{"id":45501,"date":"2016-03-30T11:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T16:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toiletovhell.com\/?p=45501"},"modified":"2016-03-30T15:48:31","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T20:48:31","slug":"unspeakable-axe-an-interview-with-eric-musall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/unspeakable-axe-an-interview-with-eric-musall\/","title":{"rendered":"Unspeakable Axe: An Interview with Eric Musall"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0An interview with the man behind one of our favorite metal labels, Unspeakable Axe.<\/div>\n

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Formed in early 2013, Unspeakable Axe Records was created with a goal to\u00a0“release material by\u00a0obscure but deserving metal bands.”* Since its inception, it\u00a0has unleashed an unrelenting barrage of quintessential\u00a0Heavy Metal albums unto the world. Many of us are familiar with these releases and have reviewed and discussed them before. There has not been talk, however, of the man behind the bands. The man who helped bring the Metal to our hearts and homes. The man who worked tirelessly day and night to pack and distribute records, shirts, and stickers. The man who has an ear for excellent riffs and an eye for excellent artwork.\u00a0Eric Musall is that man.\u00a0Always a man of good taste, Eric agreed to an interview with the Toilet, and on his birthday nonetheless.<\/div>\n
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\"Eris<\/a>

Eric Musall<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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First and foremost, I have to ask,\u00a0how doth one make thyne axe unspeakable?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A little blood of goat, a little eye of newt, and a curse from a Nazgul.<\/p>\n

In the day and age of digital media, what prompted you to start Unspeakable Axe? Were there any particular artists or people who helped guide your decision?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

What prompted me? Idiocy! I say that with tongue in cheek, but it was indeed an odd time to decide to start putting money into physical releases. And I knew that. I believe there’s still a niche who prefers physical media over downloads, and I’m hoping they’ll keep me afloat. As for people who guided the decision, Matt Calvert from Dark Descent was an invaluable help. I wouldn’t be doing this without his advice and assistance.<\/p>\n

What were some of the difficulties you had\u00a0to overcome in the beginning, and are they still present today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the big things – and it’s still ongoing – is surviving slow sales as you gain traction with metalheads and magazines, as well as distros and shops that might want to order wholesale. Every label goes through this, I imagine. It takes a while to build up an audience who knows what to expect from you in terms of style and quality of releases. Then once the audience is there, you still have to make sure you don’t outgrow them. It would be easy, once you start getting more sales, to spend more money going after some high-profile bands and doing really extravagant releases that won’t make their costs back. Basically, you have to have patience, a decent nest egg to start with, and some business sense.<\/p>\n

You mention that with more money it would be easy\u00a0to go after higher profile bands. Is this something that you want Unspeakable Axe to do? Or are you content with releasing unknown bands?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The label mission statement is to unearth and expose unknown, underground bands. So no, that’s not something that really interests me. But there are a handful of bands that if the stars aligned and they fell in my lap, I wouldn’t say no.<\/p>\n

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