{"id":7170,"date":"2012-06-14T00:00:56","date_gmt":"2012-06-14T00:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=7170"},"modified":"2013-07-20T11:59:56","modified_gmt":"2013-07-20T11:59:56","slug":"feature-metal-blade-records-06-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-metal-blade-records-06-12\/","title":{"rendered":"METAL BLADE RECORDS &#8211; 1982-2012 (30 Years Of Metal) (June 2012) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"title\"><strong>METAL BLADE &#8211; 1982-2012 (30 Years Of Metal)<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"smalltitle\">Anthony Morgan<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial; font-size: 8pt\">June 2012<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedright\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/brianslagel2012promophoto1.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><strong><em>Brian Slagel<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><em>Pic: Stephanie Cabral<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Born February 14th, 1961, Metal Blade Records founder Brian Slagel grew up in Woodland Hills, California listening to 70s hard rock mainstays like <a href=\"\/site\/black-sabbath-articles\/\" target=\"_blank\">Black Sabbath<\/a>, Judas Priest, Kiss, AC\/DC, UFO, and many others. Brian wrote for various heavy metal fanzines during the early 80s, founding <em>The New Heavy Metal Revue<\/em> as well as trading tapes within the underground metal community. Gaining employment at Oz Records, he would immediately ask the owner whether the store could begin the sale of imported material.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did the first ever US heavy metal fanzine,\u201d Brian remembers. \u201cI was literally covering all the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, and all the stuff that I was really into. When I started working in a record store, people were telling me that I should start to go see these local LA heavy metal bands. I started to go see those bands, and I realised that there was a good scene happening in Los Angeles at the time. Of course back then \u2013 before the internet and cellphones, and everything else \u2013 there was no way for anybody to know that those bands even existed. Being influenced by the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and compilations like <em>Metal For Muthas<\/em> (February 1980), I got the idea to put together a compilation of local heavy metal bands. I spoke with the importers that were dealing with the record store, and said \u2018Hey, if I put together this record would you guys sell it?\u2019 They all said \u2018Sure,\u2019 so I ended up doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The resultant compilation \u2013 <em>Metal Massacre Vol 1.<\/em> \u2013 was issued during June 1982, and featured the Metallica composition \u2018Hit The Lights\u2019. Inaugural full-length <a href=\"\/site\/album-review-metallica-kill-em-all\/\"><em>Kill \u2019Em All<\/em><\/a> didn\u2019t arrive until July 1983. \u201cLars (Ulrich, Metallica drummer) and I were friends before that,\u201d the CEO shares. \u201cHe went to a Michael Schenker Group show at a place called The Country Club in LA in December (22nd) of 1980. My friend John (Kornarens) \u2013 who was the only other guy in LA that even knew anything about the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal \u2013 saw him in the parking lot wearing a Saxon T-shirt. Nobody knew who Saxon was, so he went up to him and said \u2018Where did you get that shirt?\u2019 He said \u2018I just moved here from Denmark, and I\u2019m really into all this stuff.\u2019 The next day he ended up coming over to my house, and we just started hanging out because we both loved the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. He had some records that I didn\u2019t have and I had some stuff that he didn\u2019t have, so we just started hanging out. I guess he then jammed a couple of times with James (Hetfield, Metallica vocalist), but nothing really happened with it. When I was putting together the record, he called me up and said \u2018Hey, if I put a band together can I be on your compilation album?\u2019 I said \u2019Sure,\u2019 and that was the start of Metallica.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A second pressing of <em>Metal Massacre Vol. 1<\/em> featured a different version of \u2018Hit The Lights\u2019, that version including future <a href=\"\/site\/megadeth-articles\/\" target=\"_blank\">Megadeth<\/a> vocalist \/ guitarist Dave Mustaine on guitars instead of Lloyd Grant. \u201cI had no money when I started this,\u201d Brian admits. \u201cI had to borrow money to pick up a couple of thousand copies of the original record \u2013 with the first pressing. The original songs they had on there were basically recorded on a little cassette the night before, the final deadline for the record. I ended up licensing the record, and it was this whole big mess. There was a second pressing like you said, and at that point they had done the <em>No Life \u2019Til Leather<\/em> demo. They wanted the better version of that song on the record, so that\u2019s what we ended up doing on the later version.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over the years, the chairman has remained in touch with Metallica. \u201cI remain really good friends with all those guys,\u201d he confirms. \u201cLars and I are still really good friends. It\u2019s fun whenever we get together; a lot of times we revert back to being 17-year-old kids again, and we\u2019ll talk about music and stuff. So yeah, I\u2019ve been friends with him the whole time. It\u2019s been really amazing to see their whole career, and how big they\u2019ve gotten.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Metal Massacre Vol. 1<\/em>\u2019s second pressing omitted two numbers as well, including the Steeler tune \u2018Cold Day In Hell\u2019 which was later included on the outfit\u2019s 1983 self-titled debut (the second was Ratt\u2019s \u2018Tell The World\u2019, later featured on Ratt\u2019s August 1983 self-titled EP). \u201cI had no contracts when I did this,\u201d Brian confesses. \u201cI had no idea what I was doing (laughs). When it came time to do the second pressing, I actually had to have some sort of proper contracts. At that point they had put out a couple of their own singles and they were talking about putting out their own record, and so they didn\u2019t want to have it on the second pressing. I think they were saving it for their own record (<em>Steeler<\/em>), basically.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedleft\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/variousartists_metalmassacrevol1large.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>Metal Massacre Vol. 1<\/em>\u2019s release planted seeds, seeds which bore fruit and gave birth to Metal Blade Records. \u201cI had no money for the first compilation album, so I didn\u2019t really expect that this would become a record label or anything,\u201d the head honcho cautions. \u201cOne of the distributors though \u2013 Greenworld that was based in LA \u2013 came to me and said \u2018We know you don\u2019t have any money, but you kind of seem like you know what you\u2019re doing. We can offer you a pressing and distribution deal, so we would pay for all the pressing and manufacturing and issuing the product if you can bring us some bands.\u2019 I thought \u2018Why not? That sounds like fun.\u2019 I just spoke to some of the bands, and saw if they could record something that I could put out. Slowly but surely several of them said yes, and it started to be a real label kind of. Originally I was gonna call it Skull &#038; Crossbones Records, but somebody else had that name. I just tried to figure out something that would sound kind of heavy. I was a big fan of medieval stuff and I had a big sword collection, so I thought \u2018Blade&#8230; Metal Blade&#8230; Alright. Why not?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brian having contributed to various fanzines proved beneficial. \u201cIt certainly helped because I knew more people because of doing that, and also even just working at the record store,\u201d he notes. \u201cKnowing different labels and distributors and those things certainly helped a little bit, because again, we\u2019re talking about pre-computers, cellphones, and all those sorts of things. It was really just a network of penpals; even before that, I had penpals from all over the world that were metal fans that helped because they could mention things. For example, I knew somebody in Chicago and they mentioned this band called Trouble \u2013 they sent me their demo. Those sorts of things certainly helped.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Issued during December 1982, <em>Damnation Alley<\/em> by female-fronted LA metal outfit Bitch was Metal Blade\u2019s first proper outing. \u201cThey were good friends of mine,\u201d the mainman recalls. \u201cThe guitar player used to come into the record store that I worked at all the time, so we became really good friends. I would hang out with them all the time and really all the bands, like Steeler, Bitch. Every week we would go to the Steeler house or the Bitch house and all hang out. I was good friends with all of them, and Bitch had some stuff recorded so we started putting their things out as well. It was all just kind of the scene back then.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arriving in July 1983, <em>Metal Massacre, Vol. 3<\/em> included the <a href=\"\/site\/slayer-articles\/\" target=\"_blank\">Slayer<\/a> cut \u2018Aggressive Perfector\u2019. \u201cI had gone to see Bitch play at a club called Radio City in Anaheim, California, and one of the bands opening for them was Slayer,\u201d Brian informs. \u201cThey had probably about four or five originals, but they also did the best version of \u2018Phantom Of The Opera\u2019 by Iron Maiden (the original featuring on Maiden\u2019s April 1980 debut) I had ever seen until that point. They were pretty amazing. I went backstage after the show, talked to the band, and they had some 18-year-old kid manager. I said \u2018Hey, I do these <em>Metal Massacre<\/em> compilations. If you can give me a track, I\u2019d love to put a track on one.\u2019 They said \u2018Sure,\u2019 recorded the song, and it was put on the record.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This culminated in the Metal Blade release of two Slayer full-lengths (December 1983\u2019s <em>Show No Mercy<\/em> and September 1985\u2019s <em>Hell Awaits<\/em>), and a Slayer EP (August 1984\u2019s <em>Haunting The Chapel<\/em>). \u201cFrom thereon in, I started to see them a lot more because I thought the band was great,\u201d the founder recounts. \u201cThey started to write more original material, and then we started talking. I said \u2018Hey, if we could record a record somehow I can put it out,\u2019 so we started talking about making a record. I think it was Tom\u2019s dad and Kerry\u2019s dad who came up with some money. We got a really good deal on the studio, went in, and recorded the record. That started the whole thing from there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Metal Blade\u2019s early association with Slayer was arguably a great initial coup. \u201cI think all the stuff that we did in the early days was good, and Slayer&#8230;,\u201d Brian begins. \u201cEspecially Show No Mercy was the first record that we had which started to sell some decent numbers. So absolutely, it was a very important part of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedright\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/metallica1982promophoto1.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><strong><em>Metallica 1982 (l-r): Ron McGovney, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Dave <br \/>Mustaine<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>The appeal of compilations has been lost with the advent of the digital age, whereas during the 80s compilations like <em>Metal Massacre<\/em> and <em>Metal For Muthas<\/em> were more important in discovering new artists. \u201cWe talked about pre-internet, and back then the only way to really get turned onto bands was through these compilation albums,\u201d the CEO adds. \u201cIt made sense back then, and now with so many different labels, the internet, and easy access, there\u2019s so many different ways that bands can get exposure that compilation albums don\u2019t mean nearly as much as they used to. Back in the day though that was it; that was the only way you could really do it, and get exposure for bands. It was way more important back then than obviously it is now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Metal Blade\u2019s early model was a modest affair. \u201cThe first three years was just me by myself in my mom\u2019s garage, kind of doing everything on my own,\u201d Brian divulges. \u201cAfter about three years I was actually able to have an office, and hire employees for the first time (laughs). That was kind of a huge step. All I was doing was just trying to put out good heavy metal music, and support the scene. Luckily there was a lot of good stuff happening back then, and we were really lucky to work with a lot of really cool bands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Metal Blade\u2019s relationship with Greenworld distribution lasted roughly six years. \u201cStarting out in the beginning, I knew nothing,\u201d the chairman concedes. \u201cI was a 20-year-old kid that was just starting out, so I didn\u2019t know anything about the business. As time went on, we definitely had some problems with them. They ended up starting Enigma Records, and they ended up going bankrupt I think in late 1988. That wasn\u2019t much fun because they owed us a lot of money and there was this whole big legal thing, so it was definitely difficult. Back then they were a distributor, and they weren\u2019t necessarily into the music as much as we were. I know Cirith Ungol had a tough time with them, because they were doing records with them also.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following the conclusion of that relationship, Metal Blade began an association with Warner Brothers Records. \u201cWe had lost so many bands to major labels,\u201d Brian laments. \u201cAt that point, we were kind of like \u2018Well, maybe we should go through a major label so that we stop losing all these bands.\u2019 We were talking to Warner Brothers and Sony, but ended up going with Warner Brothers. Unfortunately that deal probably happened seven to eight months after Greenworld \/ Enigma went bankrupt, so it was very difficult in between that time having no money (laughs). We somehow survived though. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was really interesting being on a major label. When we first signed with them it was really awesome just being a part of the whole thing, but unfortunately as time went on it got bought by a huge company \u2013 <em>Time Inc.<\/em> who was a big magazine \u2013 and had problems with Body Count\u2019s \u2018Cop Killer\u2019 (from March 1992\u2019s <em>Body Count<\/em>), and all the censorship stuff. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter that, they had implemented something. They had a guy whose job was to look at all of the lyrics for all the records that they put out, and decide if they were okay for Time Warner. One of the first things we put out was a Gwar record (March 1994\u2019s <em>This Toilet Earth<\/em>), and they said \u2018No. You\u2019ve gotta take this song (\u2018Baby Dick Fuck\u2019) off, and you\u2019ve gotta change the lyrics to this song.\u2019 I was just freaked out because I was like \u2018I\u2019m not gonna tell any artist that they have to change their lyrics. It\u2019s not right.\u2019 I ended up having a meeting with them, and saying \u2018Look, if this is gonna be the case then I don\u2019t think I can be here anymore.\u2019 To their credit, they weren\u2019t happy with the whole situation either. They agreed, and we moved on. It kind of ended a bit rough, but it was awesome to work with some really famous music people. That was kind of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Music historians allege that metal died somewhat during the early 90s in the wake of grunge. \u201cI think mainstream metal kind of wasn\u2019t there, but the underground was still very, very successful and doing good,\u201d the head honcho stresses. \u201cIn the 90s we had Gwar and Cannibal Corpse and King Diamond, and a lot of really good artists that did very well. We also actually did a lot of marketing for the grunge stuff; we did marketing for Faith No More, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, a bunch of that stuff. I kind of like some of those things, and even though it wasn\u2019t metal it was certainly very heavy. On the other hand though, even though I guess the underground was still very healthy mainstream metal wasn\u2019t cool to talk about. We actually found it was pretty decent through the 90s, and we were able to get through it without too many problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Critiqued against the 90s, metal arguably experienced greater success during the noughties. \u201cThis new crop of bands and new scene came up,\u201d Brian argues. \u201cI think the 2000s were very, very good. The last three to four years have been three to four of the best years we\u2019ve ever had actually, so things continue to be good.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedleft\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/armoredsaintdaveprichardlivephoto1.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><strong><em>Dave Prichard (Armored Saint)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Of the full-lengths which form Metal Blade\u2019s back catalogue, the mainman finds it difficult to select an overall favourite. \u201cI don\u2019t have a favourite record because there\u2019s so many,\u201d he recognises. \u201cI could probably list about 150 of them maybe (laughs), but one special record for me was Armored Saint\u2019s <em>Symbol Of Salvation<\/em> album (May 1991). At the time they had left Chrysalis, and their guitar player Dave Prichard was a very good friend of mine who passed away from leukaemia. They had done all these great demo tapes that wouldn\u2019t have seen the light of day, because the band was thinking about maybe not going on. I went to them and said \u2018Look, we have to record these songs. They\u2019re so good that we can\u2019t let them go to waste.\u2019 The band reformed, and were able to get Dave Jerden who did Alice In Chains and Jane\u2019s Addiction, who was great. To be able to make that record, keep those songs alive, and keep Dave\u2019s memory alive was really important to me. Just the fact that it came out really well and did pretty well was important. That\u2019s one record that I look back on where I was really happy to be involved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And as well, Brian finds it difficult to select an overall favourite Metal Blade recording artist. \u201cThat\u2019s always tough to say,\u201d he acknowledges. \u201cI don\u2019t know. I\u2019m friends with so many of the bands, and I\u2019ve loved working with so many of them. We\u2019ve had a really long, long relationship with the Cannibal Corpse guys though. They\u2019re such great guys and so easy to work with. I\u2019ve always been huge fans of theirs, and they\u2019re all really good friends of mine and really nice to work with. Many of the other bands are like that too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To this day, the founder still attends concerts and listens to newly emerging artists. \u201cIt just has to be something that\u2019s kind of interesting,\u201d he concludes, queried regarding the criteria prospective groups have to meet in order to be offered a recording contract. \u201cThere\u2019s really no criteria in terms of what we look for. It\u2019s just whatever I hear that I like. When we\u2019re looking for new bands, we definitely try to look for something a little bit different than whatever\u2019s the most popular thing at the moment. We don\u2019t want to just sign a bunch of bands that sound like somebody else that\u2019s happening then, so we always try to do something a little bit different. We always wanna meet the band and make sure that they\u2019re good guys, and they\u2019re willing to go out and do some work. If you sign a band and put out a record, you wanna make sure that they\u2019ll go out and support it. That\u2019s kind of important, but other than that just something that you really like. There\u2019s really no specific criteria in terms of what we look for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On past occasions, Brian has felt certain bands exhibited too commercial a flavour to be offered a recording contract. \u201cThat happens sometimes for sure,\u201d he affirms. \u201cYou get stuff that might sound a little bit different than what we would definitely want to do, but long as it\u2019s a metal thing and it\u2019s what we like then we would do it. You never know though. Sometimes you sign stuff that people think is too commercial, but we still wanna work with it (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Taking a cursory glance at Metal Blade\u2019s recorded output, it\u2019s evident that the label have opted not to sign more commercial outfits in the Nickelback vein. \u201cThat\u2019s not my cup of tea,\u201d the CEO expounds. \u201cI\u2019m a tried and true metalhead. I\u2019ll always love the underground stuff, and the heavier things. The label\u2019s always been about the stuff that we like, and what I like. That\u2019s really the stuff that I love. I grew up in the 70s, and the music business in the 70s was always about having bands who had nice, long careers and trying to make them have big careers that were credible careers. I think we\u2019ve always tried to do that here too, so we\u2019d never wanna give up on something just because it wasn\u2019t in the mainstream or it wasn\u2019t hip or cool at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The advent of social media and the rise of the internet has greatly shaped how labels interact with music fanatics. \u201cWe\u2019ve been really positive about social media, and tried to use that as much as possible,\u201d Brian submits. \u201cI think it\u2019s awesome that we\u2019re able to have that sort of access to the fans, and the people out there. I love it. You can find me on Twitter at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/brianslagel\/\" target=\"_blank\">@brianslagel<\/a>. I\u2019m on there all the time (laughs). I think it\u2019s great. I think it\u2019s important for the bands and stuff too. I think all of that social media stuff has been really cool to be able to connect directly to people, and listen to what they have to say and their opinions. It\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedright\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/brianslagel2012promophoto2.jpg\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><strong><em>Brian Slagel<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><em>Pic: Stephanie Cabral<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just another tool that we have, just like anything else. To be able to market and promote stuff I think is really good, but I think you can have it in addition to working with all of the magazines and radio stations like we always have. It\u2019s always nice to have extra tools that you can use to get exposure for things. I think that definitely helps.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Physical album sales account for the majority of Metal Blade\u2019s sales figures. \u201cIn the US we\u2019re selling 80% physical and 20% digital, and physical sales are certainly higher in Europe,\u201d the chairman imparts. \u201cAcross all new releases, it\u2019s fairly physical oriented. Just with heavy metal in general, I think. Everybody is the same; we\u2019re all metal fans. Number one, we\u2019re insanely happy and thankful that all the metal fans support us. They definitely love the physical product, even the younger fans. We\u2019ve noticed that in their teens and in their early 20s, they still want to have a CD that they can hold in their hands. It\u2019s pretty amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cover artwork arguably provides one specific incentive to purchase a physical album, highlighted by the pieces illustrator Vincent Locke has designed for Cannibal Corpse. \u201cWe always try to put together the best package possible so that it entices people to buy it,\u201d Brian ventures. \u201cYou have to have good artwork, good packaging, and different things. That certainly does help a lot, absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The head honcho owns an iPod, however. \u201cI have probably five or six of them,\u201d he laughs. \u201cI\u2019m a collector too though, so I collect vinyl and CDs. I do that. I\u2019ve put all of my CD and vinyl collection into iTunes, so I have iPods that I can just take with me. It\u2019s really awesome on planes, and in the car and everything else. It\u2019s easier to have. If it\u2019s a new CD I\u2019ll usually go out and buy it, so I can add it to my ever growing, gigantic collection (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The rise of the digital age has inevitably coincided with the rise of illegally downloaded material. \u201cLook, it is what it is,\u201d Brian reasons. \u201cIt\u2019s there. I think to some degree, the cool thing about people having access to music is more people are listening to music than ever before, and they have access to it. In some ways it\u2019s made music better because you notice that if people do buy it, it has to be really good. You\u2019re able to listen to it ever before you\u2019re gonna buy it, and if it\u2019s not good you\u2019re not gonna buy it. That forces bands and labels to put out a good product, which I think is a good thing actually. Like I said, we\u2019ve been so blessed by the metal community who\u2019re supporting all of the artists. I think they realise they\u2019ve got to support it, and so they\u2019ve been supporting them and in turn us. It\u2019s been really great. I do like the fact that there is a lot of access to music, and more people than ever are listening to music. You have to take the positives as much as you can out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>News surfaced in September 2011 that Metal Blade was in the process of removing its catalogue from the music streaming service Spotify. \u201cWe didn\u2019t really take any off of there,\u201d the mainman corrects. \u201cA long time ago we had a licensing deal with the European side of things when Spotify first started, but it was only a limited thing so it ended up expiring. We didn\u2019t get the right deal from them. It\u2019s kind of similar to when iTunes first started; they dealt with all of the major labels first \u2013 got all of the major label deals done first \u2013 and then they came to the independents. I think that\u2019s kind of what\u2019s happening with Spotify. You\u2019ll eventually see more of our stuff up there, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Digital companies such as Spotify and YouTube reportedly offer meagre royalty payments. \u201cYeah, but I think it\u2019s changing,\u201d Brian hopes. \u201cFrom what I\u2019ve seen, I think that that\u2019s slowly changing. All of this digital world is all new, and now that movies are involved it\u2019s changing. It\u2019ll be interesting to see where things end up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Metal Blade Records is still a private venture, though the founder has been approached \u201cquite a bit over the years\u201d with the prospect of selling the company. \u201cI\u2019m definitely not in this for the love of the money,\u201d he states. \u201cI\u2019m in this for the love of the music, and having the freedom of an independent label; to be able to do whatever we want, whenever we want, and however we want. We don\u2019t have to go to some corporation or board of directors to get anything approved. That freedom really outweighs any money that anybody can ever give. We\u2019ve talked about it quite a bit over the years, but it just never made enough sense to us. You see what happened to Roadrunner and that\u2019s always a big risk, that those sorts of things can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Metal assortments would largely ink record contracts with Metal Blade during the 80s which lasted one to two albums, and subsequently sign to a major label. Nowadays though, metal assortments remain signed to Metal Blade for long-term durations. \u201cI think luckily the independents these days have a lot of power, so we can actually compete with the majors in terms of how many records we sell and the types of deals we can do,\u201d Brian observes. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot different now than it was back then. Absolutely we\u2019re able to keep these bands for much longer now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The CEO has yet to make plans for an eventual successor at Metal Blade. \u201cIsn\u2019t 50 the new 40, and 60 the new 50?,\u201d he questions, chuckling. \u201cI honestly haven\u2019t thought about that at all. I\u2019m still having a good time doing this and having fun, and I can\u2019t see me giving this up anytime soon. I\u2019m sure eventually it may happen, but I think in the short term at least \u2013 for the next five to ten years \u2013 I don\u2019t think a whole lot is gonna change here. In ten years maybe I\u2019ll have a different perspective, but we\u2019ll see. I think if anybody was to take over, they\u2019d have to have that passion. We have a lot of really great employees here too, so I\u2019m sure if ever I decide to go away it\u2019ll still be good. I don\u2019t see that happening any time soon though.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Metal Massacre<\/em> was released on June 14th, 1982.<\/p>\n<p><em>Interview published in June 2012.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>METAL BLADE &#8211; 1982-2012 (30 Years Of Metal) Anthony Morgan June 2012 Brian Slagel Pic: Stephanie Cabral Born February 14th, 1961, Metal Blade Records founder Brian Slagel grew up in Woodland Hills, California listening to 70s hard rock mainstays like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Kiss, AC\/DC, UFO, and many others. Brian wrote for various heavy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,383],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-metal-blade-records"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7170"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7197,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7170\/revisions\/7197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}