Nuclear Blast Internship Diary - Day 4

Thursday 29 October 2015

Had plenty to get on with when I came in this morning. Plenty more filing away of the latest Alexei Laiho and Tom Araya interviews and more social media links to put up.

It was as I watched others in the office go about their work and talk about the ups and downs of organising big things like the Deathcrusher Fest, that I realised the music business can be as interesting and frustrating to work in as any other place. That’s because it’s a business.

When I was younger, I had the naive idea that working for a record label meant hanging out with bands and receiving free music and getting into gigs and festivals for free. Now most of that is true, but I never considered all the admin things that come with working in a multi billion pound business.

For anyone reading this who’s considering doing something like this, always be aware that no matter how much you love something and want to keep it alive, there are always going to be the ups and downs of you job.

The road is long, but always think of the end result. In my first week here, I can tell my colleagues love their jobs and the music they are getting out to the world, but I know there are times when lots of boring and hard work comes in and it must be done so we metalheads can have our fun.

Once again, lets here it for all the people who earn a decent living out of helping you enjoy the things you love.

I also found a rather badly written and researched article claiming Folk Metal is racist – which I shared with friends and caused an interesting discussion on the way metal is perceived by most of society. It also led to me introducing a friend to Astarte, the Greek all female Black Metal group. So I’m pleased with that.

I know there have and always will be idiots in any music culture who will give it a bad name, but I do intend to do some research into metal in the near future to show how it is changing. I guess whoever wrote that article had no genuine interest in the music and just couldn’t understand the appeal of Folk Metal.

Ironically it made me want to listen to Ensiferum and Korpiklaani afterwards. And I do sometimes wonder if anyone has written such an article attacking other harmless genres like Power Metal.

Just before I left, the band Devil You Know and their tour crew turned up. They were on their way through the country on their way to Sweden. They all seemed very friendly and talked to everyone about which band was doing what or where the next big gig or event was happening. That’s the closest I’ve come to my impression of a record label being a place to socialise with bands. Even though Devil You Know aren’t the kind of band I usually listen to.