A mammoth release needs a mammoth post, like this one, which stems from the collaboration between me (Mari) and Michele Giorgi and Fabrizio Garau, my mates out at the italian webmagazine The New Noise. Dealing with the release accounted for here with more than one head has been a great help.
Hell Comes Home is a particular label that started its activity as a subscription club dealing with top-quality periodical releases devoted to underground heavy music. The first serial release for this Irish label was the Volume 1 Box Set 2012, a monumental collection of 12 7” vinyl splits that kept metallers busy for a good part of year 2012. The twelve vinyl splits were published in pairs evry month between March and August 2012. The subscription to the series also included a limited edition deluxe box and a t-shirt as a bonus. The subscription as such ended during Fall 2012, although the vinyl splits can still be purchased both as separate items or as deluxe box set. This “solid” and super-smart collection of vinyls is also coupled with the high-quality digital version of each split.ishas been devoted to genres like sludge, doom, noise, black/death metal, hardcore and their varialbly eclectic reworkings and mutual contaminations. The musical features of the collection found a very effective mirror in the finest and aggressively “solid” artworks decorating the whole package. This first mammoth release involved both cult as well as emerging bands coming from across oceans and lands, and from both northern and southern hemispheres. The “chemistry” of the twelve different bands involved were combined to get the following releases (in temporal order):
1) Kowloon Walled City / Thou
2) Suma / Ultraphallus
3) Dephosphorus / Great Falls
4) Akaname / Lesbian’s Fungal Abyss
5) Pyramido / Union Of Sleep
6) Burning Love / Fight Amp
7) Coffinworm / Fistula
8) The Swan King / Tellusian
9) Dukatalon / Rites
10) Black Sun / Throat
11) Dopefight / The Fucking Wrath
12) Dead Elephant / Rabbits
I (Mari), Michele and Fabrizio, we did listen to all of them and religiously took notes of our impressions. Then we decided to have a chat not with the bands (too many!) but with Joel, the man behind this label Hell Comes Home and its incredible debut. We were curious to know what there is behind such particular approach to the musical business that seems to have given and give satisfactions to everybody: to the founder, to the graphic artist, to the bands and, not least, to the fans of heavy, noisy and multifaceted music good to be listened to as well as touched.
Words: Marilena Moroni plus Michele Giorgi and Fabrizio Garau (The New Noise)
Hell Comes Home Official Website
Hell Comes Home | Facebook
Hell Comes Home | Bandcamp
THE SPLITS
KOWLOON WALLED CITY / THOU (HCH 01)
Two US bands have the honour of opening this impressive vinyl split series partly devoted to the multifaceted aspects of sludge/doom metal. The first split involves Kowloon Walled City, from California, and Thou, from the very cradle of sludge metal, Baton Rouge, deep Southern Louisiana. Their split comprises two cover tracks related by a word, “July” and by a rather surprising style, if one considers the original sound of the bands. Kowloon Walled City rework the intimacy of track “July” by Low, seminal US slowcore band. The song “July” is from Low’s 2001 album Things we Lost in the Fire, although Low made their debut between 1993 and 1994. And 1994 is the year of the release of Soundgarden’s Superunknown album, which includes the song "4th of July". This is the track covered by Thou. For their own version of “July” Kowloon Walled City enrolled the seductive and slightly tormented voice of a lady singer called Lisa Papineau and then they turned the somber and meditative melody of the original version into a sludge-grunge ballad. However in spite of the distortion of the guitars, the use of aggressive riffs, the thundering drumming and the rather plodding and dynamic rhythm, the band is able to retain much of the original intimacy and even further enhance it with passion, like in the best and most involving grunge ballads.
On their side Thou rework and extend Soundgarden’s ballad “4th of July”, a luscious and dark song lead by a raw sound and slow rhythms, ideal for a sludge-doom revamped version. Fuzz and maximum distortion rule in the monolithic riffs building up the leading melody which is raw and almost menacing as well as drenched with hot burning blues. The blues vibes get to their utmost when the buzzing guitars start howling desperately while trying to emerge from the feedback. The band was able to be faithful to both the spirit and the original sounds of Soundgarden’s track. Even the vocal parts are clean, although the addition of a further personal touch, i.e. the introduction of a second, evil and banshee-like voice of singer Bryan Funck, is a cool surprise indeed!
Bandcamp
SUMA / ULTRAPHALLUS (HCH 02)
Ultraphallus are an experimental sludge-doom band from Belgium and are well known to those who follow the label Riot Season (Sowberry Hagan was released by the British label in 2011, with a special guest, Eugene Robinson from Oxbow). The Swedish band Suma are not on the roster of Riot Season but they would fit perfectly …Suma opens this second split with “Geisteskrank”, a devastating surge of hypnotic drony, noisy metal possessing the filth of sludge, the distorted pounding heaviness of doom but lead by the crushing power of a storm, huge, slow and tremendously fast at the same time. Vocals are scarily gurgling while being overwhelmed by the waves of noise. With track “Young Bones” Ultraphallus are less deadly aggressive than Suma but they adopt the same repetitive rhythmic style for the leading riffing and build up a further infectious dose of very heavy, dull, dynamic, hypnotic noise-rock that will end too early. This is a split that you’ll slam on your turntable for life, easily …
Bandcamp
DEPHOSPHORUS / GREAT FALLS (HCH 03)
The young Greek band Dephosphorus are trying to see what happens in blending black metal, death metal, post-metal, grind and something else, as one can learn from their own definition of their style, “astrogrind” as well as deduce from their acclaimed production. The amazing track “Stargazing and Violence” starts with a suffocating vortex of unrelenting death metal riffs and strained screams and periodically giving way to “swinging” black metal contaminated by post-metal dissonance and surprising ambience via the insertion of clean vocals. Great Falls follow with their load of equally claustrophobic, “angular” and strongly dissonant noise aggression in “Everything But Lightning”. Great Falls come from the “grunge city” Seattle and once they were called Hemingway. They sound almost glacial or maybe too “mechanical” compared to the Greek hellish death metal magma, although the final sense of alienation induced in the listener might be comparable.
Bandcamp
AKANAME / LESBIAN'S FUNGAL ABYSS (HCH 04)
The fourth split is completely instrumental and comprises two tracks with a contrasting style but done by bands and musicians sharing a technical, progressive approach to heavy music. Akaname were new to me (Mari) until I heard this split. They are a technical progressive death metal band from New Zealand. In the split Akaname stick to their style and involve a special guest, drummer Jamie Saint Merat from Ulcerate (I knew this one, though!). They open with track Rain Will Be The New Gold. This 6 minute-long ballad is very atmospheric in its long prog/post-metal intro. However tension rises rapidly and strongly when the band enter their massive, contorted, technical and often divergent riffs, adopt crazy tempo changes and move rapidly across post-metal, prog and sincopated technical death metal. Lesbian, the roaring progressive/psych doom-sludge metal band from the US West Coast, take part to this split as a parallel project, Lesbian’s Fungal Abyss. This is more oriented towards improvisations across ambient psychedelics and desert rock vibrations “chemically” inspired by hallucinogenic mushrooms (Teonanacatl). Their track, Humongous Fungus, is surprising for its pairing with the previous nervous and intricate sounds. But here the contrast and the refreshing effect of the Fungal Abyss seem to be the winning key. Humongous Fungus seems to have neither proper start nor a well defined end: it raises from the silence and before plunging back into silence again, it will wind out slowly, almost floating. This track is light and airy but it possesses a variety of sonic shades including some “material” flashes of distorted fuzzy, post-metal dissonance reminding of bands such as Yawning Sons and Hotel Wrecking City Traders. Balming.
Bandcamp
PYRAMIDO / UNION OF SLEEP (HCH 005)
The fifth split involves two recent European bands that are well known to the frequent visitors and fans of blogs and labels devoted to the diffusion of sludge-doom. Pyramido are a sort of anomaly, one of the rare Swedish bands playing bleak and tortured sludge-doom like the one played on the other side of the ocean. In their album “Sand and Salt”, sand and salt had to be rubbed on open wounds in skin burned by the sun … However in the almost 6 minutes of track Cleansed the Pyramido guys will surprise you because they abandoned any trace of swampy groove, if they had any, and they sort of “go back” to Scandinavia. They build up an ode to pain and desperation, an extremely slow, solemn hymn of intense, almost epic funeral doom in the vein of Thergothon or Skepticism.
Union of Sleep, from Germany, play heavy, aggressive and groovy by mixing monolithic and distorted sludge-doom riffing with the cheeky effrontery of southern and stoner metal and the fury of hardcore, a bit like Black Tusk/Kylesa/Buzzoven. After their recent, devastating split with Black Sleep of Kali, Union of Sleep hammer it down again: they know how to hit hard! After the grim and depressive atmospheres introduced by Pyramido, the Germans unleash “Crawl”. In spite of the title, this track is a frenzied and raw crust d-beat/ death'n'roll charge that will sprain your neck. Fast and sincopated riffs are shot by guitar chords that seem to be thick as whip chords and the vocal parts are raw and roaring to the limit with growl. But here as well we have a surprise, a core made of pristine, sinister, mammoth doom introduced by a sharp slow-down, a pause to recover before the last surge of fury …
Bandcamp
BURNING LOVE / FIGHT AMP (HCH 6)
The sixth split involves two substantial international names, Canadian, Toronto-based hardcore bunch Burning Love and the US noise rockers Fight Amp, from New Jersey, a pairing for a dose of high octane raaaawk! Similar attitude and coolness, similar pleasure in mixing styles in their powerful sounds but different moods. And so your mood as well will make you fall for either band. Let’s say that it is as if the bully of the school and the drug addict menacing you with a syringe at your throat are placed together in the same place: such pairing will greatly, let’s say, “diminish” the boy … In their track “The Body” Burning Love basically play rock even if it involves a blend of styles which is surprising for the homogeneity of its result. In some instances The Body might even stay on Songs For The Deaf, refreshing acid noisy, fast desert rock ... But if you are into the fighting, twisted or pessimist mood, well, your heart is going to beat for the dissonant punk aggression emanating from “Shallow Grave” by Fight Amp. These guys got this track from Birth Control, out via Translation Loss during 2012.
Bandcamp
COFFINWORM / FISTULA (HCH 07)
What a pairing the one of the seventh split … Coffinworm come first. This young US band had left deep scars into the skin of the many who loved their debut album, mighty Great Bringer of Night, recently re-mastered for a vinyl version.
In this split with sludge monsters Fistula, Coffinworm will duly grab your sould and body with their bleak, dark, violent sound, a mixture of black-death metal and sludge-doom made of oppressive, sick and violently misanthropic passages.
The leading rhythm of track “Instant Death Syndrome” is actually plodding and hooking like in some tracks by Tulus, but the atmosphere is corrosive and blistering like vapours of boiling hot, molten tar. Moreover D’s roars will break your bones. A few more minutes of this nightmare would have been a healthy addition to the barely 5 minutes of this track. But Instant Death Syndrome easily goes into loop. The same happens with the following, monster track, Fistula’s “Drugs and Deception”. Fistula bring us back to a human dimension made of deceivement, decay and bitterness for survival by means of their raw and rotten sludge metal which is so achingly drenched of orgasmic groove. You’ve got their typical waves of viscous and dark sonic filth but after two minutes a surge of massive riffs of blazing southern/doom metal by mighty Corey Bing and Bahb Branca’s roars will knock you down until the end of the almost 7 minutes of this neck-breaking masterpiece.
Bandcamp
THE SWAN KING / TELLUSIAN (HCH 08)
You’ll get a distinct southern flavour from track “Between the Lines” opening the eighth split between the US heavy metallers The Swan King and the Swedish grindcore act Tellusian. The Swan King will hook you with their slack and distorted, riff-laden boogie metal reminding of a strange hybrid of Black Sabbath and Molly Hatchet possessing a spacey mood. “Between the Lines” is a cool, heartful song with a growing intensity and a choir that will entice those who love the robust southern sounds and like the taste of dust and soil reddened by the sun. And these guys will surprise you also for their charming heavy psych incursion during the instrumental outro. But life can’t be always easygoing! Some alienating feedback announces Tellusian and their disturbing track “The Coldest of Seasons”. One track is surely too little space for understanding and adequately unfolding the weight and the full potentials of a band. However Tellusian are able to capture attention and interest with their weird hybrid grindcore style incorporating different influences and developing according to crazy tempos. A pronounced passion for math drifts and a hint of avantgarde attitude in their general mood, a sort of original and clever collision between different languages further make Tellusian a band well worth exploring further.
Bandcamp
DUKATALON / RITES (HCH 09)
The ninth split of the series is opened by Dukatalon. This young Israeli heavy band is able to evoke a sound assembled by the most rotten anything conceivable, be it crust, early black metal or the filthiest sludge metal, and then throw all this against the listener as if it were a ball of burning pitch. "Mainline" will develop like a slow-motion psychedelic explosion lead by nasty raspy vocals and an awesome bass line gradually slowing down, or drowning into and getting splintered by an orgy of distortion and effects. On the other side the local heroes Rites, from Galway (Ireland), show off a bold and robust attitude where genuine heavy and fuzzy doom gets powered by a generous smear of noise and dissonance. The impact of this contaminated style is apparent in the high tension, the aggression of the riffs and the rapid tempo changes heard in the infectious track “Barren”, where you can be dragged from the heat of the desert to the frost of a starless night in a twinkling of an eye.
Bandcamp
BLACK SUN / THROAT (HCH 10)
Black Sun open this split with “Crawling Like A Leech”, an impacting track which is somehow dynamic in its slow and heavy development. Unfortunately it will die out after about five minutes only leaving a bitter taste in the listener, and the fan … Black Sun are a Scottish trio that have been delivering mammoth heavy, bleak and crushing music for several years by now. This hard-hitting song is faithful to the line and offers a load of the band’s clever mix of sludge, doom, noise and post-metal/experimental dissonances where rigid heaviness is favoured instead of groove or ethereal atmospheres. In Crawling Like A Leech a dose of dynamics seems to derive from the almost matial plodding rhythms of the leading riff and, above all, from the powerful, Maori Haka-sounding interaction between the two vocalists, the drummer and the guitarist. The Finnish noise rockers Throat provide a load of raw, contaminated and frenzied music through their track “Anal Paranoid”. This 3 and a half minute-long song delivers a highly rewarding load of noise-sludge rock lead by a fiercely pumping bass and by rageful singing and drumming styles. Throat’s sounds are filthy in their sludge distortions, are nervous in their often syncopated rhythms, and deviated by dissonance, and yet drenched in infectious groove so much recalling killer bands like Unsane.
Bandcamp
DOPEFIGHT / THE FUCKING WRATH (HCH 11)
Pure Sabbathian-rooted doom is what Dopefight inject in the first part of track “Stonk”, although these stoned ceremony masters will soon steer towards a sound drenched with punkish contaminations and anthemic drive hardly hold back by the retro-sounding mantra where it is confined. This British band, sadly split up now, deliver a strange hybrid beast where two big “Black” of the extreme music scene coexist: the first ones are quoted above, and the second ones are obviously Black Flag. What makes this split a perfect meeting point between the doom and hardcore scenes is the contribution of US band The Fucking Wrath. These guys show their strong links with the California HC scene via the urticating energy exhaling right from the very title of their track, “Ronald Reagan Punk Party” and the weird intro with Ronald Reagan’s voice promoting drugs. As expected, surges of muscular riffs, robust distortions and tempo changes build up a heavy ride like those heard in and enjoyed from the other releases by these wild guys.
Bandcamp
DEAD ELEPHANT / RABBITS (HCH 12)
As soon as Dead Elephant enter into action with heir “Carne De Perro”, it is clear that their split fellows, Rabbits, will have to work hard! The Italian post-hardcore trio play according to their own personal rhythm making them difficult to be confined into rigid genre classification schemes. Everything seems to collide and mix up into a sound maelstrom devouring and splintering languages and styles with impressive energy and ease at the same time. So it comes almost as natural to eventually hear the chaotic storm sharply giving way to a long and alienating, atmospheric tail. Rabbits have the honour and burden of closing the split as well as the entire collection. This US noise-punk-thrash metal trio from Portland (Oregon) is the ideal mate for what came before. With their strained screams and clanging sounds in “War, Oh My”, these guys are able to transmute the starting sound into an alien beast out of control. The sounds, and your breath, will become more and more gasping, rhythms, and your heart, will first speed up and then slow down. All will sum up into a sonic delirium eventually accompanying the listener towards the end, into silence.
And this time silence means: End of Transmissions … at least until one decides to go back and repeat the experience again and again …
Bandcamp
THE INTERVIEW TO JOEL
(Questions by Mari, Michele and Fabrizio – Interviewer: Mari)
MARI – Hello Joel, thanks for accepting the interview and letting us know a bit more about this great experience and about how things go “on the other side of the barricade”!
Hell Comes Home is an emerging label. And the debut project is a substantial and quite complicated one as it involved so many different bands. How and when did you get this “crazy” and bold idea of starting the activity in your label with such an impressive project? Was this your first experience in this activity or do you come from the scene, as musician, producer, etc.?
JOEL - I'm from Switzerland, and when a few years ago I moved to Ireland, I found myself with a lot of free time and started playing around with the idea of getting a new project going. I love 7" vinyl - I discovered so many bands over the years by buying random 7". I also didn't want to "sign" bands and I wanted this to be an hassle free one-off project that could lead to other stuff if I felt like it. I wanted to try my hand at something different than just picking a band and releasing their album, or an EP. My previous experience running a label was very formative but quite frustrating in the way it operated. I needed to do things differently, at least from my perspective, and this project seemed to be the perfect opportunity to do so.
I'm definitely not new to the scene. I have played in bands, organized shows, published a fanzine, managed a record label previous to HCH…
MARI - What guided you in the selection of the bands to be contacted and how did you decide about pairings?
JOEL - I wrote down a list of bands I like and listen to that I wanted to include in the project. I then contacted each and everyone of them, got some yes, got some no's (but not that many, to be fair). That was the first round. Then I took advice from bands I was talking to. As an example, Roderic from Knut recommended I check out Dephosphorus, Ryan from Unearthly Trance suggested to do the split with Coffinworm, and Coffinworm then suggested to do the split with Fistula when Unearthly Trance called it a day. Thou had a list of bands they wanted to do a split with. I also suggested bands other bands they could share the record with, but I think with most of the splits someone said "hey, it'd be cool to do the split with this or this band". I then tried my best to keep everyone happy, myself included.
MARI - Did you have a well defined scheme in mind, or at least a fairly constrained range for your project, since the beginning, as to genres and styles to be involved? And how long did you take to complete this project into its solid form?
JOEL - From the start I knew what the music spectrum would be, basically a mix of hardcore, sludge, doom, noise, math metal, etc. I’m sure you get the idea - stuff I listen to. The difficulty was to get enough variety in sounds to keep things interesting, as well as a balanced mix of established bands and smaller more osbcure bands. I wanted this project to also be a way to make people discover new bands. You know, you like bands A and B so you might enjoy bands C & D, that kind of stuff.
I started contacting bands at the beginning of 2011, received all the songs by autumn 2011 and the first splits came out in March 2012. The box-set was complete and fully released in December 2012.
MARI - How has the project been received by the artists? Was it easy to convince the bands to take part to your project? And how did you interact with each other regarding the specific tracks?
JOEL - Very well, at least for those that I managed to get in touch with. Some bands declined because of time issues, but most were very enthusiastic about the idea. I’m actually quite surprised it wasn’t harder to get bands on board, which is cool. I asked bands for either a new and exclusive track (or at least an exclusive version) or an unreleased song. Original or a cover, that was up to them.
MARI - Was there any band that you would have loved to see included in your project and that refused to take part to it?
JOEL - The only one that I can think of is Red Fang, and I don’t remember exactly why it was a no. Nothing dramatic, but it’s a shame I would a have loved to have them take part. Some bands never got back to me, but that doesn’t count… or matter. I was very well aware that I wouldn’t be able to get the bands that I had written down when I did my first list. But you have to start somewhere.
MARI - Did you decide the number of bands to be involved and the number of splits to be released or was everything decided actually only after the evaluation of the contributions?
JOEL - Yes, the whole concept was decided before I started picking bands. I knew it was going to be 12 splits 7” available as a subscription, one song/band per side, with 2 new records shipped every month, a box and a t-shirt. I then tried to make reality fit my vision, which is a different story!
MARI - You started your activity by producing releases in deluxe package and involving underground and, for some people also obscure bands. Someone might say you are a crazy man that loves to risk a lot and throw money away. However there are a few underground labels that have been doing some important serial releases as of late. One case is Utech Records, another one is Gogmagogical Records (even if the approach was different). Do you know any of these labels, or better, were you inspired by the activity of other labels?
JOEL - Life’s short, so why not enjoy it by doing what you want to do. And that’s pretty much what I did. Of course, I still haven’t recouped my investment, but I don’t care. I mean, you can always find a reason not to do something, but that’s boring…
Neither Utech or Gogmagogical were an inspiration to do this, although I’m familiar with Utech. I like their visual esthetic and they have an impressive catalogue. The idea was to create some sort of a subscription club - a combination of the Sub Pop Single Club and the “Cry Now, Cry Later” series of compilations released by Pessimiser.
MARI - Designer and musician Kuba Sokólski, from Warsaw, Poland, is in charge of the smart artistic aspect of the split project as well as of the label’s website, so far. How did the theme of the crawling prehistoric-looking insects/ beasts come out for the split? Who got the idea? Was this theme related to the single project or is this artistic feature actually representing the interests of the label in a wider sense? And will other artists be involved in future releases/projects?
JOEL - When I asked Kuba to do the artwork, the only guidelines I remember giving him, was that I wanted a unifying theme, same colours, etc. for all the splits. He is the one who came up with the insects idea. I think the final result is amazing. It really gives the series a strong visual identity and that’s exactly what I wanted. I was lucky to collaborate with Kuba, he has done an amazing job.
I always envisioned the label as the medium to bring together visual art and audio that I like. See, when you invest a lot of time and money into a project of this scale, you want to make sure that it’s worth it. I couldn’t bring myself to release great music with mediocre artwork, I think it defeats the purpose of owning a physical copy. To me the quality of the packaging shows how much you care about the music that is included. When you have poured a lot of energy into something you don’t want to come up with an half-assed final result. It’s a waste of time. I hope I will be able to keep up with this ideal for future projects, and yes I will definitely work with more artists in the future.
MARI - This split project is a quite particular one, and smart one as well. How do you imagine the listener, or better the purchaser of this underground yet deluxe release? Did you get satisfactory responses? Did your expectations for the project go well after several months from the release of the last bit of the split series (second half of 2012)?
JOEL - Thanks! My best guess is that the purchasers are diehard fans of heavy music who like the vinyl experience. My only criteria when putting it together was, would I like this ? would I be interested in it ? would I buy it ? In a time when everyone has a new favorite band every split second, I admire and respect anyone who is willing to purchase 2 hours of music released on 7” – that‘s courage and commitment! I didn’t expect much, but I have to say that it’s really cool when someone emails you to tell you how much they like the box-set, and they ask you when there will be another one. So, so far all the feedback I got was positive. At the same time, if you don’t click with idea you aren’t going to buy the box-set… Since I’m operating with a non-existing advertising and marketing budget there was no big coverage in medias. Word is spreading very slowly, but it somehow keeps spreading and sales have been constant for a year now. Hopefully this will last until every record has found a new loving and caring home.
MARI - And what is your opinion about the issue between solid/analogic music and digital music? Several labels or bands by now release analogic-only music (vinyls and/or tapes) and, as purists, they do not add any download codes. You decided to pair solid music items and digital version. Was it a good move?
JOEL - I don’t have a problem with digital music. It is what is. It’s a choice. I personally like to have digital files (lossless) of the music I own, so I can bring it wherever I go. The vinyl experience is different and I love it, but to me it doesn’t mean that I have to make a choice, either digital or analog. I’m happy to have both. I paired digital downloads with the vinyl because I wanted to give people the choice to listen to the records on their own terms, how they want and where they want. However I have problem with poor quality Mp3’s. Thank god storage capacity are constantly increasing as well as broadband capacities, so hopefully some day soon lossless digital files will become the norm.
MARI - Do you think that there are genres or scenes that are more keen on, or are in particular need of having in hand or offering a “solid piece of music”?
JOEL - I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I know vinyl has always been a big thing within hardcore/punk, and the independent music scene in general and I don’t think it has changed much. That’s where I come from. I guess everyone relates to music differently, but for me the physical is definitely an extension of the audio and I like the idea. I love browsing records. It feels real. It is real. On the other hand you can’t hold mp3 files.
MARI - This set of splits is officially addressed as “Volume I”. So are you actually planning any follow-up for this project for your label in a near future? Or are you planning a different project inbetween? If so, will there be any other similar, wide-range and deluxe, vinyl-only release like this to be expected or will your label also work as a normal label dealing with single bands as well and releasing also standard CDs?
JOEL - The next release will be a new album by Great Falls (on vinyl). After that I’d like to start working on a second volume of the splits 7” series box-set, which could take forever. I don’t really plan on releasing CDs, but I’m not saying that I won’t either. For the future, I really hope to be able to focus on quality kick ass deluxe vinyl releases, with music and artwork that stands the test of time.
MARI – Many thanks for the rich answers and the great music!
JOEL – Thanks and enjoy!
Hell Comes Home is a particular label that started its activity as a subscription club dealing with top-quality periodical releases devoted to underground heavy music. The first serial release for this Irish label was the Volume 1 Box Set 2012, a monumental collection of 12 7” vinyl splits that kept metallers busy for a good part of year 2012. The twelve vinyl splits were published in pairs evry month between March and August 2012. The subscription to the series also included a limited edition deluxe box and a t-shirt as a bonus. The subscription as such ended during Fall 2012, although the vinyl splits can still be purchased both as separate items or as deluxe box set. This “solid” and super-smart collection of vinyls is also coupled with the high-quality digital version of each split.ishas been devoted to genres like sludge, doom, noise, black/death metal, hardcore and their varialbly eclectic reworkings and mutual contaminations. The musical features of the collection found a very effective mirror in the finest and aggressively “solid” artworks decorating the whole package. This first mammoth release involved both cult as well as emerging bands coming from across oceans and lands, and from both northern and southern hemispheres. The “chemistry” of the twelve different bands involved were combined to get the following releases (in temporal order):
2) Suma / Ultraphallus
3) Dephosphorus / Great Falls
4) Akaname / Lesbian’s Fungal Abyss
5) Pyramido / Union Of Sleep
6) Burning Love / Fight Amp
7) Coffinworm / Fistula
8) The Swan King / Tellusian
9) Dukatalon / Rites
10) Black Sun / Throat
11) Dopefight / The Fucking Wrath
12) Dead Elephant / Rabbits
I (Mari), Michele and Fabrizio, we did listen to all of them and religiously took notes of our impressions. Then we decided to have a chat not with the bands (too many!) but with Joel, the man behind this label Hell Comes Home and its incredible debut. We were curious to know what there is behind such particular approach to the musical business that seems to have given and give satisfactions to everybody: to the founder, to the graphic artist, to the bands and, not least, to the fans of heavy, noisy and multifaceted music good to be listened to as well as touched.
Words: Marilena Moroni plus Michele Giorgi and Fabrizio Garau (The New Noise)
Hell Comes Home Official Website
Hell Comes Home | Facebook
Hell Comes Home | Bandcamp
THE SPLITS
KOWLOON WALLED CITY / THOU (HCH 01)
Two US bands have the honour of opening this impressive vinyl split series partly devoted to the multifaceted aspects of sludge/doom metal. The first split involves Kowloon Walled City, from California, and Thou, from the very cradle of sludge metal, Baton Rouge, deep Southern Louisiana. Their split comprises two cover tracks related by a word, “July” and by a rather surprising style, if one considers the original sound of the bands. Kowloon Walled City rework the intimacy of track “July” by Low, seminal US slowcore band. The song “July” is from Low’s 2001 album Things we Lost in the Fire, although Low made their debut between 1993 and 1994. And 1994 is the year of the release of Soundgarden’s Superunknown album, which includes the song "4th of July". This is the track covered by Thou. For their own version of “July” Kowloon Walled City enrolled the seductive and slightly tormented voice of a lady singer called Lisa Papineau and then they turned the somber and meditative melody of the original version into a sludge-grunge ballad. However in spite of the distortion of the guitars, the use of aggressive riffs, the thundering drumming and the rather plodding and dynamic rhythm, the band is able to retain much of the original intimacy and even further enhance it with passion, like in the best and most involving grunge ballads.
On their side Thou rework and extend Soundgarden’s ballad “4th of July”, a luscious and dark song lead by a raw sound and slow rhythms, ideal for a sludge-doom revamped version. Fuzz and maximum distortion rule in the monolithic riffs building up the leading melody which is raw and almost menacing as well as drenched with hot burning blues. The blues vibes get to their utmost when the buzzing guitars start howling desperately while trying to emerge from the feedback. The band was able to be faithful to both the spirit and the original sounds of Soundgarden’s track. Even the vocal parts are clean, although the addition of a further personal touch, i.e. the introduction of a second, evil and banshee-like voice of singer Bryan Funck, is a cool surprise indeed!
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SUMA / ULTRAPHALLUS (HCH 02)
Ultraphallus are an experimental sludge-doom band from Belgium and are well known to those who follow the label Riot Season (Sowberry Hagan was released by the British label in 2011, with a special guest, Eugene Robinson from Oxbow). The Swedish band Suma are not on the roster of Riot Season but they would fit perfectly …Suma opens this second split with “Geisteskrank”, a devastating surge of hypnotic drony, noisy metal possessing the filth of sludge, the distorted pounding heaviness of doom but lead by the crushing power of a storm, huge, slow and tremendously fast at the same time. Vocals are scarily gurgling while being overwhelmed by the waves of noise. With track “Young Bones” Ultraphallus are less deadly aggressive than Suma but they adopt the same repetitive rhythmic style for the leading riffing and build up a further infectious dose of very heavy, dull, dynamic, hypnotic noise-rock that will end too early. This is a split that you’ll slam on your turntable for life, easily …
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DEPHOSPHORUS / GREAT FALLS (HCH 03)
The young Greek band Dephosphorus are trying to see what happens in blending black metal, death metal, post-metal, grind and something else, as one can learn from their own definition of their style, “astrogrind” as well as deduce from their acclaimed production. The amazing track “Stargazing and Violence” starts with a suffocating vortex of unrelenting death metal riffs and strained screams and periodically giving way to “swinging” black metal contaminated by post-metal dissonance and surprising ambience via the insertion of clean vocals. Great Falls follow with their load of equally claustrophobic, “angular” and strongly dissonant noise aggression in “Everything But Lightning”. Great Falls come from the “grunge city” Seattle and once they were called Hemingway. They sound almost glacial or maybe too “mechanical” compared to the Greek hellish death metal magma, although the final sense of alienation induced in the listener might be comparable.
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AKANAME / LESBIAN'S FUNGAL ABYSS (HCH 04)
The fourth split is completely instrumental and comprises two tracks with a contrasting style but done by bands and musicians sharing a technical, progressive approach to heavy music. Akaname were new to me (Mari) until I heard this split. They are a technical progressive death metal band from New Zealand. In the split Akaname stick to their style and involve a special guest, drummer Jamie Saint Merat from Ulcerate (I knew this one, though!). They open with track Rain Will Be The New Gold. This 6 minute-long ballad is very atmospheric in its long prog/post-metal intro. However tension rises rapidly and strongly when the band enter their massive, contorted, technical and often divergent riffs, adopt crazy tempo changes and move rapidly across post-metal, prog and sincopated technical death metal. Lesbian, the roaring progressive/psych doom-sludge metal band from the US West Coast, take part to this split as a parallel project, Lesbian’s Fungal Abyss. This is more oriented towards improvisations across ambient psychedelics and desert rock vibrations “chemically” inspired by hallucinogenic mushrooms (Teonanacatl). Their track, Humongous Fungus, is surprising for its pairing with the previous nervous and intricate sounds. But here the contrast and the refreshing effect of the Fungal Abyss seem to be the winning key. Humongous Fungus seems to have neither proper start nor a well defined end: it raises from the silence and before plunging back into silence again, it will wind out slowly, almost floating. This track is light and airy but it possesses a variety of sonic shades including some “material” flashes of distorted fuzzy, post-metal dissonance reminding of bands such as Yawning Sons and Hotel Wrecking City Traders. Balming.
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PYRAMIDO / UNION OF SLEEP (HCH 005)
The fifth split involves two recent European bands that are well known to the frequent visitors and fans of blogs and labels devoted to the diffusion of sludge-doom. Pyramido are a sort of anomaly, one of the rare Swedish bands playing bleak and tortured sludge-doom like the one played on the other side of the ocean. In their album “Sand and Salt”, sand and salt had to be rubbed on open wounds in skin burned by the sun … However in the almost 6 minutes of track Cleansed the Pyramido guys will surprise you because they abandoned any trace of swampy groove, if they had any, and they sort of “go back” to Scandinavia. They build up an ode to pain and desperation, an extremely slow, solemn hymn of intense, almost epic funeral doom in the vein of Thergothon or Skepticism.
Union of Sleep, from Germany, play heavy, aggressive and groovy by mixing monolithic and distorted sludge-doom riffing with the cheeky effrontery of southern and stoner metal and the fury of hardcore, a bit like Black Tusk/Kylesa/Buzzoven. After their recent, devastating split with Black Sleep of Kali, Union of Sleep hammer it down again: they know how to hit hard! After the grim and depressive atmospheres introduced by Pyramido, the Germans unleash “Crawl”. In spite of the title, this track is a frenzied and raw crust d-beat/ death'n'roll charge that will sprain your neck. Fast and sincopated riffs are shot by guitar chords that seem to be thick as whip chords and the vocal parts are raw and roaring to the limit with growl. But here as well we have a surprise, a core made of pristine, sinister, mammoth doom introduced by a sharp slow-down, a pause to recover before the last surge of fury …
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BURNING LOVE / FIGHT AMP (HCH 6)
The sixth split involves two substantial international names, Canadian, Toronto-based hardcore bunch Burning Love and the US noise rockers Fight Amp, from New Jersey, a pairing for a dose of high octane raaaawk! Similar attitude and coolness, similar pleasure in mixing styles in their powerful sounds but different moods. And so your mood as well will make you fall for either band. Let’s say that it is as if the bully of the school and the drug addict menacing you with a syringe at your throat are placed together in the same place: such pairing will greatly, let’s say, “diminish” the boy … In their track “The Body” Burning Love basically play rock even if it involves a blend of styles which is surprising for the homogeneity of its result. In some instances The Body might even stay on Songs For The Deaf, refreshing acid noisy, fast desert rock ... But if you are into the fighting, twisted or pessimist mood, well, your heart is going to beat for the dissonant punk aggression emanating from “Shallow Grave” by Fight Amp. These guys got this track from Birth Control, out via Translation Loss during 2012.
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COFFINWORM / FISTULA (HCH 07)
What a pairing the one of the seventh split … Coffinworm come first. This young US band had left deep scars into the skin of the many who loved their debut album, mighty Great Bringer of Night, recently re-mastered for a vinyl version.
In this split with sludge monsters Fistula, Coffinworm will duly grab your sould and body with their bleak, dark, violent sound, a mixture of black-death metal and sludge-doom made of oppressive, sick and violently misanthropic passages.
The leading rhythm of track “Instant Death Syndrome” is actually plodding and hooking like in some tracks by Tulus, but the atmosphere is corrosive and blistering like vapours of boiling hot, molten tar. Moreover D’s roars will break your bones. A few more minutes of this nightmare would have been a healthy addition to the barely 5 minutes of this track. But Instant Death Syndrome easily goes into loop. The same happens with the following, monster track, Fistula’s “Drugs and Deception”. Fistula bring us back to a human dimension made of deceivement, decay and bitterness for survival by means of their raw and rotten sludge metal which is so achingly drenched of orgasmic groove. You’ve got their typical waves of viscous and dark sonic filth but after two minutes a surge of massive riffs of blazing southern/doom metal by mighty Corey Bing and Bahb Branca’s roars will knock you down until the end of the almost 7 minutes of this neck-breaking masterpiece.
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THE SWAN KING / TELLUSIAN (HCH 08)
You’ll get a distinct southern flavour from track “Between the Lines” opening the eighth split between the US heavy metallers The Swan King and the Swedish grindcore act Tellusian. The Swan King will hook you with their slack and distorted, riff-laden boogie metal reminding of a strange hybrid of Black Sabbath and Molly Hatchet possessing a spacey mood. “Between the Lines” is a cool, heartful song with a growing intensity and a choir that will entice those who love the robust southern sounds and like the taste of dust and soil reddened by the sun. And these guys will surprise you also for their charming heavy psych incursion during the instrumental outro. But life can’t be always easygoing! Some alienating feedback announces Tellusian and their disturbing track “The Coldest of Seasons”. One track is surely too little space for understanding and adequately unfolding the weight and the full potentials of a band. However Tellusian are able to capture attention and interest with their weird hybrid grindcore style incorporating different influences and developing according to crazy tempos. A pronounced passion for math drifts and a hint of avantgarde attitude in their general mood, a sort of original and clever collision between different languages further make Tellusian a band well worth exploring further.
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DUKATALON / RITES (HCH 09)
The ninth split of the series is opened by Dukatalon. This young Israeli heavy band is able to evoke a sound assembled by the most rotten anything conceivable, be it crust, early black metal or the filthiest sludge metal, and then throw all this against the listener as if it were a ball of burning pitch. "Mainline" will develop like a slow-motion psychedelic explosion lead by nasty raspy vocals and an awesome bass line gradually slowing down, or drowning into and getting splintered by an orgy of distortion and effects. On the other side the local heroes Rites, from Galway (Ireland), show off a bold and robust attitude where genuine heavy and fuzzy doom gets powered by a generous smear of noise and dissonance. The impact of this contaminated style is apparent in the high tension, the aggression of the riffs and the rapid tempo changes heard in the infectious track “Barren”, where you can be dragged from the heat of the desert to the frost of a starless night in a twinkling of an eye.
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BLACK SUN / THROAT (HCH 10)
Black Sun open this split with “Crawling Like A Leech”, an impacting track which is somehow dynamic in its slow and heavy development. Unfortunately it will die out after about five minutes only leaving a bitter taste in the listener, and the fan … Black Sun are a Scottish trio that have been delivering mammoth heavy, bleak and crushing music for several years by now. This hard-hitting song is faithful to the line and offers a load of the band’s clever mix of sludge, doom, noise and post-metal/experimental dissonances where rigid heaviness is favoured instead of groove or ethereal atmospheres. In Crawling Like A Leech a dose of dynamics seems to derive from the almost matial plodding rhythms of the leading riff and, above all, from the powerful, Maori Haka-sounding interaction between the two vocalists, the drummer and the guitarist. The Finnish noise rockers Throat provide a load of raw, contaminated and frenzied music through their track “Anal Paranoid”. This 3 and a half minute-long song delivers a highly rewarding load of noise-sludge rock lead by a fiercely pumping bass and by rageful singing and drumming styles. Throat’s sounds are filthy in their sludge distortions, are nervous in their often syncopated rhythms, and deviated by dissonance, and yet drenched in infectious groove so much recalling killer bands like Unsane.
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DOPEFIGHT / THE FUCKING WRATH (HCH 11)
Pure Sabbathian-rooted doom is what Dopefight inject in the first part of track “Stonk”, although these stoned ceremony masters will soon steer towards a sound drenched with punkish contaminations and anthemic drive hardly hold back by the retro-sounding mantra where it is confined. This British band, sadly split up now, deliver a strange hybrid beast where two big “Black” of the extreme music scene coexist: the first ones are quoted above, and the second ones are obviously Black Flag. What makes this split a perfect meeting point between the doom and hardcore scenes is the contribution of US band The Fucking Wrath. These guys show their strong links with the California HC scene via the urticating energy exhaling right from the very title of their track, “Ronald Reagan Punk Party” and the weird intro with Ronald Reagan’s voice promoting drugs. As expected, surges of muscular riffs, robust distortions and tempo changes build up a heavy ride like those heard in and enjoyed from the other releases by these wild guys.
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DEAD ELEPHANT / RABBITS (HCH 12)
As soon as Dead Elephant enter into action with heir “Carne De Perro”, it is clear that their split fellows, Rabbits, will have to work hard! The Italian post-hardcore trio play according to their own personal rhythm making them difficult to be confined into rigid genre classification schemes. Everything seems to collide and mix up into a sound maelstrom devouring and splintering languages and styles with impressive energy and ease at the same time. So it comes almost as natural to eventually hear the chaotic storm sharply giving way to a long and alienating, atmospheric tail. Rabbits have the honour and burden of closing the split as well as the entire collection. This US noise-punk-thrash metal trio from Portland (Oregon) is the ideal mate for what came before. With their strained screams and clanging sounds in “War, Oh My”, these guys are able to transmute the starting sound into an alien beast out of control. The sounds, and your breath, will become more and more gasping, rhythms, and your heart, will first speed up and then slow down. All will sum up into a sonic delirium eventually accompanying the listener towards the end, into silence.
And this time silence means: End of Transmissions … at least until one decides to go back and repeat the experience again and again …
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THE INTERVIEW TO JOEL
(Questions by Mari, Michele and Fabrizio – Interviewer: Mari)
MARI – Hello Joel, thanks for accepting the interview and letting us know a bit more about this great experience and about how things go “on the other side of the barricade”!
Hell Comes Home is an emerging label. And the debut project is a substantial and quite complicated one as it involved so many different bands. How and when did you get this “crazy” and bold idea of starting the activity in your label with such an impressive project? Was this your first experience in this activity or do you come from the scene, as musician, producer, etc.?
JOEL - I'm from Switzerland, and when a few years ago I moved to Ireland, I found myself with a lot of free time and started playing around with the idea of getting a new project going. I love 7" vinyl - I discovered so many bands over the years by buying random 7". I also didn't want to "sign" bands and I wanted this to be an hassle free one-off project that could lead to other stuff if I felt like it. I wanted to try my hand at something different than just picking a band and releasing their album, or an EP. My previous experience running a label was very formative but quite frustrating in the way it operated. I needed to do things differently, at least from my perspective, and this project seemed to be the perfect opportunity to do so.
I'm definitely not new to the scene. I have played in bands, organized shows, published a fanzine, managed a record label previous to HCH…
MARI - What guided you in the selection of the bands to be contacted and how did you decide about pairings?
JOEL - I wrote down a list of bands I like and listen to that I wanted to include in the project. I then contacted each and everyone of them, got some yes, got some no's (but not that many, to be fair). That was the first round. Then I took advice from bands I was talking to. As an example, Roderic from Knut recommended I check out Dephosphorus, Ryan from Unearthly Trance suggested to do the split with Coffinworm, and Coffinworm then suggested to do the split with Fistula when Unearthly Trance called it a day. Thou had a list of bands they wanted to do a split with. I also suggested bands other bands they could share the record with, but I think with most of the splits someone said "hey, it'd be cool to do the split with this or this band". I then tried my best to keep everyone happy, myself included.
MARI - Did you have a well defined scheme in mind, or at least a fairly constrained range for your project, since the beginning, as to genres and styles to be involved? And how long did you take to complete this project into its solid form?
JOEL - From the start I knew what the music spectrum would be, basically a mix of hardcore, sludge, doom, noise, math metal, etc. I’m sure you get the idea - stuff I listen to. The difficulty was to get enough variety in sounds to keep things interesting, as well as a balanced mix of established bands and smaller more osbcure bands. I wanted this project to also be a way to make people discover new bands. You know, you like bands A and B so you might enjoy bands C & D, that kind of stuff.
I started contacting bands at the beginning of 2011, received all the songs by autumn 2011 and the first splits came out in March 2012. The box-set was complete and fully released in December 2012.
MARI - How has the project been received by the artists? Was it easy to convince the bands to take part to your project? And how did you interact with each other regarding the specific tracks?
JOEL - Very well, at least for those that I managed to get in touch with. Some bands declined because of time issues, but most were very enthusiastic about the idea. I’m actually quite surprised it wasn’t harder to get bands on board, which is cool. I asked bands for either a new and exclusive track (or at least an exclusive version) or an unreleased song. Original or a cover, that was up to them.
MARI - Was there any band that you would have loved to see included in your project and that refused to take part to it?
JOEL - The only one that I can think of is Red Fang, and I don’t remember exactly why it was a no. Nothing dramatic, but it’s a shame I would a have loved to have them take part. Some bands never got back to me, but that doesn’t count… or matter. I was very well aware that I wouldn’t be able to get the bands that I had written down when I did my first list. But you have to start somewhere.
MARI - Did you decide the number of bands to be involved and the number of splits to be released or was everything decided actually only after the evaluation of the contributions?
JOEL - Yes, the whole concept was decided before I started picking bands. I knew it was going to be 12 splits 7” available as a subscription, one song/band per side, with 2 new records shipped every month, a box and a t-shirt. I then tried to make reality fit my vision, which is a different story!
MARI - You started your activity by producing releases in deluxe package and involving underground and, for some people also obscure bands. Someone might say you are a crazy man that loves to risk a lot and throw money away. However there are a few underground labels that have been doing some important serial releases as of late. One case is Utech Records, another one is Gogmagogical Records (even if the approach was different). Do you know any of these labels, or better, were you inspired by the activity of other labels?
JOEL - Life’s short, so why not enjoy it by doing what you want to do. And that’s pretty much what I did. Of course, I still haven’t recouped my investment, but I don’t care. I mean, you can always find a reason not to do something, but that’s boring…
Neither Utech or Gogmagogical were an inspiration to do this, although I’m familiar with Utech. I like their visual esthetic and they have an impressive catalogue. The idea was to create some sort of a subscription club - a combination of the Sub Pop Single Club and the “Cry Now, Cry Later” series of compilations released by Pessimiser.
MARI - Designer and musician Kuba Sokólski, from Warsaw, Poland, is in charge of the smart artistic aspect of the split project as well as of the label’s website, so far. How did the theme of the crawling prehistoric-looking insects/ beasts come out for the split? Who got the idea? Was this theme related to the single project or is this artistic feature actually representing the interests of the label in a wider sense? And will other artists be involved in future releases/projects?
JOEL - When I asked Kuba to do the artwork, the only guidelines I remember giving him, was that I wanted a unifying theme, same colours, etc. for all the splits. He is the one who came up with the insects idea. I think the final result is amazing. It really gives the series a strong visual identity and that’s exactly what I wanted. I was lucky to collaborate with Kuba, he has done an amazing job.
I always envisioned the label as the medium to bring together visual art and audio that I like. See, when you invest a lot of time and money into a project of this scale, you want to make sure that it’s worth it. I couldn’t bring myself to release great music with mediocre artwork, I think it defeats the purpose of owning a physical copy. To me the quality of the packaging shows how much you care about the music that is included. When you have poured a lot of energy into something you don’t want to come up with an half-assed final result. It’s a waste of time. I hope I will be able to keep up with this ideal for future projects, and yes I will definitely work with more artists in the future.
MARI - This split project is a quite particular one, and smart one as well. How do you imagine the listener, or better the purchaser of this underground yet deluxe release? Did you get satisfactory responses? Did your expectations for the project go well after several months from the release of the last bit of the split series (second half of 2012)?
JOEL - Thanks! My best guess is that the purchasers are diehard fans of heavy music who like the vinyl experience. My only criteria when putting it together was, would I like this ? would I be interested in it ? would I buy it ? In a time when everyone has a new favorite band every split second, I admire and respect anyone who is willing to purchase 2 hours of music released on 7” – that‘s courage and commitment! I didn’t expect much, but I have to say that it’s really cool when someone emails you to tell you how much they like the box-set, and they ask you when there will be another one. So, so far all the feedback I got was positive. At the same time, if you don’t click with idea you aren’t going to buy the box-set… Since I’m operating with a non-existing advertising and marketing budget there was no big coverage in medias. Word is spreading very slowly, but it somehow keeps spreading and sales have been constant for a year now. Hopefully this will last until every record has found a new loving and caring home.
MARI - And what is your opinion about the issue between solid/analogic music and digital music? Several labels or bands by now release analogic-only music (vinyls and/or tapes) and, as purists, they do not add any download codes. You decided to pair solid music items and digital version. Was it a good move?
JOEL - I don’t have a problem with digital music. It is what is. It’s a choice. I personally like to have digital files (lossless) of the music I own, so I can bring it wherever I go. The vinyl experience is different and I love it, but to me it doesn’t mean that I have to make a choice, either digital or analog. I’m happy to have both. I paired digital downloads with the vinyl because I wanted to give people the choice to listen to the records on their own terms, how they want and where they want. However I have problem with poor quality Mp3’s. Thank god storage capacity are constantly increasing as well as broadband capacities, so hopefully some day soon lossless digital files will become the norm.
MARI - Do you think that there are genres or scenes that are more keen on, or are in particular need of having in hand or offering a “solid piece of music”?
JOEL - I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I know vinyl has always been a big thing within hardcore/punk, and the independent music scene in general and I don’t think it has changed much. That’s where I come from. I guess everyone relates to music differently, but for me the physical is definitely an extension of the audio and I like the idea. I love browsing records. It feels real. It is real. On the other hand you can’t hold mp3 files.
MARI - This set of splits is officially addressed as “Volume I”. So are you actually planning any follow-up for this project for your label in a near future? Or are you planning a different project inbetween? If so, will there be any other similar, wide-range and deluxe, vinyl-only release like this to be expected or will your label also work as a normal label dealing with single bands as well and releasing also standard CDs?
JOEL - The next release will be a new album by Great Falls (on vinyl). After that I’d like to start working on a second volume of the splits 7” series box-set, which could take forever. I don’t really plan on releasing CDs, but I’m not saying that I won’t either. For the future, I really hope to be able to focus on quality kick ass deluxe vinyl releases, with music and artwork that stands the test of time.
MARI – Many thanks for the rich answers and the great music!
JOEL – Thanks and enjoy!