Interview with Malevolence Records, Nathan Mc Leod (CEO Heavy Metal Record Label/ USA),
by Petra M. Jansen (long version in English)
Hi
Nathan, nice to talk to you! It´s a great pleasure for me to interview a
record label owner on “Kulissenblicke” because until now we´ve had just
national and international bands in the interview. Tell me a bit about
your development and how you got involved into music. Where were the
beginnings?
Good
day, Petra. Thank you for having me on “Kulissenblicke”. It’s a
pleasure and thank you for taking your time out of your busy schedule to
conduct this interview with me. Appreciate it.
The
idea of starting my own record label had come to light and had been
floating around in my head around the end of 2004. In March 2005, I had
finally made a decision to move forward with and start up Malevolence
Records, “officially”. In the beginning from 2005 to 2006, Malevolence
Records started as a distribution-type label only. More or less artists
and bands would send me copies of their CDs. I would advertise them on
music forums what I had to the masses and distribute them around the
world. Basically taking and fulfilling orders. Also during this time
frame from 2005 to 2006, I was working for Nuclear Blast Records USA.
So, some of my thoughts or ideas working for them during this time frame
were applicable to my wanting to start my own record label. To really
take you back how I became involved in music in general started at a
really young age. Was just a child when I used to hear The Rolling
Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin and such on AM Radio. There were TV
programs like The Midnight Special, Saturday Night Live and Soul Train.
Not too much later KISS emerged. On my Dad’s side of the family him and
his two brothers were musicians. I was just very intrigued and
fascinated by music from a really young age. Start getting a little bit
older and would listen to the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Ronnie Montrose.
Rest in Peace.
Music
starts to evolve, new artists also emerge, or may have discovered some
that may have been around for a little while, like with Black Sabbath.
Was maybe six or seven when I first heard them. From that point on I was
discovering bands like Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Scorpions,
UFO. You can see where the direction of music was taken with the New
Wave of British Heavy Metal movement from the mid-1970s to the
early-1980s into the Thrash Metal movement from the early-1980s and that
point on. I believe also the Punk Rock scenes around this time also had
some influence as well with Thrash Metal in its incarnation. And
growing up in San Francisco/ CA, the mecca of thrash metal, I eventually
was in a few thrash metal bands during the 1980s. One of them was
“Malevolence”, what I named Malevolence Records after. Or from I should
say. Can fast-forward a little bit to fifteen years or so ago and was
just starting to get involved working for bands. On the road as a
roadie, tech, set carpenter, site Administrator for their websites and
forums, et cetera and so on. Here was the thing though; I could not say
be on the road for at least six months out of a year and operate a
record label. There just is not twenty five hours in a day, eight days
in a week, and thirteen months in a year to do both. Then try to take
into account your normal everyday life trials and tribulations and
whatever that may entail on a daily basis. So things for me and
Malevolence Records did get off to a slow start. What did put me to the
test was in late-2009; I was working for a band during this time, was to
get paid for services rendered and never did. I was really pissed off
about it, said, “fuck this”, stopped working for them, and said to
myself, “why am I pouring my time and effort into working for other
bands, then not getting paid, when I can be putting my own time, effort,
as well as money into my own artists, and put out our own music.” At
least if things went south, did not work out, all that time, effort, and
money was to put out music on Malevolence Records by my artists. So,
from early-2010 it was back to Malevolence Records full-time! And it was
like starting all over again from scratch, was unable to pick up where I
had left off in 2006 due to moving all over the place during this time:
Ireland, England, The Netherlands, California, and Nevada. Besides
moving around too much, things had changed drastically in regards to the
artists and bands I had been involved with. Bands break up, artists
leave a band, etc. Eventually the break I received came on September
10th, 2010. Was still living in The Netherlands at the time, TCF
(ThrashCoreFanatics) from The Netherlands and Septic Christ from
Switzerland/Germany were performing at The Lil Devil in Tilburg,
Netherlands. TCF had been originally signed to Witches Brew Records from
Germany. Septic Christ were currently searching for a label. Bobby, the
vocalist for Septic Christ and I actually did a lot of talking that
night about record labels, possibly signing Septic Christ, and just
shooting the shit with one another. I had already mentioned to all the
lads in TCF that if they were not already signed to Witches Brew
Records, that I would have jumped on the opportunity to sign them. Was a
couple months later I had moved from The Netherlands back to the United
States and had received an e-mail from Hans, the vocalist/bassist for
TCF saying that something had happened with Witches Brew Records. I
don’t remember exactly what happened verbatim word for word, but the
company had ended up closing doors and that they, “TCF” were looking for
a record label. And if I am not mistaken, Hans had contacted members of
Septic Christ about what had gone and on with TCF and Witches Brew
Records and that they were now “officially’ signed to Malevolence
Records. Because shortly thereafter I had received an e-mail from
Christian, bassist for Septic Christ and either Jürgen, the guitarist
for Septic Christ and or Bobby, the vocalist asking me if I would be
interested in signing Septic Christ? Of course I was and did! So with
both TCF and Septic Christ “officially” signed to Malevolence Records,
things were starting to take shape and come together once again. I will
add that I remember the September 10th, 2010 date so vividly because the
night before on September 9th, 2010, I was watching CNN and had
witnessed the horrible and tragic news of the San Bruno, California PG
& E pipeline explosion. See, I grew up in San Bruno, California and
had later learned that a great-aunt of the late Jon Torres of Ulysses
Siren was one of the victims that had passed away from the incident. I
was devastated and in awe of what I had been seeing on the news that
day. In total eight lives were lost due to the pipeline explosion. My
condolences go out to victims and their families and friends. Rest in
Peace.
You
come from Ireland and – after living in many countries of the world –
you are now residing in the United States. Is the music business
different to act in the USA than in Europe and if so, what are the
essential differences?
Let
me take you back to late-2010 to the present-tense. The bands I had
eventually signed to Malevolence Records were TCF (ThrashCoreFanatics)
from The Netherlands, Septic Christ from Switzerland/Germany, AbsentiA
from Spain, KAOS, Mad At Sam, and Ulysses Siren all from the San
Francisco Bay Area. Other bands I had been and or are doing some work
with were Head On Collision from Missouri. Mass Extinction from Ireland,
Victim Of Pain from New York, Seregon from England, Blood Culprit from
Tennessee, Potential Threat SF and Skitzo from the San Francisco Bay
Area. Fleshpeddler and Hooga from Utah, Stalwart from Russia, Mortus
Delict from Croatia, The Percent from Switzerland, Ancient Dome from
Italy, Leave Scars, Sanity’s Rage, Temptations For The Weak, and Eternal
Breath, all from Belgium, and X-Tinxion and Downcast Collision from The
Netherlands, Aegror from Germany, NorMalice from New York, Infamous
Sinphony from San Diego/CA, Anger As Art from Los Angeles/CA, Golpe
Devastador from Brasil. There had been five other people from the San
Francisco Bay Area, one from Ireland, one from England, another from
Nevada, as well as the Metal Over Oostrozebeke Festival and Metal To
Infinity webzine in Belgium whom either had worked with Malevolence
Records in some capacity, and in some instances vice-versa. There had
also been some record labels I had also worked with: Suspiria Records in
Spain, Sentinel Records in Ireland, Punishment 18 Records in Italy,
Rock It Up Records in Germany, and PRC Music in Canada (my apologies if I
have forgotten anyone?). As you can see there is a wide variety of
people spanning the globe, here. And yes, there had been a handful of
differences I’d say over the years with some of the people that
Malevolence Records was involved with, worked with, or worked for. One
in particular and the most recent of late last year that was a complete
and utter mistake ever letting this person have anything to do with
Malevolence Records was an American from Nevada. And did not let this
person in on the whole record label side of things for a lack of better
words, from a “voluntary” or “permissive” aspect. No, this woman had
some band management company that was supposed to work with, work for,
in collaboration with Malevolence Records-type scenario. She started
over stepping her boundaries by saying to an artist of a band called
Ancient Ruins from Southern California that I thought they were “great”,
they were next best thing since sliced bread, that I would “sign” them,
and loads and loads of more bullshit along those lines.
By
saying these things to someone I did not even know, much less never
even said, was not fucking cool. I then got this woman a job with Metal
To Infinity writing CD reviews. She could not even do that! She wrote a
couple CD reviews, submitted a couple old short stories she had written
some time prior to writing for Metal to Infinity that was about music,
and that was it. And she had received numerous CDs from a record label
in Canada called Maple Metal Records that she was supposed to write
reviews for and never did. Eventually the owner of Maple Metal Records
contacted Stefan, the owner of Metal to Infinity regarding the reviews,
Stefan contacted her, then myself about this dilemma. She never fucking
wrote any CD reviews for this record label. Just a bunch of bloody
excuses and drama-related bullshit that followed. Then it was onto this
band from New York called NorMalice that I befriended on ReverbNation
that were looking for management. I contacted them, gave this woman
their info regarding management, and vice-versa. Shortly thereafter all
the contact info was given to this woman and NorMalice, Joolz, their
bass player sent me some e-mails regarding some management
questions/issues. I was a bit taken by surprise from Joolz’s e-mails
because I was unaware that any contact had been made between them beyond
the introductions I had made initially. I was wrong! There had been
contact between the two parties. Somewhere along the lines that taking
on management for NorMalice was in the works, wasn’t a problem, and so
on. Then the contact from this woman just stopped, ceased to exist
between them, hence the reason why Joolz from NorMalice started
e-mailing me with questions, comments, and concerns. Fortunately there
was no money exchanged between the two of them, no contracts were
signed, etc. The writing was on the wall with her and her bullshit.
Because things eventually got a whole helluva lot worse with her and her
antics like the above aforementioned on many different levels. Too
many! Just being this creep, piece of shit, scumbag that she is doing
the shit she did and said, did end up having a negative reflection on me, on Malevolence Records.
In
the end I had to make some things right with certain people because of
her actions that ended up being more than just a “disagreement”, which
was a complete waste of time, a bloody headache, a nightmare, and waste
of money. But hey, I learned from these mistakes, am still here today
whereas she is no longer in the music business. And in my honest
opinion, she had no business being in this industry to begin with. So
yes, I had to make numerous apologies to Ancient Ruins, Maple Metal
Records, Metal to Infinity, and to NorMalice for what had transpired in
each instance there for the inconvenience and headaches that were
caused. Sure, there had been some other disagreements here and there
over the years from both Europeans and Americans. Not too many though.
It is really hard to say which is “different”, or which is “easier” to
work with? It really is I’d say a 50/50 toss-up. All in all, end of the
day, “we” as people have “our” work cut out for “us” on numerous
different levels. Not just in the music business. In everyday life that
is. I’d say at least with music most of the time we already have a
common interest that usually breaks the ice with one another. Usually,
that is. You know, a common ground. More often than not though and as
unfortunate as it is this is not the way things end up being though.
Money, drugs, alcohol, egos, and greed typically overshadow ones music,
wedges get driven in the middle of relationships with one another and
communication ends up breaking down. Sad reality, but is true.
Which value does Heavy Metal have today in the USA in comparison to Pop or other music directions?
I
really cannot say actually. I don’t listen to “Pop” or “Popular” music.
Same goes for Rap, Hip Hop, R&B, Country/Western, etc. Unless
something happens to come across social media that I may read about
occasionally, I really would not know. There are people out there in the
world as we both well know that seem to like “Pop” music, and seems to
be a huge demand for it. As well I’d think this would apply to Rap, Hip
Hop, R&B, Country/Western etc. So, at best, more or less based upon
assumption here, I’d have to say the values are probably similar to one
other.
How
do the development and the sales look in general in the USA? Do you see
it as difficult as many others, too – after streaming and the new media
provider like Spotify, ITunes, CD Baby and others using this sector in
their own way? We all know that the album sales stagnate.
…
$13.50 is the cheapest rate, so two thirds of your “total” cost for
that CD is in shipping and handling charges. Not too many people want to
pay a grand total of $20.50 for a CD. Sure, you have some that do and
have that are hardcore collectors of CDs or such as myself, but these
collectors make up only a small percentage. Then there are only so many
distributors out there that I can sell wholesale too, in one region that
is. For starters I will not sell to a distributor in the United States.
It does not serve a purpose when I can and do manage all the CD orders
that are received. Let´s take Germany for example again. In the last
five years or so there have been three distributors I have used with
multiple releases. As far as I am concerned that is plenty that can
handle not only Germany but all of Europe let´s say. And it’s not that I
did not want to sell to all of them simultaneously, but fair is fair as
well what you are getting into selling to numerous distributors in one
region is, a) you’re going to flood the market by b), making it less
likely for a “supply and demand”, because c), the wholesale distributors
involved are less likely to make any money/profit themselves having to
compete with one another in this dog-eat-dog world we live in. Then
there are of course commercial invoices involved and the recipient has
to pay VAT taxes on the CDs that are shipped, which I believe reinforces
what I said in “a, b, and c”. Some countries were basically lenient
whereas others were just straight a thorn in my side to deal with. This
has gotten worse over time and now in the present-tense with not only
the more stricter countries, but as well with those countries becoming
less lenient. Now you can probably see why record labels will do
different pressings of CDs & LPs in North America, Europe and Japan.
With the European and Japanese releases having different bonus tracks
appearing on them, the North American release having none. I think it’s
safe to assume the bonus tracks being different was in fact a sales
pitch and marketing strategy by record labels so that people from the
different continents would buy the pressing from either Europe or Japan,
or both. This was something that I noticed back when Rob Dukes became
the vocalist for Exodus on their first release with Rob: Shovel Headed
Kill Machine. It used to piss me off too, being an avid collector of
music that I am. Of course I wanted a copy of each release. Even then
though the shipping and handling costs from let´s say Ireland or England
to Mainland Europe countries were ridiculous in comparison to let´s say
any other country to country on the mainland, or vice-versa. If you
took a country such as Iceland or Greece, in both instances here,
shipping and handling costs was ten-fold worse. Still is for that
matter. Anywhere in the United States shipping and handling costs are
cheap. Costs are approximately $3.00.
At one point in time I used to have distribution in Ireland, Japan, and
England. But as soon as I had some distribution outside the United
States, just as quick the distribution disappeared. One example of
distribution being with Destructive Music UK: I had spent many months
helping the owner, Luke Hayhurst set up a PayPal account, ReverbNation
account, what percentage per CD sold he’d keep and what I would keep and
sent him “X” amount of CDs. There were some CDs sold on his behalf, and
then within a month or two, he was closing up the shop and sent all the
inventory back. He’d shut down his website for a while, forget how
long? A year maybe? Then low and behold the Destructive Music UK website
was up and running once again. I noticed this a little over a year ago.
Was a really a waste of fucking time and money! I took a chance with
this guy by fronting him many CD copies to sell. He did not pay anything
up front. So, I strongly recommend not doing this! If someone out there
is really into your music, they will pay for it. At the very least
offer them wholesale prices on the material in question. I’m not
discouraging trading with other records labels or other places either;
it’s just never really worked for me. With CD Baby I used to use them
for both physical and digital distribution. Here is a word of caution
about CD Baby and their physical distribution, and is actually a word of
caution I just gave a Dutch thrash metal band X-Tinxion a few months
ago and have with a few other times to bands the last few years. DO NOT
use CD Baby for physical distribution! And here is why: Once you go thru
the upload process thru CD Baby and use them for physical distribution,
you get to set the price for how much you would like to sell a CD copy
for. And let´s say you are selling a CD copy for $10.00. Every time a
copy is sold, CD Baby takes $4.00 off the top for their services and you
receive $6.00. What I did not catch until was too late in my opinion
was CD Baby has an Amazon store. They would take that same CD you have
priced at $10.00 and sell it for say $8.00. And yes, CD Baby still took
their $4.00 off the top and we were given $4.00, not $6.00. So, wait the
fuck a minute! I personally do not care if CD Baby is using Amazon,
eBay, Discogs, etc. as one of their sources for a sales outlet. But if
they are/were going to sell a CD released from a band on Malevolence
Records and “not” what the price was indicated via the CD Baby upload
process, fuck that! Malevolence Records and whomever this band was just
got screwed on $2.00 which is not much, but imagine after a hundred CD
sales at this rate: $200.00. And that is what CD Baby should have been
selling them for on Amazon and wherever else across the board that
is/was from the very beginning: what we set the CD price for. At least
if one of the CDs did get sold from their warehouse in Portland, Oregon
or a warehouse or company they used called, “Alliance”, our CDs were
sold at the price that we set. Here was my whole bitch about this CD
Baby “scam” I call it, at the very least, the very least was they should
have taken that $2.00 hit per CD sold underpriced on Amazon and not
Malevolence Records nor the band! But I did not want CD Baby to do even
that. I wanted the CD sold for exactly what we priced that CD at, not
what CD Baby decided to sell the CD for. And it became worse when I
figured out and realized what was going on, CD Baby were also selling to
wholesale distributors themselves. That same CD priced at $10.00 a copy
were getting sold to wholesale distributors say for $6.00 a copy and
they in turn would sell them for $8.00 a copy. Once again, the CDs sold
to wholesale distributors at $6.00 a copy, you guessed it, Malevolence
Records and it’s bands only received $2.00 a copy sold at this rate.
And
by the time I noticed what was going on, it was damn near too late,
because I didn’t notice this until some releases were already a couple
years old out on the market as well. The value of something typically
does decrease as time goes on, gets older. But not by much being a year
or two old. In addition to CD Baby flooded the damn market with releases
from Malevolence Records by selling them underpriced on Amazon and
selling wholesale to many distributors, who in turn were selling
Malevolence Records releases on Amazon, eBay, Discogs, and who else
knows where, and all underpriced themselves. The only way I was able to
somewhat stop this domino effect was to pull all the physical copies of
CDs from CD Baby and to set up my own Amazon and eBay stores, because
“I” as the record label, “them” as the artist/band, “us” as a whole were
able to meet or beat any price listed on Amazon if you stop and think
about it: someone wants to sell a CD for say $6.00? OK, fuck off, that’s
what this wholesale distributor just paid for the CD via CD Baby. I was
able to sell a CD for $5.00 and maybe turn a bit of profit, (not much
really), whilst at the same time stop the wholesale distributor from
selling the CD because anything under a $6.00 sale, they were losing
money. And by pulling everything from CD Baby inventory-wise, by not
feeding them anything more to sell “physically”, after a year or two,
the problem was solved (kind of). Basically cut the snakes head off!
Hence the whole reason why I mentioned earlier in this answer, “why” I
would not sell to several distributors in Europe simultaneously. I
recently said to this Dutch thrash metal band, X-Tinxion a little bit
further who are friends of mine a “summary” of everything I just
mentioned above about CD Baby and their physical distribution. Maybe not
as detailed, but all the same they went ahead and are using CD Baby for
physical distribution and their CDs are already being sold by a
wholesale distributor on Amazon and underpriced. I am unsure though if
it was CD Baby who sold to the wholesale distributor their CDs, OK? But
this release has not even been out six months! First and foremost these
are friends of mine, so, if you guys are reading this I just did not
want to see you guys get fucked, OK? Secondly, I told you I would have
taken care of United States or North American distribution for you for
than less than $4.00 a CD: what CD Baby charges you per CD sale. I’m a
record label who already takes care of sales and distribution globally.
Lastly, I wish you as well as others would have taken some sound advice
by learning from a mistake I made. I never received any responses back.
So, if there are any artists/bands outside the United States reading
this and are looking for some distribution in the United States, you can
send me an e-mail and we can discuss this in further detail. Every one
of the Malevolence Records releases is available for digital download
and streaming on just about every digital platform out there, as far as I
know. I have used CD Baby to deliver the material to digital download
and streaming sites with every Malevolence Records release except one. I
used Unable Music Group to distribute one release to digital download
and streaming sites. Now there are a couple releases from KAOS and one
from Ulysses Siren prior to me signing them that I believe all were
distributed digitally by the Orchard via their old record label,
Relentless Records. And are some recent developments I have come across
regarding the “Orchard”, as well with “BMI”, (Broadcast Music, Inc.), I
will discuss later on in this interview.
What
knowledge and skills must a label boss definitely have? I think it
means to possess a keen sense and have vast contacts, right?
Yes,
I would definitely agree with you there and your analogy. To touch on a
bit with having vast contacts, one day they could be plentiful and the
next they’re not. I recall in 2012 when Michelle Murray, the manager for
KAOS and AbsentiA and I were putting together some European tour dates
together with KAOS, AbsentiA, Septic Christ, and TCF. What had been the
initial talks with people in late-2011 in parts of Germany, The
Netherlands, England, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, and Poland with
promoters, artists/bands, and venues just months prior too basically
fell thru. Some of these contacts just ceased to exist by early-2012. In
other instances some people never really had any intentions of helping
book some shows and or were playing off that they were something that
they were actually not, talking out the side of their necks. And with
some I just never received any responses back. End of the day KAOS,
AbsentiA, Septic Christ, and TCF ended up doing a handful of club dates
in Germany, The Netherlands, and the “Metal Over Oostrozebeke Festival”
in Belgium. All the crap though that went on for a good six months
trying to put together some tour dates during this time can be very much
applicable to just about every aspect in the music industry.
How do you see the music biz from your side, provided that you may answer this honestly?
Well
then, I really am not a dishonest person and would never feed someone a
load of bollocks purposely, so sure: the music biz is just plain rough!
And rough from every angle a person may look at it. A lot of people
think whilst working in the music biz an old saying applies: “sex,
drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.” Like this life is glamourous or something?
Sure, I did have some great times travelling the world, meeting some
great people, seeing places a lot of people may have not and maybe never
will, but at the end of the day whatever it is/was that I was doing was
just another job or work. And very difficult and hard work a lot of the
times. It’s what I did to make ends meet. And “not” unlike many other
career fields, it’s just as stressful – sometimes a whole helluva lot
more. Malevolence Records is not Nuclear Blast Records in size nor
capacity. It never has been. A lot of what´s needed to be done in
running Malevolence Records has been a lot of “DIY” (do it yourself). I
am not complaining here because the whole “DIY” is an essential
ingredient you must have in this industry. Yes, there has been a handful
of employees of Malevolence Records as mentioned in the second question
of this interview, but unlike Nuclear Blast Records who has plenty of
money to throw around to pay a full-time staff consisting of many
employees, I don’t and never have. Nuclear Blast Records has also been
around since 1987, Malevolence Records since 2005. What made Malevolence
Records successful was when there was a roster of bands that were “all”
active. We all worked together as a team. Everyone of us all pulled our
own weight. Yes, some did more than others in some areas that they were
more proficient in. Regardless though of the percentage of teamwork
that was put in on an individual basis equaling a whole, it bloody
worked. Bands start to lose a member or just break up all together; this
obviously had a weakening affect. There was a lot of momentum with the
whole “strength in numbers” saying, goes. I understand that if a band
cannot continue for whatever their reasons were? Just cannot do it
anymore, OK, I get it. But not one after a breakup really had much
incentive there afterwords to say continue to push their product
anymore. This all got placed upon myself. I can only do so much. And to
this day I still have hundreds and hundreds of overstock CDs. I got left
holding the bag entirely. And really do not think none of them
understood this or that? In the end it really was a waste of fucking
money, time, and effort on all our parts. Granted, there was a period of
time in my life when I got hit with some personal problems: after my
Dad died in July 2012 and the shitstorm that ensued afterwards with
so-called friends, so-called family, and ex-wife. Problems with my
ex-wife had continually gotten worse until I filed for divorce in March
2013. Was beat up and almost killed by the Oakland, California cops
outside the old Malevolence Records office/headquarters in December
2012. There was the death of Ulysses Siren guitarist Jon Torres in
September 2013. Jon Torres passing away also had an affect on the
professional side of things too. Rest in Peace…
So,
there were periods of time there that Malevolence Records could not
function, obviously. I had much bigger and worse problems to deal with
then and everyone knew this. And maybe, just maybe some had seen this
and knew what the fuck was going on and possibly thought that their
record label was not going to be able to continue nor recover? Not
really too sure. But do though understand if there were cause for
concerns on everyone’s parts? So, when I say the music biz can be
“rough”, these were just some examples without going into extensive
detail of what I/we had endured and am basically saying, “expect the
worst, hope for the best”. Things are not always what they are cracked
up to be, nor what they appear to be. A lot like being married for those
of us who have been there and done all that? You’re basically married
to every member of a band, then their spouses as well, management and
their spouses, and whomever else who may be involved with a band and
vice-versa.
How
far are American and European Heavy Metal bands different regarding
their musically and charismatic behavior? Which qualities in Heavy Metal
are considerably different or rather special, worldwide seen? I mean,
is it true that German bands own a lack of esprit on stage?
If
I were to take the stage presence of Bobby, the vocalist for Septic
Christ, then Jason, the vocalist for KAOS whom were both just
vocalists/front men, I might give Jason the edge just a tad bit as front
man. Vocally, I’d say that they were on an even keel in that
department. Jason was a bit more energetic on stage. Now take the rest
of the members of Septic Christ and KAOS, Septic Christ was a bit more
“stoic” and “serious” than KAOS was whilst performing I thought.
Musically as a whole they both put on a great show live. So, there maybe
a little bit of truth to your question here. And no, I do not believe
that music as a whole then or now is taken as seriously in the United
States as it is taken in Europe. At least not from what I have seen and
experienced. With what is best described as rather special to me in an
“overall” sense came from seeing bands from Europe coming to perform in
the San Francisco Bay Area where I grew up for the simple fact that you
did not get to see them live every day or seeing Slayer in Singapore in
2006. As far as I know that was the only Singapore show they have played
to date? To add to this would be the fact that albeit in Singapore or
in San Francisco, there is a metal scene in both places, with the metal
scene putting up as much a metal shit fit in Singapore as in San
Francisco. Probably more in Singapore because how often would you think
Singapore gets metal bands to come play there? Probably not much at all,
probably less in its “entirety” than “just” European bands coming to
play somewhere in the San Francisco Bay Area. I can remember seeing
Destruction at the Fillmore in San Francisco, California in 2006 with
Death Angel as the support act. I was like, “kick ass”, I get to see two
excellent bands that night. Death Angel who I’ve seen countless times
and – of course – Destruction who I have not. Well, as soon as Death
Angel were done performing, I’d say three-quarters of the crowd left! I
get it and understand this was in San Francisco, Death Angel’s hometown,
but still… see, I can almost guarantee that if it were Death Angel
headlining in Destruction’s hometown in Germany, with Destruction
supporting them, the German fans would not just up and leave after
Destruction played. They would have supported each band equally. Not
everyone thinks like I do though. My thought process and way I view the
world is usually very abstract and obtuse.
Will you not formally ensnared and pump in with music and special offers from bands and musicians?
Not
sure if I quite catch the meaning of this question? If you are speaking
in terms of “discounts” from Malevolence Records, sure, of course I
have some things discounted. I do though now that I am thinking of this
is to have my web lady update my website to reflect some changes as
“discounted” material available. Now if you are asking the question
would I do this with other bands or musicians? Sure, why not and of
course I would. It really all comes down to with whom and what.
When do you decide to take a band under contract and which conditions do you offer?
Typically
here what would have to apply is the following: a band would have
already one “official” release under their belt. This could be either an
EP or full-length release and it could be independently released and or
released via another record label. The other being I would have to see a
band “live”, at least once. These two things here basically showed me
what I was dealing with. Just because a band can release something
incredible on CD does not mean they can perform their material with the
greatest of ease live. Live you get to see what kind of stage presence
they have and what kind of following or support they also have. And have
seen the opposite where a band was just incredible live, but their
material heard on a release of theirs not be all that great. This could
be attributed to something as simple as a line-up change in the band or
the production on a release not up to par. In instances where I am not
able to see a band live, I’d surely have to see some a live DVD or
YouTube footage. Then I would take things from there and decide whether
or not to approach them. With what conditions I would offer at this
point I prefer to keep personal. It really is a personal matter to be
discussed in private with a band. I will say this though, it has been
done on a case by case basis, all of which have had similarities, but no
one contract has been exactly identical to each other, with the
arrangement that we would work one release at a time contractually.
What
is the risk of a music label in the current time? Is it right that
labels here often offer only label codes and distribution ways and
partially pay musicians? I say “partially” because there are very
different step contracts.
Starving musicians are not referred to as “starving” for no good reason. The above though is really a simple long of the short version of this scam and the best I can to putting things in Layman’s terms without getting people reading this lost. I am quite glad though that I never used the Orchard for any type of digital distribution. I do recall many conversations from former management and record label of KAOS and Ulysses Siren about “how” I should use the Orchard for digital distribution instead of CD Baby and or Unable Music Group, when I was seeing clearly that CD Baby was getting music from bands signed to Malevolence Records to more digital platforms than the Orchard, thankfully! Unable Music Group as mentioned has only digitally distributed one release from Malevolence Records and this release has never been uploaded to YouTube from them, thankfully! Does all this mean I do not have to be concerned that the Orchard will not take something that was released on Malevolence Records in the future and pull the same scam as they have with Anger As Art? Of course not! It does concern and worry me for the simple fact there is a lot of blood, sweat, and tears poured into this kind of work that Malevolence Records and its artists, as well as other record labels and their artists pour into this industry. And for what? Some asshole company like the Orchard to scam us out of who knows how much money? So yes, I do check YouTube extensively to see if the Orchard has taken any material released on Malevolence Records and uploaded any of it thru this “scam” of theirs. With BMI or Broadcast Music, Inc. and their scam I honestly would strongly recommend the reader/viewer here to listen to a recent audio interview with Steve Gaines of Anger As Art on Stevil’s Podsmash: https://soundcloud.com/stevilspodsmash/episode-26-steve-gaines-anger-as-art. I don’t believe I can break down this scam with BMI as simple as I did with the Orchard. This interview may be almost an hour and a half long, but is extremely informative regarding the bullshit with the Orchard as well with BMI. People just may learn something here and hopefully they do?
Do the bands still receive advance payments? What percentage should this be at all in your estimation?
Yes,
bands did and still do receive advance payments upon signing. The
percentage is something I will say has differed from band to band. Not
by much though. This is really as far as I want to get into this
question though. No offence though please, but this is actually starting
to get into contractual agreement areas that I do not want to discuss
openly. I really do not have an estimation of what this “should be”
percentage-wise. It’s really to each their own label-wise to artist/band
and what they essentially agree upon and is fair I would say. If you
are asking if there should be a standard percentage across the board, I
don’t believe that would really work because if the standard were say
“X” amount, well start with five members in a band and each receiving
20% of “X”. Four members each receiving 25%, respectively. Personally I
would prefer that regardless of quantity of members in a band that they
all receive an equal percentage, if humanly possible? Then you may have
members in a band that have written more material than the others and
wanting more of a percentage of “X”. This though really is getting into
what all the members of a band should be discussing amongst themselves
and come to a conclusion what they deem fair and how much each member
receives percentage-wise of an advance payment.
I’ve
only used my website, ReverbNation, SoundCloud, Google, Facebook,
MySpace, YouTube, CD Baby, and music forums for promotional ads and
campaigns. Presently I do not use MySpace nor music forums for
promotional use anymore. Minus those two and I still believe there are
still too many digital platforms utilized. The ones that have been cost
incurred were my website, CD Baby, and Facebook. The others I have used
the free versions of their services. I’ve never actually ran in an ad or
magazine, yet anyways. I don’t see a demand for it with the massive
amounts of social media and networking places available this day and
age.
There
was a period of time a while ago I thought about running some ads in
Snakepit Magazine from France. It’s not a bad magazine and I know the
owner, Laurent Ramadier. He knows metal, knows the business and has been
publishing Snakepit Magazine for about fifteen years now. But take a
look at Kerrang! Magazine for example. They used to be a very large
magazine at one point in time. Snakepit Magazine has never been the same
caliber in terms of popularity as Kerrang! Magazine once was. I had no
idea Snakepit Magazine even existed in the metal world until about ten
to eleven years ago. I very rarely see Kerrang! Magazine being sold on
any news stands. I really don’t see many news standards in existence
anymore for that matter. The other magazine I had thought about
utilizing in the past was the Headbangers Zine and Gigs Magazine. Once
again I know the owner, Marco van Empel, he does great work with his
magazine and has been publishing Headbangers Zine and Gigs for about
five years now. But the zine is only printed in black and white, it’s a
spiral bound magazine and not your normal size magazine of 8″ x 11.5″.
It’s probably more like 5″ x 8″ in size. Is it great these guys are
publishing these magazines? I think so. Especially in this day and age
with everything damn near everything already on the internet or in some
digital format. Case and point though, not much of a demand for
“physical” copies of anything, as they once were.
Does
the Heavy Metal- or Hard Rock-business really suffer from the current
market conditions or is this nonsense in your opinion and will be only
flogged to death?
Flogged
to death? Quite possibly? I don’t think though this is any less
important of a topic or issue though, if in fact that is what I have
done thus far in this interview? I’m simply telling the readers/viewers
how it is and what I have experienced and or what others have
experienced for that matter. And no, I don’t believe it is nonsense in
my opinion. Sometimes this is what it takes right here in this interview
to get people to listen to something you are saying in addition to what
others have to say. And definitely does not have to be something such
as in the music industry. So yes, I firmly believe people really do
suffer in this industry in some capacity. Some kind of scandal or scam
has been going on in the music industry long before my time. Look at the
“Payola Scandal” of the late-1950s. It certainly did not hurt the
artists/bands that got the favorable airplay because of radio stations
being paid to play certain artists/bands more than they would have
others that were on some kind of regular rotation of airplay. I’m sure
people can think of a helluva lot more crap that has gone on some level
in the last sixty years or so.
It’s
been in my experiences that pressing digi-pack CDs can be waste of
time. Problem with digi-pack CDs is when someone overseas let´s say
wants to by multiple copies from you. More often than not they are going
to want the CD contents removed from the packaging and then shipped to
save on shipping and handling costs. You cannot do that with a digi-pack
CD whereas you can with a jewel-case CD. Don’t get me wrong here
though, I do discourage the practice of removing CD contents form jewel
cases and then being shipped in this manner somewhere. To begin with
it’s a lot of time to remove the plastic shrink wrap, the CD, the inlay
card, and back tray. You’ve got to be really cautious how you then
package everything so that the CDs do not get scratched and the inlay
cards and back trays not ripped nor bent. You’re not going to know
either what kind of abuse a package of CDs shipped in this manner is
going to take, either. But more importantly you’re not going to know how
the recipient is going to re-package them once received? There’s
further chance of the CDs being scratched, the inlay cards and back
trays being ripped or bent, and not knowing what kind of jewel cases are
being used on their end. Now, have I given in to this practice? So yes,
I would have lost some sales in the past if a CD that was pressed was
pressed in a digi-pack form. I do also discourage the actual CDs being
pressed in a “duplicated” format and not a “replicated” format.
“Duplication” is nothing more than a high quality CDR that pressing
companies use. They take your master CD and burn your material onto the
CDR and add the CD art, track info, and any other pertinent info to the
CD skin or face. “Replication” of a CD is an entirely different pressing
process that “creates” an “actual” CD. It’s what you would see if you
went out and bought say a Black Sabbath CD. Here’s an example: take a
look at the online store section of my website. There are several bands
that I “distribute” their material for. All of whom are denoted with a
“D” at the end of an item number. Take a look at the Leave Scars – The
Arrival, item number MR-LS1-D, and the Blood Culprit – Sinister Thought
Process, item number MR-016-D. Now look at the description of each CD to
the right each: (CD-R Import) and (CD-R EP). Both Leave Scars and Blood
Culprit both pressed these releases in a “duplicated” format. These
were not pressed by Malevolence Records. Legally I cannot advertise
these two releases as “actual” CDs. It’s false advertisement. Here are a
couple cost comparisons of each example above: Digi-pack CDs have
become less expensive to press than jewel-case CDs are. Because the
actual hard/clear plastic jewel-case is being removed the equation, with
the exception of the case part that holds the CD in place. And more
often than not I have been seeing digi-pack CDs pressed having no
plastic shrink wrap covering them. Are duplicated CDs less expensive to
press than replicated? Of course they are. There’s just less steps
involved duplicating a CD than there is replicating a CD. And you do
“lose” audio quality in the duplication process. Take what I have said
in this interview for face value. Not my intention nor has it ever been
to give people bad advice. I don’t really think that much is really
indispensable. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to get the biggest
bang for your buck though. Check what the competition has to offer.
Sometimes “less is more” certainly applies. Pay very close attention to
detail, especially when something is in fine print. Neither everything
nor everyone for that matter is what and who they appear to be. Be very
diligent and persistent. Stay extremely active with your web presence
and networking with other artists/bands, concert venues, webzines,
record labels, radio/internet stations, promoters, and most importantly:
your fans! Your fans are definitely “not” indispensable.
Do you remember spontaneously a funny story from the field of music or your work and would you like to speak about that?
Funny? Not really. Although I do believe it is essential to have “fun” that is and whatever it is that you may be doing in life.
Would you choose exactly this job, you’re making again or would you select another?
Why
are the public radio stations so buttoned up when it comes to play
Heavy Metal music? After all, we are dealing with a huge fan base and a
lot of listeners and this sector is – at least in Germany – operated
substantially only by the Internet radio stations. Where is the problem?
Not suitable for mass production, although it draws the masses into the
spell?
Really
good question asked here. As far back in my own existence I cannot
recall too many radio stations that were solely based on “Heavy Metal”.
No, they were all Rock ‘n’ Roll radio stations that you occasionally
heard a Black Sabbath song, and usually “Iron Man”, “Paranoid”, or “War
Pigs” and nothing more for that matter. Then maybe fifteen years ago or
so certain radio stations started dedicating a few hours on a Friday or
Saturday night called the “Metal Zone”, or some shit like that played
strictly metal. Can only recall one radio station in 1989 or so, and was
an “AM” radio station, not “FM”, out of Las Vegas, Nevada that was on a
twenty-four seven rotation of heavy metal music. For the likes of me I
cannot remember the call letters nor station number, either. But, they
did not last very long either. This though was the direct affect of the
FCC, (Federal Communications Commission), here in the United States. You
see, you cannot “legally” say certain things live over the airways on
AM/FM radio here in the United States, like the word, “Fuck”, “Fucking”,
or “Fuckers”, without the disc-jockeys getting fined by the FCC
personally and or the radio station themselves. Rack up enough fines
from the FCC and they can and will revoke any FCC licenses involved, and
can essentially shut a radio station the “fuck” down. This does not
have to be problematic with “Heavy Metal” music only though. This can
include “Rock ‘n’ Roll”, “Rap”, “Gangster Rap”, and “Hip Hop” music too.
It’s all about “censorship”, here. And duly noted, there does happen to
be profanity involved with a lot of music today that the parents of
minor children do not want them to hear, as well from the disc-jockeys
themselves, interviews that they may be conducting that is easily
accessed by turning on a radio. OK, I get it. But look at the kids of
today and what they all seem to have easily accessible to them: the
bloody internet! From their PCs, tablets, phones, and now watches. This
goes beyond the censorship of what the United States Federal Government
wants “John Q. Public” to be brainwashed to believe. All about control
in my opinion. There are other things like sexual innuendos that the FCC
does not want played over the airways as well. Once again, OK, I get
it. If you take the likes of shock-jock, Howard Stern that was probably
the most fined disc-jockey in American history by the FCC. What did he
do? He bought his own satellite and started to broadcast his radio show
via the internet. Don’t quote me here, I believe XM radio as well?
Whatever he was doing and did by doing this was not governed by the FCC
here in the United States. He found away around it so that he could
continue his radio broadcasting the way he does without getting heavily
penalized by the FCC. Once again, don’t quote me, because I am unsure
where agencies like the FCC stands with governing the internet airwaves?
But think about it, with the ease of access people have nowadays (this
includes people of all ages, not just minor children), with the internet
as it was with a TV or radio in my day in age, these internet radio
stations will eventually have restrictions placed upon them. Governed by
some agency like the FCC. Monitored, censored, and controlled! Just a
matter of time.
I’m
a firm believer that the 1st Amendment Right here in the United States
and your right to “Freedom Of Speech”, is a facade, a fake,
phony. Personally I believe that whether or not ones beliefs are that
Heavy Metal music or “metal” music in general is not suitable for mass
production as you so eloquently put it, I think the masses are flocking
to the places like internet radio to tailor fit their musical needs, and
will continue too. And with the internet radio providers not having to
deal with a bunch of drama-related crap with the likes of the FCC. No
licenses have to be obtained for internet radio use, as far as I know?
Which is fine by me. I can’t remember the last time I was really
listening to a radio station over the AM/FM airwaves, to any extent
anyways? Been many years. In any event though, as a record label owner I
still provided both AM/FM and internet radio stations with material
released on Malevolence Records for airplay. On the AM/FM side of things
it was with mostly college radio stations in the United States, like
KSJS Radio at the San Jose State University campus in California. There
were some in Canada as I had provided material too as well. Yes, I had
always sent material to major radio stations like KSAN in San Francisco,
California. It was always to Nikki Blakk, the disc-jockey who hosted
their metal zone. This was always to no avail though. Started to think
that after numerous attempts with her and KSAN, that – if you were not
some major metal act – you were not going to get any airplay from them.
Never know and I still tried. But then again material from Malevolence
Records had been sent to Manny Lopez, the vocalist of Ulysses Siren who
has had a radio show on the legendary KUSF Rampage Radio in San
Francisco, California to no avail either. Still, I believe it is
essential to have your material aired on both AM/FM and internet radio.
Get your material out there and try.
Yes
ma’am, I am Nathan McLeod. Just an FYI, the other web links provided
below are going to change and will provide you with updated links once
they are in completion.
My
last question, Nathan. Give us your experiences as a record label owner
– unless you want me to and say what’s on your mind. Is there is
something you´d like to express publicly?
I
think I have expressed quite a lot within this interview. For the sake
of argument let´s say and time consumption/length of interview. No, I
had not mentioned every little aspect of this business that I have
experienced in great lengths or detail. If anyone does have any
questions, they surely can contact me (please don’t hesitate actually). I
sure hope the reader/viewer here finds everything mentioned interesting
and not boring, in addition too “informative”. I would like to say
“hello” and “thank you” to just about everyone I mentioned. A HUGE
thanks to you Petra M. Jansen and Kulissenblicke/ tool4spirit for once
again taking your time out of your busy schedule and conducting this
interview with myself and Malevolence Records. And of course, feel free
to chime in anytime here, Petra. Would love to read what your comments
are regarding this interview.
Thanks for the interesting interview. We wish you and your label all the best and much success. Metal up your ass!
OUCH!
I believe that would hurt. You’re quite welcome. And wish you,
Kulissenblicke and tool4spirit much continued success yourself.
© Petra M. Jansen
Link Email/contact: malevolence.records@gmail.com
Link Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/malevolence-records
Link Reverbnation: https://www.reverbnation.com/label/malevolencerecords
Link Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Malevolence.Records/
Link google+: https://plus.google.com/+MalevolenceRecords
 |
| Nathan Mc Leod/ MALEVOLENCE RECORDS (US), all rights reserved |
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