The Metal Crypt - Caligari Records Interview

Interviews

Interview with Ignacio Brown
Interview conducted by Luxi Lahtinen

Date online: July 21, 2024

In this series of underground (cassette) metal labels, we here at the dusty and dark tower of The Metal Crypt, decided to contact Ignacio Brown, who has been running his own small label located in Tampa, Florida. Caligari Records has been long recognized as one of the best underground metal labels out there. He truly knows his bands and has put out many killer releases over the years. Go and check out his Bandcamp, Facebook, and online store sites to not only support his label but also the true underground movement. Smaller bands need your support, too.

Ignacio kindly took his time to answer our curious questions as far as his label, releases, future plans of Caligari Records, etc. are concerned.

Howdy, Ignacio! How are things in Tampa, Florida, these days? I bet it is getting hotter and more humid over there as summers are known to be very hot in that part of the world, right?

Ignacio: Yep. Tampa is good. Summer is in full swing; hot, steaming, scorching, blistering, suffocating.

To get things started, would you tell us what triggered you to form Caligari Records some 10 years ago?

Ignacio: In terms of what pushed me into this venture it was love of underground music, growing older, and a bit of disposable income. I was in my late 30s, settled down and stable. With the wild times of youth behind me, the idea of spending my late hours buried in poorly recorded heavy, death, and black metal seemed nothing short of orgasmic.

I've been a music fan and a collector since my teens. I always wanted to work on a cool underground metal label, and since there is no such thing as real jobs in cool underground metal labels, I took a stab at starting my own.

Caligari Records has become mostly known for its cassette releases over the years. What makes cassette such a special format for you personally?

Ignacio: I grew up collecting dubbed cassettes with xeroxed covers. That's about all that was affordable and available back in the early '90s down in Lima, where I'm from. When the label started, the idea was to start small and cheap and to go with just demos. First recordings. No reissues. To a degree, that's still the case.

I love cassettes. They look amazing, they sound warm, and they degrade just like we do. Also, all metal sounds incredible on the format, especially demos and raw recordings.

You have also put out some CD and vinyl formats over the past years, which are a bit more expensive to press than a limited run of cassettes. Are there some criteria for when you choose to do a CD and/or vinyl format instead of cassette?

Ignacio: Yes, I guess a "longer" recording that merits a different format. Something better than the demo to start with. A legit release and formal intro to a band. Some expectations of demand. It costs a lot more and takes a lot longer to manufacture vinyl records. Everyone wants it, probably not everyone should get it.

I like CDs. I still buy them, and I still collect them. Does it make much sense to release every three-song demo on CD? Maybe. There are plenty of labels doing that.

Is there some sort of criteria on how you choose your releases for your label?

Ignacio: I must like them a lot. I always think that music needs to call me back. If I listen to something once or twice, and the music doesn't ask me to replay it, then I pass.

Another preference is first recordings. Any time I get an e-mail from someone asking me to release their third record gets an automatic rejection. I don't have much of an adherence to any subgenre but organic feel in the music, for sure. Heaviness of all sorts. I am not one for industrial sounds. I prefer bands over bedroom, one-man projects.

What's your typical regular run of a cassette edition or does it depend on the release? Do you ever do reprints of cassettes, or do you prefer having them all as limited runs only? When it's gone, it's gone forever...

Ignacio: Usually, 150 or 200 cassettes. If it is a CD or vinyl, starting at 300. I had a rule not to reprint cassettes, but I've given in. I do some reprints, but I wait around a little bit. The underground ain't that big. With social media, it's mostly an illusion.

Do you only sell your releases through your online store, or do you ever go to gigs and try to sell your stuff at concerts?

Ignacio: I sell online via the web store and Bandcamp and through distribution with labels in all continents, which happens via trades and wholesale. I've never sold at gigs.

How do you normally create your first contacts with your clients (i.e., bands)? Do bands normally reach out to you first?

Ignacio: Mostly bands reach out to me via the label's email, caligarirecords@gmail.com or via social media. A quick intro and a private link to the recording will suffice. If what I hear is interesting, I make sure to keep in touch.

Less frequently I've reached out to bands, especially on occasions when the recording has been out already on a different format but never on cassette, for instance like with Regurgitating Guts and Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom.

Have some of these attempts to release something with certain bands failed due to unprofessional or bad behavior from the bands?

Ignacio: Honestly, it has mostly been good experiences. I want to do a good job and the bands want me to do a good job. Ideally, while working on the details for a release, I talk to one person in the band and that person in the band should be the leader of the band. And that leader of the band should have a clue. Once you start allocating time to a project, everyone needs to be respectful of everybody else's time. I like to work with bands and collaborate. I don't really take orders.

What's your take on some of these labels nowadays that focus on cassettes only? I mean, there are a lot of people out there who enthusiastically collect cassettes again after so many years, even if it's certainly not the most practical format to get your daily dose of music...

Ignacio: I think it is great that folks have the initiative to participate. I think there are some very good labels led by people who have a very good eye for the aesthetic. There are a lot of labels and there are so many releases. There is something for everybody, literally. The way I see it, as a label, it is more of a marathon than a sprint.

Are there some special cassette labels out there nowadays that you admire and look up to what they are doing to keep the cassette format alive?

Ignacio: I think by now most of the cassette labels out there are doing other formats, so most have diversified to some degree and are no longer cassette labels. Also, with so much stuff popping up, it is hard to follow what each label is actually doing. I know a lot of new labels, but at best I am familiar with one of their releases so I couldn't frankly tell you.

Can you reveal where you print your cassettes? Which pressing plant(s) do you use to get them printed?

Ignacio: I use NAC, National Audio Company, based in Springfield, Missouri. The bible belt. I have also used Duplication.ca on a couple of projects but for the most part and despite their limitations on shell options, NAC does a very good job with their cassette pressings.

Nearly 300 releases later, can you tell us which release on your label makes you most proud thus far, and is there also some kind of a special story even involved with it?

Ignacio: It is closer to 200. Also, I may have skipped a couple of numbers here and there but who's counting?

Going through the years, some that jump out in the annals of my mind are the early works of Fuoco Fatuo, Undeath, and Skelethal, the Heavydeath collection, primordial worx by Ellorsith and Rope Sect, both Nyredolk jagged and angular recordings, the gorgeous underground UK classic Seven Bloodied Ramparts by Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom, Sonic Poison's grinding body of work, the two necrotic demos by Bloodsoaked Necrovoid, the Maggot Heart CD comp, Marthe's evocative Sisters of Darkness, our US death metal below sea-level collaborations with Grotesqueries, Exsul and Act of Impalement and the dark Norwegian metal ov death worx of Oslo's Dødskvad. I could keep going but I don't want to kill you with good taste. That is a good sample of the label's work, I think.

Special stories? Hate to be boring. I keep it straight up underground business.

Do you believe you'll be running the label as long as it feels right and fun for you?

Ignacio: I'll be running the label only as long as I am happy doing it. I've slowed down lately. For a few years, I was releasing a couple of recordings a month. Over 20 a year. I can't keep up with that. So now, I think it over a few times before I decide to embark on a project. Time is limited.

Have you ever dreamed of your very own store somewhere in Tampa, where you could sell your releases, and even do it as a full-time job?

Ignacio: I have not. And that has never been much of a focus. It is not part of my plan for metal to be a full-time gig.

Well, that's all on my part, so I want to thank you, Ignacio, for your time to make this interview happen, and of course, all the best to you with all of your future endeavors with Caligari Records. Any fitting closing words to wrap up this conversation properly enough?

Ignacio: Luxi, thanks for the support. Check out some of the releases mentioned above. I typed them for a reason. Don't listen to just death metal. Support the underground, buy releases and merch and go to shows.