Releasing The Plague – NGC Prod Interview
NGC Prod is a label from Hungary and I already heard a few releases from their roster. It’s a label dedicated to Black Metal / Doom Metal / Post Metal / Funeral Doom / Ambient. So, I decided to know a bit more about this label. Check it…
Thanks for agreeing to this interview for Blessed Altar Zine. Tell us a little bit about the story of the label. How did it start and how far do you think you’ve come since that time?
My pleasure! This is an usual story… When I had looked for a label for my upcoming album with Nagaarum “Homo Maleficus” I felt exhausted. Many emails were sent and there were fewer answers. Grimm Distribution was the only label who should have undertaken the release but only with co-operation with another label. At that time I released CD-Rs and tapes, so I think the real operation of what I can call “record label work” started in 2017. “Homo Maleficus” was the first glass mastered CD with NGC Prod.
How do you choose which bands to release? How much are your own tastes, or what you expect your audiences tastes a part of the decision making process? Do you have some set boundaries of the kind of music you will or won’t release?
The most important thing is that the music fits with my taste. I love all the albums which were released by NGC Prod. No matter what is the opinion about our releases. Usually, I say the NGC Prod followers are members of an inner circle, a kind of insiders who have ears…
What does your label have to offer bands that will make them want to release their music with you, rather than with another label? What are your preferences when it comes to deciding on vinyl, CD, cassette or digital formats and what factors are part of your choice?
I don’t think that NGC Prod would be a special label, but we have some unique ideas like wooden-box tapes or the Nagaarum digipak containing unique pages from Isaac Newton’s Principia Philosophiae Mathematica. Maybe this is the only difference from other labels. My favourite format for releasing an album is the cassette-tape. I love the sound, the brutal deep sounds coming from the decks. I don’t care about the noise… Perfection doesn’t exist, God didn’t make straight lines too. Anyways I like all the formats including digital too. Not the format but the music is important what sounds.
Do you think of yourselves as being an ‘underground’ label? Would you want the music you release to one day have more of a mainstream appeal, or do you think that would dilute what you do?
Yes, I think that being a mainstream label would dilute our activity. So we would like to stay in this scene, we would like to be an underground label.
Can you compare your experiences dealing with other labels from Europe, North America, South America or Asia? Have you found some factors that make one or other more easy or difficult to work with?
Difficult question is this… I try to be humble and careful with my words. Of course I have an opinion, but if you don’t mind I hold back a part of it. Tartarus Records is a likeable label for me, so methods what they use are examples to follow. Slow construction is the only way with more patience and perseverance. Before I tell more of triteness here is a factor which makes the operation difficult: there is no CD factory in Hungary. I get abroad to manufacture all of them. Working with tapes is easier.
Do you have anything in the pipeline that you’re excited to mention and do you have any ” dream bands” that you’d love to release something by?
We will release the new Avaron CD soon. And a new Shum on tape. These are the upcoming matters now. dream bands? Haha, I would like to release an album with a band that can mix 70’s Pink Floyd sounding with Mayhem’s Ordo Ad Chao’s sounding.
Finally, any info for fans or bands to get in touch or follow what’s happening with the label?
We have an official site www.ngcprod.com. You can find all the releases here with more info, and fans can score the albums and write reviews as well. And we have a Bandcamp page of course. Bandcamp is the easy way for labels to sell physical items. We offer bundles too which help the fans save their money. We offer high discounts in case of buying more items. Feel free to check here: www.ngcprod.bandcamp.com.We would like to say thank you for the possibility you give us now. And sorry for the mistakes I made in English grammar maybe…
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By The Key Keeper 666
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