Releasing The Plague – Dawning Septic Productions Interview

Dawning Septic Productions is a label located in Ottawa, Canada, and it started Releasing The Plague in 2018. Dedicated to OSDM, Blackened DM, War Metal and it’s a label that must be followed/supported. So I decided to contact Will Septic the mastermind behind the label and know a bit more about the label.

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?

Yes of course and thank you for having us! The label is still quite new and it officially began in May 2018. Before this, I was independently trading with bands and labels with some of the releases from my own bands to get further exposure and distribution. Eventually, I decided that starting a label would be in my best interest. Starting out, in the label end of things was a newer territory for me and although I am by far not new to metal in general, bands, worldly labels and have been involved with different bands & projects since the mid 1990’s onwards, the whole entire area of operating a label was something I had to learn more about and figure out predominantly on my own. Since the beginning from then until now, I feel I have figured some things out further and understand a bit better and have discovered more efficient ways on how to go about things. I will say though, that it is still a learning process but I like it and it is worth my time to do this.

How do you choose which bands to release? How much are your own tastes, or what do you expect your audience’s tastes to be a part of the decision making process? Do you have some set boundaries of the kind of music you will or won’t release?

Basically, it has to be something that I both like and feel that it suits the labels theme and interests. For the most part we like and release a lot of the OSDM styles and some Blackened death metal too. However, we have been open to other close variants as well. Above all, whether it’s sheer heaviness, speed, brutality or catchy hooks that draws me in, it has to move me and create an adrenaline-like rush as if it was the music to a “battle scene-like scenario.” However, in saying that as a label and what we like and preferably do, we don’t have any interests in any super tech-blast death metal, straight up black metal, nor anything mainstream or metalcore or anything relating to more modern styles of “Nu”, nor glam or general heavy metal. Although these genres mentioned have their places, we are a bit “stuck in the past” with our interests in metal extremities so to speak and that’s simply who we are and what we do. For our distro, we carry various genres like death metal, brutal death metal, blackened death metal, black death thrash, black metal, grindcore & crust.

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?

Honestly, I am not certain on that but what I can say though is we are fair and try to help, support and mention the bands the best we can and certainly do distribute our releases worldly to get the bands out there. For DSP, we mainly release Tapes & CDs. We do like vinyl of course but it’s very expensive to make but it’s not to say that we will never do it either? Who knows? For digital sales or distribution, this is just something we don’t bother with and leave that with the bands themselves to do. DSP is in support of the physical mediums of music and that is another factor that we are about and support as well and keeping that part alive.

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?

Well, with being online in the great WWW days of now but in a newer sense, since we began in more recent times and in a small scale existence as we are not a big or mainstream label at all in any way, for that I would say yes we are definitely on a more “underground” level. No, we don’t wish to be on any mainstream level, or accepted by a majority either by any means, nor do we ever expect to be able to fully live off this either. This is simply what we like and what we do and who we are and prefer to support.

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?

For the most part all around and world wide, it has been a positive experience so far with either doing trades or wholesale or communicating with fellow labels. There have been a few unfortunate miscommunications or dealing with the “unholier than thou” types where an older or bigger label just ignores you and brushes you off for whatever reason but this does not matter nor stop us for who we are and what we do. We have established some great connections and have worked with other great labels with some of our releases too and we are quite pleased with that.

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 just released Mutilate “Rotting In Eternity’s Hell” on tape and are happy to have had the opportunity for this! This is their new and 3rd release from this New York Death metal band who play a wicked and heavy form of OSDM! Also, we were pleased to have had Iron Bonehead Productions permission to do the tape as they are Mutilate‘s main label who have also recently released the LP version for this! Further down the pipeline we are supposed to be doing the new Funeral Whore release at some point but we don’t exactly have a specific time for that release for now. Otherwise, for “dream bands”, that’s a tough one indeed! Truly, there are so many great bands out there that we like or have interests in and the longer running bands that are fairly established already seem to have things set and in place with the labels they are currently with. So, I think with us it’s more about discovery and finding a new or really unknown kind of band that really appeals to us and to have them do a future release with us.

Finally, any info for fans or bands to get in touch or follow what’s happening with the label?

Sure, communications is best through our Facebook page as well as with updates or announcements but also we are on Twitter and recently revamped our Youtube page as well. Please like or subscribe to us and feel free to communicate. All support and mentions are greatly appreciated and welcomed! Support the underground, Support the continuance of physical music and distribution and be sure to Support the bands as well! Thank you for this interview Blessed Alar Zine! All the best!

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By The Key Keeper 666

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