#42 - [Part 2] Earache Records; From Scum to Sofa ft. Al Dawson (and Digby Pearson)

Part Two of our Earache Records deep dive — and this one went off-script. We sat down with Al Dawson (Earache US) to fact-check twenty years of label history… and then founder Digby Pearson, who it turns out was one of two people watching the stream, texted his way into the call — bringing an announcement with him: a new signing he describes as "one of the biggest pop producers in the world", making a death metal album for Earache.

Also in this episode:

– The tennis match that put Entombed on MTV

– What Columbia really spent marketing Carcass's Heartwork — and what it sold

– The Bring Me The Horizon Warped Tour merch call: "$50,000… a night"

– The Repugnant demo Tobias Forge sent Earache, and never got a reply to

– Skindred vs Universal: twelve staff against four hundred for a UK number one

– Why Digby passed on Blood Incantation. Twice.

0:00 Preamble & setup

1:20 Part Two begins — picking up Part One's questions

12:54 Entombed, MTV, and a tennis bet

18:42 Why the Columbia deal really ended

54:26 "$60 million to sell out" — the last independents

1:05:47 Digby crashes his own label's interview

1:10:06 The announcement: the secret Swedish signing

1:13:07 The Ghost demo Earache ignored

1:35:27 Blood Incantation: the one that got away

1:38:44 BMTH: $50k a night in merch

2:04:56 Skindred vs Universal: the chart war

2:14:02 "I shunned all the -tions"

Temple of Bleh EP 42 — Earache Records: From Scum to Sofa, Part Two, ft. Al Dawson & Digby Pearson.