Brian Slagel - For the Sake of Heaviness: The History of Metal Blade Records

FOR THE SAKE OF HEAVINESS:
THE HISTORY OF METAL BLADE RECORDS

Copyright 2017 by Metal Blade Records, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher, with the exception of brief passages embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Cover design by Randall Leddy

Metal Blade Records logo designed by Dan Fitzgerald and Brian Ames

Book production services by Adept Content Solutions

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request.

ISBN: 9781947026001

Published by BMG

www.bmg.com

For my mom, who gave me the support
to make my dreams come true.

Chapter One
My Metal Awakening

Chapter Two
Metal Massacre

Chapter Three
Building the Beast

Chapter Four
Carving Out a Niche

Chapter Five
Growing Pains and Pleasures

Chapter Six
I Becomes We

Chapter Seven
A Major Alliance

Chapter Eight
Pushing the Envelope

Chapter Nine
Independence Restored

Chapter Ten
Embracing the Unexpected

Chapter Eleven
Into the Future

If you form a band Ill give you a slot on the first Metal Massacre album, a compilation record Im putting together for up-and-coming L.A. based metal bands.

And so it began. I was now officially on a missionin the days where the whole musical universe centered around being signed to a record label, I had officially won the lottery. The way I spun it in my head, Brian Slagel had just given me a record deal. No ifs, ands or buts. Wait, the only thing missing now was having a band.

Rewind six months. The Country Club, Reseda, California, December 1980, a snot-nosed 16-year old Danish kidfresh to the overly irrigated Southern California suburbswalks around by his lonesome self, waiting for the Michael Schenker Group to take the stage, when hes approached by a couple of inquisitive fellas about whether hed ever heard of a band from England called Saxon. Yes, I have heard about Saxon! I say matter-of-factly, somewhat puzzled by the question since Im wearing a Saxon t-shirt in all its glory. And so the seeds are sown for a relationship that, thirty-six years later, hasnt really changed much. Brian Slagel and I, a couple of regular, somewhat disenfranchised kidspassionate music fans who have each in their own way embraced hard rock and heavy metal to make themselves feel part of something bigger, to each feel a sense of belonginghave now found each other.

When you tell the story of Brian Slagel and chart the course of Metal Blade Records, the three words that come to mind, at least to my mind, are loyalty, consistency, and dependability.

Metal Blade is the one label in the hard rock world that has always been at the forefront of the scene, rolled with the times, gone from triumph to triumph, been in the thick of the action, outlived every single one of its competitors, and is revered and respected by musicians, fans and industry peeps alike. And of course, at the center of the Metal Blade universe is Brian Slagel. Metal Blade and Brian Slagel go hand-in-hand. You dont write the story of one without writing the story of the other. They are inseparable. Since the early eighties when Brian and I started hanging out, going to record stores and gigs, listening to music, tape trading, corresponding with other like-minded metalheads around the world, and generally being one hundred percent enveloped in the DIY world of rock, Brians passion, authenticity, and dedication to all things metal has been unequal.

While my focus went in the direction of air-drumming, and setting my sights on scraping together a band, Brian initially put his energy and enthusiasm into starting a fanzine called the New Heavy Metal Revue. He would write stories and share anecdotes of his favorite bands, their treks through Southern California, review recent record releases and gush on about the latest crazy, super underground tapes that were King Shit until five minutes later when the next band seemed cooler, more unique and more next-level.

One thing Brian was extra passionate about in the way early days was the local L.A. scene. It soon became obvious that he was such a proponent of all things Southern California that the aforementioned Metal Massacre compilation was soon given birth to in his head. So in the fall of 1981after I had come back from my eye-opening and life-changing trip following bands around Europe and was ready to engage one James Hetfield in starting a bandBrian put together the first of what would become a mind-boggling, endless array of releases in the form of the premiere OG Metal Massacre album. It was a classic chronicle, showcasing the best of what was happening on the harder end of the scale around the Sunset Strip clubs and SoCal in general. In addition, there was that earlier referenced, specially held slot for his Danish snot-nosed buddy, who was in the middle of luring his soon-to-be friend James into joining forces with him on the promise of the record deal in his back pocket.

Metal Massacre became the gateway for Brian to enjoy and indulge his heartfelt passion. I dont know if anybody expected the attention that soon came his way, meaning that we were all so naive and busy living it that no one was even thinking of success at that time! It just fucking happened. And boy did it happen! In what seemed like no time at all, there were subsequent Metal Massacre releases and tons of cool bands signed like Slayer, Armored Saint, Bitch, Omen, and Lizzy Borden, among others, who were suddenly enjoying careers that they previously hadnt imagined possible.

Brian quickly developed a reputation for being that rare combination of authority and fan mixed with just the right combination of street smarts, and enough of a business sense to make it all function without ever losing its vital roots and his authenticity. In some ways, Brian was quickly becoming the American version of great British indie DIY labels like Rough Trade and Stiff Records, as well as their harder cousins such as Bronze and Neat Records. In retrospect, Im certain he didnt know he had those qualities, and Im sure a significant degree of the early success of the label was because of his subconscious ability to keep it a pure extension of his own personality, and to keep it real.

Every time I saw him in those early years, with Metal Blade further asserting its position in the rock world and wielding more and more clout, I swear he never changed one goddamn bitstill wearing the same cut-off t-shirts, probably the same sneakers as when I first met him, the same sweat on his brow, and the exact same excitement oozing out of him as he was describing his latest find, just like years earlier in his Woodland Hills pad and its early primitive surroundings.

Heres the thing.

Brian is the true vanguard of heavy metal.

He loves it.

He supports it.

He really does live it.

He doesnt foghorn what he does or what he has done.

He just does it.

When you see Brian at a gig or a Kings hockey game, he doesnt trumpet what achievements Metal Blade have accomplished, because he isnt on this planet to do that. He goes to shows, bashes and events because he still loves it every inch as much as he did when he first grew the ginger hair on his youthful face!

You wanna hear what Brians listening to, because