Earache Records

Earache Records is an independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson, based in Nottingham, England with offices in London and New York. It helped to pioneer extreme metal by releasing early grindcore and death metal records between 1988 and 1994. The label roster has since diversified into more mainstream guitar music.

The label's first major release of note was MOSH 3, Napalm Death's Scum. Famously, John Peel was a champion of the band and supported them on BBC Radio 1. The record went on to reach number 7 in the UK indie chart. The label later made its name signing acts from the emerging grindcore and death metal scenes such as Morbid Angel, Carcass, Entombed and Terrorizer(2).

(Read more at Wikipedia.)

Links to Peel
In the early years of Earache Records, Peel offered a vital national radio platform as the fledgling label quickly emerged as a central player in the sudden emergence of grindcore in the UK. From his early support for the first Napalm Death album, the DJ proved hugely enthusiastic about the abrasive new music, giving airtime to subsequent releases on Earache and many sessions to bands from its growing roster.

Earache founder Digby Pearson later recalled:

"'Peel embraced what we were doing straight away. Out of our first ten releases about eight of the bands did John Peel sessions. He put the label on the map and gave us respectability.'" In 2009, the label issued the triple CD collection Grind Madness At The BBC, featuring landmark recordings from early Earache artists, bringing together 17 sessions from eight bands, totaling 118 tracks.

Sessions

 * Bolt Thrower: (3 sessions, 1988-90)
 * Carcass: (2 sessions, 1998-90)
 * Electro Hippies: (1 session, 1987)
 * Extreme Noise Terror: (4 sessions, 1987-2001)
 * Fudge Tunnel: (2 sessions, 1990-92)
 * Godflesh: (1 session, 1989)
 * Heresy: (3 sessions, 1987-89)
 * Intense Degree: (1 session, 1988)
 * Napalm Death: (3 sessions, 1987-90)
 * Pitchshifter: (2 sessions, 1991-93)
 * Ultraviolence: (1 session, 1992)
 * Unseen Terror: (1 session, 1988)

Festive Fifty

 * No records released on Earache are known to have placed in the year-end poll of Peel listeners. Earache band Extreme Noise Terror reached #44 (with KLF) in the 1992 Festive Fifty, but the single was released by KLM Communications.

Compilations
(Plays by Peel of various artist (v/a) compilations released on Earache. Please add more information if known.)

(LP+7” Grindcrusher - The Earache Sampler)


 * 13 July 1989: Electro Hippies: 'Mega Armageddon Death Pt. 3 ((7" with album)
 * 13 July 1989: Carcass: Exhume To Consume
 * 13 July 1989: Napalm Death: 'The Missing Link
 * 17 July 1989: Repulsion: Radiation Sickness
 * 20 July 1989: Unseen Terror: Divisions
 * 31 July 1989: Carcass: Exhume To Consume
 * 01 August 1989: Bolt Thrower: Through The Eye Of Terror
 * 02 August 1989: Morbid Angel: Chapel Of Ghouls
 * 09 August 1989: Bolt Thrower: Through The Eye Of Terror
 * 12 August 1989 (BFBS): Bolt Thrower: Through The Eye Of Terror
 * 30 September 1989 (BFBS): Bolt Thrower: Through The Eye Of Terror
 * 16 August 1989: Godflesh: Streetcleaner
 * 17 August 1989: Heresy: Dead

(CD - Masters Of Misery - Black Sabbath: The Earache Tribute)
 * 20 March 1993: Fudge Tunnel: Changes
 * 27 March 1993: Pitch Shifter: N.I.B.
 * 08 May 1993: Pitch Shifter: N.I.B.

(CD - Hellspawn (Extreme Metal Meets Extreme Techno))
 * May 1998 (BBC World Service): Napalm Death vs Delta 9: Breed To Breathe
 * 21 May 1998: Morbid Angel Vs The Berserker: Day Of Suffering
 * 26 May 1998: Napalm Death v Delta 9: Breed To Breathe
 * 27 May 1998: Dub War vs Panacea: Strike It
 * 03 June 1998: Ultraviolence vs Hellsau: Strangled
 * 09 June 1998: Brutal Truth Vs Freak: Regression Progression