We started Chrome Saint Magnus in 1999. Dirk had just recorded the new Systral” Black Smoker” and had the idea to release it by himself. When I visited him in the studio to check out the new recordings he asked me about starting our own label and put that record out. Since AcMe (where I played drums) broke up, I never had anything to do with music again. So, I really liked that I idea ‘cause I always wanted to be involved in something with music. We took all our money that we had from the studioand from our bands and released our first records (SYSTRAL” Black Smoker” and KNUT ”Bastardiser”). Dirk and me met nearly ten years ago when we recorded the AcMe Demo tape. I was 15 years old around that time. Dirk has been much older, but we could get along pretty good. Dirk drove us sometimes to shows we had with AcMe (we were too young to drive by oursleves) and I came on tour with SYSTRAL several times. We became good friends so it was a cool idea for both of us to start something together. Johan, you asked about our social status…Hm, what could I say about that? Dirk is living from out of the studio. I got his own house in the woods and all this it just great. He’s also studying to become a teacher, but I also did this when I met him for the first time… I think he will never finish this! I live in Cologne. I work here for VIVA television which is the biggest Music Television over here. There is also Maite, my girlfriend helping us with the label. She is doing a lot of graphic-stuff cause she’s as a graphic-woman (…how do you call that anyway?!). When we started we had Jake Bannon, the singer from Converge doing our artworks. Now we changed and Aaron Turner from Hydra Head Records is working for us. We have some very, very cool bands coming up next. I don’t know why they are all on Chrome Saint Magnus now… When I thought about new bands for CSM I thought” Why not ask the best bands around…they can’t say more than a simple “NO”!…So I asked them and somehow they all were into it. It’s strange somehow ‘cause the label is so new and everything, but it all worked out very good.  

Our release schedule includes:

CSM 001 SYSTRAL” Black Smoker”lp/cd  

CSM 002 KNUT “ Bastardiser”lp

In Nov.’00: CSM 003 Mörser” 10.000 bad guys dead”lp/cd

CSM 004 Breach” Godbox” lp/mcd

CSM 005 Cave-In” Jupiter” lp

In early 2001: CSM006 Dillinger Escape Plan new 7” 

CSM007 Damnation A.D” Pornography” new lp/cd

Doesn’t sound too bad, right?! The bands we sign must not have any special norms… If we like them, if they’re cool people and we like their music – we just sign them. You asked if we would sign a band like Arkangel or Reprisal… Well, I don’t have much to do with stuff like this. You told me they are hardline and all… I’m not into all that stuff and for me this all is pretty childish. You know, just teenagers that have to be in a special group or that have to do something that sets them apart from their friends in school. For me it seems to be a more a passing phase and to be important in their crew. Since I don’t take it serious, since I don’t care about shit like that… I can imagine to sign even a band like this IF I like the people and music. If that band is hated by everyone because of their image or if they fuck everyone up – for me a positive point to sign them! You know, I just like it if a band don’t cares what others think about them. I like it if they go their own way… For example: Mörser. They’re so drunk sometimes that they cannot go on stage, sometimes they destroy everything and just don’t play… Sure, it sucks. But I like the fact that they just don’t try to make people happy that they buy Mörser records or even like them. Mörser just fuck up and don’t care. I like that! I don’t really know what Chrome Saint Magnus is heading for… I don’t like all these rules in the H.C/ Punk scene that just stop the the creativity of the whole scene (not only music)..yeah, I think we head for breaking up all that shit and do a new scene. And of course we head for money, alcohol and heavy music. Record making and records breaking - Chrome Saint Magnus the best thing that could ever happen in your life! And WE dominate the world. You are right, doing a label is pretty expensive. The cool thing: Cash flows with all these cool releases we have! And if not: Dirk is also working as a dancer in a table-dance bar over here. But that’s another story… Which distros does distribution for Chrome Saint Magnus? In Europe we get distro from GENET in Belgium. In the States we’re getting exclusive distribution from Lumberjack in early 2001! My personal benefits for the label are….hm, I don’t know. I lose money, don’t have time to see my friends after work ‘cause I do stuff like this right now…No, no matter – I really like it. I love music so much, I love to do my own thing and create something that I like. I met cool people all over the world. Some are nice – a lot of suck… But it’s cool! I like to have my own stickers, my own flyers and see my ad in mags! I like our logo, the bands and the artwork! These are my benefits! Okay, that you for that interview. If you want to know more about us, check: www.chromesaintmagnus.com The side will be out in October. Would be also cool if some of you people would like to contct me. Really, there are so many cool bands from Scandinavia, but noone knows something about your “scene”, if there are shows, if you have your own mags and distros… It’s strange! Hope to hear from you!

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