Metal Perv TV: Black Lion Records

Since doing my podcast I have been sent a number of great tracks by the bands from this label and they never fail to impress. So I had a little email chat with the big boss Oliver Dahlbäck to get the low down on what goes on behind the scenes of this great Swedish label.

1st up give us a little short introduction to your self and your projects please.

Well I am Oliver owner and founder of Black Lion Records, Black lion is a fairly new metal label established in 2012 with focus on extreme metal.

How did you get started as a label, what inspired you to say "this is what I am going to do?"
It’s hard to say it was so long ago but I remember trying to read a lot and learn about it from magazines and various friends that knew, plus general business learning. I think it was the interest of helping bands from ground zero and seeing things grow and see how far it could go, every band was once a local band I wanted to help bands get heard. And a label was one of those ways, originally Black Lion Records was a fanzine called Black Lion Productions interviewing bands. My intent was never to become a label it just sorta happened. When I started to help out my friends in Hyperion it became a collaborative project that was just fun, to try and help get their music out.

With their first album "Seraphical Euphony" in 2016, I remember that both me and Erik, (Hyperion Guitarist), were just happy with getting someone to check it out and it exploded upon the scene, selling nearly 500 cds first week. From that moment we sorta figured okey I might be onto something. Album ranked 9/10 & 10/10 everywhere, with very slim budget. I think I had like 600 euro to cover production and marketing, but I was stubborn and went with it and did my best and the album is indeed one of the most successful releases I ever had. Considering I never, nor anyone, thought anyone would buy it, an unknown band from Stockholm, I had very minimal experience with the marketing, from working as A&R and marketing on Grom / Tmina Records and Senseless Life Records now Sepulchral Silence and I remember me and Erik being so amazed when we started seeing things spread. Nowdays "Seraphical Euphony" has sold 2000 units worldwide and the demand for more is still there and with Mist of Misery catching up it was a matter of days really until I kinda felt either I do this or I don't. I remember sitting down with my friend Marcos talking about the options and how we go through all and we all felt lets do this, Marcos has done my graphic works and all since the beginning of time and is amazing, and a very dear friend but I've also had a lot of support from friends and my closest people, Rebecca and Nova whom pushed me to pursue my interest in allowing Black Lion to become a full fledged label.

So with Seraphical Euphony coming out in Feb 2016 you've been working as a label for just over 2 years. How many releases/bands do you have on your roster now, and what do you look for in a band when it comes to working with them?

Well the last one was 54 If remember correct! its crazy we have many bands, right the label has the following bands associated still with the label.

Defiatory

Meadows End

Hyperion

Mist of Misery

Desolator

Vanha

Bloodphemy

Siniestro

Wormlight

Vindland

and the well people come and people go! but we have been able to keep a fairly good rooster. As for working with bands its different, naturally I have to like the music but also I look at where the band is, at what they have done before, a lot of times we get sent albums that are already out like 1-2 weeks ago so those kinds of emails usually gets deleted fairly quick since we want exclusive for the most part, there's nothing fun in re-releasing an album that already been out for 1-2 weeks, unless of course there's something that I think I can ether offer or do better.

But yea I try to look how active the band is, these days I have become even more picky, because you realise to grow you need to look higher and underground bands are great no doubt but I want Black Lion to one day become a respected label, a name that people associate just like when you think of Nuclear blast, Season of Mist, Transcending Obscurity , Dark Descent , Testamoney , Napalm Century etc the list goes on , I simply want Black Lion to become a name that people think, "oh another release", not just "oh another underground band", just like I want us to grow I want the bands we work with to grow.. I guess that is the main thing I look and also is my vision.

So tell us about the label name, is it your favourite colour and animal? Why not Pink Gerbil, or Yellow Mongoose?

Well the name Black Lion came from a restaurant / pub in England called the Black Lion that I was visiting, in London I think in 2012 or 2013 it was and the name just stayed with me, really no crazy back story.

Ah what a shame I do like a crazy back story, it's lucky you weren't drinking in The Slug & Lettuce as that wouldn't make for a very good label name at all! So more about your bands, you do have a very full list of bands, are they all Swedish? Is there a certain style of Metal you prefer for your label, or even a genre you'd avoid or are you open to anything if the music and level of professionalism is good?

I try to keep it at Extreme metal and mainly Black Death Thrash Doom then of course different variations of the genres, but in general I am more likely to work with band within these genre borders I know loads of the bigger labels have a billion of different bands but they also have the money and the audience to work those bands, I don't. So for me to sign a band like maybe Nightwish style wouldn't make sense right now since we still have lot to grow with time to even be able to consider any genre other then what we know we can do a good job with. I Would never sign a metal core band , I just can't stand that genre at all.

As for bands and their place well it just sorta happened a lot of Swedish bands came onboard, mainly due to fact that I knew a lot of friends that played in Swedish bands and that sorta lead to each band wanting their music on CD so it grew from that really. Nowadays I try to look more on the background and current level of the bands, not so much where they are from, the Swedish tag has sorta stayed with us and of course is a great marketing tool but in the long run it can become quite boring with only Swedish bands since a lot of the Swedish bands tends to want to sound the same.

Also as London is my home town how did you find it here in my cunt-try? What did you like and not like, is there anything better here than it is over there? Also did you bring an axe and ransack any monastery's when you were here?

Well I went there 2012 I think, it was after my graduation from high school, with my grandmother for 2 weeks just sightseeing and visiting friends over at Yorkshire, London and such, beautiful place would love to live there but difficult to mange enough as it is in Sweden.

What was your musical journey before creating the label? When/how did you discover Metal and what is it about the music that resonates with you?

I was still in junior high school like 3rd grade when Heavy metal came to my attention through various mediums I went through, my friend at the time had a older brother who was Hard Rock fan and always had long hair and spiked studded wristbands etc and was into bands like Iron Maiden, Destruction, Megadeath etc, all these old school bands so it was really through him since he always played music loud. When I was in 7th grade I started to discover more bands on my own like System of a Down , and Cradle of Filth, I still remember that system of a down were my heroes and still are a great band, so I guess I just fell in love with the freedom and style in general of Heavy Metal, although I am drawn to the darker kinds of music and have always been, ever since I heard Alice Cooper being a huge horror fan, his song Man Behind The Mask.

So yea that's about it.

Is it difficult financially to run a fledgling label? What have been the biggest set-backs and bumps along the road?

Well from my point of perspective its like poker you never know if you gonna go out with your investments higher then you entered, everything is a risk in this business, and not just the cost to produce and manufacture CD but also keeping things afloat, a lot of people think okey so you sign a contract this is where it happens it dosen't, now you have to work your ass off to get where you want to be or else you can be a very good band but you will not sell more records or grow bigger, and I think this is a reason a lot of people generally don't realize they only see the beautiful parts and the sorta glamorous image, I can honestly tell had I known the hard work of running a label was what is when I started I don't think I would have thought twice, but in the long its rewarding the hard part is staying true to yourself while also not overthinking things.

So yea prepare to have a big wallet. A lot of people seems to think it's just about paying for a bands studio or album then all work is done. You have to market the record you have to be their right hand, you need to learn the graphic side, the industry side, album formats these days are not what they used to be, an album goes dead after 2 weeks, its sad but true. Because its so much things pumping out every day and nobody really knows how to keep it fresh nor keep the flame alive, a lot people think an album only has 2-3 years of being fresh but I think there's a lot to be done on a single album/EP but people need to wake up and take actions and not sit around waiting for the next guy to do the job.

There has been so many set backs and what not its impossible to mention, everything from shady distribution deals to having to reclaim stock and nearing destruction of cds. Let's just say all the set backs should have killed me a long time ago but I am still here fighting. Of course finding pressing plants and keeping quality up was the hardest part. Finding people to trust, if you gonna do this, do it whole hearted or stay out of it is my advice.

And what about the high points of running Black Lion, what has made you feel proud or fulfilled about your role as a label?

There's many proud moments, just being recognized as a label is a reward but biggest reward is seeing when an album does well and the artists grows!

So with your aim to move onwards and upwards to grow the label what are your near term plans? Which bands are in the works right now? Do you have your releases shipping all over the world now or is distribution a difficulty. How do such distribution deals work out anyhow?

Well right now its all focus on the next 3 upcoming releases before 2019, we have Desolator "Spawn of Misanthropy" old school Swedish death metal, coming in October re issue, we have new Siniestro - "Arctic Blood" black thrash EP and Night Crowned "Humanity Will Echo Out" EP black metal feat members of Dark Funeral. The unguided, Nightrage, The Crown, all 3 bands from Sweden so its kinda Invasion of the Swedes, for 2019 I have a lot in works but still a lot yet to be announced and worked, since I try to split 2019 into 2 parts but the list seems to grow, we have new Mist of Misery coming out, full length, we have the new Meadows End album, the new Kull debut album featuring the members of Bal-Sagoth, new Desolator album, Bloodphemy new album, the new Duskfall album. And some yet to be announced albums for 2019, I will try to get 3-4 releases per part of the year, basically I try to split it up like from January to May then return october-May 2019. Reg distribution its fairly simple we use code7 Plastic Head for UK and Sound Pollution for Europe and North America, our suppliers asks for a quantity based on what they think they can sell then we ship it out to them and they sell on their end, and we get statements per month how much sold etc

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Questions from the Metal Pervs -

Luke Hogan asked - Oliver you have a fantastic roster of bands, what would be the chance of a Black Lion festival? Also you know Hyperion has many fans in Australia, do you think there will be a day when they may finally tour?
To answer the question; thank you very much I would love a Black Lion festival the problem is the logistics involved we have been talking about gathering Swedish bands all for a show but it’s far from done. Very expensive but who knows one day.
As for Hyperion they have recently started touring more seriously we have some amazing news of dates in Europe in this October actually, as main support for a known band, I hope Hyperion will one day be able to play anywhere including Australia. Nothing is impossible. Cheers

Thanks to Oliver for spending some time answering my questions, now it's over to you readers. Do you have any questions at all you'd like to ask? Pop them in the comments here and I will pass them along and update this blog/interview if any questions come in.

Check out his label's bands on the Bandcamp links above and go like the Black Lion Records Facebook page HERE

Check out my latest podcast HERE

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