CVLT Nation Exclusive
Interview with CLOSED CASKET ACTIVITES

Interview by Holy Mountain

There are a ton of bands out there that I get stoked on hearing new music from, and it seems like that number grows every day. There are, however, only a few labels that I think consistently release well packaged, forward-thinking music that I can’t wait to hear. CLOSED CASKET ACTIVITES is one such label. Based on the label’s history of quality releases, a band simply working with CCA merits me giving them a chance. With the current glut of labels and bands working today, CCA stands head and shoulders above the rest, with beautifully packaged records that not only look good, but most importantly, sound good. Here is an interview with label owner Justin Loudon.

How long has CLOSED CASKET ACTIVITIES been in operation, and what prompted you to start the label?

CCA has been a label since 2005. I was doing a label with my roommate (and interviewee) Danny, while living in North Carolina. We had done a poorly-packaged CD that we spent hours in a Kinkos shredding photocopied layouts to later fold and stuff into plastic sleeves. I loved every second of assembling them and mailing packages out to people. I knew I was going to be moving back to New York in the fall, so I started doing CCA. My first release had the same Kinkos-made packaging.

FULL INTERVIEW AFTER THE JUMP…

In the early stages, what were your vision and goals for CCA?

The early ideas were to be more than just a label. I chose to not end the label name with “records” because I intended to do a few zines and other projects that did not involve pressing music. As time went on, between being a one-man operation and having so much money wrapped up in releases, those other things never developed. As far as records go, I wanted to release bands that I was a fan of, with layouts, artwork and vinyl quality that did the records justice.

Has it become what you imagined or has it changed as you grew and, if so, how?

The label has definitely grown and changed over the years in many ways, while still remaining the same. I never thought I would have bands supporting records by touring foreign countries, debuting songs on different sites or even doing something as simple as offering recording budgets. A lot more work goes into every release as my catalog number goes up, but I still enjoy putting each record out as much as I did my first.

Were any record labels, past or present, an inspiration to you?

The two records that I really remember being blown away by packaging-wise were Coalesce – Give Them Rope as well as Ruination – Let The Mother Fucker Burn. The Coalesce record had a limited pressing packaged in a burlap sack. I think that was the the first record I saw that wasn’t packaged in your standard jacket. The Ruination record, for those who haven’t seen it, came pressed with a 7″ worth of music on a 10″ that was cut in the shape of the USA on clear vinyl. The packaging was all flames printed on a one sheet with the record laid over it. It really looked insane.

As far as labels go, I always thought Surprise Attack Records (SA MOB) had a really cool approach when I was kid. That was the first label I can remember seeing who listed zines in their release catalog and did a ton of limited covers for their records.

I know you do CCA by yourself; what does it take for one person to run a label like this?

I spend a decent amount of my free time on this label, whether it be putting records together, talking to artists, packaging orders or planning releases. The most beneficial thing for me has been being as involved in current bands with my day job, managing a print shop, and co-owning a web store business. I work closely with a lot of bands and labels. We all talk about new bands and different music we are checking out at the moment, so I feel pretty aware of what’s going on in a lot of different genres.

If you could go back in time and give young Justin some good advice about what you might do differently with CCA, what would you tell him?

I like a lot of different types of music and tried to diversify my label a lot at one point. One released I did was a split 7″ from End Of A Year (Self Defense Family) and Segwei, who was from Japan. Both bands wrote and recorded two great songs, but I think the release would have been received a lot better if it was put out by someone who is more geared towards that genre. I love when labels diversify, but I think I would have benefited early on from identifying with one specific sound and trying to grow from it.

Obviously, when picking bands for CCA, “will they make money” is not your first concern. What is it that you look for in a band who will potentially be on CCA?

Most importantly, I want to release music that I enjoy listening to. I’ve been lucky enough to have people show an interest by sending me emails and press kits over the last few years. I listen to all of them, but it really comes down to checking out a band on my own or by reference of a friend and getting excited over it. I’m pretty particular with what I like and I’ll usually be interested in one band a lot while disliking something that is pretty similar. After that it really comes down to if I think the band will be cool to work with.

How important is the art and packaging of a CCA release?

I view artwork as being equally important to the music. Doing a google image search for something creepy or disturbing is something I have never wanted to do. All of my album covers feature original photography, paintings and illustrations by a degree of different artists. When someone picks up one of my releases, I would like to think they will check out the layout for a few minutes before taking the record out. On my next release for Disgrace, entitled “Songs Of Suffering,” we got Dan Seagrave, who is known for his work with Entombed, Morbid Angel, Suffocation and Warbringer, to do an original painting for the cover. It looked so good that we opted to press the release as a 12″ EP at 45RPM so that the artwork could be bigger and shown as clear as possible.

As a fan of the label, I have picked my top 5 CCA releases below. Tell me a little about the process of getting these releases out:

Harm’s Way “No Gods No Masters

I feel this release specifically is where I found my niche as a label. A member of a previous band I worked with, Black Teeth, put me in touch with them. Members of Harm’s Way had asked him about different labels to do their up coming 7″ with and he recommended we talk. I spoke a few times with Chris, the drummer of Harm’s Way, over the phone and everything seemed like a great fit immediately. We could not figure out what direction to go with on the cover to save our lives. A friend of the band actually came up with the concept of the impaled pigs head on an inverted cross and painted it for us. I can still remember playing the recording of this for the first time, hearing the guitar feedback into a sample of someone screaming “I’m sorry” and going straight into a massive sounding double bass and guitar riff. I knew this band was going to continue to grow and it’s been real enjoyable to work with them and see everything they have done along way.

When Tigers Fight “Death Songs”

When Tigers Fight was the first band I pressed vinyl for and “Death Songs” is the seventh release I have done with guitarist Jonathan Dennison. I grew up listening to the band members’ former projects, like Damnation AD and Another Victim, so the chance to work on a release like this is more personally satisfying than anything else. The recording of this took just about a year to complete. There was a line up change when guitarist Ken Olden left the group and new songs needed to be written, which was the main delay. Jonathan wrote all nine tracks in what I think is some of his best music to date. Mike D.C.’s vocals and lyrics really came into their own on this release while still holding true to what fans of his work with Damnation AD could expect. Artwork was completed by Jon Macnair who also did the cover art for Harm’s Way – “Isolation”, which I released the year prior. We ran into hiccups with this coming out right down to test pressings needing to be recut and delays with UPS on delivering LP jackets. I was so glad the day this came out.

The Network “Bishop Kent Manning”

I booked shows in Albany, NY with my friend Patrick Kindlon for a couple of years. The first band we booked was Trap Them, who we did a handful of shows for in the years to come. At one of those shows, I was talking to their singer Ryan, and The Network came up. I had mentioned that I liked the direction their style had changed on the band’s split with Throats, and was looking forward to their next record. Turned out he is friends with them and the topic of pressing vinyl came up, in which he told me it was a done deal. In the next few days, he got me in touch with Pete, guitarist of the band, and he set everything up with Black Market so I would be able to license the rights from them. I was lucky enough to be able to do an alternative cover for the record by Aeron Alfrey. The cover features a priest who shot himself in the head with a crucifix, instead of a gun, to coincide with the story the record tells of a priest committing suicide. The photograph used for the cover is actually a victim of a shot gun blast to the head. The original photo is one of the craziest things I have ever seen. To complete the record, I also burned a bible and tore out pages for each copy.

Unholy “Blood of the “Medusa”

This release was scheduled to come out in time for the band’s full US tour in support of the record, for which I had licensed the right to vinyl. A lot of time, effort and variations of this layout were made before it was ready to go to press. Band members actually made the mask that was worn by the “sun god” on the cover and all of the background art was hand-painted. There was a week delay in the pressing of this and the band received their copies in Denver, Colorado, completely across country from where the tour started. I received the majority of the pressing before the band picked up theirs. These things looked incredible. A full color gatefold LP jacket, a full color two-sided insert with elaborate colored vinyl records. The day the band hit Denver, I called to see how happy they were with the pressing, only to hear that the singer quit that morning and got on a bus back to Syracuse, NY. I was pretty speechless. The band had a member of one of the other bands they were touring with fill in rather than canceling the tour. That was the first time with the label that I saw the risk in pressing records. Luckily, the band played a few hometown shows to help me compensate the expense of the record while they looked for a new singer. If they had not, it would have been a huge set back for me.

Black Teeth S/T 7″

I had heard two songs the band recorded and absolutely loved it. I wrote them and asked if I could do a 7″ of the material and they agreed. They were the funniest group of kids I worked with up until that point, and were all around great. They broke up about a year and a half after the record came out due to losing their drummer and bass player. The guitarist sent me a few instrumental demo tracks of the music we were going to release on their LP. The progression in their sound was unreal and this is one of the releases that I regret never seeing surface.

If you had the ability to work with any band you liked (past or present) who would be your top 5 and why?

That is a real tough one to answer. Rather than give a list of broad and diverse bands I will keep it close to what sounds like something I would release.

1- Type O Negative – I have listened to this band since I was in Junior High. I think it’s pretty crazy that they have received such a buzz the past few years, especially from the hardcore scene. This band was the first band I got into that did slow and heavy music the right way.

2- Cursed – I have been a fan since I received a Deathwish Inc CD sampler that had two Cursed songs on it. I had no idea this band existed but loved Left For Dead, The Swarm and Ruination. It took me a second before I spotted Chris Colohan as the front man. The record “One” and everything to follow was always played on repeat the second I got a copy. Given the chance, I would love to repress any of the records, which I believe are all out of print at this point.

3- Nails – Unsilent Death is perfect start to finish and the band is filled with some of the best guys I have met to date. Real excited to hear the follow up LP to this.

4- Converge – They are one of the most iconic band from my generation. I love that they continue to tour, write new records, work with artists they personally like, and have recently started doing splits again with Dropdead and Napalm Death. I saw them for the first time in 2001 and have yet to be disappointed in anything they have done.

5- Indecision – “Unorthodox” was one of the first hardcore records I got really into and their discography is perfect in my opinion. They are one of the only bands I have a full vinyl collection for, with almost every variation of each record. I would love to repress some of their out-of-print material for personal reasons.

I have to give a few honorable mentions, because limiting this list to 5 is too hard – Gaza, Pig Destroyer, Stigmata, Snapcase, Foundation, Unbroken and Crowbar are a handful of others that I would love to do new records or vinyl reissues of older ones.

What’s new and what’s on the horizon for CCA?

As stated above, next in line is a 12″ EP from Southern California’s DISGRACE. These guys are heavily influenced by bands such as Merauder, Stigmata and Bolt Thrower. This will be followed by the second LP from Long Island, New York’s own INCENDIARY. These guys will be hitting the studio this August in anticipation of a Winter release. I am also happy to announce the signing of California’s HARNESS, who will be making their CCA debut on a split 7″ with previously mentioned DISGRACE. In the months to follow, HARNESS will be recording their debut LP. Aside from that I will have a few records being repressed as well as a surprise release this summer. A lot of other new records and bands are in the works as well, but for now that is all that is set in stone.

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