Metal Insider likes to catch up with label owners every now and then, but it’s not often the label owner is an icon. Philip Anselmo is much better known as the outspoken vocalist of Pantera and Down than as a label tycoon, but since about 2006, Housecore Records has given him an outlet outside of vocals. Initially starting as a way to release his solo work outside of the two arforementioned bands, the label has grown since then, and has releases coming out later this year by the likes of Crowbar, Haarp, and his own Arson Anthem. While we’ll be bringing you a full interview with Anselmo later this week, here’s an excerpt of the interview, where we asked him his thoughts on how the music industry has changed since he started the label:
“I’m sure it’s been said a thousand fuckin’ times, but with today’s techonology, it was bound to happen. There’s a part of me where I’m glad, in a way. I guess this can go hand in hand with what I wanted to do with Housecore: the freedom, no pressure, the dual input. It seemed like to me, the bigger conglomerates made a whole lot of moves on fans’ behalves without asking. They put pressure on other bands to get product out. They fork out all this motherfuckin’ money, and the band thinks they’re rich, when in reality, it’s just one big debt that they just got themselves into, and the only way to work that debt off is to play shows probably two years longer than you should be playing those shows.
There’s a freedom there, and a free for all. There’s a million little indie labels, and there’s no need for gigantic studios and big drum rooms and huge consoles any more. With Pro Tools, and once again, technology, people fuckin’ record in fuckin’ closets and it sounds great. Or it sounds how they want it to. They don’t need this high dollar producer, they don’t need fancy equipment. I realize all of this, and there’s good to it and there’s bad to it.”
Check in with Metal Insider for the remainder of the interview this week.
