| UHR News Update |
[May. 27th, 2009|12:14 am] |
Finally, some news after too much foot-dragging and too much real life getting in the way of my underground metal star fantasies.
Unsung Heroes Records has finally ended direct distribution. Even the meager amount of direct sales I had was taking too much time when compounded by all of the things going on at home and on the food job, so I worked out a deal with The Basar North America to have them be the exclusive outlet for UHR titles. If you want any of our stuff, go there.
Also, finally, "Our stuff" includes the long-delayed Vrolok "Nocturnal Isolation" demo reissue. It's strictly limited to 100 hand-numbered copies, and the covers are hand-cut xeroxes as a nod to the old days, but the disc itself is pro-duplicated with a full-disc-face printed image and remastered from the original tapes with a couple of bonus tracks. Hopefully you'll agree that the delay was well worth it.
Death Beast is progressing slowly, as some of what has been written before in a drunken stupor proves to not be able to stand up to sober scrutiny. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, Rampage is also making some progress as Aerik works on his home studio vocalizing the music tracks I sent him some time ago. I'm also on the verge of releasing the Rampage "Quid Pro Quo" tribute disc.
Hopefully it won't be six more months to the next update. |
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| Not dead yet. |
[Nov. 13th, 2008|10:35 pm] |
I'd love to say I've been hard at work on new music of some form for you all.
But the truth is that I've only been working hard at trying to work on new music. Still, these months of hammering have me something like about halfway done with The Onslaught, and the ball is still in Aerik's court on the Rampage side of things.
But with my food job on the upswing, I've not had much time for UHR, the Rampage tribute, or other projects I've been working on idly for ages now. Respite? Not any time soon, unfortunately, and that makes me only more lazy and un-motivated when time manages to free up for working on music... and with those creative times getting farther and farther apart, the creative juices dry up like, well, many unsavory dry metaphors I could come up with.
But I'm not dead yet. Stay tuned. |
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| The Hydra of christian 'metal', or why, once again, "After Forever" is NOT a christian song. |
[Aug. 25th, 2008|10:20 pm] |
One of the benefits of a faith-based worldview is that you are immune to evidence. No matter how unavoidable the evidence is, no matter what unpleasant conclusions reality forces one to, you can just play ostrich, stick your head in the sand of your fantastic delusions, and you can preserve your worldview even in the face of the most damning facts and unassailable arguments.
Also, you get to just assert things without evidence - otherwise known as 'making shit up'. And, the beauty thing is that if someone DOES bother to look up your sources and investigate your evidence, you can deny the refutation.
The only cost is your intellectual honesty.
( Read more... ) |
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| UHR Site Updated |
[May. 21st, 2008|10:45 pm] |
Yes, many years too late, I finally added a dedicated page to the UHR site for links to audio samples. A couple of direct MP3 links are there, but most are links to sound-loaded websites (Audiostreet, Myspace, etc.)
http://www.mindspring.com/~uhr/
Enjoy. More stuff coming soon (I was just working on layouts earlier today as a matter of fact...) |
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| I'm going on the Holiday. |
[Apr. 30th, 2008|10:27 pm] |
That's right. Not 'a' holiday. THE Holiday.
But at least I'm not sick like last time.
So, if anyone wonders where I am the next week and why the UHR stuff (which I'm still behind on) is running farther behind, there you go.
Anyone know any good driving games to play while driving across backwater holes like Alabama? |
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| Misogyny II - cumming soon... |
[Apr. 21st, 2008|08:23 pm] |
As in the music has been recorded some time ago, and vocal studio time is booked. This bitch will be done quite soon.
And, just to tease, the instrumental intro to the EP, "GHB", has been put online at the Rampage Myspace page - http://www.myspace.com/rampage
Enjoy, and await the rest. |
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| ... and the beast will start moving around... |
[Apr. 16th, 2008|10:25 pm] |
Yuck. THREE months. I could be glib and say I needed the break.
But I'll be honest. I'm a lazy sack of shit. David Lamb, patron saint of the lazy, would be appalled at me.
Anyway, most of the time since I closed down ADR has been spent wasted on video games, reading books I backlogged from bastard-mas, house maintenance (yes, the fucking kitchen leaked again, but this time we think for the last time...). But don't let me bullshit you - those are in descending order of time spent.
However, I DID also manage to get UHR resurrected. Check it out - http://www.mindspring.com/~uhr/
We even have a new release - Undimensional's s/t EP. They were a band who sent me a demo completely out of the blue just as ADR wrapped up. It was good - brilliant, really - so I decided to breathe new life into UHR with it.
The Vrolok thing is going to press next week or so, along with some reissues.... AND...
...yep - AERIK contacted me out of the blue again. He's been doing some of his own free-time-roaming, but we're both back now and ready to bring UHR and Rampage back to life. We're working on a compilation of the best of Aerik's recorded work, titled VONTHOLOGY. More details as they arise.
And I guess I must share the details on the upcoming Quid Pro Quo tribute as well, which is coming along nicely.
But I'd best stick to actually GETTING THINGS DONE and then telling you about them, instead of my usual 'here's what we are going to do soon' schtick. I'm done crying wolf. |
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| Want ADR? See Deathgasm |
[Jan. 23rd, 2008|11:31 pm] |
The sale is final, so we can announce it now.
All of Alpha Draconis Records' leftover stock, both distro items and ADR releases, are now available at Deathgasm Records (http://www.deathgasm.com/). We've known Evan for a while, and he runs an excellent mailorder - without a doubt the best underground metal distro in Georgia. Other labels or distros looking to trade/wholesale ADR items can contact Evan also. |
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| FAQs about the end of Alpha Draconis Records. |
[Jan. 10th, 2008|11:43 pm] |
In this earlier post I discussed the motivations behind Dante and I ending Alpha Draconis Records. However, there are still some supplementary questions that need to be addressed.
- What does this mean for Unsung Heroes Records?
UHR has always been a separate label, and it will remain so. UHR will continue to exist.
However, the biggest part of ADR that affected UHR was the store, as the ADR store was where to go to get UHR albums. No need to worry, though - Before ADR, even before BWV, I did direct sales on UHR items myself, and there's no reason I can't continue to do so. Since the inventory will be limited to my own releases, all of the time issues related to running the ADR webstore won't apply here.
Furthermore, I'm looking at other release avenues. Back when I started I was still hand-making CDRs, which distros understandably don't want to deal with, by and large. Now that the quality of our pro-pressed CDRs rivals that of CDs I think it might be easier to get at least a few distros involved in stocking us. Also, I'm toying with ways to go with web-only releases, via filesharing outlets. I don't anticipate ever going totally this way, but the old Rampage websingle was one of the more fun releases to get out there, and I think there's room for exploration on that front...
- What happened to your old stock from the webstore?
We are in the process of selling this to another store. We'll let you know who when the sale is complete.
- What about your old ADR releases? I want to get them.
All of the remaining copies of our own releases were split between the bands and the store we are selling our remaining distro stock to. If you want to buy them for personal use or if you are a label/distro looking to stock ADR releases, either contact the band(s) or the afore-yet-to-be-mentioned store buying our remaining stuff.
- What about your newsletter?
You actually read that? :)
Seriously, I may continue the content portions of the newsletter in my own blog or through the UHR website. The newsletter mailing list was tied to the ADR domain name/hosting, so it will eventually go away, and I have no mailing list management capabilites other than that. If you really want to see the UHR newsletter continue, please let me know, and if you can please suggest some way I can manage the mailing list, either by a pc-based client or some web-based service.
- There's something I want to know that you haven't addressed here?
If you have any other questions about the end of ADR and its implications that I have not addressed here, please email me to ask and I'll answer, and if necessary put it here as well.
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| Only Five Days Late |
[Jan. 5th, 2008|11:48 pm] |
Happy new year, all.
For the past two years, I've posted my musical New Year's Resolutions here so that others could berate me for not meeting them. I met all of my 2006 resolutions. 2007 resolutions? Not so much. Let's begin by reviewing last year's resolutions and assess how well I did with them:
( Read more... )
So, I'm shooting somewhere around 50/50, with some generosity and some bending. So, what do I resolve to get done for 2008?
- I will finish and release Death Beast The Onslaught
- I will finish some tracks for Letters from Hell
- I will get at least three new UHR releases out by mid-year, and hopefully more by the end of the year
- For error-correction, I will post here much more frequently, with updates
And the rest, I'll just wing it. |
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| The End of Alpha Draconis Records |
[Dec. 15th, 2007|10:06 pm] |
As you have probably seen by now, Alpha Draconis Records is no more. Dante and I laid it to rest a few days ago, on December 13, 2007. I promised to try to give the reasons why here, so that I wouldn't have to go over it again and again.
And sometimes, nothing is so scary as a blank page. So, forgive me for the somewhat aimless wanderings that follow. There are several factors at play, and they twist and tie together in ways that could be put linearly in too many permutations to choose from. Normally, I try to say something perfectly. For now, I'll just say it.
( Read more... )
Well, that about covers it, unless you want to meet up for a beer or some vodka martinis and talk about it some more. There are a few 'by the way...' questions I've thought of that are follow-ups to 'so you're closed?', and they'll get their own FAQ here shortly.
For now, though, let me close by saying that I sincerely appreciate all of the support we've received from the labels we've dealt with and all of our customers over the past four years. Maybe it sound cliche to say you helped make a dream of mine come true, but it's the truth, and it's no small thing to me. I also give all of the best wishes and ultimate respect to Diabolus, Warharan, Kutcheck, and Vindsval, Nachtjaeger, and the rest of the guys in Midwynter. We couldn't have done it without you, and I'd like to think that, just as our customers helped my dream come true, I hope the support that Dante and I gave to you and your musical projects gave you similar feelings of accomplishment. I am proud that we could be a part of what each of you has built. |
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| Hemlock for Alpha Draconis Records |
[Dec. 8th, 2007|01:58 am] |
After four years of bringing you the best in underground metal, Alpha Draconis Records is closing its doors for good. For our last six days of existence (December 8-13), we are running a six-six-six package deal - six discs for six bucks each ($36 total for any six items in the store). And hurry, because there IS no 'after' the sale. This is the truest case of SNOOZE AND LOSE you will find.
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And I know there are many questions following from the above announcement, from 'why?' to 'what does this mean for UHR?' - and there WILL be answers. Soon. So please be patient and satiate your curiosity by sublimating it into a desire for more new music instead (wink wink nudge nudge). All will be made clear here, eventually... |
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| Over a month?! |
[Nov. 1st, 2007|10:46 pm] |
I know I sometimes let this blog go, but over a month with NOTHING?
The Midwynter release is doing pretty well, and interest in back ADR catalog items picked up as well, so trades have been crazy. Also, for the 13 days of Halloween the ADR store was running a package deal of pure insanity (13 CDs for $66), which has been keeping me busy too.
Also, I finally got to play with Sonar 6 on my new PC. Me and the boys scratched out a new Death Beast song, "Devastator", which will be on an upcoming compilation. The solos are sloppy as we were too drunk by the end of the session to do them properly, but we'll probably just recut them. The power of this new PC and Sonar 6 is just jaw-dropping. The basic effects are crap, but I am slowly digging up the fx packages I had from my old PC (gotta love DXi!), so that should improve. Also, for Rampage work, I invested in a full licensed version of the DR008 that I used so much with Sonar 2 (but was no longer bundled with Sonar 6), so some Rampage stuff may rear its head before the calendar hits '08.
I know I've said it before, but samples WILL be coming soon. And I'm sure Aerik is hard at work on the Rampage tracks I've given him already...it's only a matter of time. |
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| Interview with yours truly |
[Sep. 21st, 2007|09:48 pm] |
In all the hubbub, I can't believe I almost forgot this.
Ujval Singh Sidhu-Brar of The Metal Crypt has just posted an extensive interview with me about, well, pretty much every musical thing I've got my finger in. He even dug deep, asking me about history like my Early Warning and Skiptoe days, my favorite band Disjecta Membra (the greatest band you've never heard), and even digging up stuff like the Kaoteon affair. He even gets to the hardhitting questions about songwriting, major versus minor labels, and what's wrong with NSBM.
Anyway, go check it out. |
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| Midwynter "Four Seasons of Frost" now available |
[Sep. 21st, 2007|09:40 pm] |
The debut mCD of Midwynter, Four Seasons of Frost, is out now on Alpha Draconis Records.
You can get it at our webstore and hear a sample song on our samples page, both at the following address:
http://www.alphadraconisrecords.org/
Check the catalog periodically over the next couple of weeks for updates - as trades come in we will be adding new items, so check back in often. Also, note the price cuts on all items. |
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| Midwynter - out now (Sort of) |
[Sep. 5th, 2007|09:19 pm] |
We finally have the Midwynter stuff back from the plant. Technically it's out now, but we still have to update the site, integrate it into the webstore and catalog, send out trade offers, etc.
Whet your appetite by listening to two songs from the EP here:
http://www.myspace.com/midwynter
More on my own projects later... |
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| No news is no news |
[Aug. 21st, 2007|09:35 pm] |
Nothing to report here. I'm doodling on guitar for a few projects, but nothing's quite coming together and nothing is recorded.
On a plus note, Alpha Draconis Records' latest release, the debut EP from Midwynter, "Four Seasons of Frost", is at the plant and should be back any day now. |
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| A couple of new things out |
[Jul. 27th, 2007|11:07 pm] |
I should have blogged about this earlier, but I've been busy with work and a sick baby. How 'metal' is that?
Anyway, I have two Vic-related new releases out now - The Rampage/Chemkiller split tribute to Venom, titled "Twelve Inches of Blasphemy", and the Death Beast demo compilation "Prophecies of Doom: The Demos 2002-2004". Some comments and thoughts about each below the fold...
( Read more... ) |
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| Bellum Aeternum - What's new with the songs? |
[Jul. 20th, 2007|10:42 pm] |
When recording Bellum Aeternum, I had more instruments, better gear, and a faster and more advanced PC with much more robust software than I had when I was doing Bellum Infinitum seven years earlier. For the most part, if I just did a straight re-rendering it was going to be an improvement. However, I have always found little parts here and there where I either thought I could have done better or, if I were putting it together now for the first time, would have done differently. These changes, some minor, some quite large, are all nonetheless important, at least in my mind. For me, songs are about capturing and expressing the ideas of the writer, and I think that anything that's changed in these songs has been done with respect for what I was trying to express, and only changed with both eyes on the goal of clarifying or maximizing that expression.
( Read more... ) |
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| Bellum Aeternum - Technical Improvements |
[Jul. 8th, 2007|09:29 pm] |
The biggest improvement on Bellum Aeternum, musically speaking, is the greater range of gear and power of the gear used between the first incarnation and the current one. Some details are below:
( Read more... ) |
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