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Our new album 'Tribes' is available to pre-order on Pledge now! http://smarturl.it/cctribesd2c

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/

"People that currently codify subgenres within genres would file Ghost Decibels (Chaka Malik) under the all-encompassing monikers of coldwave or minimal wave, and that's true to an extent, but I would call it "icy electronic soul." That tag reflects an urban (American) and European synthesis of shared sensibilities. Artists like Afrika Bambaataa have found inspiration in the cold, old world Teutonic sound of Kraftwerk, reimagined it, and used it as a foundation to create the urban electro/nascent hip-hop beat of "Planet Rock"—which subsequently became the template for freestyle, an '80s NYC dance genre played primarily by Latin and black performers that layered R&B/soul onto Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" drum pattern. That same beat inspired black DJs in the industrial hub of Detroit to put out minimal, futuristic-sounding 12"s that started the movement known as techno, and by extension, birthed the myriad variations of what we now call electronic dance music (EDM)." - Freddy Alva

Weekly radio show and podcast focusing on punk, hardcore, metal, reggae, ska and other forms of music for miscreants.  Available on iTunes (download), Soundcloud (stream), and Facebook.  Like my shitty music?  Check out WISHC 99.9FM https://soundcloud.com/999fm 


“I don't remember how I learned it, but I found you could turn a pair of headphones into a microphone by using them in reverse. If you plugged the headphones into the mic jack on an old stereo cassette deck, you could record yourself. It blew my mind” (No Echo, 11/25/15).  That’s how it started for Andy Guida owner of Six III Studio back in 1984.  The fascination with recording sound, inspiring musicians and capturing a moment has always been the reason Six III Studio exists.  

	Having played in bands such as Supertouch, Absolution, Running Like Thieves and The Press, Andy Guida has been playing and recording music for 34 years.  In that time, he’s played on over a dozen records.  Many of those he recorded and mixed at Six III Studio.  

The types of music recorded at Six III are diverse.  Everything from NYHC and punk to country singer/songwriters, metal and rock bands.  This studio is intended to be as diverse as the musical taste of the owner.  

Having done many sessions in high end studios Andy always felt that the price point was so high that the desired result couldn’t be achieved.  After investing in the buildout of a recording studio in a rental space and losing the space at the end of the lease he decided to do it at home.  While there isn’t the wow factor of a big live room, the gear is professional quality, the engineer has many years of experience and the price point is the same as many rehearsal studios.

Started in 1995, Bridge Nine is a label that specializes in hardcore punk, with over 240 recordings in our catalog. Check us out and keep an eye out for updates!

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