by Brad Rose

My name is Matthias Andersson, I am 26 years old and are living in Göteborg, Sweden. I started the label in 2001 but the first release didn't come out until spring 2002. I used to run a small distro before that for a few years and thought it was time to do something more! At the time i lived in a very small town and for about a year i had this shitty job at a factory, my rent and other living expenses was very low so i basically had lots of money that i could start up the label with. It wasn't really planned, it just kind of happened out of pure small town boredom i guess. I have always been involved in tons of projects at the same time, not doing any music myself i need to channel my obsession for certain things in other ways. I think i have some kind of mental issue when it comes to creative stuff since i have a NEED to be occupied with something all the time... Sometimes it would be nice to be able to slow down with everything a bit but i like to think that the fact that RTB is run out of complete chaos for most of the time makes things a bit more interesting.

Being a huge Nick Cave fan, the name was just there. It's a stupid name for a label, sure, but at the same time it is fun to mess with peoples expections, everyone not that familiar with the label obviously thinks that I am only releasing gothy stuff or something. I have also always liked the whole idea with paying some kind of homage to bands with the use of classic song titles for label names or whatever, I guess this comes from my involvement in the hardcore scene in the mid 90´s when all bands was named after Minor Threat and Gorilla Bisquits songs for a while... It is kind of cheesy indeed but it has a certain charm.

Discovering new amazing bands pretty much on a daily basis, I guess... It's all about a huge passion for good music really. I can get very excited about new stuff and I have this urge to tell everyone in the world about it, the label functions as a tool for that. It's pretty simple. Today everyone seems to have a label but there is still so much awesome unreleased music out there (considering the amount of crap releases that is being put out every week, it's easy to get frustrated...). Today I have been listening alot to Owl Xounds and they are totally amazing, completely blew me away, the fact that I didn't even know about this band just a few days ago is an inspiration in itself to continue doing the label! Stuff like that. I must also say that the current wave of DIY-spirit here in Göteborg has worked as a huge inspiration for the label recently, acts like The Skull Defekts, Sewer Election and Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words are doing something really awesome for the moment and it feels great to be a part of such a creative environment. Now all im longing for here is some basement shows and photocopied fanzines...

For the moment, distribution is the biggest issue im struggling with. In the past, I have always traded alot but it has come to a level when it is just not possible to do it as much anymore. Sending small parcels with 15 cds here and 10 12"s there all over the world, it's extremely time consuming and the insane Swedish shipping rates these days certainly dosen't help either... Add the fact that I'm nowdays ending up with tons of stuff in return that is very hard to get rid off and you have a pretty shitty situation. As much as I love the whole trade aspect of running a label, and I still found it to be a very important, necessary and fun way to deal with these things, I need to step back a bit. To be honest, I really don't want to run a mailorder of the size it is today at all, it is basically just something i have to do to be able to put out new releases and so on. Recently got exclusive distribution by Forte in UK which has helped alot, now i just need someone in the US as well (hint hint!).

Ever since I started the label, I have been wanting to to reissue the Elegi LP in one way or another. Elegi was a band from Stockholm that released this amazing LP in 1981, it is pretty much my all time favorite Swedish album. Dark and disturbing postpunk that really deserves some attention. Some of you may be familiar with their hysterical track 'Mat,' about anorexia, on the legendary Swedish punk compilation "Ståkkålsmjävlar" ... I guess it is time to look into the possibilities of doing this. Since I have been really into the Italian exploitation cinema for as long as I can remember, it would also be a dream come true to license some soundtracks for vinyl reissues in the future. Nico Fedencos Emanuelle Around The World, Riz Ortolanis Goodbye Uncle Tom and Seven Bloodstained Orchids etc. Fantastic music! If we should be more realistic though, some current favorite bands that i would love to work with in the future: Sewer Election, Religious Knives, Loosers, Owl Xounds, Pocahunted, Silentist, Warmer Milks, Axolotl, The Goslings, Get Hustle...

Demos are always fun and very welcomed. Kind of sad that hardly any bands bother with it these days though, I used to recieve lots of demos just a few years back! I guess Myspace has pretty much killed the original idea of a demo. Everything feels so effortless and personally im just not interested for most of the time. If I don't already know you personally in one way or another, there is a very, very small chance that I will listen to your Myspace tracks so please don't bother with sending links and so on. Send something real in the mail!

The Raccoo-oo-oon - "Behold Secret Kingdom" CD is up next, it will be out in June. Can't recommend it enough! You always tends to think that the latest release on the label is the best but seriously, there is something special with this release. After that there will be a Zodiac Mountain LP (split release with Meudiademorte), Glass Candy/Chromatics 7", Tar... Feathers 7", Woods 7", Shepherds CD, a Meneguar vinyl of some sort for their upcomming European tour, the debut full length CD from Robedoor... Probably something new with Yellow Swans. A few more releases is planned as well. I will probably be dead before the end of the year. If not, 2008 will be a looong vacation.

Raccoo-oo-oon - Behold Secret Kingdom.

Not really... Pick up the new Black Emanuelle boxset from Severin Films, it rules.