Razorback Records – Past, Present, and Future
Razorback Records president Billy Nocera has posted the following update on the label:
2006 has been an extremely busy year for Razorback. We’ve done 4 full-length albums, and now we’re busy working on the IMPETIGO re-issues as well as another BLOOD FREAK album.
…but, what lies ahead in 2007? Simple…represses of our out of print titles, that’s what! We have so many great old releases that have been out of print for a long time and we’ve been dying to start repressing them. I get emails every single day from fans asking for certain older stuff, so in 2007 we’re gonna start repressing some of them. LORD GORE’s 2 albums, the first FRIGHTMARE, the first SPLATTERHOUSE, GIGANTIC BRAIN, etc…so much to choose from! Also…don’t forget FONDLECORPSE has some great new stuff in the works. They’re taking their time, but trust me…from the new demo stuff I’ve heard from them it will be worth the wait! This band is going to blow shit away!
As for newer stuff, there won’t be much as we still don’t make too much money doing this label and really can’t afford it even if we wanted to work with new bands. We’re going to stay small, focused, more personal, and concentrate on our older stuff and a few other special things. This will keep us strong and around for many more years to come. I don’t know if anybody has noticed, but in the past 5 years I’ve seen more labels go out of business than ever before. There’s just no way an underground label can put out 50000 CD’s and survive. There’s just not enough fans and support for this kind of music, simply put. We’d rather put out 1 or 2 CD’s a year and continue, rather than put out 10 CD’s a year and die out! Makes sense, right folks? I’m sure you all see what I mean. :)
What about follow-up albums from…(insert your favorite Razorback band here)? Well, the bad news is that many of our more known and established bands like ENGORGED, LORD GORE, and GRUESOME STUFF RELISH have broken up and called it a day. MACHETAZO has left Razorback and BIRDFLESH needed a label to pay for their studio time which we couldn’t afford so they’re now on a different label. COFFINS was only on Razorback for one CD (another older release we want to repress!), and are now currently doing a 2nd album with a different label. We wish every band who’s left the label well and hope they continue to do killer music which I know they all will.
So as you can see, lots of changes have been going down. That’s pretty much the nature of things. Bands come, bands go, bands break up, etc. I’ve been involved in the underground metal scene since 1990 and it’s always been like this. For me, though…the concept of Razorback remains the same. DIY underground death/grindcore/thrash influenced by horror/gore films, art, etc. by bands who don’t have rock star attitudes and who do this for the love and fun of it(yep, it’s always been about that and we’ve still never done “contracts” with any band. We work with a band because we want to and for the FUN of it! Bands are free to do whatever they want when it comes to working with us!) That will never change, and Jill and I thank everybody who’s supported this label since we first started it in 1998. (wow…almost 10 years ago!).
Look for Razorback to continue into the future with a combination of older stuff we’ve done, new stuff, and more re-issues of classics that we enjoy and possibly some cool limited edition stuff as well!
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