Art In Exile

Joining the small but growing number of Adelaide metal bands getting overseas exposure, local Gothic/ experimental metal outfit Art In Exile have just signed a deal with a UK label entitled Casket Music (a subsidiary of Copro Records), who'll be re-releasing the group's self-titled debut EP and distributing it in Europe.

"We paid for the re-pressing of it, which was done in their studios," keyboard player Matt Redmond informs me, "and they also take a cut from whatever they can get sold over there. I think it's a really good way to do it: we retain a lot of control over what we do, and they're not out of pocket when they start, so we don't really owe them anything. I think it's much more mutually beneficial doing it this way."

"They do the promotion for it as well, which is pretty rare for a label, especially an independent one," adds vocalist Mel Bulian. "It's better they do it, though, since they already have the contacts over there."

"It's also a lot more efficient for them to be posting the EP from the UK rather than us posting it from over here. It also means that it's not unsolicited mail any more," Redmond says.

"Yeah, so our CDs don't get sent back," agrees Bulian. "That's happened to us a lot before. Because a label doesn't recognize what we've sent them ourselves, they'll often just go, 'yeah, whatever', and ignore it. Because the people who'll be doing it for us are another label, though, they're already recognized, so they can offer it to buyers - all the big stores, that kind of thing. We wouldn't be able to do that sort of thing ourselves; it's just impossible. That's why it's always good to have a label helping you out in that regard."

So, after so many problems being rejected by other labels, I ask, how did they manage to get lucky with Casket?

"Well, it was unsolicited mail when we sent it to them as well!" Redmond confesses.

"Yeah," avers Bulian. "We sent a promo pack to them. We sent out many, many promo packs. We've been in negotiations with them for something like eight months; just a crazy amount of time making sure we still retained our rights and important stuff like that."

The re-release has been given new artwork, which Redmond describes as "extremely" different from that on the original version. "The original artwork was done by a fractal artist in Britain called Tina Oloyede," he tells me. "We got Becky from Against The Grain Studio to do the new artwork for us, which I think fits our sound a bit closer. It was very hard to tell from the original artwork what sort of style the music was going to be; the new artwork ties into our metal roots a lot better."

"It really follows the concept of everything a little bit more as well," adds Bulian. "Plus it's far more interesting! Yeah, after a while we didn't feel like what we had originally represented the EP too well so we thought a change of artwork was the way to go."

The group will be celebrating the re-release of their EP with a show next month featuring special guests Veil Of Anguish from Geelong. Talk of shows impels me to ask Bulian something I've long been curious about: just where do she and other female band member, bass player Leni Benton, get the amazing black latex costumes they perform in?

"That's at the big Adult Superstore [the sex shop by the old Night Train Complex]," Bulian tells me. "It's really cute, actually, because every time I go in there, all the guys look really nervous. When I'm trying on corsets, shoes and that sort of thing, the staff act like they want me to get out so the guys can buy their porn! It's like they want to say to me, 'get out! You're making our male customers uncomfortable!'"

So do any of the guys in the group ever consider wearing something a bit outrageous too? The question causes Bulian to erupt into hysterical laughter. "They're too metal!" she exclaims.

"I've considered it," admits Redmond. "I just don't think I've got the figure for it. If I dropped about fifteen kilos, you might be able to talk me into it."

"If you wore latex, you probably would drop fifteen kilos!" Bulian jokes.



James Brazel



'Art In Exile' is released through Casket Music on Mon 30 Jun.

Art In Exile play at the Enigma Bar on Sat 12 Jul with Quasar, Saeturnum and Veil Of Anguish