http://www.earache.com
http://www.earache.tumblr.com
http://www.myspace.com/earacherecords
http://www.last.fm/music/Earache+Records
http://www.earacheshop.com/store/eurosto...
http://www.earachestore.com/store/
https://twitter.com/EaracheRecords
http://ilike.com/artist/Earache+Records
http://askearache.blogspot.com/
Earache Records started during the summer of 1986 in the Nottingham apartment of
founder Digby Pearson, who for years previously was a prominent scenester and
avid fan of the 80's Underground Hardcore scene, following bands like Discharge,
MDC and DRI etc. Dig's apprenticeship in the rudiments of the music industry was
served by stints as a writer for Punk fanzine Maximum RocknRoll, promoting
American HC bands' tours in the UK and self-releasing flexidiscs of bands such
as The Stupids and Heresy.
Noticing the beginnings of a crossover of
the Hardcore Punk and Thrash Metal scenes, Digby, without any particular
fanfare, set about releasing records by those bands he considered pushed the
envelope of Hardcore to its most extreme, soon discovering an obscure Birmingham
oufit called Napalm Death. Their brand of hyper-speed ' blast ' beats with
political and social lyrics, - dubbed 'Grindcore' by the band themselves - made
their debut LP 'Scum' an instant hit with fans and ensured widespread notoriety
for what was, by some measure, the most extreme and harsh music ever released to
the public. By their second album 'From Enslavement to Obliteration' in 1988,
Napalm Death had, against all expectations, broken into the mainstream by
debuting at Number 1 on the UK Indie charts , scoring the label's first NME
front cover and radio sessions with noted BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who had
typically supported the sound from its inception.
In turn the label grew
from a bedroom operation into something more organised - Earache signed a whole
host of acts that were coming together to become the leaders of the 'Grindcore'
scene and its more metallic offshoot, 'Death Metal' - including Floridian
satanists Morbid Angel and Sweden's downtuned death-heads Entombed. Liverpudlian
gore group Carcass' medical-atrocity album covers resulted in a raid on the
label's offices from the UK Obscene Publications Squad to seize copies of their
'Reek of Putrefaction' and 'Symphonies of Sickness' albums, but no charges were
actually made.
Digby Pearson 1987
During this time, Earache's
output was not just limited to Death Metal records but embraced all manner of
similarly extreme offshoots, from Industrial-Metal pioneers Godflesh and
Pitchshifter, to the sludgy Doom of Cathedral, and laid-back Californians Sleep,
one of the earliest Stoner Rock bands. Noted musicians from the avant garde such
as John Zorn and Bill Laswell also contributed.
By 1992, with the
Grind/Death Metal scene gaining attention worldwide, many Earache releases began
appearing in the national Album charts in the UK, as well as similar sales
charts in Sweden, Germany and USA by sheer numbers of fans buying the releases.
Earache had by that stage become the by-word for extreme music, being home to
most, if not all, the leading bands in the scene.
In 1993 the label
entered into a license deal with Sony Music in the USA, the natural assumption
from all sides was that with Major label backing, Earache's extreme bands would
form the next wave of platinum rock acts. The expected sales breakthrough did
not materialise however, as US radio programmers at the time were still
enthralled by the Grunge-lite sound and it would be another 6 years before any
heavy music was embraced by radio and US fans alike, in the form of the Nu-Metal
explosion.
The Sony deal was short lived, but the fallout caused by
failure to sell in America affected things badly. Carcass signed directly with
Sony though the band folded soon afterwards, meanwhile other Major labels
engaged in a signing frenzy for Earache's extreme metal stars: Morbid Angel
signed to Giant, Entombed to East West, and Sleep to London. After the dust had
settled, many of the leading acts on Earache's roster were gone, but the label
had, crucially, its fiercely Independent status and extensive back catalogue
intact.
Post Sony, Earache immediately scored big with Swedish melodic
Death Metal band At The Gates, but the labels iconaclastic tendencies were
exemplified by dabbling with hardcore techno via the US Industrial Strength
label as well as UK cyber/techno act Ultraviolence. These signings were far
removed from the Extreme Metal scene Earache was known for and synonymous with,
but during this period Welsh act Dub War scored the label 5 UK singles chart
hits and for a couple of years were Earache's most succesful act in the UK.
Since the turn of the millenium, Earache has fostered underground
metal talent by setting up the "Wicked World" imprint for new acts, while still
developing breakthrough bands like The Haunted from Sweden, plus the unique
talents of Norway's dark-goth Mortiis, as well as Australian grind mutants The
Berzerker and Poland's young Death Metal prodigies Decapitated.
Digby Pearson 2004
To emphasise the coming sea-change in the scene, and
that Earache was 100% committed to unearthing new talent, 2 of the labels
long-term legacy acts Napalm Death and Cathedral were dropped from the roster by
late 99, after just over a decade of recording for the label. Both acts promptly
signed to other labels, and continued on with their careers,with Napalm Death
railing against the perceived injustices of their 10+years stint with Earache on
their first non-Earache release "Enemy Of The Music Business" for the
Dreamcatcher label. Such grievances were quickly proven to be groundless
however, and a year later the band helpfully co-operated again with Earache on a
career-defining 'Best of' 2XCD Compilation the band entitled "Noise For Music's
Sake".During 2002-4, Earache's important legacy acts were introduced to a new
generation of metal fans via some more well-received band-approved 'Best of'
compilations: Cathedral's 2xCD "The Serpents Gold" and Carcass's two Best of's,
"Wake Up and Smell The.." and "Choice Cuts", all became fixtures in any
self-respecting metal fans collection.Typically,the label was one of the first
metal labels to release footage on the new digital audio-visual format of DVD,
since it had meticulously documented most of its bands on film over the years
and had duly amassed a sizable archive of prized footage.Earache released the
debut DVD's of Carcass, Napalm Death, Cathedral, Entombed and Godflesh, as well
as 2 compilations of promo clips on DVD, known as the iCRUSHER DVD series. The
Haunted's DVD "Caught On Tape" charted at Number 1 on the Swedish DVD chart in
early 2003.
At around this time, Earache also formed yet another
sub-label to bring new talent to fruition:Founding 'Elitist Records' with an
outside A&R guy,Lee Barrett,at the helm. Bands like Italian jazz-core
sensations Ephel Duath and later, the UK's new breed of extreme power metal,
Biomechanical came to prominence through this route.
The expected sea
change arrived- and it was a tsunami.Earache had a ringside seat, but no direct
involvement, as a whole new set of bands from other labels exploded onto the
scene: Post-2000, the global Independent Metal scene became massively popular,
with US masked-metal giants like Slipknot, Euro female-fronted gothic metal like
Nightwish, hard-working USA Metalcore acts like Hatebreed/Shadows Fall, as well
as Emo/Screamo bands like Thursday/Lostprophets, all beginning to set previously
unheard-of sales statistics for ostensibly 'extreme(ish) metal' releases and so
came to raise the bar and re-define the metal scene in the early noughties. By
contrast, Earache's new bands' achievements were much more modest, as we still
preferred to sign bands which have a more individualistic take on the extreme
metal ethos- but still, Mortiis had two singles reach the Top 60 UK National
Charts, Sweden's Cult Of Luna rapidly became many scenesters faves, and
newly-signed sharp-suited satanists Akercocke received plaudits and many 'album
of year' accolades in the press.
The global explosion of interest in
metal and extreme metal in particular, led to the publication of the book
'Choosing Death' in 2004, in which noted scenester Albert Mudrian admirably
detailed the history of the death metal and grindcore scenes, and rightly placed
Earache's key role as the central catalyst within it.
In a surprising
move to some, the then longest-serving act on the label, Death Metal veterans
Morbid Angel, were released from their contract after 15+ years of excellent
service.The band and label parted on friendly terms, but ironically, papers were
exchanged on the same day as original singer David Vincent made his unexpected
return into the Morbid Angel fold,after almost a decade away.In a further ironic
twist, Florida's other Death Metal stalwarts Deicide signed to Earache in the
same year, after fulfilling their contract with long term home, Roadrunner.
Deicide's 2004 debut for Earache, 'Scars Of The Crucifix', marked a significant
return to form and many old and new fans embraced it, becoming the labels
biggest selling album in years, returning the Earache name onto the USA
Billboard Charts.
More Billboard Chart action came during 2005- a Top
200 placing in fact, for platinum-selling Californian Nu Metal act Adema. The
band featuring Korn singer Jonathan Davis' half-brother Marky Chavez on vocals,
were perhaps a strange choice given the labels more extreme output, but label
founder Digby had always been an avid fan.
In the same year, Italy's
political HC/Metallers Linea 77 scored a remarkable Top 10 National Album Chart
placing in their homeland with their 'Available For Propaganda' CD which was a
well deserved reward for the culmination of their tireless gigging and MTV
support.
Now in 2006 as Earache closes in on its 20th continuous year
in operation, it retains its fiercely Independent status, whilst juggling the
dual roles of finding and nurturing new metal talent whilst still keeping its
large and ever growing catalog of legendary extreme metal releases in print for
newer generations of metal fans to enjoy. To this end the label recently set up
its sister Mp3 download site www.metaltracks.com where almost all the 3000+
complete catalog tracks of Earache's history are available for sale as
downloadable Mp3's.
Now known worldwide as the label for all things
extreme in music, Earache's contribution to the underground scene is immense,
having signed a remarkably high percentage of the leading and most innovative
acts in the genre, as well as selling over 8 million records in the process, all
the time remaining a truly Independent label.
Earache's commitment to
extremity remains as steadfast as the day it started in the bedroom.
Earache Records is based in Nottingham, London and NYC
Band
: Bonded by blood : The Browning : Cauldron :
Cerebral Bore : Diamond Plate : Enforcer : Evile : Gama Bomb : Hour of 13 :
Municipal Waste : Oceano : Order of Ennead : Rival Sons : Savage Messiah : SSS :
The Soulless : White Wizzard : Woods of Ypres : Wormrot
http://www.earache.tumblr.com
http://www.myspace.com/earacherecords
http://www.last.fm/music/Earache+Records
http://www.earacheshop.com/store/eurosto...
http://www.earachestore.com/store/
https://twitter.com/EaracheRecords
http://ilike.com/artist/Earache+Records
http://askearache.blogspot.com/
Earache Records started during the summer of 1986 in the Nottingham apartment of
founder Digby Pearson, who for years previously was a prominent scenester and
avid fan of the 80's Underground Hardcore scene, following bands like Discharge,
MDC and DRI etc. Dig's apprenticeship in the rudiments of the music industry was
served by stints as a writer for Punk fanzine Maximum RocknRoll, promoting
American HC bands' tours in the UK and self-releasing flexidiscs of bands such
as The Stupids and Heresy.
Noticing the beginnings of a crossover of
the Hardcore Punk and Thrash Metal scenes, Digby, without any particular
fanfare, set about releasing records by those bands he considered pushed the
envelope of Hardcore to its most extreme, soon discovering an obscure Birmingham
oufit called Napalm Death. Their brand of hyper-speed ' blast ' beats with
political and social lyrics, - dubbed 'Grindcore' by the band themselves - made
their debut LP 'Scum' an instant hit with fans and ensured widespread notoriety
for what was, by some measure, the most extreme and harsh music ever released to
the public. By their second album 'From Enslavement to Obliteration' in 1988,
Napalm Death had, against all expectations, broken into the mainstream by
debuting at Number 1 on the UK Indie charts , scoring the label's first NME
front cover and radio sessions with noted BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who had
typically supported the sound from its inception.
In turn the label grew
from a bedroom operation into something more organised - Earache signed a whole
host of acts that were coming together to become the leaders of the 'Grindcore'
scene and its more metallic offshoot, 'Death Metal' - including Floridian
satanists Morbid Angel and Sweden's downtuned death-heads Entombed. Liverpudlian
gore group Carcass' medical-atrocity album covers resulted in a raid on the
label's offices from the UK Obscene Publications Squad to seize copies of their
'Reek of Putrefaction' and 'Symphonies of Sickness' albums, but no charges were
actually made.
Digby Pearson 1987
During this time, Earache's
output was not just limited to Death Metal records but embraced all manner of
similarly extreme offshoots, from Industrial-Metal pioneers Godflesh and
Pitchshifter, to the sludgy Doom of Cathedral, and laid-back Californians Sleep,
one of the earliest Stoner Rock bands. Noted musicians from the avant garde such
as John Zorn and Bill Laswell also contributed.
By 1992, with the
Grind/Death Metal scene gaining attention worldwide, many Earache releases began
appearing in the national Album charts in the UK, as well as similar sales
charts in Sweden, Germany and USA by sheer numbers of fans buying the releases.
Earache had by that stage become the by-word for extreme music, being home to
most, if not all, the leading bands in the scene.
In 1993 the label
entered into a license deal with Sony Music in the USA, the natural assumption
from all sides was that with Major label backing, Earache's extreme bands would
form the next wave of platinum rock acts. The expected sales breakthrough did
not materialise however, as US radio programmers at the time were still
enthralled by the Grunge-lite sound and it would be another 6 years before any
heavy music was embraced by radio and US fans alike, in the form of the Nu-Metal
explosion.
The Sony deal was short lived, but the fallout caused by
failure to sell in America affected things badly. Carcass signed directly with
Sony though the band folded soon afterwards, meanwhile other Major labels
engaged in a signing frenzy for Earache's extreme metal stars: Morbid Angel
signed to Giant, Entombed to East West, and Sleep to London. After the dust had
settled, many of the leading acts on Earache's roster were gone, but the label
had, crucially, its fiercely Independent status and extensive back catalogue
intact.
Post Sony, Earache immediately scored big with Swedish melodic
Death Metal band At The Gates, but the labels iconaclastic tendencies were
exemplified by dabbling with hardcore techno via the US Industrial Strength
label as well as UK cyber/techno act Ultraviolence. These signings were far
removed from the Extreme Metal scene Earache was known for and synonymous with,
but during this period Welsh act Dub War scored the label 5 UK singles chart
hits and for a couple of years were Earache's most succesful act in the UK.
Since the turn of the millenium, Earache has fostered underground
metal talent by setting up the "Wicked World" imprint for new acts, while still
developing breakthrough bands like The Haunted from Sweden, plus the unique
talents of Norway's dark-goth Mortiis, as well as Australian grind mutants The
Berzerker and Poland's young Death Metal prodigies Decapitated.
Digby Pearson 2004
To emphasise the coming sea-change in the scene, and
that Earache was 100% committed to unearthing new talent, 2 of the labels
long-term legacy acts Napalm Death and Cathedral were dropped from the roster by
late 99, after just over a decade of recording for the label. Both acts promptly
signed to other labels, and continued on with their careers,with Napalm Death
railing against the perceived injustices of their 10+years stint with Earache on
their first non-Earache release "Enemy Of The Music Business" for the
Dreamcatcher label. Such grievances were quickly proven to be groundless
however, and a year later the band helpfully co-operated again with Earache on a
career-defining 'Best of' 2XCD Compilation the band entitled "Noise For Music's
Sake".During 2002-4, Earache's important legacy acts were introduced to a new
generation of metal fans via some more well-received band-approved 'Best of'
compilations: Cathedral's 2xCD "The Serpents Gold" and Carcass's two Best of's,
"Wake Up and Smell The.." and "Choice Cuts", all became fixtures in any
self-respecting metal fans collection.Typically,the label was one of the first
metal labels to release footage on the new digital audio-visual format of DVD,
since it had meticulously documented most of its bands on film over the years
and had duly amassed a sizable archive of prized footage.Earache released the
debut DVD's of Carcass, Napalm Death, Cathedral, Entombed and Godflesh, as well
as 2 compilations of promo clips on DVD, known as the iCRUSHER DVD series. The
Haunted's DVD "Caught On Tape" charted at Number 1 on the Swedish DVD chart in
early 2003.
At around this time, Earache also formed yet another
sub-label to bring new talent to fruition:Founding 'Elitist Records' with an
outside A&R guy,Lee Barrett,at the helm. Bands like Italian jazz-core
sensations Ephel Duath and later, the UK's new breed of extreme power metal,
Biomechanical came to prominence through this route.
The expected sea
change arrived- and it was a tsunami.Earache had a ringside seat, but no direct
involvement, as a whole new set of bands from other labels exploded onto the
scene: Post-2000, the global Independent Metal scene became massively popular,
with US masked-metal giants like Slipknot, Euro female-fronted gothic metal like
Nightwish, hard-working USA Metalcore acts like Hatebreed/Shadows Fall, as well
as Emo/Screamo bands like Thursday/Lostprophets, all beginning to set previously
unheard-of sales statistics for ostensibly 'extreme(ish) metal' releases and so
came to raise the bar and re-define the metal scene in the early noughties. By
contrast, Earache's new bands' achievements were much more modest, as we still
preferred to sign bands which have a more individualistic take on the extreme
metal ethos- but still, Mortiis had two singles reach the Top 60 UK National
Charts, Sweden's Cult Of Luna rapidly became many scenesters faves, and
newly-signed sharp-suited satanists Akercocke received plaudits and many 'album
of year' accolades in the press.
The global explosion of interest in
metal and extreme metal in particular, led to the publication of the book
'Choosing Death' in 2004, in which noted scenester Albert Mudrian admirably
detailed the history of the death metal and grindcore scenes, and rightly placed
Earache's key role as the central catalyst within it.
In a surprising
move to some, the then longest-serving act on the label, Death Metal veterans
Morbid Angel, were released from their contract after 15+ years of excellent
service.The band and label parted on friendly terms, but ironically, papers were
exchanged on the same day as original singer David Vincent made his unexpected
return into the Morbid Angel fold,after almost a decade away.In a further ironic
twist, Florida's other Death Metal stalwarts Deicide signed to Earache in the
same year, after fulfilling their contract with long term home, Roadrunner.
Deicide's 2004 debut for Earache, 'Scars Of The Crucifix', marked a significant
return to form and many old and new fans embraced it, becoming the labels
biggest selling album in years, returning the Earache name onto the USA
Billboard Charts.
More Billboard Chart action came during 2005- a Top
200 placing in fact, for platinum-selling Californian Nu Metal act Adema. The
band featuring Korn singer Jonathan Davis' half-brother Marky Chavez on vocals,
were perhaps a strange choice given the labels more extreme output, but label
founder Digby had always been an avid fan.
In the same year, Italy's
political HC/Metallers Linea 77 scored a remarkable Top 10 National Album Chart
placing in their homeland with their 'Available For Propaganda' CD which was a
well deserved reward for the culmination of their tireless gigging and MTV
support.
Now in 2006 as Earache closes in on its 20th continuous year
in operation, it retains its fiercely Independent status, whilst juggling the
dual roles of finding and nurturing new metal talent whilst still keeping its
large and ever growing catalog of legendary extreme metal releases in print for
newer generations of metal fans to enjoy. To this end the label recently set up
its sister Mp3 download site www.metaltracks.com where almost all the 3000+
complete catalog tracks of Earache's history are available for sale as
downloadable Mp3's.
Now known worldwide as the label for all things
extreme in music, Earache's contribution to the underground scene is immense,
having signed a remarkably high percentage of the leading and most innovative
acts in the genre, as well as selling over 8 million records in the process, all
the time remaining a truly Independent label.
Earache's commitment to
extremity remains as steadfast as the day it started in the bedroom.
Earache Records is based in Nottingham, London and NYC
Band
: Bonded by blood : The Browning : Cauldron :
Cerebral Bore : Diamond Plate : Enforcer : Evile : Gama Bomb : Hour of 13 :
Municipal Waste : Oceano : Order of Ennead : Rival Sons : Savage Messiah : SSS :
The Soulless : White Wizzard : Woods of Ypres : Wormrot