Nuclear Blast Internship Diary - Day 11

Wednesday 11 November 2015

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

Nuclear Blast Internship - Day 2

Tuesday 27 October 2015 

I arrived a little later and felt worried about being late but Claire, the press officer, told me I wasn’t expected until 10 so I was still early.

What a relief.

First of all, I filed away a few more magazine cut outs. As I leafed through the folder I was happy to see some of my published works in there. My review of Behemoth in Devolution Magazine and my Blind Guardian write up in Metal Monthly were just a few. Made me rather chuffed to know something I wrote had been read in this office.

Then Nik told me to put about 40 copies of the new Anthrax single ‘Evil Twin’ into envelopes and sticker on the radio station addresses. This felt like good manual labouring fun as I made up a routine of packaging and filing. It felt good using my hands as it beat staring into a computer screen all day.

Once that was done, I was shown how to use a franking machine to put the postal payments on the envelopes. Doing the mail might not have seemed like a typical music industry role, but it showed how big the logistics of getting new music out there can be and how much manpower it requires.

Lisa and Claire then discussed the Cradle gig last weekend. Apparently the band played well but the dancing girls didn’t know what to do. Someone covering that gig had already told me they were a letdown so I wasn’t surprised.

Whilst I can see the appeal of dancing girls, and I am not against them being used in any art form at all, I do sometimes find them cringe worthy. And I do wonder how many young people go to those sorts of gigs just to see a sexy woman waving her breasts around to the music.

In the afternoon I filled out more radio and TV airplay spreadsheets. Slayer had the most plays with their new single ‘Repentless’ and I posted more social media links about the new Suicide Silence video and what Dani Filth makes of Halloween in general. 

It was a typical day at the office,  but the most interesting part was when I was on my way home and Claire had accompanied me to post the singles I’d packaged. She told me how she’d come straight into PR from the world of Art and Sarah, the other press officer, had studied journalism before getting into the music world. 

According to her, PR appealed as what a journalist would do without all the hassle of research and interviewing people. Now that could come across as spiteful to all the hard working journalists I know, but I do get what she means. Being someone who likes to work backstage and give others a helping hand, I can see the world of PR beckoning me closer and closer.

Music PR is definitely a worthy encounter if you love music but aren’t sure if you could be a professional music writer. But always keep your options open as this is my first proper experience of this world.