"Pure mistletoe with noise qualities, and gigantic technical stuff,
but honored American thrash of the late eighties." --Keller '87
Righteous Pigs - "Our Demo" Demo 1, Untitled Demo 2, BCT Comp Tracks (Flac), Live 1987 (Mahler)
"Pure mistletoe with noise qualities, and gigantic technical stuff,
Raagg - 1998 Demo & 2001 Split EP Trax
Napalmer's Bomb House interview with Hiroshi (Russia, year unknown)...
Cheers, Hiroshi! How is it going my friend? Tell us about Raagg! How the band was formed, band upline, releases etc...
Raagg was formed in spring 1996, as "Honkon" in the following line-up to play traditional hard core (such as SxOxB etc) Hideyuki (vo/guitar), Ryosuke (drums), Hiroshi (bass), Ryosuke and Hideyuki had made experiences in bands, but Hiroshi had none. The first demo tape named "Harsh noise -Shizuka Demo-" was recorded in 1997 February and at that time, we renamed to "Skip Rope". When we recorded this tape, Keita joined us as a guitar. So, line up became as follows: Hideyuki (vocal), Keita (guitar/vocal), Ryosuke (drums), Hiroshi (bass). And the first local gig is 1997 summer with FOB and more crazy bands at Watts Nishi-Ogikubo. In summer 1998, we restarted as "Raagg" and recorded "Death Of Last Species", "Extinction", "Shit Liquor". Some gigs we played in Tokyo, Kanagawa and Yamanashi, and some demo-tapes we recorded and now, we have just finished the latest demo-tape "Rag-002". Our 1st ep will be released from Ratious Record [I think he meant Riotous Assemby records. --S] in USA with "Rise Above" (Japan), and we are searching for a label that supports us. Raagg like to thank the following bands they have played with or supported us: Mind Continue, Sound of War, Discord, No Rest for the Dead, Power of idea, Battle of Disarm, FOB, Bangling Bay and many more.
Well, I think "Sick Society Suicide System" your 2nd stuff, tell us about upcoming releases!
We were on rest for 2 months, so there is no upcoming releases. But, now restart again and compose many songs. They are to be recorded in this year, so, please wait!
What about shows/gigs? How is it going?
Next gig will be 10/15 on Tokyo Japan.
I wanna ask about your musical style. I think u play a kind of noise based on Japanese fastcore. But u titled yourself as a noise band I think Raagg isnt a noisegrind band like others! You added flanger effect your fast/crust tunes for making it noisy, maybe...what kind of music do u like & what bands are your main influences?
When Raagg started, we like very noisy/brutality/crusty and of course very fast music such as, in a word, "Japcore" [take THAT "don't say japcore" fuckfaces! --S]. But because Hideyuki and Hiroshi like traditional '60, '70 rock and Jazz, Raagg's music style was gradually changes. Recently, we are very influenced by King Crimson, Pink Floid, Led Zeppelin, Doors, Free and the Beatles! Of course, modern heavines, such as Korn, Rare Against The Machine, Sound Garden, Alice in Chains, Pantera etc are very influence us.
How were the reactions on the materials you've already released?
Good reactions we received. They were released in live house for free.
I'm not sure but can I guess from the titles your lyrix contain politic messages, don't they? What the lyrix about?
Raagg's lyrix is not similar to many crust bands. We sing someting like we think everyday, such as, "I hate Smoking". Not very serious, but don't want to sing trifling lyrix.
By the way you know, we gave many victims to bullshit earthquake? What's your ideas about this fuckin' shit...
I've heard this news every day. Is there anything I can do for you? In Japan, huge earthquake is often occured, like Kobe '96. So, if there is we can do for you, please tell me!! I would do everything I can.
Ok, thats about it! Any last comment my friend?
Thank you very very much for this interview!! We are very proud of it! Maybe, there is many mistakes in English, please correct as you think. So, very thanks again!! We are waiting for your reply! Thank you and take care. Bye!
Heresy - Reh: Denstone, England, December 8th/9th 1986
"Hello Sean, Happy New Year! I have a bit of a surprise for you. I have been digging around some old boxes of stuff during these crazy times, and I have found my very first rehearsals with Heresy. These rehearsals took place a week before my first show. I hope you have not already heard it. I can’t remember sending it to anyone. I think it was a private/reference recording at the time. This tape is audio evidence of my first attempts to try and fill the mighty boots of Reevesy who I admired greatly. There are no vocals. It is just Kalv, Steve and myself creating a racket in Steve’s bedroom at his Mom and Dad’s house in the small village of Denstone where Plasmid/Heresy was born. I am sure that there are people out there who would like to hear it. I think it needs a spot on your website." --Mitch
Malicious Grind - Demo '87, "Welcome To Life" 12" '88, Live Gilman '89
Bay-area-style-blend-all-the-genres-core...from El Segundo.
João Eduardo De Faria / Cogumelo Records Interview 2005 (Author Unknown, Translation By Cantapaya)
☝The founder of Cogumelo (yes, the really old guy) and Alex / Thornspawn...
“Dealing with metal back in the 80’s was sacrilegious stuff.”
In the recent history of western music, every preeminent scene or movement was born from the partnership of talented musicians (or the peculiar, at least) and people willing to support the recording and distribution of these groups. From Country to Punk Rock, it has always been like that.
For the metal scene in Minas Gerais during the 80’s, Cogumelo was responsible for making it phonographically possible. Established in 1980 as a rock record store, it also became a recording label when its owners João Eduardo de Faria Filho and Creusa Pereira de Faria (aka Patty), decided to expand the business in 1985. They noticed how the number of bands and people interested in metal was rising in Belo Horizonte and decided to release a record that showcased that. They released the split between Overdose and Sepultura through Cogumelo Produções, which would later become Cogumelo Records.
It all worked out, and from then on, Cogumelo was responsible for launching pretty much every metal band from Belo Horizonte and built itself a respectable legacy. Nowadays, it boasts over 150 releases in its catalog. From the seminal Minas Gerais bands, to Ratos de Porão and Pato Fu, up until the new metal generation of Belo Horizonte.
It was said that, in Belo Horizonte during the 80’s, if you flew over the Augusto Lima avenue, between the Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo streets, you could see a huge black spot. That was a bunch of metalheads getting together around the Cogumelo store.
In 2005, I spoke to the owner João Eduardo, who told me a little about the first years of the label...
Cogumelo as a record store exists since 1980. How were things back then?
When the store was founded in 1980, it was in Avenida Augusto de Lima 339, on the corner with Rio de Janeiro street. It was a common rock record store. It moved out of that place in 1998. The store itself is 25 years old, and the label is 20. We had good visibility here in Minas Gerais, unlike São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. In Rio de Janeiro there isn’t even any Heavy Metal, back in the 80’s there was Dorsal Atlântica, Taurus, Azul Limão, it was actually a good scene. The problem with Rio is that the mentality is a little bit different. Over here people are into the actual metal scene, it was always like that. It may have gone through several phases, but the metal thing here has always been strong. So much that the record label has been active this whole time, constantly releasing Heavy Metal and Hardcore material. There was a time when we turned a little towards Pop, in the 90’s, when we released Pato Fu, Defalla, Tianastácia, afterwards we jumped out of that ship because nowadays you need a lot of money to release that kind of sound: you gotta pay a lot of fucking cash, a lot of promotion. Nowadays we don’t have the structure to support that.
I imagine that was a symptom of the times.
Yeah, that whole Grunge bullshit came in. The only ones that you could salvage from that was Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney. Everything else was shit, you know? That was the issue, it weakened the metal scene, including in the US. While that grunge thing went on, Heavy Metal had its legs broken. Only by the end of the 90’s things started working out again. Around 6 or 7 years ago metal started coming back strong – both in Europe and in the US. And I think that when people talk about the return of the 80’s, I think they’re wrong. It’s the return of Heavy Metal’s base itself. Because the bands that are coming back stronger are bands from the 70’s: Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Mötorhead…so, if bands are coming back, they are coming back to a rediscovery niche market. Both oldschool folks and today’s kids are listening to these bands.
Let’s try to determine a chronology. The store is founded in 1980, how was the metal scene back then?
The metal thing really started to stick in Brazil around ’84. In 1985 it gained a lot of strength because of Rock in Rio, which was when it all got a huge boost. We were starting to realize that as a store (who opened the store was actually my wife, Patty, at the time I didn’t even think of working in the business). And the Heavy Metal thing, which was amplified by Rock in Rio, really got our attention. We were always into rock, we had a rock record store and saw that metal was a very strong niche market. So we worked towards making a connection with São Paulo, where that scene was also growing strong, there was the Woodstock store, Galeria do Rock, Devil Discos, Rock Brigade was starting out as well…
When we looked into this Heavy Metal thing, we noticed there was a scene here in Belo Horizonte. There were some good bands, playing shows already. But it was just a bunch of kids, really. We took those kids and gave them some support and structure. We had a junction of very important factors in Belo Horizonte: the talent of these kids, the support of the Cogumelo label and the first studio at the time with the technology and conditions to make quality work for these bands, "JG". It’s considered to be at the same level of, for example, Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, bands that recorded in foreign countries. Bands here were at the same level of foreign bands in terms of sound. And the guys here were in touch with the guys over there.
Sepultura, Sarcófago and others contacted other bands by mail, traded fanzines and demo tapes. They were in touch with Death, Kreator, Sodom, there was a huge exchange of information. It’s even hard to talk about a pioneer band, because there was that information exchange and bands mirrored each other. If you take the sonority of bands like Destruction, Sodom, Kreator and Death, and compare it to the local bands, you can find several similarities, both in themes and song structure. It’s death, thrash, black metal, so bands benefitted from that support and Cogumelo could not have come so far without those bands and a quality studio. It was the right time, with the right bands, and us giving them support. Without those factors, there wouldn’t the anything.
When did it start looking like a proper scene?
That would be around the same time as the first Metal BH (First Heavy Metal festival in Belo Horizonte, which took place in March 1985). Sometime before that we had already noticed there was a scene beginning to form. The thing is, we had Vladimir (Vladimir Korg, Chakal’s vocalist) working in the store with us. Vladimir – and Patty – had a strong connection with those kids, mainly because they were at the store all the time. So, due to that contact, we had the idea to record a split with two bands that had material ready to be recorded. Those bands were Overdose and Sepultura. At the time of the split, Sepultura was raw, and Overdose were way more technical, more polished and all that. Vladimir always lobbied for Sepultura, he was close to them. He followed their recording sessions, helped them with translations, writing lyrics, he had a special affection for Sepultura and that made us focus more on Sepultura as well.
But there were also other active bands, that would be part of Warfare Noise later on: Chakal, Holocausto, Mutilator and the one that really blew up internationally, Sarcófago. Nowadays I consider them the most successful band in our label. They became a cult band, a worldwide reference in Metal even today. They influenced the style, the attitude, lyrics, aesthetics, there are foreign bands all over Europe, mainly in Norway, who shamelessly copy Sarcófago. So, 1985 would be the year when things really came into place.
In March 1986, we organised a huge release show for Sepultura and Overdose’s album at Ginástico. It was also then that we started organising events. This show, our first, was huge, with almost 2000 people in the audience. The line-up was Sepultura, Overdose, Mutilator and Dorsal Atlântica. It was the show where there was the burning of a cross. You see, ’85 and ’86 were defining years, when the whole Metal thing really blew up. It was also when people from outside of Belo Horizonte began paying attention. In 1987, the whole scene was consolidated: practically every band in the label already had their own LP, Sepultura’s third was just coming out, Schizophrenia, Andreas [Kisser] had already moved to Belo Horizonte – Jairo went to play in a cheesy band, kinda poser sounding like Motley Crue, and the band at the time was leaning further and further towards Thrash Metal, starting with Death Metal and being influenced by the Bay Area bands, you know the deal.
The scene was very dynamic back then. When we released Warfare Noise, the other bands were already taking it seriously, playing shows frequently, even traveling to neighboring states to play. Going back to the start…what did we do? We put Sepultura and Overdose on our shoulders, and since we kept in touch with bands and producers from other states, we booked shows for them everywhere in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. That made the Minas Gerais metal expand even further, until then no one knew about it. Shop owners in Rio and São Paulo would see me walk in with the records under my arm and laugh: “Fuck man, that’s ridiculous. A band called Sepultura and another called Overdose? That’s going nowhere”.
And there was nothing like the bands from Belo Horizonte. Of course, there was Vulcano, from Santos, and Dorsal Atlântica from Rio, but they didn’t have the same repercussion. Even here in Belo Horizonte, there was Mutilator for example. In my opinion, Mutilator was a band that could have been as big as Sepultura, because they were really freaking good. They had a really good sound, nice production, aesthetics, but even Sarcófago themselves, whom we thought would be even bigger: we licensed them through Music for Nations and they toured through Europe.
Sepultura was really lucky because they ended up in a label that was growing, Roadrunner. They had Mercyful Fate and some other band from that time, but the thing is, they were establishing their franchise in the US, Roadracer. One of the first bands they signed was Sepultura. They backed Sepultura and it was Sepultura that carried them basically. If you notice, practically every other band in Roadrunner were similar to Sepultura. But we can’t take anything away from Roadrunner, because they were dynamic, constantly keeping up with the trends. So Sepultura was lucky to take advantage of that opportunity, to have the backing of a strong label that believed in them.
With Warfare Noise, Brazil and – in a way – the rest of world, paid more attention to Belo Horizonte. The bands were really good at the musical level. Of course, things weren’t so great when it came to organization. Most bands here didn’t have that entrepreneur vision they should have had. Sepultura was one of the first bands to have that ambition. The bands that were part of the first Warfare Noise were bands that came to our store all the time. We knew them from the festivals, we knew their demo tapes, we sold their tapes in our store, so we had an idea of which bands sold more demos. Our guideline for Warfare Noise was: “which bands are the important ones, that deserve to be in such a compilation?”. And the release was kind of surprising. The release of Sepultura’s Morbid Visions, and Warfare Noise, caught a lot of attention. At the time, besides Germany and the US, there weren’t as many metal bands with that potential anywhere else in the world. Overdose didn’t jump in back then. They were a band with a different kind of structure, and unlike Sepultura, who agreed to record Morbid Visions with us right away, Overdose went looking for other labels to release their material. The following year, in 1987, we started to work on each band’s record because of the demand for Warfare Noise. Everyone was asking about their albums, and those bands had the potential to record LPs. So, in sequence, we released Holocausto, Mutilator, Sarcófago and Chakal. Sepultura’s record came out at the end of the year, which was Schizophrenia, in 1987.
Back then, Schizophrenia, was the record in which Cogumelo invested the most. Both in recording and graphic production. It was the label’s first double cover album. The band was already in rotation throughout Brazil, they had already opened for Venom here in Belo Horizonte, there was a lot of exposure. That was when the gringos really started turning their eyes towards Sepultura.
Anyways, you could say that the apex of the Belo Horizonte metal scene was between 1986 and ’89. It was insane the number of bands that were around in 1989. That was when we released the second Warfare Noise, with Witchhammer, Aamonhammer, Megathrash and Mayhem (though Warfare Noise 2 didn’t have such a big impact).
It wasn’t easy. Dealing with metal in the ‘80s was sacrilegious stuff. Up until the promulgation of the constitution (after Brazil’s military dictatorship ended, in 1988), we had to go to the Federal Police, so they would approve the album’s lyrics. At times they would take the records and make us change the lyrics. Every record until 1988 had to go through the censorship’s eye. Back then Sexthrash would never be approved! No chance! And we had to translate the lyrics for them, we had to bring a copy in Portuguese and another in English. The police didn’t even have people who spoke English. So, we translated it to sound milder, in hopes they would approve it. And it did, because they didn’t understand any of it anyways.
About the copyright issues, does Cogumelo still have the copyrights on Sepultura’s records, for example?
We do, on their first records, Bestial Devastation, Morbid Visions and Schizophrenia. We actually show the record sales to the musicians. But there were some reissues released by Roadrunner, whose licenses were conceded to them. When Roadrunner signed with Sepultura they thought of everything. When they noticed that it was getting big, they got in touch with me, we sealed the contract and licensed the records. We always try to be transparent when it comes to this stuff. If any artist has a problem, thinks they didn’t receive what was due, all they have to do is get in touch with us.
It has happened many times already, guys coming up to me and go: “João, I want to get paid for this and that”. And I’ll say: “no, you can’t get any money. I signed a contract with four people, the whole band. So, I have to pay four people and their heirs.”. Imagine that someone wants to be paid someone else’s royalties: “oh, but that guy died, that other one started doing crack and died as well, you can pay me the royalties.”. And I do, and it doesn’t go well. Then people show up and ask: “fuck, you paid that other guy?”. That’s why we are so careful when it comes to managing intellectual rights. Here at Cogumelo we are transparent, if someone is not happy, just come to us and we’ll set the record straight.
Mellakka - '84 Practice & “R.I.P. Recordings 1984-1986” CD 2004 (FLAC/320)
"Mellakka was a Finnish Hardcore Punk band formed in a small Finnish coast/industrial town called Rauma in year 1983. During their relatively short career in the mid/late 80’s, the band visited the recording studio three times, resulting two ep’s and a three-song demo. A compilation album of these songs was released in 2004 and was named 'R.I.P. recordings 1984-1986'.
Pete and Jappe were friends, and started the band at the age of fifteen (Pete) and sixteen (Jappe). After spending a couple of years banging on cardboard boxes and yelling into the cleaning brushes in Jappe’s father’s boiler room. They were also spending time together listening punk rock. Bands like the Ramones, Sex Pistols, U.K. Subs and Lama were the first big names, but the final kick for forming a punk band came when the guys got a hold of Discharge’s 'Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing' LP, and 'Why?' EP. That was the time when the first Propaganda Records’ compilation album was released too, the new Finnish hc-punk bands on that record, like Riistetyt, Kaaos, Terveet Kädet all sounded awesome. Then they had the pleasure of seeing Appendix and Destrucktions playing live at their home town. That was a really influential hc gig, especially Destrucktions. Without these bands it could have been a really different story.
After getting their hands on some equipment, the guys started to practice in Jappe’s parents garage. After practicing for a while, the band was named Mellakka, and the first real line-up was Pete (voc), Kapulainen (bass), Janne (guitar), Jappe (drums). The band was ready to make it’s first gigs, and did, but quite soon the vocalist Pete left the band, and joined the other hc band in Rauma punk scene, Pohjasakka, as a bass player. In the meantime, Jappe met yet another bass player called Holkka. Kapulainen was ready to sing and Holkka naturally took the job of playing the bass. This change seemed to work, and the band sounded much better than before.
Soon Mellakka had enough new songs and it was time to visit the studio. The first Ei EP was published in autumn ‘84 by the guys themselves, mainly because nobody else would do it. Almost all the records at that time were published by the Propaganda Records, but Mellakka thought that they should release it themselves. All the other new bands were doing the same, Sekaannus, Massacre and bands like that.
The musical influences of the band can be spotted on the record. There was some disappointments after finishing the EP, it didn’t sound nowhere near as great as 'Hear Nothing', but at the end of the day the guys had to be more than pleased with the result. Everything in the studio went quite well for being the first time. The place was called Laser Studio and it was built in an old barn. It was run by a religious fanatic fool, but the guy who did the actual recording/mixing was a hippie called Pertti Palonen and he really has quite a lot to do in how both of the EPs and the demo are sounding...a very nice guy. They have only good memories of him. He is probably the main reason why all of the Mellakka recordings are made in that same place. The line-up for the Ei EP was Kapulainen (voc), Janne (guitar), Jappe (drums), Holkka (bass). The guitarist Janne left the band right after the EP was released. Luckily there was a help near by. A guitarist named Perttula was digging the Ei EP hard, and was more than happy to join the group. The band continued to practice and made some new songs. Soon it was time to hit the studio for the second time.
Itsenäisyyspaivä EP from January ‘85 was made for Rat Poison Records run by Mr P. Järveläinen. Rat Poison published other punk/hc music too at that time, bands like Kuolleet Kukat. After visiting one practice session and hearing the new songs, Järveläinen reserved new studio time for the band. Only two weeks before the studio, the singer Kapulainen had enough, threw the mic to the floor saying 'FYA, I never gonna sing a goddamn note again!', and just like that, it was over for him. Gotta respect that. Well anyways, the band was in trouble, new singers didn’t grow on trees as they say. In desperation the guys even called to Mike Poison, who is/was known for singing for the great hc band called Destrucktions. He promised to visit to the studio, to see what can be done, but didn’t sound TOO excited...It was getting clearer and clearer that only one man can do this job. The band got together with the original singer Pete, and after a long discussion and convincing, he decided to join the band again, and this time he stayed for good. The band did get the practice they needed before the studio and everything went just right after all. The guys thought that the result was far better than the first time around, sound wise, song wise, in all the ways. The band added some guitar riffs, solos and other non-hc-tricks in their songs, which made this record a bit more interesting than the first one. But no success without some losses, soon after the second EP was out, Holkka left the band.
Perttula’s good friend Altti was to replace Holkka right away, as the band had some gigs to take care of. First he played the bass, later the guitar. The year ‘85 went by making new songs again and practicing, maybe more than ever. The absolute best gig was in Helsinki at Lepakko 5.18.1985. With them there were at least Rattus, Maho Neitsyt and Painajainen. There is VHS footage of that gig, but it’s recorded so poorly, that you can’t really tell what song they are playing at times, but ‘85-’86 they were at their very best form.
The band tried to find a publisher for their LP, and there was some discussions but that was far as it went and it never came thru. Anyways, the band decided to visit the studio just to make a demo if nothing else and have some fun. The result was three songs (Totuus II, Anti-Kaikki, Turhaa Taistelua), recorded in five hours, which have a lot of musical influences by metal/thrash scene of that time. This demo was recorded in February 1986, and was never even meant to be released, as they were going to record the songs again later with more time in the studio. The line-up for the demo was Perttula (bass), Jappe (drums), Pete (voc), Altti (guitar). Mellakka had about ten to fifteen other songs from the same period of time than these three songs, but never got the time to record them. Damn shame. After the demo was made the band continued for some time, but the guys of the band started to get bored with the small town and soon everybody was leaving the place to different directions. It was time to lay the band to rest.
Mellakka has practiced together few times after that. Last session was in 1993. The band got together and played few days just for fun with the line-up: Perttula (guitar), Jappe (drums), Pete (voc) and Sätkä (bass). This is probably the line-up the band would have if they should play together again."
Click to embiggen...
Selfish - "Patriotism Is Not Excuse" Demo 1990 (FLAC)
Pre Otto, but still insanely "Japcore" (upbeat, noiseless)
sung in a shockingly unexpected Keller-style...
Excrement Of War & Doom - 1990 Demo & Rehearsals (FLAC)
The ropey remnants of Fagin's final brood, snatching ears (and snatch) with their demo
and a split practice with Doom. Admit it, I should have been an editor for the NME...
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