Darkthrone, Burzum - bands who made it without touring.

Question: Dig, good day. Would you sign a band that does NOT tour or play at all? Just for their music. Has Peaceville done right to sign Darkthrone? And Burzum/Mysantrhope? Surely these bands are already down in the books as two of the most important bands in the history of metal. Maybe not best sellers, but surely they created important music that will last. From:


Answer: Short answer is no, we'd totally ignore a band these days, if they were vehemently against touring, for personal reasons or even for wanting to be mysterious reasons or for any reason, we've heard them all. We would deem them rank amateurs and basically not ambitious enough for a music career, so its one of the most important questions we put to bands in the negotiations for signings.The more you tour, the more records you sell, its a proven fact, with few exceptions. In this era of Youtube, MySpace etc, we hear from many bands who wish that the internet could be their touring circuit, so they can achieve that highly sought-after fame & fortune, but without the hassle of actually having to leave the house and perform "live".

There is an interesting book by Malcolm Gadwell called Outliers which examines the secrets of the highly successful, be it in business or in science or the arts.His theory is that folks who practice and hone their skills for at least 10,000 hours (which is 20 hrs a week for 10 years) become acknowledged experts in their field through this immense hot-housing of their original talent.He explains how The Beatles played a staggering 1200 shows performing in the tiny clubs of Hamburg between 1960-64, then on their return to England quickly became the biggest selling act of all time, which they remain to this day.

Its a real slog in the early days for brand new bands, playing to uninterested audiences at the bottom of the bill, in many cases the venue itself hardly cares that you have turned up.Headline bands and venues can often act like its an inconvenience that you are there. Touring rewards the ambitious serious bands who thrive upon the scant opportunities on offer, and also weeds out the non-serious bands who find the slog to be too tiring and opt to quit. The touring circuit is pretty much a metaphor for the music business as a whole - ambitious bands who can handle the rigours quickly rise to the top, the rest wonder why they are bothering with all hassle. The large costs of hiring vans, travelling hundreds of miles on the road to play to a handful of people- those bands soon get the message that they have no fans to speak of, they become downcast about their chances, and so quickly fall to the wayside, blaming everybody for their woes on the way. Its incredibly tough and it can be seriously soul destroying for the unwary.

In the past we did indeed sign bands who turned out to never do any shows, but this became apparent after releasing an album or two, so those bands were duly dropped.

You mention Burzum and Darkthrone- dude, they are hardly proper examples of 'bands who made it without touring'.Varg was in prison for 16 years and so touring was not possible anyway.His act of murder meant he has received national newspaper coverage for a decade or more, this sensationalism, plus fans' macabre interest to delve inside the mind of a murderer is what has driven Burzum record sales, not the music.

Darkthrone have also been caught up in the sensationalism of the Black Metal scene- even without committing any murders or arson.Darkthrone have acheived a level of fame and notoriety which is remarkable, and yes it's been achieved without any serious touring stints. Though I thought they at least did a handful of Uk shows early on?

UFC Fighter Dan Hardy proudly sponsored by Earache- how come?

Question: How did earache end up sponsering dan hardy? and what are the chances of an earache artist writing him a theme tune? since dan\'s a big hardcore old timer sss would be cool. From:


Answer: Simple answer is- we have a few fanatical fight fans working in the offices at Earache - so when up-and-coming UFC fighter Dan Hardy started to rise through the ranks, we were totally chuffed for the guy, even more so because he hails from Earache's home town of Nottingham, UK. Nottingham is a small city in the midlands of England, so when a world class mixed martial artist(MMA) breaks through on the global stage, its big news to us.

With his trademark bright-red mohawk and professed love of metal and punk, we figured we'd have a strong connection with Dan- and thats exactly how it turned out.He's a real down to earth bloke who loves his music. Earache is now a proud sponsor (among several others like Tapout/ Rough House ) of UFC fighter Dan 'The Outlaw' Hardy, and with his attacking style and superb dedication to the MMA craft, he's going right to the top of pile.




Just last week, in UFC 99 Dan defeated the American (and wannabe Irishman) Marcus Davis for his third straight win in UFC.

Here's Dan wearing his Earache label logo shirt at the weigh-in.


Earache has a big history with fighters and wrestlers going back to when we released the European version of the official ECW CD compilation 'Extreme Music'- featuring Megadeth and Motorhead and even Pantera (under name of Los Trios Diablos) in 1999.ECW was the USA underground Hardcore wrestling phenomenon of the mid-late 1990's and extreme metal and extreme wrestling seemed a perfect fit. ECW disbanded in 2001.

In 2004 Californian Nu-Metal act Adema released the "Planets" album on Earache which featured Ralek Gracie on vocals on the song "Bad Triangle".Ralek is the son of UFC founder Rorian Gracie and nephew of all time UFC hall of famer and legend Royce Gracie, who won or drew in 4 of the first 5 UFC cage fights. Ralek sings/raps under the name Rio Life on the Adema album.

As for Dan Hardy's walk-on music as he enters the arena- its currently UK 70's Punk/Oi band Cock Sparrer's "England Belongs to Me"- which is mostly to do with him not wanting the generic chug-chug metallic HC riff, which every other fighter seems to walk on to. Its also because it has England in the title, as he's proud to represent England, because most UFC fighters are Americans.

We do have plans to work with Dan on some new Earache themed walk-on music- SSS Short Sharp Shock is a good suggestion, we'll discuss it with Dan soon to find something he likes, in time for his next fight in October.

Heres Dan Hardy after defeating Marcus Davis:

IRON MONKEY 2xCD pressing problem?

Question: I\'ve just bought the new Iron Monkey two CD set, stuck it in my CD player, and it turns out the cds are the wrong way round. On the disc that is labelled as the S/T album, it has Our Problem on it and vice versa. I was wondering if this may be another one of those \'rare\' Earache mistake pressings that Might be worth loads in a few years? From: redear16@hotmail.com


Answer: Yes its a printing mistake at the plant.The entire musical output of the legendary Nottingham HC/ sludge/doom band is now back in print after probably being out of stock for like 9 years.The bands 2 albums, plus various extra songs are now re-issued across 2x CDs as a lo price pack.The first album was produced by an up-and coming local lad and wanna-be producer, called Andy Sneap.As you rightly point out- yeah the on-body information is swapped- one disc gives the info for the other, and vice versa.

I dunno if they are rare- all i know is- the curse of Iron Monkey has struck again!

Iron Monkey were going from 1994-1999 and were a HC band which were hands-down one of the heaviest bands ever to stalk a stage.The rhythm-section of Justin Greaves and Doug Dalziel locked into some of the biggest, most bad-ass grooves, while front man Johnny Morrow -off stage, an easy-going fella, but would turn into a wildman to cause havoc at every gig - you dare not take your eyes off him for a second in case he launched a front stage monitor wedge into the crowd or dived off the PA stack. Iron Monkey shows were some of the heaviest and most violent ever in the UK in late 90's.

Sadly JP Morrow passed away in his sleep in 2002, only his closest friends knew he had a kidney defect from birth, which had affected him for all his tragically short life.

Heres their only official video clip.The ECW was Extreme Championship Wrestling, which was an underground sport at the time, IM bassist Doug was a fanatic.We got in touch with the ECW folks and they kindly handed over all their prime footage for us to edit into a music video.Like Iron Monkey- ECW was heavy, violent and a little bit absurd.

Ex- Journalists turned label-bosses?

Question: Why is it do you think that so many label owners come from a music journalism background i mean theres yourself, lee dorrian, brian slagel ( who wrote for a nwobhm fanzine based in LA, whos readership included lars ulrich and james hetfield!)imediatly spring to mind. Im just curious as to why when sort of knowing what they are letting themselves in for they take the plunge? From:


Answer: That's a good point- its because we are opinionated about music, very opinionated, so eventually some poor bastard on the receiving end of a scathing review says: "Why don't you try putting out records yourself, if you can do any better?". So we take the plunge and give it a go, for real.In my case no one was releasing the music I wanted to hear, so had to do it myself.

I did my time as a fanzine writer- I collaborated with a group of friends on a local Nottingham zine called Future Now plus had a stint as a writer for long-standing HC punk zine Maximum Rock N Roll and Flipside, plus a few others. Ex-writers do actually form a large part of the music business, especially PR, as they know how the media works from the other side of the fence, its quite common.

I had no idea that Brian Slagel had written a NWOBHM fanzine, but it makes perfect sense, his wiki says it was named "New Heavy Metal Revue" I bet copies are rare. Also, did Lee Dorrian really write a zine- his wiki says it was called "Committed Suicide", but I dont recall it myself, you can be sure it was an Anarcho-Punk zine I expect.

The RIAA $2 million legal settlement & Earache?

Question: You've spoken about Pirate Bay here, so what is Earache's opinion on the RIAA vs Jammie Thomas.Does Earache get a share of the two million dollars she has to pay.What is your opinion of this?

From: Harrisonbuckle@gmail.com

Answer:Nah dude, Earache is NOT A MEMBER of the RIAA and has no part in any of this.



You are referring to the legal case of RIAA versus Jammie Thomas which has just been adjudged in the USA in favour of the Record Industry, and damages of $1.92 Million awarded against the 34yr old mother of 4 from Minnesota - check her MySpace -because she was downloading music illegally.

The amount is staggering but its actually the amount which is set in law as damages to be paid over by anyone caught infringing the copyrights of anyone else.Apparently she only downloaded 24 songs but the law states up to $150,000 per instance of infringment, if its wilfully done- hence the huge amount awarded to the RIAA.Its not a simple case of stealing 24 songs at 99 cents and so pay back the $22 or whatever.I guess the law is basically set up in USA to discourage the wholesale bootlegging of the global brands and intellectual property/software/music/entertainment which has made the USA the most prosperous country in the world.The law sees no difference between a counterfeiter with a huge operation making and selling say, fake Tommy Hilfiger clothing for sale on market stalls, and the simple act of loading up some P2P software to download and subsequently share on to others, a couple of albums. She became part of a music counterfeiting chain, unwittingly. She would have got off more lightly had she just walked into a store and stolen the Cds right from under the store owners nose, actually.

If only Spotify had launched in USA- she could have listened to the albums for free at any time, perfectly legally.

As a label owner we are plagued by so-called-fans who instead of supporting the artists and label, prefer to download the music for free.Even some of our bands openly advocate the free downloading of their music, so its not something we are unfamiliar with.Its a tricky situation.

I highly doubt the RIAA even will get the money,and even if they did, its probable that only the big 4 Majors would keep it, some biggish Indies - Relapse & Victory etc -are RIAA members but they wont see a penny, I'd wager.

The whole idea is grandstanding, to generate news headlines and slowly but surely discourage the act of downloading music by casual fans.Leave the mass-downloading of music to the bootleggers and counterfeiters of this world, who know the risks.Its a highly serious matter in the eyes of the law even if its a completely trivial act to load up the P2P software.There are a ton of legal paid-for, and now even free ad-supported services where almost every album ever released is available for streaming.Spotify is the one we recommend which should launch in USA very soon.Everyone needs to get it.

The NWOTHM bands covering old NWOBHM acts?

Question: Being as earache as a label is so open for fan input what are the chances of seeing a nwobhm tribute album from your nwothm acts? Id love to hear cauldron blast through Budgie\'s breadfan ( duel influence as tallica also covered it) or white wizard let loose on some maiden tracks. Also thanks for the great gig in london with cauldron and bonded by blood mint show and i got to meet a member of angel witch as well as cauldron. From:

Answer: Yes, its been quite gratifying for us to see how well fans like yourself have appreciated these new bands, dubbed NWOTHM- we have signed CAULDRON, WHITE WIZZARD and POWERVICE ( they need to finally regroup round a new singer), plus don't forget the amazing ENFORCER and RAM, who are on other labels.

The scene is so tiny, it barely makes it onto the radar of the general metal throng, but the ultimate accolade has surely come recently when the figureheads of the original NWOBHM scene have decided to support the new scene, and give the fledgling bands their generous support and backing.



Original UK music paper scribe Geoff Barton was the one who dubbed the like of Maiden, Leppard, Tygers, Angel Witch etc as NEW WAVE OF BRITISH HEAVY METAL in October 1979 in Sounds magazine (he later became first editor of Kerrang! mag).This was soon shortened to just NWOBHM.
Almost 30 years later, this month in 2009 Geoff writes a great article in the new CLASSIC ROCK magazine comparing the new bands to the originators.Pick up Classic Rock at a newsstand for a great cover mount CD sampler with many of the NWOTHM/ NEWTHM bands!



Likewise the irrepressible Neal Kay, originator of the Heavy Metal Sound House- at the 'Bandwagon' (this was the name of the function room adjoining the Prince of Wales pub in Kingsbury area) of North London in which he DJ'ed and singlehandedly popularised new Heavy Metal bands in late 70's- including IRON MAIDEN (who dutifully named their debut 7inch THE SOUNDHOUSE TAPES).Neal himself has thrown his support behind the new bands- which we are very grateful for his patronage.See Neal & Cauldron video interview below.

Anyways, back to your question: Maybe you dont know dude, but its not a walk in the park for these bands playing the music they love.They receive a lot of flack from detractors who accuse them of just being mere rehash of NWOBHM, and they are constantly accused of being throwbacks, and "why dont they do something original instead?". This plagues all bands who prefer their music traditional and true, and trend free, unfortunately. Our opinion is that the NEWTHM bands are, on the contrary, playing the most contemporary new metal style that exists at the moment.

So even though its obvious for the bands to do early covers, its not advisable at the current time.I'd love to hear White Wizzard try Spell Bound by Tygers or even Runaround by Halen, they could pull off those classics as covers, no problem, but its not advisable at the moment as they need to forge their own identity with the fans and public first. Its 2009 not 1979, we are well aware of this fact!

Actually Cauldron have a cover on their "Chained To The Nite" album- but no one recognises it! Its Chains Around Heaven by Black N Blue- but its the early Metal Massacre Vol I version from 1982 they recorded, not the later glam-rock version which became huge in later years.Cauldron also covered Germany's Tyrant on their EP an also covered Manilla Road - Necropolis for the album which remains unreleased, for the reasons I stated above.

Heres Neal Kay - a veteran and originator of the NWOBHM telling some amazing stories:



Watch Cauldron recite a list of their fave NWOBHM bands from the era, they are truly fanatics:

DSP = No Mosh, No Core, No trends, No Fun

Question: So was burzum the only one of the second wave of black metal bands that you considered signing or were there any others? if so who were they. I read your post about deathlike silence and how you thought anti mosh was a dig at earache ( no pun intended) in reality it was a dig at the various short wearing skate boarding thrash metal bands anthrax in particular, theres a particular anthrax promo picture that i heard euro took offense to its where they are all wearing board shorts and charlie b is wearing a t shirt that is for the band the cure, aparently it was a betrayal of metal in euro\'s eyes. From:

Answer: I knew both Euronymous and Varg, met them both at different places and under different circumstances, but I spent enough time with them both to know what their thoughts were on music and other things. Mayhem used to be the seller of Earache Lps in Norway in the early days of the label.

The Anti-mosh thing was I'm fairly sure, indeed a slight dig at Earache, which was to be expected- I mean, Earache & Roadrunner's death metal bands were selling huge numbers by the turn of the 90s , yet Euronymous was still singing the praises of the likes of Venom, HellHammer, Sodom, Bathory- these were deeply uncool bands at that particular time, being seen to be part of the prior thrash wave from early-mid 80s and so a bit dated.He was very opinionated and knew what he liked and disliked in metal.




Its fair to say that the rise of Black Metal scene made those bands cool again, as they all had that certain ramshackle, shitty production sound but tons of attitude and pure metal spirit,which is their enduring appeal. Euronymous famously put the Florida producer SCOTT BURNS photo (lifted from the Terrorizer album inner sleeve) crossed out along with his snappy slogan- NO CORE NO TRENDS NO FUN NO MOSH. Scott was the producer of choice for the big selling Death Metal bands coming out of Florida and everywhere.

I know what you mean about the Anthrax look and the clothes they wore- for a while maybe around 1987 with the Indians single they were metals biggest crossover act, playing huge plaves, hanging out with superstars and wearing crazy garb like Indian head-dresses and bermuda shorts- which was the 80s street/skater style dude! I'm sure Euronymous REALLY hated that!

How do we pick the bands we sign?

Question: What is the main factor of yor interest in the submitted band\'s demo?
On what things you firstly draw youê attention (music, composition, quality of studio recording, other factors)?
Does every demo submission receive your either positive or negative feedback?
Thank you in advance From: dmitriy_mid@mail.ru

Answer: That's the question I get asked the most on this blog- probably half the questions received are like this. I've answered it many times on here- try using the search box at the top left, enter : how to get signed. Or read THIS.

The instructions on our website- see contact section- state that we need a myspace link, not a CD demo in the post. This is because we can tell more about you from such a page - be it from the number of daily plays to the number of bulletins you are sending. We assess how ambitious you are and how much touring you are doing by the number of dates listed on the page. The music is important of course, we are looking for original-sounding bands who can be successful and dont mind working hard.Unlike most labels, we think its NOT essential to sound like everyone else does, or aspire to be just like whatever is selling huge at the moment. Earache traditionally falls for pioneering bands who display a futuristic slant on extreme music, even if it is a retro slant, which currently is in vogue.

Image is very important for most labels- the quality and style of the clothes and haircuts of the band is paramount to many if not all of the big labels, but Earache's acts have never been chosen because of this factor- just take a look at our bands pictures on the website for proof! (with honorable exceptions of Akercocke or Cult Of Luna, who do pride themselves on great style in their photo shoots)

The Berzerker covering T.A.T.U ?

Question: Although they arnt on earache no more what do you think of the berzerker\'s cover of tatu\'s all the things she said? great marketing idea for the band or causing controversy for no reason? Personally i think the video and song as a package is a great bit of press for the band, as far as a bit of a joke goes. From:



Answer: Well we did 4 albums by THE BERZERKER starting in the late 90's, and he was my favourite artist on Earache for a long time, but sadly, record sales had declined alarmingly by the 4th one and the band was in disarray - mainman Luke had no proper band, just a revolving door of on/off members, so his contract was completed at that point, and we declined to offer a new one. Luke took the opportunity to carry on on his own label, selling the CD direct to fans, cutting out the labels/distributors and retailers, which is not a bad idea in theory, but in practise its hard to sell CDs in any great numbers that way.

So I kinda lost interest in what the BERZERKER was up to- also because any kind of techno-ised beats simply sound so 90's and pretty old-fashioned to my ears these days.
So this is the first time i've seen the clip which you can check out HERE

Personally its OK, - the main keyboard riff should start the cover I reckon, as its the most recognisable part.Basically, I applaud the Berzerker for trying to make waves and a bit of controversy never did anyone's rep any harm, but quite simply, its not controversial enough for me. Everyone wants a viral hit which gets 100 Million views on Youtube and embeds itself in everyone's heads. Check out this advert for a Danish Washing machine supplier, then ask yourself which is actually more controversial.

Napalm Death re-union at SUPERSONIC fest?

Question: Hey dig, Have you noticed that all 3 members of the original Napalm Death line up are appearing on stage at the Birmingham Supersonic festival, with their various new or old bands.Any chance of a Napalm Set?
from: Dalegrice355@gmail.com

Answer: Nah dude- this question crops up every so often and i think its highly unlikely. But you are right, the original Napalm death members are all playing SUPERSONIC festival. If ever a time was right to do it, its now,in July 2009 at this festival.

Justin is -I assume, but might be wrong - in HEAD OF DAVID, Nick Bullen is appearing with LIGHT TRAP (Nick plays the fest most years) and Mick Harris is performing as SCORN.Earache takes no sides in the old Napalm vs New Napalm debate though I will say i think would be highly poetic and somehow fitting if the 3 guys found a way to jam together a few Napalm numbers at the fest, especially after the HOME OF METAL project was so well received in the city.This was a project run by the Supersonic organisers, which went to great lengths to emphasise Napalm Death's importance to the legacy of great Heavy Metal bands which put the city of Birmingham on the map.

I also notice The Accused are playing too- they were my faves from the crossover era mid 80's and were kind enough to agree to my first ever release on the Earache label, so all it would need is HERESY to reform aswell, and you could have the first 3 Earache bands on stage in Birmingham, July 2009.

Plus IRON LUNG are playing, fresh from their recent Uk tour with Municipal Waste, and Shige/Scotch Egg is playing with his Band DRUMIZE, who can do no wrong, so its worth going just for these.

So all in all, it should be quite an interesting -if lacking in genuine Heavy metal bands- festival. See you there.

UK Hardcore punk bands 1981 & 2009

Question: Dig, good day! I would like to ask your opinion on the current underground/punk and extreme metal UK scene. It seems you and Earache came out of that fertile ground that spawned punk bands like Discharge, Disorder, Chaos UK and so forth, entering into the more extreme scene you were a part of and imploding with the UK thrash stuff (Heresy/Concrete Sox/Napalm/Ripcord). Finally this was all decanted into extreme metal which Earache became the spearhead label of.
It seems that as far as the original punk scene Earache came from everything is dead in the UK. Would you say that\'s true? I haven\'t seen any really, really good bands coming from the UK since the early 90s. Living there and working with music since the 80s what do you credit that for? From:



Answer: Uk punk was piss poor around the turn of the 80's, the original 77 era punk bands were in the top 40 charts and on TV shows like Top Of The Pops so had became irrelevant to many punks by that point.Many bands went weird & being Alternative and angsty was all the rage, like Joy Division. The only punk scene that mattered was the DIY efforts coming out of the USA and I suppose Dead Kennedys were leading that charge.Then a small UK label based out of a record shop in Stoke on Trent helmed by a certain fellow by the name of Mike Stone changed all that. UK Hardcore punk was born when Mike released what would become the first two truly earth-shattering metallised- HC punk bands on his legendary Clay Records imprint.

If you want to hear where the big 4 Thrash bands got their idea for playing heavy metal at speed- just check out the 1981 releases from the Clay Records label - Discharge 'Why?' 12inch and Birmingham, Uk's GBH "Leather Bristles Studs & acne" 12inch. GBH is UK police term for a crime - Grevious Bodily Harm.Discharge quickly became the more famous of the two because political lyrics were in vogue while GBH were arguably more metallic and sang about general topics like girls. Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield can be seen wearing GBH shirts in many early Metallica shots.

GBH Race Against Time 1981


As for modern day UK HC/punk bands who play it the old way- its a tiny scene now, but such bands do still exist -try SICK ON THE BUS or CERTIFIED for a flavour of some old school UK hardcore punk. The bands are playing shows all over UK right now.:

Earache's latest slew of dual disc re-issues

Question: Hey guys, just a follow up to a message I sent in October.
I asked about deluxe editions/special editions of \"Sleep\'s Holy Mountain\" and \"Blessed are The Sick\".
It seems my wishes have been granted - with the Sleep and Morbid Angel albums either out or awaiting release.. so, firstly, thanks for that!
Secondly, I was really pleased with the quality of the packaging and sound on \"S\'s HM\", and thought that the Black Sabbath cover didn\'t break the concise yet powerful groove of the album, so a worthy addition.
Just a few quick \'uns now:
1. Any plans for any more deluxe editions/classic albums in the near future? (Well done on both so far, by the way, though I\'m baffled as to why Wake Up and Smell The Carcass was the only Carcass album not to receive dualdisc treatment.. time issues?)
2. Who do you think are the record label that come closest to you in terms of sheer metalness? (Methinks Relapse)
3. And any plans for getting your hands on the Sleep reunion footage?

Thanks, again.
From Ross, in the home of metal, Birmingham. From: paintyourface@hotmail.co.uk



Answer: HI again Ross, yeah we do read and act on the thoughts of fans who post to this blog- so your request for Sleep and Morbid Angel to get the re-issue treatment was noted.We have plenty of back catalogue titles which deserve a deluxe lavish re-issue, and we really appreciate the thousands of fans like yourself who eagerly snap them up, we assume it's because you see a lot of effort goes into them.We find our bands love to talk about their past. Hey did you get Cathedral "Forest of Equilibrium" yet?- that is stupidly lavish, with poster, 45 minute DVD side, extra 4 track EP.

In the case of Sleep we were shocked to see the band had reformed, so we had to rush release it to co-incide with their gigs at ATP festival and we didn't have time to interview the band plus, sadly we never collected an archive of live footage from the era when the band were recording for us 1992-4.The band left Earache after this one classic album, under a cloud and through legal shenanigans, to persue a Major record deal which quickly went sour for them, and ultimately caused the split up of the act.

As for Morbid Angel- they have only been recording so far in their illustrious career for Earache, and the soon coming Blessed Are The Sick dualdisc is a belter. The DVD has over an hour of interview footage with mainman David Vincent and many of the cast of characters involved in the production of the bands second album.Its an inside look at the bands viewpoint on how they felt at the time being involved in defining the Death Metal genre in the early 90s.You get the guided tour of the legendary Morrisound Studios by Tom Morris (BATS Producer and owner of the Studio which bears his name).People from behind the scenes- management, roadies- even chip in with stories from on the road aswell.

To answer your questions:
1) Carcass interview footage was all used up on the 5 main studio albums.The wake up and Smell re-issue was made because it seemed the odd-one-out and deserved a spruce up, and being packaged with the original Wake UP and Smell DVD (featuring 2 full live shows and all the promo clips) seemed appropriate and common sense.Again it was a suggestion from the readers of this blog actually.

2) Metal Label which is the most Metal? Thats a toughie.Being in the industry we keep tabs on the other labels of our ilk, Century Media, Nuclear Blast, Relapse Candlelight, Victory, Visible Noise- we are rivals, but its little known that we are or were friends from way-back. I have known the owners of those labels personally from even before they started the labels, or as they were starting, because they formed in the wake of the Earache-led extreme-metal explosion.I never knew Metal Blade's Brian Slagel, as he was already operating and Metal Blade were having huge success years before Earache.He formed in the USA, as the labels Roadrunner and SPV were formed in Holland and Germany during the early 80's, which was way before Earache started, so I don't have any kinship with those. Nowadays of course, many of these labels release commercial- sounding Metal bands who post mega- successful sales, blowing Earache's past more modest achievements clean out of the water.To be honest, Relapse's output recently has not impressed me much.It's pretty 'samey'. My Tip of the Hat goes to Century Media, they are the metal powerhouse of this generation.My vote for metal-est label is Visible Noise, they literally transformed the UK metal-landscape in a short space of time, and sales of their biggest acts completely dwarf the rest of us.

3) I dont think we are going after the Sleep reunion show footage, because we dont have any record deal in place at the present, ours dates from 92-94.

heres a video advert for the upcoming Blessed Are The Sick DVD: *there is no actual footage shown as the band wanted it under wraps until retail release:

Scum 20th anniversary edition sound problem.

Question: What\'s wromg with the N.D. \"Scum\" Anniversary disc from 2008?

Audiowise, this release sure offers a much better sound quality compared to the original CD release. However, someone must have slept through the Quality Control part. Starting at the eighth track (Siege of power) you can hear that the audio is speeding and slowing (not the band, mind you...). And in the next track (Control) it gets ridiculus! Listen from the beginning and notice the crazy speed-up at around 0:25!! What\'s up with this? It is NOT supposed to sound like this, never did.
Will there be a corrected version?

Cheers! From: jernberg@gmail.com

Answer: Well spotted my eagle-eared friend!You are right, I can hear a subtle upward change in pitch during the song "Control" which gives the impression of speeding up.It is really hard to notice unless you are massively familiar with the album. Heck, I even just played it to my label manager who could hear nothing amiss. You are the very first person to point this out, but the 20th anniversary edition with DVD is sold out and wont be re-printed anyway.The reason its hard to notice is because to the untrained ear, the band varies speed so much on the album, from extreme sludgy slow riffs to chaotic extreme high speed noise, that in the context of the song, the pitch variation you pointed out seems "normal". But its definately a mistake in the master, yes, sorry if it spoils your enjoyment of the album, but 99.9% of listeners don't seem to notice it.

We can't explain it, its somehow got on this pressing.I can only guess that during the mastering from original tape, some kind of tape slippage occured, but that would result in slowing down of the tape- this is sped up.Its some kind of analogue error, I dont think digital mastering can have such a speeded up effect, though I'm not sure, so will ask the audio experts.

One thing I have noticed is that when we revisit the old masters of Earache's classic early titles, many of which were recorded in the 80's, the modern day mastering software accentuates some of the sounds- the high and low end- which due to restrictions of analog equipment in the 80's werent present on the original printing back in the vinyl and cassette days. When we remastered Altars of Madness from original master tapes we opted to scrap the new modern master because it sound so UNLIKE the 80s version, and kept with the original instead.

PS
Heres the soundfile of CONTROL taken from the original CD from 1988, Scum and FETO together, Ampex master tape of A-side of Scum was already 2 years old at that point.

NAPALM DEATH Control 1988 CD (with FETO) by digearache

Now compare to CONTROL from the SCUM standalone CD from 1994, master tapes were 8 yrs old by that point, its noticeably different,mastering made it a bit louder.Its from same source original tape!

NAPALM DEATH Control taken from CD 1994 standalone Scum by digearache

Unfortunately I can't upload the 2007 Dualdisc Uk 20th Anniversary edition because my mac cant rip dualdisc, so cant play here the actual song you are mentioning in the question, but i'll work on getting a rip up here.I already reckon it might have been taken from this 1994 CD, that would explain it.

I should point out there have been a zillion printings of the CD in the 20 years, at myriad plants and using different masters (often a regular CD) and they are all fine.Even in this case the album is fine -its the song CONTROL which suffers this pitch change.

Feel free to comment on the differences, as I have no simple explanation for them.

As I mentioned in the answer- the reason remastering of Altars was scrapped was because of the vast change in the audio when remastered 15 years after the event.It seems vintage tapes played into a pristine digital software mastering suite era 2000 sounds 'off' when compared to the original master which was made back in the 80s era analogue environment.

I think the same thing happened here with Scum, our ears want it to sound the same as 80's vinyl, but coming off 8 yr old analogue tape in an analogue mastering environment, it doesn't, sadly. To sum up, that's the 'beauty' of Ferric Oxide, its not digital perfection, nor is it bad quality control, you simply get whatever is on the tape on the day you run it.

Why so few Earache band shows in Ireland?

Question: Hi Guys, been a long long term fan of earache and everything they stand for. Just one curiosity though .... why the hell are there so few N.Ireland shows penciled in? We have a thriving scene and lets be honest aren\'t really a million miles away ... keep it extreme ..

G. From:

Answer: Its not deliberate, we encourage our bands to play everywhere they possibly can, but I agree, the amount of shows played in Ireland, be it the North or the South, are very sparse indeed. The reasons are purely economic. We have currently signed to the label an Irish band with members hailing from Newry & Dublin - GAMA BOMB plus we recently worked with CELTIC LEGACY on our Heavy Metal Killers compilation, and neither of those bands seem to play much in their home country either.Though Celtic Legacy played Full Metal Racket fest in Belfast in April, according to their myspace.

We know there are tons of fans of heavy and extreme stuff in Ireland,our webstore sells a ton of Cds/Vinyl and shirts to Irish metalheads so we hear from you all the time, plus for a few years Earache had a Irish dude working over here at the Nottingham HQ of the label, he clued me in on the whole scene.

Its not a million miles away, as you say, but the costs of bands travelling on the road is enormous, and sadly, Ireland is in the wrong direction, and a expensive ferry ride away, which makes bands think twice about it. For the overseas bands coming over for a European tour, say flying in from USA , they invariably touch down in London/Heathrow and their touring endeavours begin and end at that location.For smaller bands the income from touring and selling merch literally keeps the show on the road,so they stick to shows which pay a decent amount, mostly its the ones on the English small/medium club circuit of major cities- London, Birmingham, Nottingham, Leeds- plus the biggest paying shows of all, are over on mainland Europe- Germany, France, Holland .

The small to medium size bands and their booking agents (the ones who book the tours) naturally gravitate towards the cities which pay decent fees, and this means they invariably play a handful of cities in England, then catch the Dover-Calais ferry to head east into mainland EU. Things could change easily if the promotors in Ireland could guarantee the bands healthier fees, you can bet the bands would be queuing up to tour there in a flash.

This doesnt apply to the larger bands- Machine Head, Motorhead and the like- because Ireland does have its fair share of massive level promotors and the fanbase to make it economic. Thats why you mainly see the big metal bands appearing in Ireland, for 20 Euro and up priced tickets, in the large concert halls & arenas.Interesting blog about the gig scene here.

No Metalgaze on Earache- Iroha/Nadja etc

Question: Being as earache had so much to do with the roots of the genre, does earache have any interest in the metalgaze scene at all? The core bands seem to be jesu, iroha, nadja etc. Earache seemed to lay the foundations of the genre with godflesh and scorn. Is earache not interested because of the scene inbreeding of the bands? or is there another reason for this? From:

Answer: Thanks for the interesting question.I'm noticing more questions from the blogonauts along these lines lately - someone wanted to know why there have been no Avant Garde bands on the label recently aswell, both are tough to answer in any detail apart from the "we're just not feeling it" line.

The sound of the bands you mention just doesn't seem all that contemporary to my, admittedly shot-through, ears. By definition, if Earache was releasing the early bands which are now considered the roots of the style all those years ago, its damn hard for us to find the same sounds as contemporary in 2009. Time moves on and what was once radical ends up being considered traditional (tradical?) some might even consider it safe.
Personally I think Iroha is pretty cool,the song Iroha itself has a haunting quality which is mesmerising. I prefer em to Nadja (pictured) anyway, who simply seem like a polite Jesus and Mary Chain to me. Anyone remember the original shoegaze act from the 80's My Bloody Valentine ? they were the definition of radical noise for much of the 80's, well, until Napalm Death came along they were.

Having said all that, you should check out Swedes Cult of Luna who over the course of 4 albums on Earache have plenty of 'Metal-gaze'ish moments, interspersed with intensely heavy parts, so could be classed as similar.

Earache is not opposed to signing a newish totally out there experimental band, its probably long overdue in fact, we just need to find the right one that floats our boat.

Earache is NOT on the Nottingham tourist map

Question: I\'m visting a friend in Nottingham during the Summer, but I will probably have some time to myself when he is at work. So, I was looking for somthing to do, and I was wondering if you do tours of your offices? Is there anything worth seeing?

Alternatively, is there any places in Notts you reccomend I vist? I would like to see the places that started my favourite record label. From: punk7680@hotmail.com


Answer: Well, Punk7680, we might just be able to "make your day".Its been a while since we had any fans want to check out the Earache HQ, tho I vividly recall back in the labels heyday we had regular visits every summer, from Inter-railing European fans. Swedes, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and even the worlds biggest Napalm Death collector Mykul from New York made the pilgrimage. Most would simply call round to get a peek at the place, or try to buy rare test pressings or to drop off a demo tape, while they were here.

Some went much further- a group of lads from Basque country (Spain) came into the office and proceeded to climb onto my desk and stagedive off it into their mates arms. It was hilarious to watch - I guess it was a hoot to tell their mates "we went to Earache and stagedived off Dig's desk".Mad bastards.

Office is first floor above the Peckish Cafe.Entrance pictured.

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The label actually started in this terrace apartment, minus all garbage outside it I might add.My first floor flat (window wide open) was the place Earache began.Every early grindcore musician used this place as a hotel while on tours or recording etc.I doubt the local council are in any rush to put a plaque on the wall, ha ha.

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No visit to Nottingham is complete with checking out ROCK CITY club.

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For smaller punk & metal gigs try the OLD ANGEL

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Earache has no 'Avant-Garde' bands any more?

Question: Dig, you mentioned how hard it is to find new scenes and start new musical genres nowadays. Bands that are creating are faced with hostility and misunderstanding. However, they are the ones who progress when the genre is set and clones begin to appear. Earache had been focusing in re-heated thrash metal (80s clones) and the established mainstream scene of metalcore. Do you ever feel you would go back to the days of releasing REALLY out there and risky stuff like OLD, SCORN, PAINKILLER and so forth? Bands that had no fanbase, no hype around them, but the art itself was something new? Even SCUM and the whole grind scene were risky at a time that was not understood at all (Say Mosh 003-50)

Record sales are down and playing it safe is the rule for money making, but do you have the drive or will to release absolutely avant garde, risky stuff that may or may not mark the world of music forever? Or is it Earache now strictly about keeping it safe within the established metal genres and revivals that are floating the market, providing what you see as \"quality stuff\" within well defined and already hyped up and popular scenes? From: urmlefou@gmail.com


Answer: I dunno dude, one person's cutting-edge Avant-Garde band is another person's snooze-fest.Its all about individual tastes, and for Earache, having a label is all about inflicting our taste in music on the public.As you say, we've been taking the risks and releasing bands who have no fanbase to speak of, and definately no peers, for decades. You mention OLD, SCORN and PAINKILLER.We did John Zorn's Naked City too (see pic above). Don't forget ULTRAVIOLENCE, DOA, TEMPER TANTRUM and DELTA 9- the harsh electronic music they made was considered radical and out-there back in mid 90's , nowadays of course there exists a thriving Hardcore Techno underground.

Even DUB WAR aswell, their mid- 1990's Drum n Bass excursions were highly risky and would'nt be classed as any kind of safe option for a Metal label.Latest example might be Ewigkeit, who were a brilliant UK rock band innovating with experimental sounds and sound-bites.

When bands take off its a vindication of our choices and immensely satisfying. But when they fail and the fans shun them, we face the sometimes bitter recriminations.When bands find they have no takers it knocks the stuffing out of them unless they have abnormally high self confidence. Ultimately it leads to members leaving, or the clever ones quickly bury their mistake and move onto pastures new.From a label point of view its no fun losing money and believe me, selling no records gets boring real fast.

Thats not to say we don't like taking risks, actually we get a kick out of doing the un-obvious and keeping things interesting.Earache does have some bold plans for some immensely risky releases soon though, expect to read about that stuff later in the year.

I'm keen to know what sort of Avant Garde bands you are referring to? Please feel free to comment on this post with names of suggestions and links to hear the bands you feel Earache should be pursuing.

The New- NWOBHM 2009 Scene explained

Question: Do you think that the increase in newer nwobhm style bands is connected to Iron Maiden doing record numbers now than during any part of their career? As surely it would make it easier to sell this form of music if the band headlining the major festivals is also of that style? From:


Answer: You might be right, Iron Maiden are enjoying an amazing year, selling more concert tickets than Coldplay, and with their blockbuster movie Flight 666 due out soon aswell, things can only get bigger. After video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, I agree, the resurgence of all things 'Traditional Heavy Metal' can be attributed to Iron Maiden's ongoing success.

Meanwhile the 'scene'- such as it is - of young NWOBHM-influenced bands is very tiny indeed. We discovered it by accident almost, hanging out with our new crop of Thrash bands. At an ENFORCER gig in Birmingham we found out that the bands themselves and also their young fans are not so much into the currently highly popular and prevailing Death Metal and Black Metal scenes. They simply are not listening to say, Mastodon or Lacuna Coil, nor Darkthrone or Morbid Angel or Dillinger Escape Plan. These young bands turn out to be more influenced by the classic timeless HM sounds of Iron Maiden or Judas Priest, Raven, Tygers of Pan Tang.It was an exciting discovery for us.

Earache tried to showcase this new scene (Traditional Heavy Metal or NWOTHM) on our HEAVY METAL KILLERS compilation. It was a tough task to do it, because bands of that ilk are so far below most of the metal scene's radar, they are positively subterranean.ENFORCER, CROWNING GLORY, RAM and our own signed CAULDRON, WHITE WIZZARD and POWERVICE all feature on the comp.

Power metal bands like Hammerfall or Primal Fear have been huge in Europe for a decade, both are praised for singlehandedly keeping the true HM flag flying during the dark days.However, these new NWOBHM bands are distinctly different from their Power metal predecessors.NWOTHM means a return to no-frills, song-based, basic true-to-the roots HM. The focal point shifted away from the riff (See the Sabbath/Doom scene for that) and back onto the singer, and the song. Most tellingly, there are no 20-piece orchestras making an appearance or histrionic lengthy solos, and no glam-rock affectations. The NWOTHM bands appear almost 'punky' and down-to-earth in outlook actually, which is what we like about them most in fact.

Watch WHITE WIZZARD explain it themselves:

Do we sign Bands or scenes?

Question: Ive wondered when doing A&R for the label is it easier to monitor certain scenes that have developed for example yorkshire being branded the new bay area because of the amount of thrash bands that are from there, or the south west uk being branded the new flordia because of the large amount of death metal bands that come from the bath and bristol area, im wondering how do you decide of which bands of that scene which ones are you going to sign do you take the scene leaders who have been there the longest but are more likely to move on? or do you go for the second wave of band who are still obsessed in the core value of the scene? I based this question on somthing tony wilson once said about how the manchester scene evolved from joy divsion esque bands to happy monday esque bands obviously ive put it in more of a metal context. From:


Answer: Doing A&R for a label is a tricky business. You end up saying "No" about 99% of time to the bands- being so predominately negative, well, lets just say it doesn't particularly endear you to many people.But it comes with the territory so no complaints from me.
The truth is we do monitor scenes, yeah- because we find that hardly any band that is worth a damn develops alone, most bands who create even a small ripple of attention on a local level soon spawn 2-3-4 clones of other bands aping their style. Its miraculous how quickly that happens actually.One prized skill we do possess is instinctively knowing -just by having a keen ear- who are the leaders and who are the followers of any given scene.We find there is a distinct, sharper,more intense depth of focus in the originators, which the next wave of bands, even if they form a mere couple of months later, lack.

The latest UK scenes you mention are still growing, but ones Earache are involved in- be it EVILE leading the stampede of Thrash bands streaming out of Yorkshire, or TRIGGER THE BLOODSHED leading the wave of modern DM bands battering their way outta the South West.We signed IGNOMINIOUS INCARCERATION out of that scene, as we had already missed out on undoubted leaders Trigger.Local label Rising got the bands signatures first.

I would say the two biggest scenes which have had most impact on the UK metal landscape in recent years are the South Wales metal/emo/screamo scene- this stampede was spearheaded by Funeral For A Friend & Lost Prophets, and swiftly followed by Bullet For My Valentine, plus a zillion others from the area, most of these names now dominate the UK metal charts.Also the Watford Hc/Punk scene led by Gallows obviously.Earache missed out on both,to be frank we never saw these coming, or rather we saw the bands were developing a buzz, but did not act on this information, as the music wasn't really 100% to our liking. Other, newer, labels saw what we didn't - and those labels reaped the rewards, meanwhile we umm-ed an arr-ed and lost out.We took it on the chin and moved on.

This question is really astute : "(when) going to sign, do you take the scene leaders who have been there the longest but are more likely to move on? or do you go for the second wave of band who are still obsessed in the core value of the scene?"
No one has ever pointed out the difference to me before, you are seriously bang on with this assessment.My instinctive answer is - whenever possible we sign the leaders, because over the course of time no one remembers the also-rans.

Most of the most iconic and legendary breakthrough metal acts received scathing reviews from critics at first. UK rag Kerrang! famously gave Slayers debut the ultimate thumbs down score- one K. I believe Emperors debut also received this dubious accolade of a lowest possible mark. Thats why journalists don't make it in A&R.

It must be said that the originators and trailblazers of any scene do not pick an easy path, at first all they meet are detractors with at best, puzzled looks, and at worst, open hostility.The casualty rate is high, because it requires unbeleivable mental toughness and unshakable self-belief to make a lasting impact on the music scene. The leaders are the ones who have to fight damn hard for any acceptance, they are the ones taking the flack and suffering the knocks which come with trying to do anything new.Many of them don't survive the ordeal, often losing members or splitting up entirely due to the accumulated pressure associated with the constant battle to be different but also trying to be accepted.

Meanwhile the chasing pack of bands close behind have a much easier ride of it, as the sheep-like majority of metal fans are more accepting of a newish radical style, but only once its broken through and deemed "OK" and "safe" to like.

Heres IGNOMINIOUS INCARCERATION clip:

Carcass Red vinyl symphonies 1989

Question: Hello again,

i know that you don\'t want to answer some kind of questions. Maybe this one is one of them. The last time i wrote you about a \"symphonies of sickness\"-rerelease i was watching it at ebay. I didn\'t get an aswer from you, but i bought it. Its a sealed rerelease with a sticker on the plastic that says \"only 1000 copies on colored vinyl\". My question is (again): Which pressings had this sticker? Just the red european 1000 copies or also the us-releases? Or just the us releases? It would be very nice if you could tell me that detail. I\'m NOT going to sell that copy with \"Earache told me that this record is rare as hell\"! You can check my site, so you can see that i am a collector, not a seller! its:
www.my-recordcollection.de
Thank you very much. From: marcel76mahlert@web.de

Answer: The 2002 US vinyl edition of Symphonies of Sickness is what you have, judging from the sticker text. The original 1989 version was 1000 red vinyl for Germany only, check it out in detail HERE.Some more info on vinyl colors and quantities is HERE