HARD NOISE: TERROR UNIVERSAL // A New Age of Business Horrors

After a turbulent beginning, things finally seem to falling into place for horror themed metal supergroup Terror Universal.

Featuring past and current members of Ill Nino, Machine Head & Soulfly, the group have signed a new record deal with Minus Head records, are set to drop a debut LP and will be arriving on Australian shores to support Ill Nino next week. We caught up with drummer Massacre to chat what it’s like being a band in the modern music industry, as well as the pressures of nailing the first record.

Hysteria: How have the new tunes been received and how do you feel about the record now that you have tried the new tunes in a live setting?

Massacre: Fuck yeah man, it’s been great. We are in the process of doing a total of two new songs on the set, so you guys will definitely get some new stuff live, and they have been going over amazing. So far, so good. We have from the EP to Make Them Bleed, the band has matured so much in the songwriting process. We’re pumped to be able to come down and play the new songs, so things have been pretty amazing at this point. We’ve just signed a deal with Minus Head Records and it couldn’t get any better.

In regards to the deal, you guys have said it’s good to have a label that gets behind the band. What does a ‘label being behind the band’ actually look like?

The problem is that because of the pirating and everything else, labels don’t get behind bands as easily. Minus Head’s CEO, Brad Hardy has a tremendous view of what needs to happen with proper PR and proper marketing. Proper distribution, streaming services-he gets it, he doesn’t try to just put the bands out and see what sticks. He works his ass off trying to push the bands that he works with.

Networking is the most important thing. But let’s be real, you can’t put a shitty record and expect networking to carry your album.

In terms of handling the world of streaming, that’s obviously changed the music game. With your own experience in the industry, does that change the way you approach putting out a record?

It definitely does. The business is ever changing. It’s different every day. Before there was pirating, and around 2007 all the bands felt the heat from pirating and people stealing music, but then all of a sudden streaming came in and it made everything incredibly hard for labels to make money. The domino effect is that labels don’t see any return when they put out a release. How do you support a band and give them money to record a record, put money into marketing, put money into advertising, touring, tour support and everything included? It becomes a much bigger risk for the label to invest in any bands. This has killed a plethora of bands that were not able to survive and now bands have to cater to a completely different style of promotion. They need to resort to touring only, not making money from sales.

Do you think Terror Universal would be able to exist if you all didn’t have your other projects to keep the cash flow going?

You know, the rest of the band no longer play in their projects. The only other person in a band is me, which is El Nino. All the other guys have to talk about their bands in past tense. We are able to survive because managing and being able to use past relationships in the music business that I’ve had since I was 18 years old, and I’m now 49 so that’s 31 years in the business, I’ve basically grown up with everybody from Asia to Australia to South America to the States in the metal business. I’ve built amazing relationships with people and it’s a lot easier to speak to a promoter who you’ve broken bread with for 20 years and say “Hey, what tours do you have coming through?” That’s the way it works. It’s building a circle of friends or people who have the same interests as you.

So you would say networking is the key for you?

Fuck yeah. Networking is the most important thing. But let’s be real, you can’t put a shitty record and expect networking to carry your album. One thing that’s the same since the 80’s is that you have to start with a good record. If you put out a shitty album it doesn’t matter how many people you know or what you’ve done, we’ve learnt this from going out and doing solo projects, the only way you can flourish is if it’s a solid record. It has good songs and hooks and attitude. Let’s say somebody who used to be in Metallica or Megadeth puts out a solo record. If it sucks no-one is going to pick it up and support it. Why would people want you to come play in a certain country if people are not interested in your band?

Do you feel like there is a lot of pressure for you and the Terror Universal guys for album number one?

Definitely, there is pressure there that we need to think about. We love the record and everyone who worked on it did an amazing job. I hired a couple of co-producers for it, including Eddy Wall who is mixing it. Eddy’s done Cradle Of Filth, Fuel…a couple of big acts right there. There’s a lot of talent helping us out and making sure the record is massive. I couldn’t have done it by myself. I always like a second opinion, and there are zero egos on my end when it comes to working on an album. I think that you’re stronger in numbers and when people are helping you to hone in on a sound and come up with a great album, you can’t be egotistical and say “I wanna do and approve everything.” It’s always best to have a couple of partners that you can sit down and discuss stuff with and make sure that stuff makes sense.

Terror Universal will join Ill Niño on their upcoming Australian tour.

ILL NIÑO + TERROR UNIVERSAL AUSTRALIAN TOUR

Wednesday 2 August – Capitol, PERTH – 18+
Thursday 3 August – Fowlers Live, ADELAIDE – 18+
Friday 4 August – Metro Theatre, SYDNEY – 18+
Saturday 5 August – Max Watts, MELBOURNE – 18+
Sunday 6 August – The Triffid, BRISBANE – 18+

Tickets are available now via Destroy All Lines – first 300 tickets sold in each city will receive a two-song download of unreleased material from Revolution Revolucion