Touring in general is of tantamount importance for hard music recently reissued "Metal For Muthas° compilation. Overall, acts, Faley says. "When you don't have access to mainstream most hard rock and metal labels, including Metal Blade outlets, you have to go out and be visible to your audience, Records, use compilations to promote their newly signed acts. and the best way to do that is to play live," he says. "A great "[They're] a really good way for us to give young, new bands performance has an indelible impact, and the same thing goes some exposure and get them out into the marketplace with- for a shitty performance." out having to do a full record," says Metal Blade CEO Brian Alan Becker, VP of product development at RED Distribution, Slagel. has seen the benefits that being part of a noteworthy package Compilations, in fact, were the means through which Slagel can bring. Ozzfest appearances by Roadrunner acts Coal Cham- founded Metal Blade in the early '80s. He assembled "Metal

ber (1998) and Slipknot (1999) had immediate impact Massacre, " a collection featuring Los Angeles -area metal You can make a direct correlation between the excitement bands, while working in a record store. "J went to all the bands of these bands' performances on Ozzfest and sales across the in L.A. and said, 'Give me a song, and l'If put you on a record, - counter," says Becker. "As a distributor of Roadrunner Records, he recalls. "It was a nice springboard for bands [because], BIGGER IS BETTER we're really seeing results from these bands being on Ozzfest." back then, there wasn't a lot of areas for the bands to get any Continued from page 36 Becker says bands chosen to be on these tours are gener- sort of exposure." ally outside the mainstream. "There are a lot of kids who con- "Metal Massacre" spawned a successful series of Metal Sanitarium might be a tad pricey for its market, but sales have, nect with being an outlaw and identify with bands that aren't Blade compilations but is not the label's only compilation brand for the most part, put that to rest. Besides, says Metallica's spoon -fed to them by the media," he says. "Both Ozzfest and name. Like Century Media, Metal Blade has a low -cost com- agent, Dennis Arfa, no matter how much people want to deny Tattoo The Earth take great care in presenting new school metal pilation series, called "Metalmeister," which Slagel says serves it, greed is part of rock 'n' roll." not seen on MTV or heard on the radio." as a way for fans of the genre to "go out and not spend a lot And, like the Osbournes, Arfa isn't overly concerned about of money but get exposed to some new music." a crowded metal field this summer, believing that the Metalli- Other labels use compilations to publicize the labels them- ca package can withstand the competition. "You've got Super- COMPILATIONS selves. For one Nuclear Blast compilation series, "The Beau- man and you've got Jimmy Olsen," he says. "This is Super- Continued from page 42 ty And The Darkness," the label frequently licenses outside man." bands such as Type 0 Negative. "That will hopefully get the New to the festival tour ranks this year is Tattoo The Earth, "That was a huge thing for the band, and we got the open- Type 0 Negative fans turned on to Nuclear Blast," says Chris featuring a hard -edged lineup of Sevendust, Coal Chamber, ing song on each side," says Savatage vocalist and keyboardist Pellitier, Nuclear Blast America director of sales and label Slipknot, Soulfly, (Hed)p.e., Nashville Pussy and Mudvayne. Jon Oliva. "It changed our following locally tenfold. After that manager. Produced by Front Row Productions and booked by Dave Kirby thing came out, that's when we real- Relapse Records tackles compilations of The Agency Group, Tattoo combines hard music bands with ly started becoming big in our home- .LK "a little bit differently than a lot of labels it. 114 } ]vi'u noted tattoo artists and will play 25 markets this summer. town." - do," says Gordon Conrad, director of pro- Although two recent compilations, motions. It currently issues free compi- TATTOOS AND OUTLAWS Redline's "The Hard & The Heavy" and lations to mail -order customers and Hard music packages aren't restricted to arenas, amphithe- Roadrunner's MTV -affiliated "The hands them out at concerts featuring aters and stadiums. Metal Blade Records, in conjunction with Return Of The Rock," spotlight pre- Relapse artists, although the label will the Metal Maniacs fanzine, has enjoyed success in theaters dominantly aggro- tinged heavyweights, issue a low -price sampler in the fall, as and larger clubs with its Death Metal Massacre 2000 tour. The a third new collection takes a different well as an upcoming 10th -anniversary tour bowed this spring with Cannibal Corpse, God Dethroned, route. Columbia/Portrait/Legacy's compilation. Hate Eternal and Diabolic, booked by Tim Borrer of Rave Book- "Naughty Platinum Rock" follows Razor In addition, Relapse's "Underground ing. & Tie's lead by assembling mostly late - Series" will issue compilations of demos The tour averaged attendance of more than 500 per night - '80s hard rock hits by the likes of Skid from the Polish and Brazilian metal healthy numbers for the genre and its venues. "From our stand- Row, Warrant and Slaughter. scenes. "It makes sense on every level," point, it was very successful," says Metal Blade's Faley. "The Conrad says. "For a fan of heavy music promoters were jumping on it. Now we're in the process of MUTHAS AND METAL to be able to check out a lot of different putting another tour together for late July/early August, a four - Similarly, Iron Maiden's first releas- bands for either a low price or for free, act package with Cannibal Corpse as the headliner." es came on Sanctuary Records' how can anyone reaiily lose ?"

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