Dead Serious Records

Interview par e-mail réalisée le 25.11.2006
avec Ben Gottschalk fondateur du label Dead Serious Records
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English

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Can you please introduce yourself?

I'm Ben Gottschalk the founder of DeadSerious Recordings

What do you do at Dead Serious Records?

All administration kinda things…you can call it in labelmanagement if you want to.

How many people are involved in DSR? Who are they and what are their activities?

Jessica Pressmann and myself are the forces behind DeadSerious.
Jessica is taking care of all the accounting and e-store orders, as well as all shipments in general.
We have some great people who work with us on a part time basis, as well as interns and friends who help out with the ever growing work load.
Best dudes to name: Max Best, Pierre Brost, Frans Harmer

Why did you choose the name "Dead Serious"? Is it a reference to the Side By Side song?

I used to do a 7’’ label back in 96 to 99.
I started DeadSerious Records together with an old friend of mine Andreas Werner after that 7’’ label and we were searching for a name that should describe the intentions and meaning of our work with our label. To sum it up, we just came up with the name on our own, although we all love Side By Side.

How do you select the bands that are signed on the label? Do you know them all personally?

Everything else wouldn’t make sense at all, the DS family you know.
Above all, we sign the bands we like and the bands we think its worth to work for.

What do you think of the hardcore scene today? What do you think should be changed for the better?

I really don’t want to preach or try to change the scene, as there are so many parties involved nowadays that call themselves hardcore or punk.
We will stay here, even if our definition of hardcore is out of date.

Unlike many current hardcore record labels (that usually release discographies on CD format), you decided to re-release some old stuff on 7 inches. Why did you choose to do this? Aren't you interested in releasing complete discographies?

Well, an old friend from New York asked us if we would be interested to re-release some old 7’’ records as well as the Raw Deal – demo 7’’ for their reunion show in May 2005.
We didn’t hang about it and got in contact with all responsible persons.
Discographies were already released.
Vinyl is still our favourite format, even it’s impossible to sell as much vinyl as CD’s of one and the same record.

If a kid discovering hardcore ran into you and asked you about what makes hardcore so unique and different from other musical scenes, what would you tell him?

Besides the music, the hardcore lifestyle has so many great aspects to bind that kid forever.
For me, hardcore has always given myself the opportunity to see things from a different angle, to express my feelings and anger through music.
Hardcore has given me friends all over the world which is nothing but awesome!
Hardcore conveys that we’re living in a tiny world! I simply love that…

Any last words?

Bastien, keep up the good work.
Check out our E-store at www.dsfame.com and our label website www.ds-recordings.de

Interview : Bastien

More Infos sur Dead Serious Records :

Pays : Allemagne

E-Store : www.dsfame.com

Website : www.ds-recordings.de

Myspace : http://www.myspace.com/dsfamily