I wanted to stop doing it a few years ago. Two releases, Shagor and Meslamtaea (Geketend in de Schaduw van het Leven), were already in production, they were still to come and then it could just stop. Suddenly the Shagor LP sold out in a few weeks, Meslamtaea also did very well and Alkerdeel asked us if we wanted to co-release their upcoming album with Consouling Sounds. At such a moment you can float along on the success and the bright prospects.
On our Zwotte Kring platform we interview people who we find interesting and appreciate for their commitment to the scene. Such a person is Jo Versmissen from Antwerp, Belgium. He is the man behind Babylon Doom Cult Records (BDC) which has done a lot for the scene. Unfortunately, it could be read on social media that BDC is taking a step back.
1. Hello Jo, thanks for your time! Can you introduce yourself? Who are you and how did you end up in the world of black metal?
Hello, thank you for your interest in my story. I’m Jo Versmissen and I run Babylon Doom Cult Records. About thirty years ago I was introduced to extreme music through my cousin and a friend of my sister. From the usual suspects such as Metallica, Iron Maiden and Pantera, it went to Sepultura to Morbid Angel and Deicide. Until I bought the Blackend Vol. 1 collection cd. I was sold to it immediately! Less than a week later, CDs of Immortal and Impaled Nazarene, among others, were on the doormat and I was walking around in a Pure Holocaust shirt.
2. BDC started in 2017. What prompted you to set up the label? In a short time, BDC has become a big name, especially among the open-minded audience. How did you achieve this?
I had been active for several years booking live shows in Antwerp. First just on my own, later in the OnderGronds collective. This way you naturally get to know the people in the bands you book. For example, I have booked shows for Alkerdeel, Terzij De Horde, Laster, Oranssi Pazuzu and Aluk Todolo. When I switched from employee to freelance status in 2017, I included things such as releasing music, organizing performances, etc. in my company’s activities with the idea “who knows one day…” There were no concrete plans yet. One evening I gave Pede van Alkerdeel a lift from Bruges to Ghent and this came up. He immediately said that De Speenzalvinge did not yet exist on LP. That’s what got the ball rolling.
The next releases were Kozmotron, Speed Queen, Witch Trail, Bütcher and Marginal. Perhaps the breadth of genres appeals to the open-minded music lover? There wasn’t really a plan behind it. For example, if I heard the Willie Darktrousers tape, I simply asked the label (Tartarus) to ask the band if they were interested in a vinyl release. Everything was possible, everything was allowed. Later I tried to get a bit more of a line into the releases, although I could never resist simply a good release.
I think the bottom line is that you should follow your gut feeling. If you don’t work authentically, you won’t get there or it will quickly become an assignment instead of a hobby.
3. BDC’s roster mainly consists of bands with an ‘edge’. Many bands operate in the atmospheric / post-black / punk-crust corner or are experimental. But you also dare to release very traditional black metal. What is the deciding factor for you to release a release, and what could be a reason why a release affects you?
The music has to grab me, I have to put it on spontaneously and I need to want it in my collection. Spontaneously putting on the music and wanting it to be in my collection is easy to explain. When music grabs me… that’s harder to explain. Sometimes I can’t put my finger on it. After all these years I have discovered that I love a good song, regardless of genre. A black metal song that, for example, only thrives on aggression or continues to race at top
speed all the time, will rarely appeal to me, although there are always exceptions. A song may be repetitive. The best music is music that I can’t initially say whether I like or not, but that I want to keep hearing again and again and again. If music grabs me immediately, the interest often disappears after about four listens because it is not challenging enough.
Some albums just make something happen. For example, if I put on Bat Magic or Invunche, I automatically start headbanging. Unru stirs emotion in me every time. When music triggers such an automatic response, I know it’s good.
4. A vinyl re-release of ‘Emperors of the Night’ by the legendary Flemish band Avatar has been released on BDC. The keyboardist in question, Izzy, is now part of our Zwotte Kring collective and a member of Meslamtaea, which is also released via BDC. Avatar brings back beautiful memories for many older black metal fanatics among us. Avatar played a lot in the nineties with Flemish bands such as Ancient Rites and Enthroned. How do you look back on the golden years of black metal?
What are the “golden years of black metal”? For me personally, it dates from around 1993 when bands like Emperor, Mayhem, Enslaved, Samael, Abigor, Sigh, etc. came up with legendary albums until roughly the end of the 1990s.
As far as I’m concerned, black metal has become more and more “normal”. When I listened to “In The Nightside Eclipse” as a 16-year-old, I was overwhelmed by its mystery: the sound, the singing, the stories about church burnings… Everything took place much more in your
head than it does today. Now you take your smartphone out of your pocket, look up something and everything becomes much more “tangible”. The wonder makes way for something mundane. There are several reasons for this. You lose some imagination as you get older, you become familiar with black metal and the mystery becomes less. Bands today also have many more predecessors, meaning that more influences unconsciously creep into music making their own brews less innovative. In the mid to late 1990s, almost everything was innovative, which also makes you more stimulated. Live shows also used to be much less professionally organized, which made it all more underground and sometimes created a dangerous atmosphere.
The golden years of black metal had some assets that have been somewhat toned down today. Every now and then my sense of amazement rears its head again. This can happen with new music, but also sometimes when I play “In The Nightside Eclipse” or visit a performance that completely captivates me. Or, for example, the two Müür releases have captivated me for several weeks. My tape deck can play two tapes continuously one after the other. That way I listened to those two tapes on repeat for days.
5. In recent years, the Flemish black metal scene seems to be increasingly present. What’s in your tap water, why has your scene become so strong?
I think the possibilities for recording music and releasing it into the world are much greater today than they were about 20 years ago. There is no longer any need for an expensive studio to deliver a professional product. This provides much more output, which will automatically produce more good music. I don’t actually know whether the scene is really that much stronger than it used to be. There are many good bands, but for me the bands that stand head and shoulders above the rest are the veterans such as Lugubrum or Alkerdeel. To be honest, I personally like the Dutch scene more with bands like Laster, Invunche, Turia, Fluisteraars, … We have also released quite a lot of Dutch bands with Invunche, Witte Wieven, Hagetisse, Ceremoniële Walging, Wolves In The Condo, Shagor, Alburnum, Dinbethes, Meslamtaea, Freja, Gott, Helleruin, The Dreaded Disease, Mist and Traveler. Perhaps more than Belgian music if I sum it up like that.
6. Black metal is now more popular than ever. But times have changed compared to the 1990s, when much was still analogue and no one had mobile phones or laptops. Nevertheless, many bands continue to stick to the classic style and theme of black metal, while there doesn’t seem to be much mysticism anymore. How do you view the current scene? Do you think black metal needs to be reinvented or is there still a place for the old style?
For me, there is especially room for good music. Whether it is an old style like Moenen Of Xezbeth or something more modern like DHG shows on Black Medium Current makes little difference to me. For me black metal doesn’t have to have a satanistic approach. If someone thinks it should be that way, that’s fine too, of course, in the end it’s just a name and the music doesn’t change by calling it a different genre. So I consider Frost by Enslaved to be black metal.
I like the diversity of the scene. I think a band like Krallice is great. Their music is clearly based on black metal, but still creates a completely different feeling. Or Infidel Art by Sigh, perhaps my favorite album of all time. That album alone contains doom, black metal, power metal, bombast, punk… and it works because the songs are good. Actually, I often find traditional, riff-based black metal the most boring.
7. What is the status of BDC? In September we read the message that you are pulling the plug because motivation is disappearing. Can you explain why the label fire is dying out?
At the time of writing, we expect one more release before the plug will be pulled. It is impossible to predict whether it will ever be plugged in again. As a small label it is difficult to survive. Then you have to ask yourself whether you still want to make all the sacrifices of free time. On the other hand, I regularly think that I would like to release certain albums such as “Archidemon” by Apovrasma or “Voor Altijd” by Desinteresse. We have even toyed with the idea of setting up a side label for other genres such as the cold wave of Disinterest or more electronic music such as ZackZackZack.
However, at the moment I don’t have the energy to put my efforts further.
8. Do you still remain active in the scene in some other way? I understand that you organize shows and are active in the background at Roadburn, among other things?
In the past I have regularly organized shows, ranging from small unknown bands to bigger names such as Aluk Todolo or Altar Of Plagues. I also spent some time in OnderGronds, an Antwerp collective that operated in the same way with shows by small bands but also presented larger packages in Antwerp. For example, Svartidaudi, Spectral Voice, Aura Noir, Anaal Nathrakh and Dodheimsgard have all passed by. At the moment I’m not really active in organizing show anymore. Occasionally I provide music between and after performances.
There is certainly an affinity with Roadburn, but I am not involved in the organization. I sometimes pass on some musical tips to Walter. Every now and then such tips make it to the festival. It’s not much more than that, apart from a DJ set at the festival.
9. Are there any highs or lows from the BDC years that are worth mentioning?
There are no real highs or lows. There have been ups and downs, of course.
For example, I wanted to stop doing it a few years ago. Two releases, Shagor and Meslamtaea (Geketend in de Schaduw van het Leven) were already in production, they were still to come and then it could just stop. Suddenly the Shagor LP sold out in a few weeks, Meslamtaea also did very well and Alkerdeel asked us if we wanted to co-release their upcoming album with Consouling Sounds. At such a moment you can float along on the success and the bright prospects.
There have also been quite a few releases that haven’t done so well. Then the financial and logistical pressure, which has always been there, increased. That mental pressure made me second-guess upcoming releases and ultimately required more effort from the label than they provided joy for me.
Of course it also created many wonderful memories. Contacting local bands like Bütcher, Witch Trail or Kozmotron after a performance and creating great releases, international bands that find their way to you, contact with customers at shows, seeing bands from your label play rock-solid performances at festivals like Roadburn …
In summary, contacts with people are the most enjoyable. And of course the LPs, CDs and tapes that I will continue to play for a long time!
10. How do you see the future for labels in the underground, now that streaming has largely taken over physical sales? Do you have any tips for people who would like to start a label now?
It’s clear that running an underground label is becoming more and more of a challenge. Life has become much more expensive, meaning that people have fewer resources to purchase physical music carriers, which in turn have also risen sharply in price. For example, in the past you had €100 left at the end of the month and you could easily buy five or six LPs. Today you may only have €40 left, which often won’t even buy you two more.
The role of a label has changed dramatically in recent years due to the widespread internet on the one hand and the possibility of recording with much smaller budgets on the other. Many underground bands today come out on their own with their music on platforms such as Bandcamp, YouTube, Spotify and so on. In the past, a label was a kind of gatekeeper that you had to pass through as a band to get music out into the world. Today it is the opposite and there are plenty of examples of labels that scour Bandcamp and then release music that can already be heard online on a physical medium.
The larger underground labels will be around for a while. I’m thinking of Ván Records, Osmose Productions, Eisenwald, Iron Bonehead, Nuclear War Now (who are even going to start their own pressing plant), etc. The slightly smaller ones are going to have a very difficult time, I fear. Some have already stopped, such as The Sinister Flame. Gilead Media also announced the ending. That of course gives a little more breathing room for other labels, but I still predict that labels will fold in the coming years.
Tips for starting a label? Look before you leap. If the passion is there, go for it. Don’t expect anything in return financially and don’t invest your last cent in it.
11. Besides music, I understood that there is a great passion for plants and growing vegetables? What is a hobby that currently drives you?
A passion for growing vegetables may be an exaggeration. I do have a year with a local organic farmer. That was really everything: planting, weeding, hoeing, raking, filling up, harvesting, washing, putting together packages, … I really enjoyed that year and learned a lot about plants, what we actually eat, soil management…
Ultimately, I gave up that job to… right, run the label full time.
I practice yoga regularly, take our dog for a daily walk, am in a polar bear club (you know, outdoor swimming in the winter) and am also trying to learn to play the piano. And music remains a great passion of course.
12. Is there still hope that BDC will be pulled from the shelf in the near future? (we hope so!)
Really no idea ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Interview: Floris