The penultimate day dawned with another good share of press
cuttings and having to sort out Amazon prices of releases.
It was quite the same day as most of the time. The day to
day feel had really set in so I have a good idea of what working 24/7 for a label
feels like.
I haven’t made an entry for yesterday as it was the quietest
day where my enthusiasm felt a little off and my anxiety settled in for a visit
which made me want to leave the office as soon as possible.
Though what stood out for today, was several of the guys
showing me what they do in their daily routines.
Nick was the first to show me
what he does, organising all the radio and TV arrangements for bands releasing new
materials. It looked as though he had to build good relations with the stations
to get the latest song some airplay.
There were some interesting anecdotes about censorship, like
a Decapitated song couldn’t be played on Radio 1 over the summer because
stories of ISIS beheadings were in the news.
Something about a Machine Head video being pulled for having
a few frames of a woman’s nipple also made me wonder who has such a job like
that? Who spends their professional time learning to read videos frame by frame
to tell the publishers it won’t make the rounds?
Though it was very interesting looking at the itineraries
for people like Kerry King each time he flies in and has to be interviewed by
whichever magazine or station who want to promote the new Slayer record.
Then I was invited into Mark, the managing director’s office
where he showed me his job – which never sleeps. Each day he has to deal with
new CD and vinyl prices and knowing about live shows can be a real pain
especially if the band managers can be really unreliable.
I did think: thank god for the technology we have today as a
problem can arise at anytime from anywhere in the world, especially on a label
with offices in the US and Europe. So it’s good if he can find a problem and
fix it as fast as possible. Running a label does feel a bit like being a
journalist, because the news world never sleeps either.
A fascinating look into how it feels to manage some of the
most successful metal and rock bands on the planet. Maybe one day I’ll do a job
like Mark’s, but only if I grow to deal with as big a workload as his. And if I
learn to deal with musicians, whom most people here collectively see as
generally difficult people to work with
