Sonntag, 28. November 2010
Samstag, 27. November 2010
Project Print zine (FP interview...) out now!
Zines are cool. We love zines. Get off your ass and start one, or at least buy a copy of Project Print zines first issue through our friends at Farewell records.
Here's the direct link to their store. The zine features interviews with Something Inside, Out of step, Demons Run Amok rec. and ourselves.
While you're at it, pick up the last Something Inside LP through Farewell records, too. Good band, nice people!
Mittwoch, 24. November 2010
check out some of our friends bands...
When we played in Hannover in 2008 or 2009 - I can't remember exactly - our good friend Raoul hooked us up with sleeping places and drinks, and told us crazy stories from when his old band toured with Biohazard in the early 00's. He just started a new band called Salad Days; a great mix of punk and hardcore. Go check 'em out here.
Also another good friend of ours happens to sing for a band called The Platoon. They will release a new 7" soon, check out some of their new stuff here.
And then there's Empowerment. If you haven't heard about them, you must be either listening to Deathcore (too bad...), reside outside of Germany (good for you, check these guys out nonetheless), or under a rock! Great NYHC-influenced stuff, listen to some songs here.
Also another good friend of ours happens to sing for a band called The Platoon. They will release a new 7" soon, check out some of their new stuff here.
And then there's Empowerment. If you haven't heard about them, you must be either listening to Deathcore (too bad...), reside outside of Germany (good for you, check these guys out nonetheless), or under a rock! Great NYHC-influenced stuff, listen to some songs here.
Freitag, 19. November 2010
Interview: Rene/ Punchline Productions, part 2
No long introduction needed, here's part 2 of the interview with Rene/ Puchline Productions, where he talks about his experiences with working for a big Metal-label and the differences and similarities between the HC- and the Metal-scene.
Not too many people know, that you made your passion for heavy music your job and work for Nuclear Blast rec these days? How did that come along? And tell us something about your daily work at NB, because not many people know how it is working for a record label?
As usual with me it was pure coincidence. I surfed the Nuclear Blast homepage to order the new Slayer LP (I can’t remember which one it was, possibly Diabolus in Musica – horrible record!) and saw a post saying that they were looking for people to work part-time in their warehouse. During that time I had another part-time job going from wednesdays til fridays, so I emailed them and told them I could work mondays and tuesdays. After about six months working part-time at NB they offered me a full-time position at their warehouse. Since I wasn’t too happy with my other job, I took it right away. After working at the warehouse for some time, I moved to the customer service department – and that’s where I still work today. In addition to that I am the deputy warehouse manager as well. Working for NB generally is a lot of fun, the atmosphere is very nice and there aren’t too many hierarchies. But at the end of the day it is still work, and a lot of work it is. If you think we all just hang out, drink beer and listen to music all day while getting paid for it, you are definitely wrong. I sometimes work 12 or 13 hours a day, if it’’s really business I even work on weekends or put in a night-shift – while getting up at 7am the next morning to do it all again. During the summer festival season I travel to all the big metal festivals to sell merchandise, which involves working for 18 hours a day, sleeping on a shitty mattress behind the merchandise tent, and eating mainly junk-food. Yet still I hold that our Christmas parties beat those of other companies big time. So much fun...
Some say Metal and HC are very much alike right now. Do you notice any major differences between the Metal world and the Hardcore world these days? Attitude-wise - politically or else?
I would agree that HC and Metal have become more and more similar, especially with regard to stuff that’s labeled „Metalcore“. Different people have different opinions on it, to each his own I’d say. In my opinion there’s good and shitty bands in all genres and forms of music, but currently it seems to me that there is hardly anything good coming out the „Metalcore“ camp. There are hardly any honest and authentic bands popping up, most new bands seem to want to jump on a trend rather than doing their own thing.
The big different between Metal and HC lies still in the fact that Metal is thoroughly commercialized. There are hardly any small, diy shows, hardly any small labels, distributions etc., while all these things still exist in the HC-scene. Antifascism, a critical attitude towards society, ecology, straight edge, vegetarianism etc. are rather irrevelant issues for Metalheads, but for HC-kids they are dominant issues – even if you are not straight edge or vegetarian you still learn something about these issues listening to HC.
Another example: it is usually tolerated if you wear a Nazi-shirt at a Metalgig as long as you don’t cause any troubel, while you will certainly get into trouble wearing such a shirt going to a HC-gig – and rightly so! Metalheads can travel to Wacken Festival, behave like neanderthals throughout the whole weekend, and work as a cop the next day... I don’t know what to say about something like that.
Yet, to come back to what I said at the beginning of this rather long answer, both scenes are becoming more and more similar. On the one hand the Metal scene is changing: people become more politically conscious and are less and less likely to tolerate fascism/ racism in their scene. Metalbands aren’t exclusively singing about dungeons and dragons anymore. On the other hand the HC-scene is becoming more and more mainstream and apolitical, and therefore reflect less on social and political issues. Because HC on its various subgenres have grown so rapidly in the last years, HC’s political state of mind and its emphasis on „being different“ and „making a change“ is changing. „Make a difference“ is not a slogan the whole scene subscribes to anymore, which is sad in my opinion.
Not too many people know, that you made your passion for heavy music your job and work for Nuclear Blast rec these days? How did that come along? And tell us something about your daily work at NB, because not many people know how it is working for a record label?
As usual with me it was pure coincidence. I surfed the Nuclear Blast homepage to order the new Slayer LP (I can’t remember which one it was, possibly Diabolus in Musica – horrible record!) and saw a post saying that they were looking for people to work part-time in their warehouse. During that time I had another part-time job going from wednesdays til fridays, so I emailed them and told them I could work mondays and tuesdays. After about six months working part-time at NB they offered me a full-time position at their warehouse. Since I wasn’t too happy with my other job, I took it right away. After working at the warehouse for some time, I moved to the customer service department – and that’s where I still work today. In addition to that I am the deputy warehouse manager as well. Working for NB generally is a lot of fun, the atmosphere is very nice and there aren’t too many hierarchies. But at the end of the day it is still work, and a lot of work it is. If you think we all just hang out, drink beer and listen to music all day while getting paid for it, you are definitely wrong. I sometimes work 12 or 13 hours a day, if it’’s really business I even work on weekends or put in a night-shift – while getting up at 7am the next morning to do it all again. During the summer festival season I travel to all the big metal festivals to sell merchandise, which involves working for 18 hours a day, sleeping on a shitty mattress behind the merchandise tent, and eating mainly junk-food. Yet still I hold that our Christmas parties beat those of other companies big time. So much fun...
Some say Metal and HC are very much alike right now. Do you notice any major differences between the Metal world and the Hardcore world these days? Attitude-wise - politically or else?
I would agree that HC and Metal have become more and more similar, especially with regard to stuff that’s labeled „Metalcore“. Different people have different opinions on it, to each his own I’d say. In my opinion there’s good and shitty bands in all genres and forms of music, but currently it seems to me that there is hardly anything good coming out the „Metalcore“ camp. There are hardly any honest and authentic bands popping up, most new bands seem to want to jump on a trend rather than doing their own thing.
The big different between Metal and HC lies still in the fact that Metal is thoroughly commercialized. There are hardly any small, diy shows, hardly any small labels, distributions etc., while all these things still exist in the HC-scene. Antifascism, a critical attitude towards society, ecology, straight edge, vegetarianism etc. are rather irrevelant issues for Metalheads, but for HC-kids they are dominant issues – even if you are not straight edge or vegetarian you still learn something about these issues listening to HC.
Another example: it is usually tolerated if you wear a Nazi-shirt at a Metalgig as long as you don’t cause any troubel, while you will certainly get into trouble wearing such a shirt going to a HC-gig – and rightly so! Metalheads can travel to Wacken Festival, behave like neanderthals throughout the whole weekend, and work as a cop the next day... I don’t know what to say about something like that.
Yet, to come back to what I said at the beginning of this rather long answer, both scenes are becoming more and more similar. On the one hand the Metal scene is changing: people become more politically conscious and are less and less likely to tolerate fascism/ racism in their scene. Metalbands aren’t exclusively singing about dungeons and dragons anymore. On the other hand the HC-scene is becoming more and more mainstream and apolitical, and therefore reflect less on social and political issues. Because HC on its various subgenres have grown so rapidly in the last years, HC’s political state of mind and its emphasis on „being different“ and „making a change“ is changing. „Make a difference“ is not a slogan the whole scene subscribes to anymore, which is sad in my opinion.
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