Metal Blade Records history by Dan Slessor:
Founded upon owner Brian Slagel's enduring drive to find great bands and get their music out to as many people as possible, since 1982 Metal Blade has brought wave after wave of powerful, innovative, and often genre-defining music to the ever-hungry metal masses. It is this ethos that has seen Metal Blade build up a stunning and diverse catalogue, weather the various storms facing any independent label, and in an age of declining record sales boast the most successful years of its existence as it strides into its fourth decade.

What perhaps makes this achievement all the more notable is the fact that Slagel never even intended to start a label. Working in an LA record store and writing for various publications, Slagel was acutely aware that many great bands in the local metal scene were being ignored, and he decided to release a compilation of tracks drawn from these ranks. "There were a lot of really good bands and I was just bummed out that nobody could hear them. It just seemed like I could help them out and have some fun at the same time, and that compilation was the first Metal Massacre," he states. Collating tracks from then unknown bands including Ratt, Bitch, Cirith Ungol, and Metallica amongst others, the compilation sold out immediately. "How important is Metal Blade to our career? They're only the reason we are enjoying the worldwide success we have today," states Metallica's James Hetfield. "Without Brian's openness to some raunchy teens with a crap sounding cassette tape we would be who knows where, and playing who knows what!" With the popularity of the tape spurring Slagel on, the first seeds of Metal Blade were sown. "After the success of those compilations I just started putting out records of bands that I was friends with, but without ever really intending it to be a label at all," he explains. "After I put out four or five releases I started to feel like something was happening, and I decided to quit the record store and quit college and see where it went."

Battling through the first few lean years, when the label consisted solely of Slagel working out of his mom's poorly ventilated garage in the San Fernando Valley, it gradually grew in both revenue and stature. Within a few years Metal Blade would go on to release the debuts of Slayer, Armored Saint, Trouble, and Corrosion Of Conformity amongst others, fanning the flames of the burgeoning metal scene and launching careers of bands that would go onto reap global success. "Without Metal Blade, there is a damn good chance we never would've made it out of L.A," says Slayer's Kerry King. "That was the one bit of luck we needed. You can be the most awesome band on the scene, and if no one notices you, you don't catch on. And Brian Slagel is still one of the biggest metalheads I know!" This genuine love and devotion to metal is central to the relationship many of the artists have with Metal Blade, and King Diamond credits much of its relevance and strength to this passion. "I refer to it as having 'boots on the ground'," the mighty Dane states. "It's not like a major label where some people might be into what you're doing but a lot of them just see it as a job – there's a genuine love for metal there. Through staying true to that and doing their own thing they've carved out a very specific niche that they control, and as an artist it's wonderful to be a part of that."over the years. Clearly without those people we couldn't do what we do, and to everyone out there who has helped us along by being a fan we are so very grateful to you."

Read more: http://www.metalblade.com/us/about-us/

Follow @MOODCHILD
Bookings: ed@arcade-talent.com
Brazil: eddie@wildsheepagency.com
Promos: https://tstack.app/sirushood/send

Biography:

Sirus Hood Biography 

Sirus Hood is a French artist. Age 10, his love for House Music was at the time fed by his older friends, giving him mixtapes recorded in a legendary club in Algiers. Few years later, he moved to Paris, and started his DJ career age 18 when he purchased his first vinyl turntables.
He quickly became a regular DJ at every Parisian club.
The journey continues, as he started to become a self-taught producer, preparing his new project under the name that we know today: Sirus Hood.

After refusing to do social media when the project started, he insisted on building his audience purely through the music and word of mouth first. Once these foundations were built he opened his socials with an instantly huge response from the public. A testament to his following. 
His music is influenced widely from the 80-90s’ Chicago House movement from warehouse & loft parties to the whole Balearic sounds of Ibiza.

Sirus Hood first releases on CUFF including “Welcome To The Hood” EP in 2014 and Dirtybird including “Third Eye” EP in 2016 kickstarted his name. 
Sirus Hood also released on labels like Rawthentic, Cajual, Sola, Wow!, Under No Illusion.

In 2020, his release “Rip Tide” EP on Jamie Jones’ legendary label Hot Creations marked a major step forward to his career. 

Few weeks later, Sirus Hood launched ‘Mood Edits’ on Bandcamp with Manda Moor, a concept of limited series of edited tracks available during a month and then deleted to be replaced by new volumes. He had this idea after realizing that in a world where a lot of DJs or listeners are digging rare cuts, the biggest problem of music nowadays is that it is too available. ‘Mood Edits’ is repeatedly supported by the heavy weights of the scene like The Martinez Brothers and Loco Dice.

DJ residencies in Sankeys Ibiza, Eden Ibiza, Ministry Of Sound in London, Social Club then Showcase in Paris gave him a platform and opened doors to wider audiences all around the globe. From Europe to South America, from Australia to South Africa, Russia to North America, passing by the Middle East, his travel patterns underline his ability to work with different crowds and cultures while illustrating his cosmopolitan, universal side. To him - music is one language and unit.

When Sirus Hood isn’t on the road, he spends most of his time in his ‘laboratory’ like a scientist to his music. He satiates his hunger of knowledge through research of new sounds, with his impressive studio gear collection. He challenges himself on every new track with different recipes. In the end, his goal is to produce tracks that sound different from each other.

Today, his work is regularly supported by big names in house music like Jamie Jones, Nina Kraviz, Marco Carola, Paul Johnson, Claude VonStroke… He frequently appears in the charts.

Formed in 2007, Dinosaur Pile-Up are an English alternative rock band who broke out of the thriving Leeds rock scene of the time and instantly drew favourable comparisons to the cream of 90s US college rock. Founded originally as a solo project by songwriter and frontman Matt Bigland, the line up is completed by drummer Mike Sheils and bassist Jim Cratchley. Named after Matt saw the scene in Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong where a stampede of dinosaurs pile up at the foot of a mountain, “DPU” put out their first official release, The Most Powerful E.P In The Universe, in 2009 and have gone on to record two studio albums, 2010’s Growing Pains and 2013’s Nature Nurture. 

The project was initially a handful of demos that Bigland had recorded on an 8-track recorder in his basement and at Leeds' Brudenell Social Club, performing and recording the drums, guitars, bass and vocals himself. These demos were hosted on a Myspace profile named 'Dinosaur Pile-Up' and quickly gained interest from the local scene and soon the UK music press. Due to offers for shows Bigland enlisted the help of friends in a 'revolving door' policy and began touring in late 2007. Since then DPU have toured extensively through the UK, Europe and the USA supporting acts such as Pixies, Cage The Elephant, Feeder, Twin Atlantic, You Me At Six and Middle Class Rut. In 2010 Mike Sheils officially joined DPU on drums, after meeting Matt on tour and famously bonding over Weezer's blue album. In late 2013 long standing friend Jim Cratchley officially joined DPU on bass after his previous band Tribes disbanded.

Speaking of the band’s first EP, which was initially recorded as an experiment, Bigland said "I wanted to go into a studio and see if I could record something that actually sounded like an album, and not just some sh**ty 8-track demo's I'd recorded in my basement. I knew how I worked best and what I wanted to create, but I didn't know if I was competent enough to record an entire album, so I used recording the E.P as kind of an experiment and didn't take it too seriously, thus the stupid name." Upon successful recording and release of the 'Most Powerful E.P...' recorded with local Leeds producer James Kenosha, Bigland went in to the studio again to record DPU's debut full length album "Growing Pains", again performing all instruments and vocals himself and again produced by James Kenosha. Growing Pains was recorded over a period of a month and a half and upon its release in October 2010 received widespread critical acclaim and radio support including UK Radio 1 taste maker Zane Lowe who has continued to support the band ever since. Between 2011 and 2013 DPU toured extensively in the UK and Europe, taking in many festivals including Leeds and Reading Festival, Oxygen Festival and T In The Park. After two years solid touring Bigland went in to studio again, this time with producers Ian Davenport and Tom Dalgety to record DPU's second full length album. Again Bigland recorded all the instruments himself split between Rockfield Studios in Wales and Courtyard Studios in Oxford. The album took two months to record but what he emerged with was one of the brightest, most bruising rock records of 2013 “Nature Nurture” which was described by Zane Lowe on its release as “Nature, nurture, two of the greatest words in existence, now neatly compacted together for an album that could be one of the greatest albums ever in existence”.

Nature Nurture proved to be the band’s first inroad into the American market where their sound proved to be a perfect fit for US radio on its release in early 2014, leading to several tours including their biggest to date supporting Brand New.  With the album set to be released in Japan and the Far-East in 2014, world domination is still on the cards.


Assimilations: MTV IGGY "Top 20 Debut Albums of 2011"

Killers Revealed is following