Privileged To Fail Records

PFT Records has been going for years now and has released a slew of quality underground music in the form of cassette tapes, CDs, CD-Rs and good old vinyl. The label/distro is run by one man, who goes under the obvious pseudonym, 'Shane Ryan'... 

What made you want to set up PTF?

The idea first happened at one of the many local gigs (same bands, same people, different night) I attended when I was at University in Manchester. One of the bands playing that night was Archer. There is bubble over Manchester that many bands inside it never try to break out of, happy to play in bars with barely functional toilets and carpets that were beyond sticky. It felt like the right time to try and give these bands a little more exposure and Archer were the guinea pigs, as it were.

Friends at the time would often talk about self-financed splits or doing low runs of 7”s with DIY covers by these were always pipe dreams that’d never come to fruition. Others being indecisive and lazy grates on me, so I made things happen on my own.

Were any other labels a direct influence on the process?

Originally, no. Setting up the label was something that had to be learnt on the go. It’s still surprising that the first release ever saw the light of day. There were plenty of delays, from bands, financially and getting the artwork correct for printing.

Digging PTF back out of its grave was inspired by another label – At War with False Noise. While playing in They Are Cowards we stayed at the owner's apartment following a gig in Glasgow with Black Sun. Talking about the releases he’d done and the amount of effort, love and money he spills into it definitely inspired me. It wasn’t long after that work began on the most sophisticated release to date, the Fabio Orsi triple CD set.

How close to your initial vision has the label turned out?

Very close. The aim, or mission statement if you will, has always been the same: release independent music and try to break even. The first part has been a success. The second… not so good. 

Is the reality of running a label close to what you predicted?

The reality is much more miserable and downbeat than anyone involved in the industry would like. I’ve lost a lot of money running PTF and it’s disheartening to have boxes of CDs taking up space and no orders coming in. Genres don’t interest me and with the earlier releases I tried to steer clear of the typical (and boring) artwork and logos you see sprawled all over Myspace Deathmetal band pages. The reality is that releasing something that sounds and looks like everything else sells better. There is nothing ‘individualist’ about these underground genres or groups and that’s worrying. This probably explains my lack of interest in heavier music at the moment; not a lot of worth going on. 

What is the label's ethos?

Release good music that might otherwise never get a wider audience. Being in bands and getting release offers (where you don’t end up paying loads yourself anyway) is an amazing feeling and giving that to other artists is a gift I can afford to give (for now).
I also don’t want to overcharge. People lapping up £30 cassette releases are idiots, the music you buy doesn’t define you, and it causes issues with pricing releases. A UK label once put its records on eBay and monitored them. There was another seller with one of the same records. Both were new but the other seller was charging much more for it. Unsurprisingly, the copy that was more expensive sold and the correctly priced copy (being sold by the label directly) remained unsold. There is something very wrong at the moment, it goes deeper than this but I can’t identify exactly what it is. 

What's been your proudest moment at the label thus far?

Without any doubts that’d be the Fabio Orsi release. The most ambitious release of PTF’s history and the most expensive, it’s one of the very few to eventually break even. I was able to do this with no paid for advertising, minimum review copies and a very reasonable product price. This is how I wanted every release to work. 

 What inspired you to release them, and what is the appeal of cassette releases?

They're cheap to produce in very small units and they’re currently in demand (i.e. ‘cool’). There’s no other reason for them. They sound worse than CD and vinyl, and the artwork is smaller. Again, they’ve sold better than some of my bigger CD releases. It started up about two years ago with some American bands and labels doing low run tapes for around $10 each. It quickly escalated and people were buying cheap cassette decks again.

A laserdisc collector friend of mine recently told me that a seller he’d been speaking to was doing better selling VHS than anything else. Some sort of analogue, retro revival going on at the moment. The trouble is, this post-modern society can shift culturally overnight (well, it appears too). Trends and ‘cool’ products constantly change and it’s becoming harder and harder to keep it with what’s going on. Look at the cassette and black metal scene – it suddenly exploded overnight and yet no one can remember when or why. The next trend could already be underway and you wouldn’t even realise it until you found yourself buying it and thinking ‘wait, when did this become widespread?’. 

Why have you opted for each release to be limited?

The usual answer would be that they can be sold for more than they’re worth. With PTF releases this isn’t the case. All releases are limited to what can realistically be sold. I don’t want boxes of unsold items cluttering up my apartment. In keeping with my original aim, the releases are limited but most often ‘pro’ releases. Finding a pressing plant that can do runs of a 100 has helped a lot.

Where did the PFT name come from?

Miss-hearing lyrics from a Circle Takes the Square song was the inspiration. I toyed with the line and then came up with the label name: Privileged to Fail. It makes senses as the label title too, as I am privileged enough to be able to invest in running a label. By that I don’t mean well off, but that I had the opportunity to use my final terms student loan to release the first record. In other words, I made the opportunities possible, and even if it all fails at least I had the chance to do it.

Has being in bands affected the way you run PFT? 

Yes, without a doubt. I’m very straight about what cut the artist will get and what to expect packaging wise. I make no false promises and do my best to get things released on time. There are delays, as I run this as a hobby, and I’ll always keep everyone involved in the loop. A 20% cut of the press is often what’s agreed.


How did the excellent Fabio Orsi release come about and can you give a brief description of the process from conception to release?

It was a long time in the making. I randomly picked up a CDr release in an order from Mimaroglu Music Sales once and fell in love with it. I collected a few of his releases and then emailed him asking if he’d be interested in doing a collection release. Over the course of a year, and plenty of emails, the project grew into a three CD digipak; two CDs of old material and a brand new record.

What would be your fantasy release of bands both active and gone?

Having involvement in the European release of the last Dystopia LP, releasing a Tim Hecker record or re-releasing all the Catasexual Urge Motivation material on a double LP set. Any of those three would be the pinnacle of the label.

What are you reading/listening to/watching/playing at the moment?

 I’m currently reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. It’s a very good book dealing with an overall feeling of loss and the absurd moments of human life with a very surreal way. He’s one of my favourite authors. The short stories he occasionally writes are free of any clear meaning, following a few characters in a very dream-like way that never even remotely becomes pretentious.

I've just finished Duke Nukem Forever and am glad to have finally played it, no matter how broken or disjointed it is at times. The negative media hype has been interesting to watch too.

I've also recently watched a bunch of films including A Town Called Panic, Chaser, Sparrow, and Departures, all great films in their own unique way.

What are some of your plans for the rest of 2011?

Well, things have recently taken a turn for the worse. The distributor that I had a good relationship with recently went into liquiditation. This meant I lost money and now have no way of getting releases out to a wider audience, or at least it’ll be much more difficult to do it. The next release is by a UK dark-ambience project called Generic that has been in hiatus for a while. It’s a dark, claustrophobic record that really benefits from lights off and headphones on. Whether I’ll continue to run the label will solely depend on how well this record does upon its release. We’ll see.

Big thanks to Shane, and I hope the label is able to continue in the future. Check out PFT and follow Shane on Twitter:

http://ptfrecords.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=PTF_Records

Paul Priest: Man of multitude.

Paul has been a massive inspiration to me over the years with his writing, music and outstanding work ethic. As well as playing in a number of quality bands over the years, he founded the sorely missed Raw Nerve Promotions website and has worked on many other projects...

What happened with Reth, and how did you come to be in Diascorium?

For the last six to nine months of Reth, everyone had other concerns really. It got so difficult to even get us all in a practice room all at the same time, I think we managed it a couple of times, and had a handful of gigs. It was a massive shame really, no fallings out particularly, only at the frustration of things not happening, we had loads of songs written and were gearing up for the next album, but just never made it. We had 'the chat' and decided it was for the best to play the last gig we had booked and call it a day (a fantastic all dayer in Bradford where we headlined, and had 2 guest vocalists on the final song 'Decathexis', it got messy!). There's talk of a million pound Re(th)union Tour on Twitter don't you know.

Video for 'Shibboleths' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx80eEkBigk

As far as the setting up of Diascorium, as Reth was folding, I asked around for any guitarists up for doing another band, as, well, it's in my blood, after playing in bands for more than half my life already (started at 16, now 34). Bond, the guitarist of Morkret got in touch first, and we started jamming and writing and putting together riffs we had laying about into coherent songs. We soon had a good collection and thought about filling up the rest of the band. An original intention with the band, under that name was for it to be a big 7 or 8 piece entity, I first thought up the name quite a few years ago, but it never came to fruition, but once Gaz (drums, also in A Forest Of Stars) and Bernard (vocals, also in Revokation) returned interest in the band once hearing about it, and once we started jamming, it just seemed natural to keep it as a 4 piece. Something worked pretty well right at the start, as within just under 3 months of starting jamming we'd recorded the first EP, had a small feature in Terrorizer and got our first set ready for the first gig supporting Desecration.
http://www.diascorium.webs.com

How is Diascorium going at the moment?

Very well thank you. The 5 way SPLIT ROAST cd has just come out on Condate Records, and has been getting some fantastic reviews around the place. Playing a decent amount of gigs with a few more goodies lined up. The free first EP is approaching 55,000 downloads (that we know about) worldwide, and we're still having tons of fun playing ludicrous songs. We're writing for the full length album, hopefully done around the start of next year realistically. Got a few epics finished and a few more in various states of existence.
We've had a great time of it in our first year and a little bit. Some cracking support slots to Man Must Die (twice), Prostitute Disfigurement, Magrudergrind, Wodensthrone, Winterfylleth, The Ocean, Keelhaul, Knut and many more, and played alongside some of the best bands in the UK to boot. We got on Damnation Festival and have played some other awesome all dayers, as well as general nonsense wittering at people, getting various zine and mag coverage, and having a good laugh generally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ2aVjvQDJk
Link for video of 'Triptych', in our rehearsal room, a song that will be on the upcoming album.


How would you sum up your experience of running Raw Nerve?

Raw Nerve, in its many guises, lasted for about 12 years, and, whilst there were many ups and downs, stresses and strains, frustrations and such, it was an immense time. Even though all trace of the site, club night and gig bookings have all but gone, there is still chatter about it going on on the interweb, and many groups of friends were made through it, its community and the gatherings that ensued. Whilst it's a shame that it's gone, and one of those things that could have been so much more, there are plenty of proud times to take from it, involvement in some HUGE gigs (and in total around 300 gigs either put on or co-promoted), some cracking and messy club nights (a rough guess of around 200 nights), putting on a couple of tours, a double page feature in Kerrang! of all places, and seeing things on the site grow from an idea on scraps of paper to a site with thousands of reviews and forum members, plenty of interviews, profiles, and in total, over the years, approximately 5 million hits.

Over the years you’ve played in bands, promoted gigs, written music journalism and run websites – can you pinpoint what drives you to do all this?

Insanity most probably. I guess a tiny bit of background can go in here, just so some folks aren't sat there reading this over their tea and toast wondering who the hell I am... Previous bands (gigging / recording bands anyway) are Canvas, Tangaroa, Narcosis, Reth and now in Diascorium, also done quite a few projects on my own, mainly Incandescence and Cerebral Constriction, and am also playing in a weird doom / noise project called Sloth Hammer. I ran Raw Nerve Promotions, and also put on a load of gigs and clubs under the Lovely Time Promotions, Devastator and Arise Metal Nights names. All the promotion outlets are RIPped now with no plans to resurrect. I also did a music blog called The Knowledge Of Sound which is unfortunately laid to rest as well. I contributed reviews and articles to the first dozen or so issues of the awesome Zero Tolerance magazine too.

I could be all romantic about it and say 'Metal saved my life when I was a kid, so I feel I owe it that in return', I don't consciously think that way about it, I just like to stay pro-active and productive. It keeps me relatively sane. Being so involved has let me always hear all the latest sounds, no matter how obscure the origin or style.

I find your dedication to music very inspirational – where do you get the energy and drive from?

Insanity Level Two! I want to get to the end of my life and feel like I've been involved in something good, somewhere along the way. I'm not going to be happy with having just been there, I want to have done it, designed the t-shirt, and told thousands of people about it. I still don't feel like I've done as much as I COULD have done, but life has its restrictions and impossibilities here and there as well, I do have a few 'what if' moments, but I have to learn not to dwell on them really. Easier said than done I guess.

Do you know what, I can dress it all up in any various fashion or superlatives, but when it comes down to it, it's as simple as this. I absolutely fucking love music. It's immense. So many amazing styles, incredible musicians, great people involved. Some of it comes from being frustrated at various times when something that should have been done to aide the scene wasn't done, so I just thought 'Sod it, I'll do it'.

Promoting bands and gigs and clubs, or running a website, doing a few reviews, all that stuff, it isn't really THAT difficult, so long as you have the right frame of mind about it, and a passion for what you are doing. You don't need to have that much technical ability, you just need to be able to take pointers from a few folk when you need it, realise what you want to achieve, be realistic, and then crack on, using all the awesome outlets there are. It only takes a bit of nouse and some get up and go, and anyone can do wonders to promote their local scene, to push their friend's band, to be pro-active.

I've got to be honest, I'm seeing it more and more again, even just in the last six months, where people who aren't in bands (or not in the bands playing specific gigs), just who like going to gigs, are re-posting event pages, or bands music pages as their Facebook statuses, or texting friends to build up excitement about gigs or releases or bands, and it's encouraging to see. One of the reasons I got out of putting on gigs and being more hands on, was the lack of support for great things happening. People got really blasé and apathetic about things going on in their local area. Because of it, a lot of promoters stopped, a lot of venues closed, a lot of damage was done, especially in Leeds, but I saw effects of it all over the country.

There is something of a rebuilding going on I feel, and, I'll be honest, I don't have AS MUCH energy and drive as I did, say, ten years ago, but I still like to get involved with word spreading wherever I can on a more relaxed basis, and it's great to see that there are other people coming through that have that youthful energy required to make the difference.
That said, I have something of a new project on the boil, not so much dedicated to music particularly, but that's one of the strings to the bow of it. This is pretty much the mother of all 'projects' really for me, the biggest undertaking in my life, putting together everything I've learnt from all aspects of promotion, music, and my day job (which is in newspaper advertising, and has been for 10 years).

Can you tell me about your blog, Cathartic Purging of The Self?

NO! NEVER! Okay. It's something I wanted to do for a long time. It's more of an editorial type setting really. I'll happily admit it, it's inspired by the rantings of people like George Carlin, Bill Hicks, the column of Danny Wallace in Shortlist, the mighty genius of Charlie Brooker, and is just me having a rant, having a clearout of all the nonsense cluttering up my brain, and something that will hopefully help me get my life in some kind of order. To be honest, after getting off to a good start with it, and having some good feedback as well, I've let it slip, but have re-started posting on it, and am looking for it to be one of the few projects I have in the stripped down version of my life.

I was doing a music blog for a little while as well, but that requires a lot more time than I have available to me, and, as much as I would love to be able to get back into doing reviews en mass how I have in the past, I know that if I start again, it'll take over my life, at one point I was getting 40-50 CDs a week, and keeping on top of it, but then it got a little more and Raw Nerve was going through a bit of a change about, and I never got back into the routine of doing the write ups.

The 'Cathartic' blog is something that I can do as and when required, I'm not tied to a daily column, or have to do x amount of posts or comments per month to keep on top of it, and, if it just becomes me rambling incoherently at 3 in the morning when I'm in the grips of another crippling bout of insomnia then so be it. It will hopefully be something that help keeps my mind focused and active, helps me continue the learning spree that I seem to be on, and be something that keeps me vaguely holding hands with sanity.

http://www.catharticpurgingofself.blogspot.co.uk/


Do you set yourself goals or just let things happen organically?

Well, in hindsight, looking back over my life, I really SHOULD have been setting goals, and sticking to them, but I haven't. The blog though was originally intended as something to help me purge and finalise and put to rest everything that needed to dissolve out of my brain, drop any projects that were left unfinished, in bits, almost complete but not quite etc., and then that became one of those things that suffered in the same way, but, I am currently on a productive spree once again, trying to get things all in order, fixed, and then, with the incoming force of the huge project on the cards, I can be fresh and ready to tackle it fully.

In the past though, yes, as you say, things have happened organically, or, being more precise, 'haphazardly'. Ideas fall into my brain, either from out of nowhere, or as a process of evolution from other projects or situations around me, and I grab them and see what happens from there. Sometimes it's worked and spiralled into awesome things, sometimes it's failed and left me wanting to give up everything and bury my head in the sand a million miles from everything, but, at least I'm having a go I suppose. That's just how things go I suppose. I definitely should have been more 'plan' orientated though for some things I think, but hindsight is both a killer and a teacher. It's whether you then choose to listen to the lessons, and way more importantly is if you are able to remember the lessons at the times you need to.

Thanks to Paul for the interview and all his hard work over the years.

Evisorax: Deathgrind destroyers return from hiatus

Evisorax are on the brink of bouncing back from some downtime after their critically acclaimed EP, Enclave and a lineup shift. I caught up with founding member and guitarist, Dan Lynch, about overcoming label trouble, their new album and the band's future plans. 

What changes has the band undergone since Enclave was released back in 2008?

Massive changes, it’s much faster, nastier and violent than it was previously. Both you and Keith jumped ship after various internal friction. I think you found Jesus or something (It was Eckhart Tolle – ed) and Keith wanted to do hair modelling or something like that. Things have been incredibly strenuous for the last 18 months, having to find new members, rehearse, jam and write the new material. There were some really depressing parts where it came close to hang up the axe and calling it a day but I manned the fuck up. In place of Keith I now have Simon Brotherton formerly of the late Narcosis and currently also in The Ergon Carousel and in your place we’ve got Christopher Grenfell who was in Carmen and currently vocalist of The Ergon Carousel.

Can you give a brief summary of what happened with Anticulture Records?

Brief summary? Erm, signed, elated and thought the world was the proverbial oyster, tour, smash, grind and intoxicants. Shortly leading to communication silence between us and them, resulting in no progression - end. It's the past, which is where it will stay.

Did you consider giving up or starting a new band from scratch?

As mentioned previously, I seriously considered giving up at several points, the fact being is that Evisorax is not my first try at music and after so many years of being kicked in the teeth you kinda become down trodden and disheartened. But after a few whiskeys and cigarettes you realise that you don’t become more down trodden but more of the under dog and rabid beast that you convey throughout your musical direction.

Narcosis were a major influence on your playing style, what's it been like incorporating some of its members into Evis?

Shit fucking scary dude, seriously. I would always attempt to incorporate Narcosis’ ethics into my writing. So to be working with the drummer of that band at first was like 'fuck I hope he likes this' and on the flipside 'shit I hope he doesn’t think that I’ve ripped a Narc riff here. But Brod is all about the music, a demon behind the kit and a solid dude who I couldn’t ask anymore from and if anything has only helped push Evisorax to the next level and beyond.

Has your approach to songwriting changed much over the years?

I wouldn't say that it has changed but it has developed in the sense that the goal has always been to play as fast as inhumanly possible. However these days I can push it further than I used to and my mind has developed more in aspects where I can fully body out songs and structures I hear in my head and obviously my playing has improved so the concept of playing crust/grind of an old school era thrown in with modern sounds and technical blasts such as sweeps have become easier to plan and write.

Can you explain how you went about writing the album?

I would get drunk, think how much I despised you and Keith for leaving me and shred it out on the guitar! Basically I hear the sounds in my head, and I try to find where those sounds are located in on the fret board. No theory, just practical. Then throw in elements of musical composition at the time I’m not capable of and make myself capable, add a hell of a lot of venom and violence with incredible drumming and disgusting vocals and that’s the formula.

What are some of the things you wanted to musically achieve on the album?

To do some vocals - definitely. For years with you I would always scream whilst onstage without a mic and you always encouraged me so whilst in the studio I wanted to test it out. I'll await the answer. Other than that the goal was simple, to create a complete and utter mind fuck of rabid album! I obviously wanted to step it up a notch, i.e. sweeps and speed as well as the drums and have louder vocals this time in the mix!

What was the recording process like?

Incredible mate, a young chap called Gavin Collett did it. Best guy I have worked with, hands down - totally switched on, knew his shit and we would work from 10 am to 5/6 am at times. You couldn’t ask more from him. Dobber Beverly of Insect Warfare also helped set up and had some input on the first day also, great guy.

How will the album compare to Enclave?

I don’t think it will as it's more of a progression. I believe the last two tracks of Enclave were the prequel to this however I believe the new tracks surpass both of them. As yet there is no title, working titles have been, P.W and K.M, Rest In Pieces.......jokes.

Who are some of the bands you're currently listening to?

Assuck, Siege, Pig destroyer, Napalm death, Kill the client, Wormrot, Circle of dead children, Agorophobic nosebleed, Insect warfare, Brutal truth, The Ergon Carousel, Magrudergrind, Lock up, The Atrocity Exhibit, Discordance axis, Maruta, See You Next Tuesday, Diskreet, Army of Flying Robots, Johnny Truant, Raging Speedhorn, Iron Monkey, The Red Chord, Converge, Noisear.

You're a big fan of sweeps and have always sought to incorporate them into your music, can you go into detail about why you're such a fan of them?

Because sweeps bring a cleanliness, a sterile wipe of the dirge perhaps before the open wound pulsates and gushes blood out again! Plus, it’s a way to show control over the craft, to play stupidly fast parts and then execute a clean sweep thrown in randomly before launching back into it shows discipline and control as well as contracts within the composition.
I’m not a fan of sweeps for the sake of them, nor over kill, more when they’re thrown in for a millisecond or a couple of seconds to throw you off balance. Plus they sound shit hot and I never used to be able to do them properly so it became an obsession haha.


You're one of the fastest axemen I've seen, how do you achieve such speeds?

Haha, dude I seriously doubt I’m anywhere near the fastest axemen but I appreciate the comment all the same. And as for how I get up to and maintain speed...... I never grew out my adolescent years... you know what I'm saying?

You're touring with Wormrot, this is a great combination of bands - what are some of your goals for the tour?

To shred the stage, get smashed and be a dick! I really want to show the audience that the wait was worth it for our return, there’s not a month goes by where I still receive gig offers, merchandise orders or someone checking in on our progress so really I want to give everything back. Really prove why Evisorax are a force to be noted!

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

To continue writing, making everything tight as possible, destroy the UK with Wormrot and see what happens if the world hasn’t exploded by that point.

http://www.myspace.com/evisorax

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Evisorax/208518175353

LON stories: Recording Enclave

I used to sing in Evisorax, here’s the story of when we recorded the Enclave EP back in 2008…

When we arrived at the studio, it was nothing like it had been described to me. Nothing at all. Dan, Evisorax's guitarist, had told me to expect a quality studio with plenty of room, beds and even a PlayStation. In reality, it was a couple of grotty rooms stuck on the end of a farm, a few miles past the middle of nowhere - in Swindon. There was also a smashed up car outside. This was the fabled Studio 6, run by the respected producer Stu McKay. The four hour journey in the back of the transit van wasn’t too bad, but I did have to hold a piss in for an entire hour at one point. As our breath showed up in the cold air, Stu gave us a warm welcome, helped us load in and then left us there, and not one fuck was given. At this point we should've mentioned that we were ill-prepared for a night in this place as we didn't have sleeping bags or water (just beer and weed), but we were somewhat stunned by our new surroundings, and were idiots. I remember Dan comically looking at me and just saying: 'I brought a towel!'

However, we were there to record a death-grind EP, so king-sized beds and silk bog-roll would have to wait. At one point that night, as we surveyed the large recording room, we found a full cool-box and assumed Stu had left it for us, but it just contained a green, foam-like spore-emitting substance that we later ascertained was once bread. We drank a few cans and had a smoke whilst Dan entertained us with his quick-wit and revolting quips: ‘I need to go to a strip club so I can spaff my tears away.’ After enduring Keith (Evisorax’s then drummer) practice blasts about three feet away from my head for two hours, I wrapped myself in an ancient rug and tried to sleep. Despite being 6'7, Dan is terrified of spiders, so once the lights were out I took great pleasure in telling him how many would crawl over his face during the night.  

The next day, we set up and began recording. Keith’s drums were laid down for most of this time. Stu was also a drummer and he insisted Keith use the in-house kit rather than his own, which we had rented the van to transport. Stu arrived later than promised and also took a really long lunch break. We should have asked him to be more punctual but we didn't want to create any bad-blood, as he was responsible for how good, or bad, the EP would eventually sound and we had high hopes for it. We also didn't have a car and were four hours' drive from home. That evening, we went into Swindon to watch The Red Chord play and they absolutely killed it, totally sonically levelled the venue – it was an inspiration.  At the show, Stu said he'd sort us some sleeping bags but did he? Did he shit-bollocks. We made it back to the farm on public transport, a hike through the perilous roadside long-grass and then up the pitch-black dirt-track back to the cold confines of the studio. Consumption of booze and the filming of piss-head behaviour followed. 

Dan's mother, Terry, arrived the next morning bearing a virtual banquet of bacon rolls and other snacks that raised our floundering spirits and cholesterols immediately. We hadn't eaten properly since we'd arrived and I can still clearly remember the taste of that most required of breakfasts. Stu ate Dan's bacon roll but Dan unintentionally got him back by showing him footage from the night before, where he made fun of him on camera. I remember Dan sitting him down with the camera and getting a bad feeling but I couldn't quite remember what had happened. When the offending phrase was uttered (something like 'he's a jibber’) the whole vibe dropped to a legitimate low. We should have addressed the situation then and there but we didn't and had to bask in the ensuing discomfort like a man wearing a polo-neck crammed full of peanut butter and insects. 

Needless to say, Stu approached the rest of the recording with a worsened attitude and the day progressed slowly. The studio only had outdoor toilets but there were often various rough-looking gypsy types hanging around with gargantuan canines in tow, which looked like they would’ve killed and fucked me, in that order. I should have just pissed in the corner. Dan laid his guitar tracks down and Stu spent a lot of time digitally perfecting the tracks, something I wasn't happy with but they did sound extremely heavy. That evening, Dan's mum took pity on us and let us stay at her house which was about twenty miles away. The first thing she said when we got in the car was: 'you lads stink!'

That night was great. We all showered, were given a massive burger and chips meal and spent the night getting drunk on countless bottles of wine with Terry whilst shooting pool. Watching Dan and his mum interact was hilarious, she kept insisting Keith was in the closet and I don't know which one of them said the most disgustingly funny things. A highlight was them discussing his cock over dinner. After a rejuvenating night's sleep, we headed back to the Studio whilst listening to Doug Stanhope (who allowed us to sample him on the EP!) for the final day of recording. 

I had to record my vocals and, by now, my throat had become sufficiently gruff due to all the beer and smoking I'd indulged in. I did some warm up screams whilst Stu filmed me without my knowledge or consent. Stu had promised to work with us for three full days but he only worked for about six hours a day, even before we dented his ego. By around five on Sunday, we'd recorded everything but there was still the mastering left to finish. Stu had arranged for another band to come in and practice that evening so we had to leave before we were done. Dan's dad, Bernard, arrived to take us back up North and we had to settle the payment, which Stu basically made up on the spot, he even charged us for sleeping in the studio! It's at this point we really should have protested, but we still only had a rough copy of the EP, and with mastering still to come – he held all the cards.  

Dan had a wonderful argument with his dad about paying for the van's petrol which resulted in him shouting 'why don't you just fuck me with a strap-on?!' this was side-splitting, until I found out I was the only one who was going back in the van with Bernard. As I got in the van, Bernard, an intimidating, no-nonsense type, asked me which route to take, I said I didn't know and he gave me a look that still haunts me. Dan’s comment about strap-on fucking certainly hadn’t helped the eight hour round trip he was currently enduring. We sat in complete silence for the next two hours before he put on some Bob Dylan and we began talking. When I finally arrived home, some four hours later, I took out the rough EP to listen to, looking forward to finally hearing the results of the experience. The fucking case was empty.  

We ended up getting signed off the EP, Enclave, first to Thirty Days of Night and then to Anticulture, but that's another shit-storm entirely...

Limbic Riot - Grey Beach Video

Some sludge from the beautiful year of 2007:

Load of Noise arise!

Load of Noise was originally a B&W fanzine written and published in Manchester, UK. The genres it covered were mainly Sludge, Doom, Metal, Post-Rock and Grind. The zine started in 2004 and ran for seven issues until 2009. I  was honoured to be able to use cover designs by artists who'd contributed to the underground heavy music scene such as Tom Denney, Eric C. Harrison and Scott Stearns. I put on four shows to promote LON and I also occasionally worked with the awesome Future Noise Promotions. If you ever bought a zine, contributed, attended one of the gigs or helped in any way then you will always have my gratitude, it was a cool time...

It's now 2011 and I've decided to resurrect LON as a music blog. So, here goes nothing...