Earache Records

Earache Records
Founded 1985
Founder Digby Pearson
Distributor(s) ADA
Genre Rock, extreme metal, punk rock, experimental
Country of origin United Kingdom
Location Nottingham, England
Official website www.earache.com

Earache Records is an independent record label, music publisher and management company based in Nottingham, England with offices in London and New York. It helped to pioneer extreme metal by releasing early grindcore and death metal records between 1988 and 1994. The label roster has since diversified into more mainstream guitar music, working with bands such as Rival Sons, The Temperance Movement, Blackberry Smoke and The White Buffalo. The company also hosted the 'Earache Express' stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2017 and will be hosting 'The Earache Factory' at Boomtown Fair 2018.

The logo of Earache Records was designed by Jeffrey Walker, vocalist of the UK band Carcass, as a homage to Thrasher Magazine.

History

Earache was founded in 1985 by Digby Pearson who prior to launching the label proper had compiled 'Anglican Scrape Attic', a proto-compilation of early hardcore punk and crossover thrash acts which included Hirax, Lipcream and Concrete Sox. Accordingly, the first official Earache release on vinyl in 1987 with catalogue number MOSH 1, was The Accüsed's The Return of Martha Splatterhead. This was followed by a split LP by the crust/crossover band Concrete Sox and the proto-grind band Heresy. The label's first major release of note was MOSH 3, Napalm Death's Scum. Famously, John Peel was a champion of the band and supported them on BBC Radio 1. The record went on to reach number 7 in the UK indie chart.[1]:143–146 The label later made its name signing acts from the emerging grindcore and death metal scenes such as Morbid Angel, Carcass, Entombed and Terrorizer.[1]:148–186

In the early 1990s Columbia Records, seeking to break into metal, inked a deal with Earache. Columbia would license rights and market and distribute them in The Americas, with rights reverting to Earache upon completion of the deal term. It is widely accepted that Columbia failed to deliver the expected sales that they themselves had projected and thus they sought to prematurely terminate the agreement.[1]:219–236 Barney Greenway of Napalm Death objected to the deal with Columbia (a subsidiary of Sony Music) on the basis that it was "selling out". The rights to all licensed titles has since reverted to Earache meanwhile Napalm Death have themselves released five albums for Century Media, another Sony Music subsidiary.

During the 90's Earache signed experimental artists such as Ultraviolence (band) who produced heavy techno music and also pioneering dance artists such as Lenny D.

Since the Columbia deal, Earache has remained wholly independent, working with distributors as opposed to licensees.

In 2010 Earache signed Singaporean grindcore band Wormrot, releasing the band's debut album and two further albums.[2]

Although intrinsically linked with death metal, the labels catalogue is varied and also includes Welsh ragga-metal act Dub War (later known as Skindred), Birmingham's industrial metal pioneers Godflesh, Nottingham's Pitchshifter, hardcore techno outfit Ultraviolence, Mick Harris' industrial/experimental Scorn and releases by Deicide. Earache signed musically adventurous groups such as Ewigkeit, as well as blues rock bands such as Rival Sons, Blackberry Smoke and The Temperance Movement.

The label has number of subsidiary labels, including Wicked World Records, Elitist Records, Sub Bass Records and the short-lived Necrosis Records which was run by Jeff Walker, released the first albums by Repulsion and Bill Steer of Carcass.

Modern era

As with many labels, Earache has transitioned over time from its initial "extreme" output and now focusses primarily on modern, accomplished guitar projects. Rival Sons are the most notable of the modern crop of artists however as of April 2018 they have signed to Atlantic Records signalling the end of their Earache term. In their home territory of the United Kingdom London based The Temperance Movement are one of the larger acts and will play the mainstage at Download Festival 2018. Newer signings include Nottingham's Haggard Cat and Lancaster's Massive Wagons.

Infamously within the music business, Earache signed the first independent label direct deal with iTunes shortly after the service launched.

Earache currently holds two Guinness World Records. The first is that of the World's Shortest Song, currently held by Napalm Death with "You Suffer" at 1.316 seconds long. The second record is the world's shortest full music video, a record held by Brutal Truth with their track "Collateral Damage".

In 2015 Digby Pearson received the Association of Independent Music Pioneer award.[3]

In 2018 tech sitcom Silicon Valley featured "You Suffer" repeatedly in one episode. In response the label created a twitter bot (@NapalmDeathBot) which sends an hourly tweet with the price of Bitcoin. They also inserted "You suffer" into the blockchain, a first for a label.[4]

In August 2018 Earache signed trap/rap artist ALIREZA301. Alireza is a metal influenced rapper from Maryland who performs a style of trap/rap which in parts heavily incorporates guitars.[5]

Earache Live

In 2017 Earache were invited to host the first ever stage for heavy music at Glastonbury Festival. 'The Earache Express' was a recycled London underground tube carriage located in the 'Shangri La' area of the site. The stage featured performances from Napalm Death, The Dead Kennedys, Ho99o9, Hacktivist, Glen Matlock of The Sex Pistols, Steve Ignorant of Crass and WORMROT amongst others.

Having been well received by Glastonbury Festival, Boomtown Fair (who are affiliated to Glastonbury) invited Earache to curate a stage at their 2018 event which took place in Winchester during August 2018. The stage (named The Earache Factory) was designed around the concept of a disused factory within a run down part of a futuristic town. It featured artists such as Soulfly, Dead Kennedys and Enter Shikari not to mention a headline set by British upstarts Idles (band).

Notable artists (past and present)

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Mundrian, Albert (2015). Choosing Death: The Improbable History of death metal and Grindcore. Decibel Books. ISBN 978-1935950165.
  2. ↑ "ASK EARACHE: How did Earache sign Wormrot?". Askearache.blogspot.com. 2010-01-31. Retrieved 2013-03-03.
  3. ↑ "Digby Pearson explains how Thatcher helped him bring Napalm Death to the world". The Independent. Retrieved 2018-09-07.
  4. ↑ "Gilfoyle's Horrifying Bitcoin Alert in 'Silicon Valley' Is Real Grindcore". Inverse. Retrieved 2018-09-07.
  5. ↑ "Alireza - Earache". Earache. Retrieved 2018-09-07.
  6. ↑ "The Temperance Movement". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
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