Thierry interview Miss Girardi from RAZORBACK RECORDS
Copyright
V-Solutions.net

1/ Could you give our readers a brief historic of Razorback Records ?maniaxe.gif (97754 octets)
First I want to say thank you so much for this interview and for giving Razorback some much needed promotion in France! Razorback was formed in 1998, when my partner Billy Nocera and I stopped working with our former labels in favour of starting a new, more focused label. Our first full length CD release was Engorged "Death Metal Attack 2". We started off with a very small budget and limited resources, and weren’t really sure what the future would hold for us. But five years later we are still going strong!

2/ Is that easy to run an extreme music label like yours in USA nowadays ?
That’s a hard question to answer, because running Razorback is both easy and difficult at the same time. We have our tasks that we consider easy because we’ve been doing them every day for so many years that they’ve become routines for us, and we just get to work and do everything almost without even having to give it much thought. I mean stuff like taking orders, inventory, accounting, packing and shipping orders, etc. That’s the easy part. The hard part is trying to improve on what we’ve already got going, learning new technology and programs, working on distribution, new tax and business laws, etc.

3/ It seems Razorback start to have a good reputation in the underground. Do you plan to get distributors around the world ?
We’ve got some exclusive distributors now, in Canada, the UK, Sweden and Japan. In America we have a great deal of distribution through trading and such, and of course we’re our own distributor, but we’re always working on trying to get more. We most certainly don’t have enough.

4/ What would you answer to sacastic people who think your label is only into CARCASS clones ?
I think they’re not fully paying attention. On the surface our bands may seem like Carcass clones, but are you really listening? Listener closer, you’ll hear something unique and different coming from each and every band. Anyone who listens to one song and says we just release Carcass clone CDs really needs to re-evaluate how much they know about this genre of music.

5/ It seems the sells aren’t that good in Europe actually ? Is that the same for USA ?
I think sales come in up and down cycles. You’ll get months where you can barely keep up with your orders, and then there’ll be times where you’re considering selling your vintage Care Bears collection on eBay to be able to feed yourself. Haha, well, it’s not that bleak, but there are the good and bad months.

6/ In your opinion, what the most probable reason about the sells decline ? -cdr burning -internet/MP3 -Too many release, too many labels -less metal fans than in the past -records too expensivezombiesmall.gif (20035 octets)
Probably a little bit of everything, except I don’t think there are less metal fans than in the past. I do think that sales are hurt by a lack of advertising. If people don’t know about your releases, how are they going to buy them?

7/ What kind of decision would you take to stop this sells decline (if you have a decline…!) ?
Whenever we see an extended decline, we have a few things that we do to get things going again, like running sales and such, though usually things pick right back up again if you just wait it out.

8/ Do you think there’s still a future for cd ? Did you ever think about selling some MP3 throught internet or about some cd/DVD ?
There’ll always be a future for CDs. The new DSD technology is so amazing, it’s so clear and sharp that it really sounds like the band is right there in the room with you. Of course as yet I haven’t heard much DSD technology in America, I don’t know about France or other parts of Europe, but I purchase a lot of CDs from Hong Kong and they are almost all being released or re-released with DSD sound now. I don’t think we’ll ever have to worry about the CD format disappearing when there will always be people who are willing to pay for such an excellent sound. As far as underground releases go, I think a decline in the purchase of CDs will only help to thin out the herd, so to speak. Those labels that can withstand the decline will survive. It’s just a matter of being resourceful. I do always wonder what we will do for a living should things not work out with Razorback in the end (knock on wood). But I’m not really worried about it, I’m just the type of person who always wants to have a contingency plan. If things didn’t work out (knock on wood again), we would probably go into some sort of field involving Asian horror and martial arts films, since that is another huge interest of ours.

9/ The only thing you can’t copy is live shows but it seems there’s less fans at shows than in the past in France. Is it the same case in USA ? What’s your opinion about that and is there a logical explanation for that ?
I’m not sure, I don’t go to shows. I haven’t gone to a show in probably five years or more. I used to spend my life going to shows, I worked as a bar-girl/waitress in a metal club until I realized.. hey! I hate this! I just can’t stand the crowds, the burning smoke, pretentious and annoying people, waiting until 3:00 am to see a band play for twenty minutes, etc. Perhaps I’m part of the problem, haha!

10/ How do you see the future of your label and more generaly the future of metal in the music business ?
I think it’s got a good future ahead of it. It may evolve into something completely different than it is now, but it’s not going away any time soon!
Thanks for your answers Jill
Thanks again! I hope my answers weren’t too boring! Everyone check out www.razorbackrecords.com!