Feature / Music
Pass The Mic: Record Labels and Artists on 2008

Words: Michael • Posted pre-2010

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Skin Like Iron/Humanity is the Devil Zine (Alex Capasso)

What are your top five albums that were released in 2008?

  1. Masshysteri - Vår Del Av Stan
  2. Mind Eraser - Concious/Unconcious
  3. New Lows - New Lows
  4. Young Offenders - Big Man, Small House
  5. Blowback - Living Vibration

What band did you discover in 2008 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?

I finally "got" Bruce Springsteen. It's nice to have records that you can listen to with your girlfriend that don't make you want to puke. She's got pretty good taste in music, but I like to bang my head a little more than she does so mutual favorites are hard to come by in our relationship. A much more contemporary band I discovered would be Black Breath. They inspired a lot of gear/loudness jealousy in me. Plus, every one of those dudes can fucking destroy their instruments, and Neil's got a wild voice.

How will you remember 2008? (In terms of music)

It was a good year for my band. Without having much time to escape work and school, we managed to pull off an East Coast tour, play Rainfest, and go on a bunch of weekend trips with bands like Black Breath, Never Healed, Rise & Fall, Pressure, Alpha & Omega and Pulling Teeth. It was so much fun being able to see those bands as much as we did.

Vinyl record sales saw a significant increase this year while hard copy sales continued to dwindle. Is this a return to the glory days for vinyl or just a phase? Explain.

I think that the increased sales will ensure that vinyl finds a place in the hearts of a lot of new vinyl consumers. I started my vinyl collection in 1996 and at the time I went about 50/50 between vinyl and CD purchases. Now, I'm only buying records. It's the best of both worlds - you get the big pretty package, and can easily make portable digital files.

What was the most memorable moment for you in 2008? (Can be in terms of anything)

The Skin Like Iron/Pressure/Colin of Arabia East Coast tour was great. Nothing insanely crazy happened, but the week was full of a lot of memorable times.

What can we look forward to from you in 2009?

Our new 12" entitled "All Human Failings". It will be released in February on Free Cake Records. We'll also be doing two separate West Coast tours with some incredible bands coming up in March and April. 2009 will be a busy year for us.

What three records are you looking forward to most in 2009?

Marked Men, Never Healed, and Pulling Teeth.

Homepage: http://www.blacksummer.com/sli/

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