Explore every episode of the podcast Temple of Bleh

Beardo's away, so Jim ropes in his mate DJ — who has seen a few clips and otherwise has no idea what this podcast is. Which is fair, because twelve minutes in Jim admits he may not actually like music. He just likes the pub and the paperwork.

So: why Slipknot "left" Roadrunner but the logo is still at the bottom of the new single. Why Anthrax should be doing for the East Coast what Mötley Crüe did for the West. The night Orange Goblin refused the venue's merch cut and sold their shirts from the pub over the road. And the managers who swear they have a plan every time, when really they just haven't been sacked yet.

No guest, no topic, no notes.

[Beardo is echo-ey for the first quarter of this episode - calm your tits]

Jim went to Brutal Assault. Beardo went to Beyond the Gates. Neither of them wants to talk about the bands.

Instead: 5G across a fortress for five days, toilets with a traffic-light system, a wristband that means you never queue for a pint, and a round that came to £3.91. Then the harder question — why the UK can't do any of it, and who actually owns that problem.

Also: the £10 band you've never heard of, why every town needs a Big Gary, and a Swedish man with a bag of maggots.

No guest this week. Just a stock-take.

Tony Boden put on death metal shows in Brighton — four mates each risking £500 on a Tuesday to get Nile through the door. Twenty years on he's at Out Of Line in Berlin: booking, promoting, some A&R, some management, and teaching music export at Berklee.

He tells Jim and Beardo how it actually works. What an agent does that a promoter doesn't. Why your dashboard numbers don't predict who turns up. Why Facebook still outsells everything for tickets.

Also: a venue two hundred over capacity, the police at the door, and the time Watain sat down in catering.

Part Two of our Earache Records deep dive — and this one went off-script. We sat down with Al Dawson (Earache US) to fact-check twenty years of label history… and then founder Digby Pearson, who it turns out was one of two people watching the stream, texted his way into the call — bringing an announcement with him: a new signing he describes as "one of the biggest pop producers in the world", making a death metal album for Earache.

Also in this episode:

– The tennis match that put Entombed on MTV

– What Columbia really spent marketing Carcass's Heartwork — and what it sold

– The Bring Me The Horizon Warped Tour merch call: "$50,000… a night"

– The Repugnant demo Tobias Forge sent Earache, and never got a reply to

– Skindred vs Universal: twelve staff against four hundred for a UK number one

– Why Digby passed on Blood Incantation. Twice.

0:00 Preamble & setup

1:20 Part Two begins — picking up Part One's questions

12:54 Entombed, MTV, and a tennis bet

18:42 Why the Columbia deal really ended

54:26 "$60 million to sell out" — the last independents

1:05:47 Digby crashes his own label's interview

1:10:06 The announcement: the secret Swedish signing

1:13:07 The Ghost demo Earache ignored

1:35:27 Blood Incantation: the one that got away

1:38:44 BMTH: $50k a night in merch

2:04:56 Skindred vs Universal: the chart war

2:14:02 "I shunned all the -tions"

Temple of Bleh EP 42 — Earache Records: From Scum to Sofa, Part Two, ft. Al Dawson & Digby Pearson.

Get yer tinfoil hats ready - we're discussing Earache's transition from Grind to Grandad.

@BeardODoom

@beardodoom

Documentary banter is about 53 minutes in.

Sorry for the audio - the podcast version will be normalised.

Ducking out the Bullets and Octane rehearsal studio to guest host this episode, Gene Louis spills his passion for drumming with Modern Drummer founder and CEO, David Frangioni.

https://pipemanradio.com/

https://blacklitedistrict.net/

https://auxiliummusic.com/

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/believes-board-backs-takeover-bid-from-ladegaillerie-led-consortium1/

https://audioassemble.com/distrokid-vs-tunecore/

State of play going forward.

https://store.decibelmagazine.com/collections/books/products/the-scott-burns-sessions

Scott and David pop by to discuss their new book ‘The Scott Burns

Sessions: A Life in Death Metal 1987 – 1997’, and take a stroll down

memory lane.

https://wearesovereignband.bigcartel.com/

Laura pops into le ToB for distinctly millenial discourse.

https://www.msk.com/attorneys-Eric_German Eric pops in to do Bleh's favourite thing - engage in extremely long form conversations about the commercialisation and elevation of outlier cultures and heavy metal music. :)

https://ipecac.com/ Marc stops by to talk about his extensive career in music, the challenges of the modern day industry... and we also talk a little bit about Roadrunner, as is standard.

Michael joins ToB to talk about his time at Roadrunner Records as Head of Sales.

http://www.escapethefate.com/

Rob takes a pew to discuss ETF's newest album - Out of the Shadows. Check it out now!

In which I also spill beer on my keyboard, like a dick.

Matt and Joel join ToB to discuss the possible resurgence of Nu-Metal, and their own experiences of the movement.

​ @alltheprettythingsofficial 

Logan drops in to discuss the upcoming alltheprettythings record, starting a band in your 30s, and the various triumphs and challenges within!

https://www.thunderflix.com/

Thunderflix is the home of on-demand streaming content dedicated entirely to metal.

In this chat we discuss the journey of Samuel's career from working at Sony to launching his own streaming service.

Check out Thunderflix now at the link above!

@ingested

@the_slam_king

@sean-ingested

Jay and Sean from Manchester's Ingested talk the business of being a band, post-pandemic and post-Brexit touring, and their past lives in the workforce.

https://petrolbastard.bandcamp.com/music

https://www.templeofbleh.com/

This episode we're back to off-piste, non-project specific conversations. This time with me good ol' mates Petrol Bastard. I've known these two for nearly 20 years, so it was good to finally have a proper catchup.

https://www.templeofbleh.com/ https://anchor.fm/blowingsmoketr https://www.patreon.com/twistedrico This time around, Steev and I talk about everything NON-Roadrunner!

https://www.templeofbleh.com/

www.ueginc.com

www.redlightmanagement.com

Big thanks to long time Nickelback manager, Bryan Coleman, for coming onto the pod to talk about the band's time with Roadrunner.

https://www.templeofbleh.com/

https://www.forthewin.media/

https://atomsplitterpr.com/

It's a Roadrunner PR reunion... of sorts... as mentioned at the start, Jamie and Amy were like ships in the night at Roadrunner. But that doesn't stop them regailing their awesome experiences at the label.

Recorded June 2021.

Jonny was very generous with his time, and we managed to squeeze in this chat about his time working the relationship between Megaforce and Roadrunner.

Matt introduces me to his role of Product Manager at Roadrunner in the early-mid 2000s.

Frank tells us his perspective of Roadrunner, through the eyes of a Dutch Music television professional.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

The BG BS continues (geddit?).

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh The continued adventures of d'Blue Grape lads.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

Holy moly it's a back-to-back 3-parter. Just after Xmas, Bleh assembled the pillars of Blue Grape's mighty merch operation for a panatlantic reunion. I managed to edit this down from 5h30m to 4h.

You're welcome.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

Marcus picks up the story of Roadrunner Records from ~2001 up until the 2012 acquisition.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

Today I embark on a test to see just how press outlets would go for those crunchy, delicious clicks.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

https://goodfightmusic.com/

Carl talks me through his life duking it out as label manager of Ferret Music, whilst himself working at Roadrunner Records in the "New Media" division.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

Austin gives us the view from the 21st Century sales perspective of Roadrunner - with a smashing story about Slipknot's 'All Hope is Gone' and it's fight for the #1 spot.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh https://www.ueginc.com/ Dave Loncao joined Roadrunner in 1998 to help lead the label's radio promotion arm into bolder territories. As you're about to hear - he delivered in spades.

For procedural propriety - I claim that 'How You Remind Me' is the most played record of a certain decade (or all time). I'm only partially right;

Source - http://www.mtv.com/news/1627833/eminem-is-the-best-selling-artist-of-the-decade/

"According to Nielsen — which began keeping track of digital sales in July 2003 — Flo Rida's "Low" was the decade's top-selling digital song, having been downloaded more than 5.2 million times. It bested the likes of Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" (nearly 4.7 million downloads), Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" (4.6 million) and the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" (4.3 million).

And there was none of that funny downloading stuff when it came to the decade's most-played radio songs (generational divide, anyone?) a list topped by Nickelback's "How You Remind Me" — which was spun more than 1.2 million times since being released in 2001"

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

Roadrunner research goes to South America with this conversation, as Jerome tells me about his time heading up Roadrunner Brazil.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

https://getthrashed.com/

Rick is not just the People's Thrash Metal Documentarian, but from 2008 to ~2012 he served as Roadrunner's Head of Video Production.

We talk about Rick's career up to the 2000's with stints at Headbanger's Ball and 120 minutes, as well as the various obstacles and joys of video production for Roadrunner.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

https://www.shrapnelrecords.com/

This audio-only conversation with Mike explores Shrapnel's relationship with Roadrunner Records, the intricacies of forming the first metal-only label in the USA, and the challenges of the modern day label system.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

This conversation with Kenny marks another swan dive into yet another Roadrunner rabbit hole - it's merchandising arm, Blue Grape.

The accents game is strong in this one - you have been warned :)

https://atomsplitterpr.com/

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

Amy Sciarretto is another stalwart of Roadrunner Records, serving the company for over a decade in the Radio department, and the PR department. This started her on the trajectory she continues to ride today with Atom Splitter PR.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

Michel wore many many hats within whilst at Roadrunner Records in the late 80's/90's, mostly fiscal and core label administrative roles - all of which sit firmly within my wheelhouse.

Consider this a 'business' exploration into Roadrunner at that time, similar to the Richard Bengloff and Stefan Koster episodes.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsutM3jJYI6ZXb1IMrMJk_A/videos

Marc is a collector of disgraceful and heavy antiquities, among which is a sizeable array of thrash and death metal records.

Marc talks me thorugh his experience with Roadrunner Records from the perspective of a budding young metalhead in the late 80's / early 90's.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

https://tentontradingco.com/

Robb Flynn tells the story of Machine Head's journey with Roadrunner Records, all the way from the bands inception through to the Red Wedding in 2012.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Howie-Abrams/e/B00CGMRWCE/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1

CORRECTION - at 6:40 I say RCA, when it should be MCA. Not YMCA, just MCA. Cheers Monte.

Howie was the first person I spoke to on this project (#J on the audio-only version of this pod), so it made sense to revisit his tenure with a (slightly) more developed understanding of Roadrunner in the 90s.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

Ray joined Roadrunner in 1999, and went straight into the front lines of the business, arranging deals with artists, and handling some of the back office functionality.

We talk about Ray's time with the label, the day-to-day operations in Business Affairs, and some of the unique qualities the Roadrunner wore as a business as it moved through the 21st Century.

https://linktr.ee/TempleOfBleh

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Joel-McIver/e/B002IP93H6

Joel is possibly one of the more prolific music authors of the past few decades. He has written 34 books and has also rendered services to the music journalism world during this period - it's very difficult to be a rock/metal fan and not come across his name.

So who better to carry me through the world of Roadrunner through the eyes of a professional commentator, biographer, and observer!