music retailer CDON.se if you want, for 149 Swedish Kronor.Its NTSC DVD and will play on any system/TV.
I'll explain the reason why we dont have it on sale here in UK like that, as a simple DVD in case. Its released here as Eternal Kingdom CD + FREE Fire Was Born DVD included as a bonus. Its not ideal, I agree, if you already have the CD, it seems wasteful to buy it again just for the DVD.
But our motivation is NOT to rip fans off, its actually to maximise the number of fans who are able to watch the DVD actually, because the retailers in general order less DVDs than music CDs. DVDs on their own are seriously restricted in outlets- sadly the major retail chains like HMV in UK, do not take music DVDs seriously (unless you are Madonna) they think DVDs are for James Bond movies, not music, and would order a very low number for a band like Cult Of Luna.

On the other hand, luckily the CD/Music section of the same HMV store has another person controlling the stock, these people do take CDs with bonus material inc DVD very seriously and so order more copies because of this quirk.The CD acts as a Trojan Horse to get the DVD into stores.It also acts as a juicy bargain to tempt fans who has previously perhaps naughtily downloaded the CD to finally come clean and purchase a great CD + DVD package, because it is amazing value.

The end result of all this formating malarky is this- by adding the DVD to the already available CD, approx FIVE times as many DVDs are able to be sold/ given away.

Heres "Adrift" from the FIRE WAS BORN DVD:

White Wizzard's Wonderful Wicked Witch

Question: This is gunna sound a silly question but is the witch out of the
white wizzard high speed gto video mary zimmer from century media band luna
mortis? just wondering as the resemblance is uncanny.

Answer: I asked the director of the clip Dave Vorhes for the info. It seems it's not the singer from Luna Mortis. Heres the reply:

"The witch's name is Jacqueline Vleck (pictured).She is an actress / comedian in Los Angeles. We auditioned many people for that role, none of which were friends of the band. Jackie is a very talented performer and I would expect big things from her in the future.

Here's the full cast for your reference:
Witch - Jacqueline Vleck
Gorek - David Light
White Wizzard - Kai Cofer "

See her spell-binding (ho ho) performance in the White Wizzard - High Speed GTO clip ($1000) Directed by Dave Vorhes.

Carcass Wake Up & Smell... JFK picture

Question: All this talk about banned artwork has reminded me of a question I\'ve always wanted to ask. Everyone always focuses on Carcass\' first 2 albums (Reek and Symphonies) when it comes to gory, banned artwork, but I was wondering if you ever had any trouble with the artwork for Wake Up and Smell The Carcass?

Surely pictures of JFK\'s autopsy would\'ve caused a rumble or two protest from the States? Did you ever get any contact from the authorities about the pictures? And who the hell suggested it? Was there anyone in the band or at Earache who thought \"Ooooh, bit unnecessary\"? Also, where the hell did you get them in the first place? Surely, in the days before the interweb REALLY took off, they must have been hard to come by? From: bloodfiredeath@hotmail.co.uk


Answer:There is an interesting sub-plot to this album's picture which is revealed at the end of this posting, but first off heres the basic facts of how it ended up as Carcass' sleeve art.
By around 1995 or so the band had recently split up, and Carcass were no more. Jeff was playing in Blackstar at that point I think, and had other priorities going on. There were 5 great songs left over from the bands last recording session- the aptly named Swansong -which needed a release somehow, so we compiled a mish-mash of leftovers and rare single B-sides and Peel Session material, and asked Jeff to come up with a name and artwork, which he was kind enough to take time out from Blackstar to do.

I remember being stunned that Jeff decided to supply a gore-art cover again- it seemed a retrograde step, as the band had already spearheaded the gore-art sleeve concept in the late 80s, and had moved on considerably since, ending up on a major record company, before the band imploded.To me, it seemed to lack that creative spark which they had always been known for.

Don't forget that Earache had already taken the flack for the 1988 debut album with UK chain stores refusing to stock the album on full public view (hence the mid to late 90s editions on CD had the gore hidden inside or removed completely) and the infamous police raid on our office in 1991 had more or less put us off releasing such sleeves as they are not worth the hassle, and have to be altered to sell in any meaningful quantity anyway. As a side note-this record store squeamishness is a particularly British trait, when Reek was released in USA under license to Combat/Relativity it was released with the gore art printed in full view outside on a long-box CD.By 1996 I guess Jeff did'nt care about any such problems for the label, as the band was over anyway.The reactivation of the band a decade later in 2007 was unthinkable at that point.

So we duly released the original Wake Up And Smell The...b-sides and rarities CD with a huge black sticker to cover the gory JFK photo, assuming, as ever, that the major chain stores would object.However to our great suprise, we encountered no complaints and no refusals to stock this record.The expected controversy never came, and it was treated as just another release.I guess tastes had changed by then, black metal had upped the ante in 'shock-value', the interwebs had taken hold and by 1996 autopsy images on death-metal sleeves just were'nt that shocking any more.You could say in comparison to the murders and suicides coming out of Norway, it was almost boring.

The picture itself is far from boring however- its dynamite.It forms the centrepiece of the ongoing controversy about whether JFK was shot from the back or the front.The official Report into the assassination declares he was shot from the back - but the picture shows large exit wound at back the head, meaning he was shot from the front.This contradicts all the official evidence and explanation of the shooting.The FBI deny all knowledge of the picture, it simply does not exist according to the US government.It's impossible to find the image online nowadays, but was widely circulated in the 90s.It is removed from many internet sites as its highly controversial and some say the "smoking gun' which points to US government's involvement and subsequent cover up in the JFK killing.

Make your own mind up after watching this:

Godflesh's creativity

Question: Don\'t quote me on this, but I remember reading a long while back from an interview from Godflesh/Jesu mastermind Justin Broadrick, on the topic of Jesu, that this current band is a fresh break from Godflesh where he felt so restrained and restricted with it creatively.

I don\'t know if this statement involves the label he was on, but if it did, do you guys restrict artists on some levels with creative direction like many mainstream labels do? And what\'s with Justin\'s statement... would you think it had anything to do with Earache restricting him creatively? From:


Answer: That's gotta be one of the most ridiculous things i've ever read.We sign bands to encourage their creativity, not restrict it.I think you are taking what Justin said the wrong way here, my reading of what he said is that GODFLESH developed a style and identity over the course of a decade, and subconsciously any new material he would write came with a weight of expectation from the past,making it difficult to branch out.GODFLESH werent on Earache when they imploded at the end by the way, they were on Koch Records.

I don't even recall having a discussion about musical direction or type of songs with the band- free rein to do whatever they damn well like, is what bands enjoy on this label.When Godflesh went into remix mode, influenced by the DJ/dance culture which was springing up in the UK at the start of the 90's, there was no complaints from me.Remix 12 inchers?- no problem.

There was one infamous exception to that tho- in the mid-90s period a band called OASIS began to make serious waves in the UK music scene.Seemingly from nowhere their debut album sold over a Million copies but due to clever marketing and management also appeared very hip and cool aswell.They could do no wrong.OASIS style Brit-Rock more or less took control over the UK's Rock scene for the rest of the decade- still to this day the workman-like catchy Brit-Rock they invented remains the dominant format on UK radio stations.Even GODFLESH caught the bug and between album they made a 3 song demo for the label and their own amusement, where they experimented with a Brit-Rock style.It was a serious attempt to have a go at the hugely popular genre mainly to see if they could pull it off, and maybe persue that direction.
I remember telling the band we thought it was a terribly bad idea, mainly because Justin didnt have the vocal style to pull it off correctly. The demo was shelved and quickly filed under ' momentary lapse of reason'.The songs never even made it onto "In All Languages" best of and rare comp, because we wanted to spare the bands blushes.

Heres CRUSH MY SOUL video directed by Andres Serrano (£75,000)

New Swedish old-school DM scene

Question: What do you think of the new wave of old school swedish death metal that has popped up all of a sudden? After reading the terroizer article about the subject i feel that there is a big earache conection in that I belive the band that kicked it all off was death breath led by none other than ex entombed man nicke, do you have an interest in the scene at all or is it too retro for your taste? From:

Answer: Exciting, happening new music scenes, much like beauty, are in the eye of the beer-holder.One persons exciting new music scene is anothers retro-recycled unoriginal garbage.
If there is a such a thing as a new Swedish old school death metal scene sprnging up,you could have fooled us, because we don't see it, it has passed us by completely.
It does'nt take much to proclaim a "scene"- maybe 3 or 4 bands of a similar mindset with the same influences is all it takes.Wether the scene dies or blows up to be huge is the question.Most people are sheep like in their music tastes, and if enough of the cutting edge fans (called tastemakers/early adopters in marketing speak) embrace it, then the masses duly follow.

If a Swedish DM scene exists then I agree its probably due to Nicke's unashamedly old-school DM band DEATH BREATH. I read in a magazine that he was influenced to make the band after reading the Choosing Death book, it reminded him of the early 90's of which he was a major part of the first original wave with Entombed, of course.Maybe the Swedish Death metal book has played a part also.
To me its not retro enough!! it feels like yesterday that earache was doing the first wave of these bands anyway, so nothing too exciting or fresh to our ears.Earache is getting solidly behind the follwing scenes: new Thrash, new Deathcore and New Trad HM, mainly because Earache never did any of those types of bands in the past (which I regret) so its exciting to work with bands who posses a totally different outlook and approach to music.From a purely selfish point of view, it makes it a blast to come to the office every day because the musicians being mostly young, early to mid 20's tops, their creativity is firmly from the heart, their outlook is not jaded in the slightest, and they are fearless.
If they catch on then its a bonus.
But for Swedish Death metal to have a revival, it was very much the recent past for us, and therefore just doesnt have the same appeal.

Napalm Death's Platinum Disc 1,000,000 sales

Question: Is the Mortal Kombat motion picture soundtrack(which features Napalm Death) the only gold disc that Earache have? and have any other bands come close to selling that amount?? From: the_suttonator@hotmail.com

Answer: Yeah its true..but its a Platinum disc dude,not a measly gold!.It's not one of their own albums though, it was a popular movie soundtrack CD. It was awarded to the band on November 1st 1996 for their contribution to selling 1 Million copies in America of the soundtrack CD to Mortal Kombat movie.All the bands included in the movie received the award.Mortal Kombat mania was everywhere in mid-90's.The Cd was the soundtrack to the movie of the highly popular 90's video game.The recently defunct TVT records was the label that released it, and the band did well off the ensuing royalties for a long time afterwards.

YOu ask if other bands have gone Platinum- nah mate, its rare as hell, no one on Earache has even come close.I reckon right now Napalm death must easily be the only extreme metal band on the planet with a Platinum disc under their belts, apart from Slayer who also have received many Gold and PLatinum awards, for their own albums.

Its quite an acheivement because it seems that only about 2 or 3 movie soundtracks go platinum per year, and awards for new emerging artists are even fewer.During the 90's I can only remember Roadrunners Type 0 Negative and maybe Sepultura selling a million.Roadrunner also delivered the goods with Slipknot.
Many of the nu metal acts whuch sprang up at the turn of the millenium also went platinum, Korn Limp Bizkit etc.

The latest in the wider rock world to go platinum is Paramore, and the hugely popular Fueled By Ramen/Victory Records emo-style acts like Fall Out Boy and Hawthorne heights etc are the bands which sell the most copies, and hence lead the rock world these days.Of the modern day heavier bands, Nightwish must be the closest I guess.

You can check bands gold (500,000) and Platinum (1,000,000) disc tally and hence sales on the RIAA website.

Sub Bass & Necrosis labels in 90s

Question: Hi, im currently writing an piece of work for my university on genres and their related record labels. I was wandering if youd be able to give me an insight as to why earache still exists after all these years, whereas the sub bass and necrosis sublabels no longer do. Any time youve got to give me a bit more insight would be greatly appreciated. And this honestly isnt some dig at at the labels mentioned.

Thanks, Alex From: aleher@hotmail.co.uk


Answer: It's really tough to start any business venture, and to make a success of it is even harder.I don't claim to be a 'business guru' like on TV's Dragons Den show, I just call it as I see it from 20 years at the coal-face of the biz, but I firmly believe luck and timing play a larger part than many so-called experts recognise, but the old adage 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration remains remarkably spot on, I reckon.

Anyway, start-up record labels are no different, and i've personally watched many of my friends over the years try to start labels, they were dedicated people who gave it their best shot, working non-stop hours, but mostly they only last for a handful of releases, maybe 10 max, before they give up on the venture, citing losing too much money and mounting debt as the reason. Music attracts the thrill-seekers, the risk-takers, the egocentrics, and the downright insane, so the two dirtiest words, never to be uttered in polite company are: 'common-sense' and 'business-plan'. It's social death.

I would go as far as to say the actual major criterion for a successful record label is to turn up a huge-selling release within the first 10 attempts.After that, the novelty wears off with the fans and any buzz generated goes downhill quickly, also the competition is ferocious, they are fast to muscle in to grab a slice of any buzz you may have had. Its much more prudent to close the doors than soldier on regardless, but this is often impossible for reasons of vanity/ ego on behalf of the label owner(s) and unfulfilled ambitions on behalf of the acts.Ultimately the fans decide which ventures to support and which to shun, and they tell you their verdict within 10 releases. I think this applies equally to record labels founded with incentives to be a successful long term full-time business, and DIY hobby-labels doing 7inch records by their mates every few months, alike.

As for Sub Bass, & Necrosis, both those labels were formed under the Earache umbrella in the 90's, and are best described, in hindsight, as 'dalliances'.Earache remains the core label and survives to this day because of its intense focus on delivering what fans want. Sub Bass was a dalliance of mine to experiment with non-metal and techno releases.To be blunt, it was an attempt to appear hip and cutting edge, probably. No-body bought them and no-body cared, apart from John Peel, about a metal label attempting to release early examples of Jungle-rave (later called drum n bass) so the shutters were brought down right on cue, after a handful of poorly-selling releases.The final end came because of a pending lawsuit from a rival company Sub-Base (Suburban Base) who were riding high at the time, and claimed my chosen name was too similar to theirs.It seemed easier to pack it in than fight it.

Necrosis was A&R'd by Jeff and Bill of Carcass, and their chosen A&R style was to unearth the lost gems of the grindcore past, even if it was the recent past back then during the early 90's.Jeff's original band Electro Hippies had a re-issue of their "play Fast Or Die' LP, and Repulsion's forgotten about demo album 'Horrified' was re-animated and released on general sale for the first time ever by Necrosis.

These two releases were well received by fans, but the label appeared to have no future plans as it specialised in digging up past gems, not signing current bands.To rectify this, Carnage and Cadaver appeared as a split LP also, but this was'nt as well received at the time.By that stage Carcass' career began to take up most of Bill and Jeffs time and I guess the label took a back seat.It simply ran out of steam/ideas after measly four albums, but served its purpose to release the past gems, because Earache had no interest in such nostalgia.

"Death of A Child" by ULTRAVIOLENCE

Question: Looking for a track i heard years ago perhaps \'96 or so on a promo casette from your label.I think it was called \"Death of a child\".Kind of industrial but meodic and epic sounding.Just cannot remember who it was by?? It was awesome please please help?
Ben From: benjifordham@hotmail.com


ANswer: its the last track on the debut ULTRAVIOLENCE album- Life OF Destructor. ITs a haunting brooding melancholic instrumental song. Get the CD from Amazon or for £7.20 our own Earache Webstore will send you one postage free.

If you want just the track on MP3, i was going to suggest iTunes store or Amazonmp3 store but to my horror i can't find it.I thought our whole cstalog was online for download, but this must have slipped thru the net, try again in 7 days.

DEATH METAL MURDERS TV Documentary BBC 2 2005

Question: I\'m looking for a Death Metal Special Report that starred Glenn Benton of Deicide. It appeared on tv once and I think it was produced by one of the following- Time, Discovery, or National Geographic. I want it as source material for a report for school. Thanx in advance for any help you can give me regarding this. From: brandylynlomax@yahoo.com

Answer:Try HERE for information. Also HERE.The program was made for BBC 2 in UK - called DEATH METAL MURDERS, as part of the "This World" series. Was later aired on DIscovery channel in USA.Its really hard to find any footage on the web-- maybe if any blog reader has it on tape, they might upload to Youtube?

Neil Kernon -Producer extraordinaire

Question: Out of interest did earache suggest neil kernon as a producer to oceano? Im wondering simply because of neil\'s links to earache bands akercocke, deicide etc as well as bands like cannibal corpse, I thought it would be a no brainer since both are based in chicago . From:


Answer: Simple reason really- he wasn't considered because we'd already hired him to mix the Cauldron album so he was already booked up by Earache.

Neil Kernon is a top producer, we recommend all our USA bands to work with him all the time because his repertoire of productions range from platinum 80s metal (Queensryche/ Dokken) to classic 90s death metal (Cannibal Corpse), hes a veteran and a great all rounder who knows how to produce a wide spectrum of metal, and beyond. He's originally from UK so we have a connection there.He's also a fine fella to work with, can deal with Indie label budgets, delivers quality as standard, and has the patience of a saint when dealing with bands.

On the instructions of the band we scrapped his entire first mix of the Deicide "Scars" album.He'd worked on it for weeks, yet the band rejected it on a whim, going for a more 'live sounding' vibe.Neil accepted that, and did'nt mind at all- even tho his mix destroys the mix we released on CD.

For OCEANO we had to find a new guy and it was the bands suggestion to use relative newcomer Joey Sturgis at Foundation in Indiana. He'd only done s few bands, notably stuff for Rise Recordings (who manage him), so far, The Devil Wears Prada is his biggest album.
Boy, what an incredible job he did for Oceano- he worked his ass off for that band, day and long through the night (thats why most of the in-studio DVD footage is in darkness).We only had to ask him to increase the vokills and stick more of the sub-bass drops into the mix, but the end result on Depths is a slamming, concrete hard but slick production.To me, its a masterpiece.

See Joey producing Deathcore magic at the controls in this clip:

DEATH METAL x HARDCORE = DEATHCORE

Question: why is it you think deathcore has caught on now when to be honest most of the bands appear to be second rate converge clones? From:


Answer: DEATHCORE as played by OCEANO is by far the most exciting thing to happen to extreme metal in a long,long time.I fucking love it cos its genuinely contemporary music- nothing sounded even remotely like it even 3 years ago, the scene is still in its infancy, and as you say- Deathcore bands are catching on everywhere.Its the next level of extremity, and its quite possible that the DEATHCORE scene could blow up to be the biggest extreme metal scene there has ever been.Time will tell, but I really think it could end up dwarfing the original 90's Death Metal scene, which itself was huge.

DEATHCORE is essentially a hybrid of the sickest aspects of 90's Death metal ( the Suffocation-style gutteral vokills mainly) and 90's Hardcore (the simplistic chug breakdowns) and even tho the bands play fast, the style doesn't have much emphasis on OTT speed. Lately, OCEANO has also added speaker-quaking sub-bass drops (a Hip Hop influence methinks) to the mix, which you need real hi fi speakers and sub-woofers to appreciate on their album "Depths".This aspect is missed entirely if you listen on laptop or ipod buds.

Purists on either side hate it of course, its not true DM and its not proper HC, its a real mongrel scene, but to me, as a fan of extreme metal for 20 years, its highly original and totally savage stuff.

You might have a point about CONVERGE tho- they could actually be the forerunners, because they were a hardcore band which had its fair share of DM influence, but they sound almost polite by comparison to todays DEATHCORE dealers.

More realistically the bands which are the forerunners might be JOB FOR A COWBOY, SUICIDE SILENCE and even BRING ME THE HORIZON, but they all boast a few other influences aside from pure DM and HC.
Bands like THE ACACIA STRAIN and WHITECHAPEL took things to a whole deeper of level of brutality tho, and they are the beginnings of the current DEATHCORE scene in my view.Instrumentally, the power and heaviness comes from playing 7 string guitars and 5 string bass- that set-up automatically produces a heavier, sicker sound.

You ask whats the reason why its blowing up now - its basically Myspace, and Youth. The fans are young, many grew up with the internet already part of everyday life, and are always online. These bands- which are the same age group- tapped into that.Its expected that bands be able to interact with fans 24/7 now, and these bands use Myspace as a natural means to keep fans regularly updated,and when I say regularly, I mean hourly!

Even as recently as 5 years ago, before Myspace was launched, bands would only interact with fans every 18 months or so, when a new album hit or when were out on tour.If they had a website, it was a pain to update it, and streaming music would cost a fortune in server rental costs. Myspace changed the face of the music industry, but it mostly changed everything about how fans expect to interact with their favourite bands.

Heres Oceano's Depths DVD trailer:


OCEANO District Of Misery promo video:

Favourite label of all time?

Question: Seeing as you run a fairly large label, who is your favourite label?
from: leekenton23@yahoo.com

Answer: Well it depends if you mean current label or from the past.I was asked about the influence of Dischord/SST on the label in a past blog.Growing up in the UK, Rough Trade is often cited as the first, the greatest and most influential UK Indie label, and it probably was - it even had a TV documentary aired recently to celebrate 30 years or something.It changed the rules for how labels could exist outside of the major-label system, but I can't say it was a fave of mine.

Recently I've been reading the excellent book "Our Band Could Be Your Life" by Michael Azerrad, it details the birth and beginnings of the punk/alternative scene in the US during the early 80s, and while reading through it, i realised probably half the acts mentioned came from the SST stable.This reminded just how influential the SST label was- its fair to say it kick started the alternative/punk scene as we know it today, released a staggeringly high proportion of the best acts of the 80s, never sold out to anyone, never quit and apart from Greg Ginns quirky and self-obsessed CD output of recent times, the label stands proud as a beacon of excellence, its back catalog reads like a whos who of the prime movers and shakers of alternative rock & punk.
Its the best record label there has ever been- Punk, Stoner, Hardcore,Mash-up/Sound Collage, Indie Rock, Doom, Noise, Emo - SST invented them all.Buy em HERE
Need proof? check the videos below:
Black Flag

ALL

St. Vitus

Descendents

Husker Du

Sonic Youth

Negativeland

Bad Brains