Read interview with Lorenzo Marchello, the owner of Italian Kolony Records, on metalnews.de (in German).
Metalnews.de did interview with Lorenzo/Kolony Records
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Here's the interview in English:
Greetings Lorenzo, it's a pleasure. First off, tell us how you got into the Metal genre at all, what bands would you deem to be the most influential? What is it about Metal music that makes you feel excited; do you also have other favourite genres which you would support through your main label [or a side label]? Do you even find the time to listen to the old records again nowadays?
Hi Micha, the pleasures mine, thanx for the interview. Well, I went into metal when I was 14, one of my best friends lent me Iron Maidens Fear of the Dark and, to be honest, I didnt like this kind of music at first, too heavy for me at that time. But I was in some way attracted by the visual world behind the band, so after few weeks I bought Iron Maidens Powerslave and started to appreciate metal music, and to love it soon. I approached more extreme sound with Moonspells Wolfheart in 1995, then I got my black-metal only period when I was 15-16. I bought several albums during those years, some are still among my favourite ones, some were shit. You know, 15 years ago it was not possible to listen to all bands on MySpace, you had to buy albums to discover if those bands were good or not.
Kolony Records has been on the surface for more than two years. What was the key moment that let you start this label in the first moment, how did you come up with the name? What does the two-headed dragon mean to you respectively the work you are doing and releasing?
Since from the first years I was into metal, Ive always loved and focused my attention on what was behind the bands, which labels released which bands, etc. As a member of a metal band I noticed I liked handling all the promotional aspects, building contacts, following demos pressing, etc. more than playing
I remember I was already thinking about how to run a label when I was 16.
During the university years, I had a stage-period in a well-known ethnic-music label here in Italy and felt I would have loved to open my own company and handle the many aspects that are behind a label and its bands. But after my degree I was offered a very good job and put the labels idea aside. Three years passed and I was often thinking about the label, in particular when my band signed a deal with a label, my interest in the music business grew a lot and finally I took the decision to quit the normal job and invest money I earned during those years into the label. Not an easy decision, I left a well-paid job to follow a dream, but after more than 2 years of Kolony Records I can honestly say that this has been the best decision in my life, as Im totally happy and involved in what Im doing. Sometimes its really hard but Im doing what I like in my life, and this is not common to everyone.
The name Kolony Records came out after several days of research I had some other names in mind, but every time I was checking those names on the internet, they were already another label (not necessarily metal ones). Id never had thought it was so difficult to find a name eheh. I also wanted a easy-to-remember name, not a long one. I liked the word Colony but assumed that Kolony with the K was more original, heres the story  As for the two-headed griffin in the logo, it came out after I had checked some drafts made by a local graphic designer, which I asked him to edit in someway. The griffin gives the idea of power and nobility, that in my opinion well-relate with some kinds of extreme metal. Being similar symbols already used by several bands / labels, I wanted to add the red-green circles on the top, to make the logo easily recognizable and original in some way. But to be honest theres no meaning behind the griffin / the circles, its just a graphical design that I felt ok with the music.
What is your working ethos, which main principles do you hold up high, which ones do you despise?
My working ethos is mainly helping to grow the bands that are signed to Kolony Records, as Im convinced this will help the label itself to grow in the long run. Im not the kind of label that ask money to its bands for being released (there are several out there), or releasing many albums just to have a lot of stuff to trade, at the expense of quality. All of Kolony Records releases are genuine and have been worked a lot before, there are albums I like more and other less, but what Im sure is that Ive never released shit.
Back to the working ethos, I like to talk clearly to all bands and not to promise what I cannot keep, just to have them signed; last but not least, I like to co-operate as much as I can in close relationship with bands, helping each other to grow, sharing contacts, etc.
I despise making small bands believe they are the best and they can reach success when its not true, asking them for money to have the album released, etc. Its sad but it happens with some labels / agencies.
Which aspects of your work do you enjoy respectively dislike the most, which one consumes the most time? How many hours a day do you work on your label? Can you actually live off the label?
To be honest, I like many aspects of the label, but planning how to promote releases, get in contact with press, agencies, make new contacts, planning releases and look for artists to cure the artwork, etc. are some aspects I definitely like.
Surely what I dislike the most is writing contracts: I like to discuss personalized contracts with each bands, and sometimes this takes months. This is something I really dislike and take me a lot of stress when doing. I just finished a contract with a new band this morning, we started to deal in November if Im not wrong...
One of the thing that actually takes more time is doing all websites / ads graphics in fact I guess when Ill hire another person, Ill go for a graphic designer first. Updating mailorder / handling trades, etc. takes a lot of time too.
I usually work 8-10 hours a day on the label. I cannot actually live off the label, even if this is my only job at the moment (I use money earned with my previous job to live). Hope Im gonna be able to live off the label by 1-2 years at latest.
Wherein do you see the difficulty of running a label of your size [apart from the above mentioned issues] and convince potential customers of your work? Since you are putting a lot of work into realising your releases the best way possible: How can you "market" this amount of labour without immediately rushing into the red?
Its very hard, you know. Nowadays there are too many labels, too many bands, and its difficult to find a piece of market and convince potential customers about your releases. First of all, its important to have a solid roster and quality albums; then, giving albums as well as labels public profiles (websites, flyers, ad, etc.) a cool aspect is important too, and I think theres still a lot of work to be done on this; but most of all its important to use all instruments that modern technology offer us: internet with his social networks first of all, even if it takes a lot of time. Bands must contribute on this too, and showing they are active by doing live shows everywhere they can, etc. There are unlimited possibility to be explored, the problem is finding out the useful ones and finding the time to make them the right way.
I think rushing into red is normal for a small label at the beginning, at least if the label is investing on the future.
Concerning the marketing topic, you came up with some tasteful flyers recently which can be seen both on your homepages and some online portals. Is there some sort of formula for "the perfect flyer" for you? How much superficiality - i.e. certain common Metal symbols, a strict black/white colour scheme and the like - is necessary in your opinion to appeal to potential customers? How important are flyers these days, when compared to more modern marketing ways like Twitter or reviews on online magazines?
I think people like to see cool visual artworks, especially in metal. Twitter is fast and immediate as its the trend nowadays, but its not enough. Its good since you can spread many news to all your fans, but people that is really interested in bands want something more: listening to the music, going deeper into bands bio / info / backstage, and of course graphical design helps a lot to attract people attention: how many albums in the past have sold because of great covers? Its the same thing nowadays with online pages: when I see bands pages that look home-made, Im honest I feel very small attractions towards those bands, I can be wrong but theres like a feeling that they are home-made musicians you know. When I enter a bands cool page, Im interested to listening their music: then I can like it or not, but at least Ive listened to it. Nowadays its very important convincing people to listen to your bands, since there are too many out there and people dont have the time / the will to listen to all of them.
Naturally, the whole foundation of your promotional work are the bands you have signed to your label. Your first band has been FIGHTCAST, a fresh, young band from Italy that is elegantly switching between Metalcore and Melodic Death Metal in their music. What were the reasons to sign them in the first place, how did your first release, FIGHTCASTs "Breeding A Divinity" debut record?
When starting a label, its difficult to find bands to sign. You dont have the name, dont have the contacts, etc. I wasnt in this business before (except that with my band) so I wasnt known by any bands out there. I started browsing on the internet, checking for bands around, etc. I found 4-5 bands I liked and contacted them, but it was clear that these bands were diffident towards a new label (and, to be honest, I started to look for bands to be signed 3-4 months before officially opening the label, so no real company existing, no website online nor a name for the label yet, etc.).
Also, I looked for bands with an album ready for being released, and this made the research restricting more.
When I listened to Fightcast I liked them a lot, they had first album ready, they were Italian so easier to deal at beginning, so I decided to contact them, we had some email talks then we met and it was clear both the band and me were interested in a cooperation. The contract was written and first Kolony Records band was signed and released after few months.
Being Breeding a Divinity the first release, there was a lot of work to do, finding the company to press the CDs, creating promotion contacts database, and a lot more. These are consolidated things now, but you know when you start, everything is new and a lot of work has to be done.
When looking at your rooster, you seem to put emphasis on diversity. There are lesser known bands like said FIGHTCAST and, on the other side of the spectrum, bands like DE PROFUNDIS which have had a successful background before you signed them. What does a band have to have in order to get signed by you? What is more important in terms of signing a band: The music itself, the ideology behind the music or both? For which elements do you seek in bands?
As told in a previous answer, for me most important things are the music of course and the bands being active. I dont put much attention to the ideology behind the music, I like all bands being free to express what they like, even if Id never sign bands with extreme political views or such (especially if clearly expressed into their music / artworks, etc.). Notice I receive 5-6 demos/promos each week, and sometimes I ask myself: why this band sent this promo? How can they feel a label will sign them? Often I got promos containing few songs home-recorded in a horrible quality, bands without any bio nor contacts, any relevant facts in the bio, horrible photos in rehearsing room, etc. Bands should work as if they are manager of themselves, they must show cool, they must not list all line-up changes they had in the last 10 years (especially if no one knows who those members are), but they must submit FACTS, like having supported cool bands, having played abroad, having recorded in a cool studio with cool producer, etc. etc.
When you say there are smaller bands in Kolony Records roster as well as bands with more important background, its normal that, being the label growing, I tend to sign bigger bands / bands that I feel can do best, its easier now to get cooler bands since the label is a lot more known than 2 years ago.
How do you get across new bands? Do you approach them first, are you the active seeker or do these two situations vary? Is there some sort of "system" behind this approach that you could explain? Are there certain bands outside of your rooster with whom you would kill to work with in the future?
Both ways, I check and consider all demos/promos I receive from bands, and at the same time I look forward to bands myself. To be honest, theres only 1 band in the actual Kolony records roster that contacted me first, all other bands were contacted by me directly.
There are several bands Id like to work with in the future, if I have to stay with feet on earth I would say In Mourning from Sweden, Kolony recently re-issued their debut album on vinyl under license from Aftermath Music and I had the honour to have the guys sleeping at my home after the great show at Kolony Metal Fest last November In Mourning are poised to become a major band in my opinion, their musical quality is proven but what makes the difference is the will of the band to go out and play everywhere they can. This will help them a lot to grow.
If talking about musical giants, why not working with Opeth in the future? 
Which of your releases has impressed you the most by now, may it be musically or regarding the overall product? Is there any release you are especially proud of or are they all equally "treated" by you?
To be honest, the band Ive been most impressed music-wise is actually UKs DE PROFUNDIS. If I compare their album to other recent releases (BELAKOR and PERSEFONE), I feel all of them at the same level to be honest, its just that I like DE PROFUNDIS genre a bit more if compared to others. Im anyway sure that Kolony made a strong step-up with these latest releases, all these three bands are of absolute high quality and this is showed by the press / fans feedback, only very cool reviews coming for these releases and many more orders from our mailorder if compared to previous releases. PERSEFONE has recently been confirmed as main support to Obituarys European tour in March, and other bands too are gonna be confirmed for cool live shows in Europe soon. These bands are really helping the label to grow, and I hope we as a label are doing the same helping the band themselves to do a further step up in their musical career.
Which quintessence or "main message" do all your records contain? Which albums stood the test of time in your opinion, what's still infecting your stereo? Are there any records you wished to be more long-lasting?
Theres not any common message in albums released by Kolony, since all lyrical themes are freely developed by respective authors without any pressure by the label. Its difficult to say which albums stood the test of time, you know underground releases like these ones have not that big circulation that makes you say: oh radio are still playing this song after one year...its all about how much promotion was done, how much bands play / sell albums live, etc.
From a musical personal point of view, I feel that some of the latest releases (Belakor, De Profundis, Persefone) will stay the test of time for me as a listener, since I feel them to go deeper into a musical research that its not easy-listening, but can stay for more. Long songs, experimentations, etc. This is only a personal opinion though.
To wrap this up and come back to you: what can you offer for a fresh, motivated band that both has a killer album ready to get released and therefore wants to promote it live? How much individual initiative from the band is needed to comply with their wishes? Give some examples for the latter question if you like to.
The band youre talking about is exactly the kind of band we always look for. Its mandatory for us that a band has got a cool album ready to be released and they do their best to play live as much as they can. And its important the band is not at the beginning, having 1-2 releases already is better.
Usually we offer our bands all costs paid for album pressing, artwork and advertising. We do all promotional work and actively work to arrange live shows for the bands + we make their albums distributed in main European markets and available in many online mailorder.
But I would like to underline that we offer different conditions / contracts to each band, as we like to give bands maximum satisfaction from their deals with us if possible.
Initiative from the band is vital nowadays, and I feel disappointed when some bands do nothing at all (any live shows scheduled, any websites updates, any reply to emails, months before answering interviews) and it happens that these same bands blame because their album is not selling...hey guys were into 2010, give a look how many other cool bands are out there and maybe youll understand that some more work has to be done in order to compete with them having an album out nowadays is like having a demo-tape in the 90s, if not less.
I prefer not to give examples but unfortunately such things have happened with a pair of Kolony bands too, I prefer not to give the names anyway. This is why Im most convinced everyday that quality is only 50% for a band, the other 50% is their promotional / managerial efforts and will. If you are only a musically cool band, youre only 5 out of 10 that means not sufficient.
One of the best things about Kolony Records is that its owner, you, has practice in being in a band and knows the mechanism of a collective, writing and performing music. How has this knowledge been helpful in working on your label so far?
Ive been playing bass for almost 14 years in a metal band called Tragodia (www.myspace.com/tragodia), which Ive recently quit because of the too many efforts and time needed to run the label. I believe that yes, of course playing an instrument and recording with a band makes you more aware about the quality of other bands too, its easier to understand when a band has good playing ability, when riffs are original, etc. And, handling contacts of the band as well, helped me to start the label with clear ideas on how to move, what to do. There are a lot of things Ive learned these latest two years, and many still to be learned Im sure, but yes the band gave me a lot from this points of view.
Alright, now really back to the label activities: You are also pretty active when it comes to being part of gigs with a sales booth. Where and when will you be selling records during the upcoming year?
Yes, to be honest I partly disregarded this kind of activity at the beginning, but nowadays running a label means touching all possible aspects of the music industry if you want to be successful, and attending smaller shows as well as big summer festivals is a must for all labels. Currently were booked to Metal Fest Austria in May, Hellfest in June, Wacken in August. There are still 3-4 summer festivals we would like to attend and are deciding these days which ones to go. I suggest all fans to visit us during these festivals, there will be many cool offers / discounted prices on our releases and other titles we have in mailorder.
There has also been a label festival of yours called Kolony Metal Fest. How did it turn out, how were the responses? In what ways do you think has it helped to spread the message of Kolony?
Yes, it happened last November and it was the first time I worked on a live event. It was done in co-operation with Olden Live Club here in Brescia, we had this show with Ahab, In Mourning, Black Sun Aeon, Dominance + 2 local bands. I can say the response was good and I was very happy with it.
Were gonna have a 2nd edition of Kolony Metal Fest on June 12th, weve got DE PROFUNDIS already booked and are gonna book all other bands soon. Updates should be out in few days.
You also have a magazine called "Kolonized Mag". Tell us about its content and how it can be purchased.
Kolonized Mag cannot be purchased because its free
Its a 32 pages, full-color A5 magazine, printed in 2.500 copies and totally written in English. It features interviews / articles with Kolony bands as well as with other cool bands. Every fan who ordered stuff from Kolony mailorder already got his copy of the mag, and this trend will stay until it is sold out. Plus the mag can be found in several distros / mailorders. In the case someone is interested to receive the mag only, feel free to drop us a email and were gonna send charging shipment expenses only.
Also, were working hard to have the same interviews of the mag available as online downloadable .pdf in different languages, more news soon.
Second issue of Kolonized Mag should be out in May, to coincide with summer festivals.
Coming to an end, I want to ask you how big you want Kolony Records to grow, concerning radiation of your stuff, label name, sales etc. or is the sky your only limit in that perspective? Furthermore, what the future for Kolony Records looks like, if there is a certain line [could be everything] you wouldn't cross with this label and how your thoughts about this very interview read like.
The sky is the only limit in my mind. I know the way its difficult and long, but when I think to Kolony in 5-10 years, I really feel it to grow a lot, I dont want to stay underground forever. What I can say is that Im never 100% satisfied with what I do, not in the sense that I dont like the way I do things, but I try to improve / make better every singles aspect of the label, from the promotional channels to the distribution, from the album graphics to the websites, from the bands quality to live shows, etc. etc. Theres a lot to do, perhaps this is why I like this job so much.
I recently started a daily, close co-operation with a Finnish guy that was in the business for many years, he was at Firebox before. Hes doing all the international promotion as well as helping in many aspects of the label. Hes also the one curing all Kolonized Mag contents. Im sure this co-operation will help to make the label bigger.
At the moment I feel Kolony will continue to focus mainly on extreme metal (black-death-doom) with some releases into more modern styles (metalcore, etc.). Theres nothing I want to say I wont cross, too many times in my life I changed my mind so never say never, perhaps one day Kolony will release jazz albums?
In the end, I wanted to thank you very much tor this interview, it was very interesting to go through it and made me reflect on some aspect of the label itself, there are things you dont think about if not asked to explain. Very good questions, it was a pleasure to answer them, really!
To all fans: feel free to check Kolony Records bands, visit www.kolonyrecords.com to have more info. Were also available on all main social networks, like MySpace, Facebook, tTwitter, etc.
Looking forward to hearing from you all!
Greetings Lorenzo, it's a pleasure. First off, tell us how you got into the Metal genre at all, what bands would you deem to be the most influential? What is it about Metal music that makes you feel excited; do you also have other favourite genres which you would support through your main label [or a side label]? Do you even find the time to listen to the old records again nowadays?
Hi Micha, the pleasures mine, thanx for the interview. Well, I went into metal when I was 14, one of my best friends lent me Iron Maidens Fear of the Dark and, to be honest, I didnt like this kind of music at first, too heavy for me at that time. But I was in some way attracted by the visual world behind the band, so after few weeks I bought Iron Maidens Powerslave and started to appreciate metal music, and to love it soon. I approached more extreme sound with Moonspells Wolfheart in 1995, then I got my black-metal only period when I was 15-16. I bought several albums during those years, some are still among my favourite ones, some were shit. You know, 15 years ago it was not possible to listen to all bands on MySpace, you had to buy albums to discover if those bands were good or not.
Kolony Records has been on the surface for more than two years. What was the key moment that let you start this label in the first moment, how did you come up with the name? What does the two-headed dragon mean to you respectively the work you are doing and releasing?
Since from the first years I was into metal, Ive always loved and focused my attention on what was behind the bands, which labels released which bands, etc. As a member of a metal band I noticed I liked handling all the promotional aspects, building contacts, following demos pressing, etc. more than playing
I remember I was already thinking about how to run a label when I was 16. During the university years, I had a stage-period in a well-known ethnic-music label here in Italy and felt I would have loved to open my own company and handle the many aspects that are behind a label and its bands. But after my degree I was offered a very good job and put the labels idea aside. Three years passed and I was often thinking about the label, in particular when my band signed a deal with a label, my interest in the music business grew a lot and finally I took the decision to quit the normal job and invest money I earned during those years into the label. Not an easy decision, I left a well-paid job to follow a dream, but after more than 2 years of Kolony Records I can honestly say that this has been the best decision in my life, as Im totally happy and involved in what Im doing. Sometimes its really hard but Im doing what I like in my life, and this is not common to everyone.
The name Kolony Records came out after several days of research I had some other names in mind, but every time I was checking those names on the internet, they were already another label (not necessarily metal ones). Id never had thought it was so difficult to find a name eheh. I also wanted a easy-to-remember name, not a long one. I liked the word Colony but assumed that Kolony with the K was more original, heres the story  As for the two-headed griffin in the logo, it came out after I had checked some drafts made by a local graphic designer, which I asked him to edit in someway. The griffin gives the idea of power and nobility, that in my opinion well-relate with some kinds of extreme metal. Being similar symbols already used by several bands / labels, I wanted to add the red-green circles on the top, to make the logo easily recognizable and original in some way. But to be honest theres no meaning behind the griffin / the circles, its just a graphical design that I felt ok with the music.
What is your working ethos, which main principles do you hold up high, which ones do you despise?
My working ethos is mainly helping to grow the bands that are signed to Kolony Records, as Im convinced this will help the label itself to grow in the long run. Im not the kind of label that ask money to its bands for being released (there are several out there), or releasing many albums just to have a lot of stuff to trade, at the expense of quality. All of Kolony Records releases are genuine and have been worked a lot before, there are albums I like more and other less, but what Im sure is that Ive never released shit.
Back to the working ethos, I like to talk clearly to all bands and not to promise what I cannot keep, just to have them signed; last but not least, I like to co-operate as much as I can in close relationship with bands, helping each other to grow, sharing contacts, etc.
I despise making small bands believe they are the best and they can reach success when its not true, asking them for money to have the album released, etc. Its sad but it happens with some labels / agencies.
Which aspects of your work do you enjoy respectively dislike the most, which one consumes the most time? How many hours a day do you work on your label? Can you actually live off the label?
To be honest, I like many aspects of the label, but planning how to promote releases, get in contact with press, agencies, make new contacts, planning releases and look for artists to cure the artwork, etc. are some aspects I definitely like.
Surely what I dislike the most is writing contracts: I like to discuss personalized contracts with each bands, and sometimes this takes months. This is something I really dislike and take me a lot of stress when doing. I just finished a contract with a new band this morning, we started to deal in November if Im not wrong...
One of the thing that actually takes more time is doing all websites / ads graphics in fact I guess when Ill hire another person, Ill go for a graphic designer first. Updating mailorder / handling trades, etc. takes a lot of time too.
I usually work 8-10 hours a day on the label. I cannot actually live off the label, even if this is my only job at the moment (I use money earned with my previous job to live). Hope Im gonna be able to live off the label by 1-2 years at latest.
Wherein do you see the difficulty of running a label of your size [apart from the above mentioned issues] and convince potential customers of your work? Since you are putting a lot of work into realising your releases the best way possible: How can you "market" this amount of labour without immediately rushing into the red?
Its very hard, you know. Nowadays there are too many labels, too many bands, and its difficult to find a piece of market and convince potential customers about your releases. First of all, its important to have a solid roster and quality albums; then, giving albums as well as labels public profiles (websites, flyers, ad, etc.) a cool aspect is important too, and I think theres still a lot of work to be done on this; but most of all its important to use all instruments that modern technology offer us: internet with his social networks first of all, even if it takes a lot of time. Bands must contribute on this too, and showing they are active by doing live shows everywhere they can, etc. There are unlimited possibility to be explored, the problem is finding out the useful ones and finding the time to make them the right way.
I think rushing into red is normal for a small label at the beginning, at least if the label is investing on the future.
Concerning the marketing topic, you came up with some tasteful flyers recently which can be seen both on your homepages and some online portals. Is there some sort of formula for "the perfect flyer" for you? How much superficiality - i.e. certain common Metal symbols, a strict black/white colour scheme and the like - is necessary in your opinion to appeal to potential customers? How important are flyers these days, when compared to more modern marketing ways like Twitter or reviews on online magazines?
I think people like to see cool visual artworks, especially in metal. Twitter is fast and immediate as its the trend nowadays, but its not enough. Its good since you can spread many news to all your fans, but people that is really interested in bands want something more: listening to the music, going deeper into bands bio / info / backstage, and of course graphical design helps a lot to attract people attention: how many albums in the past have sold because of great covers? Its the same thing nowadays with online pages: when I see bands pages that look home-made, Im honest I feel very small attractions towards those bands, I can be wrong but theres like a feeling that they are home-made musicians you know. When I enter a bands cool page, Im interested to listening their music: then I can like it or not, but at least Ive listened to it. Nowadays its very important convincing people to listen to your bands, since there are too many out there and people dont have the time / the will to listen to all of them.
Naturally, the whole foundation of your promotional work are the bands you have signed to your label. Your first band has been FIGHTCAST, a fresh, young band from Italy that is elegantly switching between Metalcore and Melodic Death Metal in their music. What were the reasons to sign them in the first place, how did your first release, FIGHTCASTs "Breeding A Divinity" debut record?
When starting a label, its difficult to find bands to sign. You dont have the name, dont have the contacts, etc. I wasnt in this business before (except that with my band) so I wasnt known by any bands out there. I started browsing on the internet, checking for bands around, etc. I found 4-5 bands I liked and contacted them, but it was clear that these bands were diffident towards a new label (and, to be honest, I started to look for bands to be signed 3-4 months before officially opening the label, so no real company existing, no website online nor a name for the label yet, etc.).
Also, I looked for bands with an album ready for being released, and this made the research restricting more.
When I listened to Fightcast I liked them a lot, they had first album ready, they were Italian so easier to deal at beginning, so I decided to contact them, we had some email talks then we met and it was clear both the band and me were interested in a cooperation. The contract was written and first Kolony Records band was signed and released after few months.
Being Breeding a Divinity the first release, there was a lot of work to do, finding the company to press the CDs, creating promotion contacts database, and a lot more. These are consolidated things now, but you know when you start, everything is new and a lot of work has to be done.
When looking at your rooster, you seem to put emphasis on diversity. There are lesser known bands like said FIGHTCAST and, on the other side of the spectrum, bands like DE PROFUNDIS which have had a successful background before you signed them. What does a band have to have in order to get signed by you? What is more important in terms of signing a band: The music itself, the ideology behind the music or both? For which elements do you seek in bands?
As told in a previous answer, for me most important things are the music of course and the bands being active. I dont put much attention to the ideology behind the music, I like all bands being free to express what they like, even if Id never sign bands with extreme political views or such (especially if clearly expressed into their music / artworks, etc.). Notice I receive 5-6 demos/promos each week, and sometimes I ask myself: why this band sent this promo? How can they feel a label will sign them? Often I got promos containing few songs home-recorded in a horrible quality, bands without any bio nor contacts, any relevant facts in the bio, horrible photos in rehearsing room, etc. Bands should work as if they are manager of themselves, they must show cool, they must not list all line-up changes they had in the last 10 years (especially if no one knows who those members are), but they must submit FACTS, like having supported cool bands, having played abroad, having recorded in a cool studio with cool producer, etc. etc.
When you say there are smaller bands in Kolony Records roster as well as bands with more important background, its normal that, being the label growing, I tend to sign bigger bands / bands that I feel can do best, its easier now to get cooler bands since the label is a lot more known than 2 years ago.
How do you get across new bands? Do you approach them first, are you the active seeker or do these two situations vary? Is there some sort of "system" behind this approach that you could explain? Are there certain bands outside of your rooster with whom you would kill to work with in the future?
Both ways, I check and consider all demos/promos I receive from bands, and at the same time I look forward to bands myself. To be honest, theres only 1 band in the actual Kolony records roster that contacted me first, all other bands were contacted by me directly.
There are several bands Id like to work with in the future, if I have to stay with feet on earth I would say In Mourning from Sweden, Kolony recently re-issued their debut album on vinyl under license from Aftermath Music and I had the honour to have the guys sleeping at my home after the great show at Kolony Metal Fest last November In Mourning are poised to become a major band in my opinion, their musical quality is proven but what makes the difference is the will of the band to go out and play everywhere they can. This will help them a lot to grow.
If talking about musical giants, why not working with Opeth in the future? 
Which of your releases has impressed you the most by now, may it be musically or regarding the overall product? Is there any release you are especially proud of or are they all equally "treated" by you?
To be honest, the band Ive been most impressed music-wise is actually UKs DE PROFUNDIS. If I compare their album to other recent releases (BELAKOR and PERSEFONE), I feel all of them at the same level to be honest, its just that I like DE PROFUNDIS genre a bit more if compared to others. Im anyway sure that Kolony made a strong step-up with these latest releases, all these three bands are of absolute high quality and this is showed by the press / fans feedback, only very cool reviews coming for these releases and many more orders from our mailorder if compared to previous releases. PERSEFONE has recently been confirmed as main support to Obituarys European tour in March, and other bands too are gonna be confirmed for cool live shows in Europe soon. These bands are really helping the label to grow, and I hope we as a label are doing the same helping the band themselves to do a further step up in their musical career.
Which quintessence or "main message" do all your records contain? Which albums stood the test of time in your opinion, what's still infecting your stereo? Are there any records you wished to be more long-lasting?
Theres not any common message in albums released by Kolony, since all lyrical themes are freely developed by respective authors without any pressure by the label. Its difficult to say which albums stood the test of time, you know underground releases like these ones have not that big circulation that makes you say: oh radio are still playing this song after one year...its all about how much promotion was done, how much bands play / sell albums live, etc.
From a musical personal point of view, I feel that some of the latest releases (Belakor, De Profundis, Persefone) will stay the test of time for me as a listener, since I feel them to go deeper into a musical research that its not easy-listening, but can stay for more. Long songs, experimentations, etc. This is only a personal opinion though.
To wrap this up and come back to you: what can you offer for a fresh, motivated band that both has a killer album ready to get released and therefore wants to promote it live? How much individual initiative from the band is needed to comply with their wishes? Give some examples for the latter question if you like to.
The band youre talking about is exactly the kind of band we always look for. Its mandatory for us that a band has got a cool album ready to be released and they do their best to play live as much as they can. And its important the band is not at the beginning, having 1-2 releases already is better.
Usually we offer our bands all costs paid for album pressing, artwork and advertising. We do all promotional work and actively work to arrange live shows for the bands + we make their albums distributed in main European markets and available in many online mailorder.
But I would like to underline that we offer different conditions / contracts to each band, as we like to give bands maximum satisfaction from their deals with us if possible.
Initiative from the band is vital nowadays, and I feel disappointed when some bands do nothing at all (any live shows scheduled, any websites updates, any reply to emails, months before answering interviews) and it happens that these same bands blame because their album is not selling...hey guys were into 2010, give a look how many other cool bands are out there and maybe youll understand that some more work has to be done in order to compete with them having an album out nowadays is like having a demo-tape in the 90s, if not less.
I prefer not to give examples but unfortunately such things have happened with a pair of Kolony bands too, I prefer not to give the names anyway. This is why Im most convinced everyday that quality is only 50% for a band, the other 50% is their promotional / managerial efforts and will. If you are only a musically cool band, youre only 5 out of 10 that means not sufficient.
One of the best things about Kolony Records is that its owner, you, has practice in being in a band and knows the mechanism of a collective, writing and performing music. How has this knowledge been helpful in working on your label so far?
Ive been playing bass for almost 14 years in a metal band called Tragodia (www.myspace.com/tragodia), which Ive recently quit because of the too many efforts and time needed to run the label. I believe that yes, of course playing an instrument and recording with a band makes you more aware about the quality of other bands too, its easier to understand when a band has good playing ability, when riffs are original, etc. And, handling contacts of the band as well, helped me to start the label with clear ideas on how to move, what to do. There are a lot of things Ive learned these latest two years, and many still to be learned Im sure, but yes the band gave me a lot from this points of view.
Alright, now really back to the label activities: You are also pretty active when it comes to being part of gigs with a sales booth. Where and when will you be selling records during the upcoming year?
Yes, to be honest I partly disregarded this kind of activity at the beginning, but nowadays running a label means touching all possible aspects of the music industry if you want to be successful, and attending smaller shows as well as big summer festivals is a must for all labels. Currently were booked to Metal Fest Austria in May, Hellfest in June, Wacken in August. There are still 3-4 summer festivals we would like to attend and are deciding these days which ones to go. I suggest all fans to visit us during these festivals, there will be many cool offers / discounted prices on our releases and other titles we have in mailorder.
There has also been a label festival of yours called Kolony Metal Fest. How did it turn out, how were the responses? In what ways do you think has it helped to spread the message of Kolony?
Yes, it happened last November and it was the first time I worked on a live event. It was done in co-operation with Olden Live Club here in Brescia, we had this show with Ahab, In Mourning, Black Sun Aeon, Dominance + 2 local bands. I can say the response was good and I was very happy with it.
Were gonna have a 2nd edition of Kolony Metal Fest on June 12th, weve got DE PROFUNDIS already booked and are gonna book all other bands soon. Updates should be out in few days.
You also have a magazine called "Kolonized Mag". Tell us about its content and how it can be purchased.
Kolonized Mag cannot be purchased because its free
Its a 32 pages, full-color A5 magazine, printed in 2.500 copies and totally written in English. It features interviews / articles with Kolony bands as well as with other cool bands. Every fan who ordered stuff from Kolony mailorder already got his copy of the mag, and this trend will stay until it is sold out. Plus the mag can be found in several distros / mailorders. In the case someone is interested to receive the mag only, feel free to drop us a email and were gonna send charging shipment expenses only.
Also, were working hard to have the same interviews of the mag available as online downloadable .pdf in different languages, more news soon.
Second issue of Kolonized Mag should be out in May, to coincide with summer festivals.
Coming to an end, I want to ask you how big you want Kolony Records to grow, concerning radiation of your stuff, label name, sales etc. or is the sky your only limit in that perspective? Furthermore, what the future for Kolony Records looks like, if there is a certain line [could be everything] you wouldn't cross with this label and how your thoughts about this very interview read like.
The sky is the only limit in my mind. I know the way its difficult and long, but when I think to Kolony in 5-10 years, I really feel it to grow a lot, I dont want to stay underground forever. What I can say is that Im never 100% satisfied with what I do, not in the sense that I dont like the way I do things, but I try to improve / make better every singles aspect of the label, from the promotional channels to the distribution, from the album graphics to the websites, from the bands quality to live shows, etc. etc. Theres a lot to do, perhaps this is why I like this job so much.
I recently started a daily, close co-operation with a Finnish guy that was in the business for many years, he was at Firebox before. Hes doing all the international promotion as well as helping in many aspects of the label. Hes also the one curing all Kolonized Mag contents. Im sure this co-operation will help to make the label bigger.
At the moment I feel Kolony will continue to focus mainly on extreme metal (black-death-doom) with some releases into more modern styles (metalcore, etc.). Theres nothing I want to say I wont cross, too many times in my life I changed my mind so never say never, perhaps one day Kolony will release jazz albums?
In the end, I wanted to thank you very much tor this interview, it was very interesting to go through it and made me reflect on some aspect of the label itself, there are things you dont think about if not asked to explain. Very good questions, it was a pleasure to answer them, really!
To all fans: feel free to check Kolony Records bands, visit www.kolonyrecords.com to have more info. Were also available on all main social networks, like MySpace, Facebook, tTwitter, etc.
Looking forward to hearing from you all!
fifthwinter
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lorenzo_kolony
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