Hello Patrick, welcome to Rock Overdose. Give us a brief Bio. Tell us about Noble Demon and how you started the label?
Thanks a lot for having me! 😊 We just celebrated our 2nd anniversary with the label and sometimes I can hardly believe that we already have more than 20 bands on the roster from various different countries in different rock- and metal genres and that more people in the scene discover us every day so that we get awesome feedback and new demo submissions all the time.
After 12 years at Nuclear Blast I just decided to do things on my own, my way with the bands I want and work in a more modern and efficient way. So I started my digital marketing agency SURICATE MUSIC and was also thinking of signing bands.
After a nice lunch with my old friend Joachim Keil of UCM.ONE we decided to launch a proper record label together and were already brainstorming ideas for a good name and sick logo the same day. I first wanted to do a digital-only label with only digital marketing and social media to keep it all online but with his help we could add physical distro, traditional PR and publishing to the mix and therefore think bigger from the first day on, or even before.
I had already been talking to my buddies Juan of the Colombian/Floridian death metal band NO RAZA and Tuomas of DAWN OF SOLACE (and WOLFHEART etc.) about working together and when I suddenly offered them a proper label deal with a brand new sick metal label they were blown away. and I’m grateful that they had so much trust in me to instantly sign with a label which at that point didn’t even exist yet publicly.
Name your 10 favorite bands and singers. What band opened the music world for you?
Oh no! I’m really not good with that xD my preferences change a lot so it’s damn hard to name favorites. If you’d put a gun to my head so I had to name any then it’d probably be AS I LAY DYING and BEHEMOTH as all-time faves.. maybe THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER? well, there are many but hard to limit it to just a few. and I don’t have a favorite singer, I mostly listen to the drumming in metal songs but I neither have a favorite drummer to be honest. as I mostly listen to black and death metal, singers just scream and shout, hahah! but if you wanna believe Spotify’s most recent Wrapped 2021 year stats then I’d have to say I listened to LENNY KRAVITZ and BANKS a lot apparently.
I think I got into metal and therefore fell in love with music in general as a kid when I heard AC/DC for the first time. I then progressed quickly to METALLICA and then SEPULTURA. So, I guess I’m stuck with death metal since then which must have been almost 30 years ago.
What is your fave music era?
hmm, if I had to choose in which decade I’d prefer to live right now I guess I’d take the 70s and listen to JIMI HENDRIX and JEFFERSON AIRPLANE all the time, stoned as hell, yeah!
Who were your childhood heroes?
i guess that were the METALLICAs, the MANOWARs and the SLIPKNOTs of the world at that time… 😛
What do you suggest to new musicians?
don’t be an asshole, treat others with respect. in this biz you meet the same people over again so better don’t burn any bridges you might wanna cross later on. and don’t sell yourself, it’s not worth it since you won’t get much for it in return. do what feels right and gives you joy. and if you don’t just make music for yourself and for your pleasure then you need to work hard and don’t only rely on producing good music, unfortunately that’s not sufficient these days to get heard and gain new fans.
What does it take to be a Noble Demon artist?
You have to be the best of the best 😀 well, if an artist brings passion and fucking great music to the table then you definitely have my attention. if I see that working together will benefit both sides to reach more people, to grow together and fulfill some of our dreams and if we can believe in each other then it’s a done deal from my side 😉
How can a label/band make profit in the digital era?
nowadays you cannot just deliver great music and hope to become successful. you have to be smart and see what fits to your attitude. you can offer cool stuff beyond just music like merch, you can become creative offering your own crowd-funding, your fan club, your NFT and hopefully soon again, just go out and play a hell of a killer show. but surely, 99% of artists don’t make big money so, if you’re just in it for the money then you’ll probably get disappointed.
Money or Fame?
I think an artist would have to answer that. record label dudes usually don’t get famous. if we’re lucky we get some of our investments in artists back but what we should really be looking for is passion and fun. it’s entertainment business and not wall street so, if I had to choose one of the two above, then I’d guess artists would rather aim for fame over money.
Vinyl, Cd or Sreaming?
I’ve always been a streaming guy since it’s so convenient and I love to check out new music all the time. and I like to listen to music on the go however since we started doing our own vinyl at Noble Demon for the bands I signed it’s a totally different story to hold that big cover artwork with the small Noble Demon logo in your hands, owning a beautiful splatter- or marbled vinyl format of your favorite bands is something spotify cannot deliver 😀
Books and Movies that you like..
I like all the Tarantino movies and that kinda old school style, they’re really awesome! well, the book that changed my life is “Conversations With God”, which sounds pretty religious but it isn’t. for christians I guess it’s rather blasphemic with its modern but simple views on things. it explains you everything, all questions you might ever have about life, spirituality, yourself, your sense of purpose, in such a clear and incredibly beautiful way. reading those pages made me feel confirmed in what I always felt but never dared to believe. that’s definitely the book I recommend reading to everyone!
How do you keep your mind sane in this COVID period we live in?
I don’t take everything that seriously anymore. I try to live in the moment and not dwell about the past or worry about the future. if you stop for a moment and think about how you feel right now, then mostly you’re not doing that miserably, do you? I guess practicing yoga and meditation and try to stay present and aware helps dealing with tricky things as well… 😉
Also, being able to always come back to my family is invaluable, even though I’m just moving away from Germany to my wonderful fiancé. these incredible people sometimes make me forget about the darker moments in life.
"Also, i just got my vaccination booster which allows me to live a more concern-free life and gives me more freedom since covid-figures are super high in germany right now. Therefore i recommend everyone doing the same to protect yourselves and others against a deadly virus as much as it's currently possible."
What is your dream about your label, whats your philosophy and the mark you want to be remembered for.
I don’t really have fix goals. I just do what feels right and see where this leads to, usually it’s going quite well. as long as you stick to your values and remain true to yourself you won’t need to regret anything afterwards. if you take things easily, act in a flexible and open-minded way and don’t force things that are not meant to be then you can be efficient and deal with things more smoothly. that way I can see that Noble Demon is growing in a healthy way and that our artists and fans are happy and satisfied.
for me personally it’s important to not hurt or exploit anyone, neither people nor animals nor nature. we’re planning to do a release soon with a like-minded artist for which all income shall be donated to animal shelters and animal rights organizations just in order to give back a bit. I prefer to be remembered for these kinda projects more than for any “success”.
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