Billy Razorback

I've been involved in the underground music scene since 1990. The first thing I ever did was a photocopied, 8-page, one-sided death metal newsletter/zine called "Deathly News", which had reviews of underground death metal albums, flyers, and reviews of low-budget/B-movies. It was extremely cheesy and shitty, but it got me into buying demos, trading, buying 7" ep's, ordering and trading with other fanzines, etc. I quickly turned "Deathly News" into my first official fanzine, which I called "The Coven". The first issue came out in 1991 and I think I made like 50 copies, or less? I cant even remember anymore. A 2nd issue came out in late 1991 and then in the summer of 1992 my 3rd issue came out. The death metal scene really started to go to hell in 1993 and by that time I had lost interest in doing my fanzine and I really got strongly involved with the noisecore/cassette/freak/joke/do-whatever-you-want scene. My first noise band/project was called "Traci Lords Loves Noise" and I did a ton of tape releases with it from 1992 to 1993. In late 1993 I got my first 4-track Tascam recorder and started a new noise project called "Pissed Off Orgasm". It was influenced by Minch, the Meat Shits, GG Allin, Merzbow, and lots of my friend's noise bands at the time such as The Earwigs, Pile Of Eggs, and Black Mayonnaise. I eventually became a "member" of Pile Of Eggs in the summer of 1993 and continued to be active with it until 1997, which was also the last year I ever recorded music/noise. The last band/project I ever did was called "Lord Zillablaster", obviously influenced by my fandom for Godzilla and cheesy monster movies. I ran my own noise labels back then also such as "Stupidity Records"(which was really a parody on Relativity Records) and also "Be A Freak Records". My experience doing those labels is what helped me to start Razorback Records. I look back on these days in a great way and still hope to do some crazy noise jams once again with all my old friends! In late 1998 I started Razorback Records with Jill Girardi, who at the time was doing Mortal Coil Records. I wanted the label to be all about my love for old-school death/grind/metal and obscure horror and exploitation films, as well as my love for comic book-style artwork. I've never cared about what was popular and what "sold" as I only wanted to put out stuff I personally listened to and work with bands I felt I had things in common with. I'm happy and proud of everything I've done with this label over the years and have no regrets about anything. My goal is to continue to have fun before anything else, and to keep trying to put out high quality underground metal with non-rock star minded people and bands who don't give a fuck what people say or think of them. We have never "signed" bands, as I've always believed contracts are bullshit and for total suckers foolish enough to "sign" their freedom away. I refuse to work with bands who are unrealistic and delusional. We simply put out music and CD's that we like and do all we can to promote them and get it into the hands of people who really enjoy this kind of stuff and collect it. I'm always a FAN first! Bands are free to come and go as they please with Razorback, I've never held anybody back and never will. If some bands use us as a "stepping stone", so be it. I will still be here putting out music I enjoy and will always have my eyes out for quality underground death/grind/thrash/doom/whatever METAL! I'm never going away. If I have to go back to putting out cassettes with photopcopied covers or making CD's limited to 100 copies to keep this alive....no problem, this label will continue to exist in some way or another! Horror and exploitation movie fans...get in touch! I always love talking about these movies and it never becomes "boring" or "stupid" to me. These movies get better and better as each year (and shitty remake or sequel) moves on. I'm especially interested in 70's drive-in style movies, forgotten 80's VHS-era cheese fests, obscure revenge/action/street-violence/WIP/jungle-flicks, Paul Naschy and Spanish horror movies, 80's slasher movies, and Asian exploitation/horror from the 70's and early 80's, along with the extreme category 3 films from the early 90's. Thanks to ALL who have supported Razorback Records, and continue to support it. It may sound cliche, but we're really nothing without the fans who really enjoy collecting and listening to this music! I'm still amazed after all these years that there's other people like me who enjoy this kind of stuff and have never given up on it. Thanks for reading all this and hope to hear from you all on my page!