From Magic Starlight Magazine (Crete) issue #1
Magic Starlight: Hello Rob and welcome to the Magic Starlight Radioshow!
Rob: It's good to be here.
Magic Starlight: I will start with a general question. How did get involved in Heavy Metal?
Rob: Very young, I was listening to local radio stations, they had DEF LEPPARD, MOTLEY CRÜE, TWISTED SISTER, VAN HALEN and things like that. But then, a local college station played stuff like SAVATAGE, OMEN, GRIM REAPER and so I was also exposed to more underground bands at that time. This was 1984-'84 in Boise, Idaho, a relatively small town cut off from most metal.
Magic Starlight: How did you got involved with such heavier bands, since we European know how hard is for a band like GRIM REAPER for example to get airplay in the U.S.?
Rob: I lived in a very small town in the U.S. For the standards of Crete it's big, 100.000 people, but for me it wasn't a urban place. There was a college student who liked Metal and that how he played those bands. It just grew from there and ultimately I discovered CIRITH UNGOL, WARLORD, CRYSYS (from Portland, Oregon), etc. I lived relatively close to the Seattle scene growing up and heard many bands from there like FORCED ENTRY, ACCUSED, all the thrash bands coming out of the bay area long before I actually moved here.
Magic Starlight: How did you decide to form a label? What was the reason?
Rob: Well, it was something that I wanted to do for a long time before I started, what I found was that a lot of vinyl was vanishing and the only place I could find it was in Europe. I've collected records for a long time and I hated not finding records for my collection in the local shops. Now there is almost nothing to be found here. It made a lot of sense to make my own records because then it kept me in contact with other labels and mailorders. You can do trades with them and keeping in contact with the underground releases is easier that way. Also this gives me a chance to add great metal records to my own collection that I might otherwise miss.
Magic Starlight: Which are Doomed Planet Records releases so far and under what criteria you choose the bands you sign?
Rob: The first release was THE LORD WEIRD SLOUGH FEG's "Twilight Of The Idols" and my second release was SOLITUDE AETURNUS' "And Justice For All". "And Justice…" was supposed to be my first release, but it was kind of slow-going getting the all the master tapes (they are a doom band after all) and, while I was planning that, I heard the first full-length SLOUGH FEG record and I just had to put this record out, I loved it so much. I've known the band for four years and Mike Scalzi is a good friend of mine. He is a very unusual person and very opinionated, like lots of musicians (laughs)! I don't really sign bands like a bigger label. I license the rights to make a limited number of vinyl. That is it. If the bands have any expectations of greater things or think this is an ego thing, I immediately crush that idea. A couple of deals fell through because the band though something that wasn't true, so I just cancelled the whole project and moved onto bands whose feet are firmly rooted in reality: there is no money to be made making records. Basically, my No.1 criterion is that it has to be something that I absolutely love. Anything else doesn't matters. If the music doesn't take me by the throat and say: "This is incredible music.", then I believe that the people who want to buy they will think the same. Of course it might not be true that my tastes meet what all metalheads like, but I do try hard to put out a product that looks and sounds like something right out of the mid-80's.
Magic Starlight: Does the whole Internet thing made you spread your products easier?
Rob: The Internet is definitely a great way to get information out to the people that I sell records to, but for the most part I actually have an fairy established customer base. So the only risk is if I put a record out and the record dealers and collectors don't like it for some reason, or like it less than other releases, then they won't buy as many, then I'll have to try harder to sell it to other people.
Magic Starlight: Up to now, are you satisfied with the response to your releases?
Rob: I don't think that I have had an unhappy customer yet. There maybe some out there, but I have been very "picky" and as result the Metal collectors and fans like what I do. That's the impression so far. I would love to hear reactions from more people.
Magic Starlight: What's your opinion about the revival of the 80's Metal. Do you think that labels like Doomed Planet helped the whole thing?
Rob: We might be a small part of it. To me, the problem with the Metal revival is since there are so many releases, there are also many weak albums. You have to really know the bands and also to have contacts in order to ask and trust their opinion, so you don't spend your money to albums you don't like. I almost never buy cds anymore unless I have a chance in advance to hear what the band is like. Bands like STRATOVARIUS and RHAPSODY I don't even consider to be metal. I bought a couple of RHAPSODY picture discs because they look like total oldschool metal but they are this weak school-children playground music to me. Not metal.
Magic Starlight: Which will be your future releases?
Rob: IKKI CRANE was a recent one, that's post-RELLIK material. They play 80's Power Metal, maybe a little bit like MEGADETH. I've gotten the impression it might be too heavy for some metalheads, also it doesn't sound like IRON MAIDEN (like RELLIK does), so for example not as many Greek collectors are as into it as RELLIK. The release after that was STONE VENGEANCE's earliest material, between 1985 and 1987. Again, this is a pretty heavy, maybe in the style of the first RAVEN lp ("Inquisitor" style on a lot of tracks, very energetic) and very raw. Again, the Greeks didn't go for it as much, but I keep trying. Out in Novermber 2002 is the TRAMONTANE "s/t lp, underground 80's style American Power metal similar to early QUEENSRYCHE, this is the bands earliest material with a different vocalist than on the cd from a few years ago. At the same time I released the TAUNTED 7", an unknown bay area power metal act, this material is from '92, again a bit IRON MAIDEN styled. For me this 7" is a real triumph, I tried for 3 years and finally got this material released. After this is the cult GOTHAM tapes, they had a rare private 7" in the 80's, I'm still chasing after master tape of bonus tracks as I speak. After that? Who knows.
Magic Starlight: Why you do you insist on releasing stuff on vinyl?
Rob: Everybody can do a CD but I find CD's very boring, the artwork is so small and I am just not interested! Plus I love the sound of vinyl, to me it sounds so much better than other formats. Many of the records in my collection will only ever appear on vinyl and I like the fact that most of my releases will stay on vinyl only too (though a few came out on cd by other labels).
Magic Starlight: Which bands do you prefer from the latest that came out?
Rob: You mentioned before RIVAL which I think they are really good. TIERRA SANTA, DOOMSWORD, OCTOBER 31 because they play old 80's Metal style.
Magic Starlight: What's you opinion about the future of Authentic Metal?
Rob: A lot of bands are putting out albums, so there will be a lot of average stuff. But it has always been that way and of course it will always be like that. Any time there is a trend, others will follow. But the cream will always rise to the top and the best will be remembered. This also leaves room for small labels to unearth the great bands that the bigger labels will always miss.
Magic Starlight: And about the Greek scene?
Rob: Oh, I love the Greek scene! VICE HUMAN is probably my favourite and their album "Metal Attack". I also like REFLECTION, their demos and the new recordings are incredible! Can anyone help me find a copy of the VAVEL lp and the ARMAGEDDON '91 12" EP from Cyperus? I'm still searching for these metal masterpieces. It's really nice to see Greek band getting to release again some of their old material, like NEMESIS and AIRGED L'AMH. CRUSH made a great record too. The POWERDROPS cd is also excellent. What happened to MARAUDER? They released an essential metal cd with "Sense of Metal". Thanks for a chance to do this interview, long live Magic Starlight Radio Show and Magic Starlight Magazine!