The very lungs of the underground are its labels. Without the necessary - and largely joyless - groundwork laid down through hundrends of man-hours pressing, distributing and promoting a piece of art, none of us here would be aware of those veritable gems which constitute our cultural bread-and-butter. The sacred tradition of bedroom-based operations strewn all over the globe has been maintained since the early, 'hairy' days of the underground. The roots of household names such as Earache and Metal Blade were indubitably humble. However by riding on the thrust of fan-based, unabashed enthusiasm they managed to 'escape' from the shackles of niche, scene-centred markets and break into the "hard rock mainstream". Nevertheless, there are those precious few who remain defiantly below the radar, stubbornly tethered to ertstwhile values and resisting the volatile currents of the status-quo. Such a unit hails from sun-kissed California and for 15 years has been tireslessly serving the decadent appetites of thousands of connoiseurs across the globe and in the process has become one of the underground's finest sources of unadulterated audial profanity. Taking some time off from his busy schedule, Yosuke - the big cheese behind Nuclear War Now! Records - enters the Hypogeum to answer our interrogation. Here is the wreckage that ensued...
What was your prime motivation behind starting this label? Did you recognise a 'void' in the then underground market which you ventured to fill or did it 'just happen' with no preconceived plan?I didn’t have any preconceived idea of the label’s future or anything like that. It started out as a way for me to release my shitty black noise tapes. Things changed after I went up to Vancouver and recorded the Blasphemy come back live album “Live Ritual.” Ever since then, I’ve been completely possessed by underground metal. It’s an addiction that only death can cure.
Please give us an account of how you first got into extreme metal back in the years of adolescent innocence.
I come from a family of visual artists so it was natural for my older sisters to get into punk rock. I was exposed to stuff like Minor Threat, Sex Pistols, Pixies, Devo, The Residents, etc. at an early age. I must have been 11 or 12 when I first bought my first Devo record at a store in Falls Church VA. I didn’t get into metal until around 8th grade when a Peruvian skater friend of mine exposed me to stuff like DRI, Napalm Death, Carcass, Slayer, etc. By 9th and 10th grade, I was getting more and more into the deep underground punk and metal of the late 80’s and early 90’s.
I imagine you tape-traded a lot back in the days. Could you try and give us a picture of how it was to rely on post and paper before the advent of the Internet. It's funny really that although now the Internet has utterly neutralised geographical distances, in a sense we're further apart because people don't have to wait for 3 weeks to get a response from a band and just take everything for granted.
I actually didn’t do too much of that at the time, but I was already collecting records by age 13 or so. I just got in the habit of sending cash in letters and hoping that something would show up. Back then you sort of knew who to trust and not to trust. Of course I got ripped off several times by people like Richard C. from Wild Rags, but most people actually sent me what I had ordered. The internet age has made everyone into instant Walmart shoppers who want their stuff ASAP.
You are obviously quite keen in excavating obscure and forgotten gems, especially from the 80s, and re-releasing them to a younger generation. To me though, this endeavour seems deeper than skin-deep nostalgia; you're more like a cultural archaeologist unearthing artefacts from the past which can still have a direct relevance to our experience today more than just aimless reminiscing. Would you agree?
Yes, you hit the nail on the head. I approach each reissue project as a historical artefact that needs to be preserved for the future of the genre. That’s why I try to preserve the old layout integrity, visual aesthetics and normally include an extensive biography or an interview to provide background contexts. I’m also a strong believer in the importance of visual aesthetics so I try to include as many band photos, gig flyers, and other visual artifacts as I can. Normally this requires me to include a booklet of some sort, which can get rather expensive!
On that note your 'No Speed Limit' boxset is easily one the label's finest hours on an already exceptional discography. It successfully brings to the fore that unadulterated, gritty aesthetic of the underground of that particular era. How did this effort come about? Any possibility of a second volume?Actually this release was a bastard child of Annick from Cauchemar and another French Canadian maniac. I don’t want to take any credit for this release since she did all of the work and I simply put my label logo on the back. Ask me about the Order From Chaos boxset instead. haha
Incidentally, is there any chance of seeing NME's 'Unholy Death' getting a decent vinyl re-press?
It already got a very nice reissues by another American label so there is no need for another pressing.
Yes, I took notes from such notable underground labels as Iron Pegasus Records Germany, Evil Records Japan, Cogumelo Records Brazil, Iron Bonehead Production Germany, Ebullition USA, and many others. I especially loved the vinyl centric nature of early Iron Pegasus releases where he did a limited “Die Hard Picture Disc” edition. This is where I stole the idea for my Die Hard editions for NWN. So the credit (or blame) should go to Costa from Iron Pegasus for starting a collector frenzy and lots of headaches.
It seems that the underground bears an incredible degree of vitality and resilience which is untouched by fashion changes. In your opinion what are the core values which constitute the underground ethos?
The true deepest underground will always remain strong, while the trendy surface skimmers will always exist as well. In the past 15 years that NWN has been in operation, I’ve seen trends come and go. It was raw black metal in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, then came the orthodox black metal trend, then the bestial black metal trend, then the doom metal trend, then the current death metal trend. I guess it all goes in a cycle and it’ll eventually go back to the raw black metal trend.
Your roster reads like a 'who’s who' of black/death metal greats -
One of the only rules I have for the label is that I release whatever I want on NWN. As such the roster reflects my personal taste. You can see that I am heavily into the early Brazilian death core scene and the North American black metal scene of the late 80’s and early 90’s with bands like Blasphemy, Procreation, Antichrist, Demoncy, Von, Toten, and the like. However my musical taste ranges from hardcore punk to experimental industrial music so don’t be quick to pigeonhole NWN as a black/death metal label. I will release whatever I feel like releasing in the future.
Could you name three bands you'd love to have signed on NWN which unfortunately are no longer active?
1. Necrovore (USA): These guys are still around in the US underground scene but not sure if they have any interest in reissuing Necrovore demos officially. Countless bootlegs had been made in the past few years so maybe that will trigger an official reissue one day.
2. Black Prophecies (Italy): Black metal classic from Italy. They were one of the first black metal second wave bands and was scheduled to release their debut on Wild Rags.
3. Necro Schizma (Netherlands): Black doom in the style of Hellhammer and the like. The Erupted Evil demo is one of my all time favourite demos.
You have a clear and fairly strict vision of the sort of bands on which you wish to impart the label's imprint. Is there an album/band you'd love to release but feel constrained to do so because of this? Is there a temptation to start a sub-label of sorts to put out quality, potentially non-metal, music which otherwise doesn't conform to NWN's modus operandi?
I actually don’t have any rules or guidelines unlike some labels that stick to one subgenre of metal. I release whatever I want and in whatever genre. Like I said previous, I’ve released heavy metal, thrash, speed, black, black noise, ambient, drone, and even hardcore punk. The only thing I’ll probably never release is hiphop! I can’t really think of any non metal bands out there right now that I would want to release under NWN.
Back in the early days each country had its own inimitable sound - one need look no further than the prominent musical discrepancies between Putrenance (Finland), Varathron (Greece) and Manes (Norway) to get a taste of how a band's unique combination of geographical origin and culture imbued their sound with its own special characteristics. It looks that nowadays this effect has become more homogenised. Be that as it may, what is your favourite country in terms of scene productivity, originality and sheer musical pathos?
The internet age and the ease of transmission of audio across the globe has normalized everything. Geographic isolation is a thing of the past and specific sounds are no longer contained enough to develop distinct styles. This effect has its pros and cons just like anything to do with technology and social development. While it might be seen as a loss to find that distinct styles heard in countries like Greece and Brazil are no longer there, you can find these sounds in unexpected places like with Sacriphyx in Australia playing a Greek inspired sound, or Anatomia from Japan playing in the Autopsy tradition of pure American death metal. Of course the Norse black metal sound is now homogenized to the point where you can find cold black metal bands from Tropical countries in South America. The flipside of this phenomenon is the sheer glut of releases that are getting pumped out by every little label from around the globe. It’s a challenge just to keep up with it all and sift through the numerous shitty bands to find one okay band, not to mention the great ones. The ease of recording and propagation has made it more difficult to find great bands in the sea of mediocrity, but that’s just what we have to deal with.
I've noticed that you play down the satanic verbiage in comparison to other labels of your ilk and rather focus on genuine decadence sans the excessive anti-christian blabbering. Is this something conscious from your part? Do you have any sentiments, one way or another, regarding a band's religious ideology, Satanic or otherwise?
That’s because I am not religious like some people. I am an atheist with an Anti-Judeo-Christian outlook. I believe in the physical world and the nothingness of death that follows it. This is not to say that I dislike Satanism, Paganism or other isms that metal people adhere to. I fully support their agenda as long as they spread hate and intolerance of Abrahamic religions.
You've started out as a humble garage operation a good 15 years ago and have now evolved into a full-grown beast to the point where you need to buy a proper warehouse (how's the crowd funding going by the way?). Do you see further stages of evolution along the way? Central offices with a number of employees perhaps? Or is there a point where you'll say that the ever-increasing size of the label would require to compromise some of your values and just call it quits?
The label is still operated out of my garage, but it has now taken over other parts of my house and three external rental storages. I am in the process of saving up for a proper warehouse to be purchased with two other small businesses from Oakland CA. We were hoping to get into a place in early 2016, but with the ever increasing real estate costs in the bay area, it may need to wait until the summer of 2016 if I can’t raise enough down payment money. Once the warehouse is in place, I’ll be able to hire a worker to work there during the day while I’m at my day job. Yes, I still have a regular day job because the music business doesn’t pay the bills, at least in the bay area where the cost of living is very high. I might be able to live off of NWN if I moved to a cheaper place in the US like Portland or Austin for example. It’s tempting, but it’s a difficult decision to uproot the family and move somewhere to start all over again. I am not sure how much bigger
Finally, I couldn't resist, please share your 11 favourite black/death metal releases (with the exception of Blasphemy just to make it a little bit harder).
I will leave out the first wave black metal and evil thrash/heavy stuff and keep it to only extreme black and death metal stuff that I listen to and worship. I consider these to be classics of extreme metal however people classify them.
1. Sarcofago “INRI” LP
2. Expulser “Fornications” side of their split LP
3. Sextrash “Sexual Carnage” LP
4. Reencarnacion “888 Metal” LP
5. Vulcano “Bloody Vengeance” LP
6. Demoncy “Joined in Darkness” LP
7. Black Witchery “Desecration of the Holy Kingdom” LP
8. Conqueror “War Cult Supremacy” LP
9. Sabbat “Envenom” LP
10. Samael “Worship Him” LP
11. Master’s Hammer “Ritual” LP
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