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Lusty is back at it again providing us ravenous fans with the latest news. This time it’s over at American Noise in the form of a lengthy chat she had with Greg Werckman, Mr Patton‘s partner and Ipecac Recordings frontman.

Among other things, Greg talks about the the state of the music industry, life in the digital age of music (from a small label’s perspective), upcoming Ipecac releases and some news on Mike Patton projects.

On digital music:

“digital is getting really close to matching CD sales. The bands that tour sell a lot of CDs. It’s really kind of funny because a lot of people say ‘Oh the CD is dead,’ but it’s not. When our bands play live, they sell a lot of CDs at the shows.”

On social media:

“I remember Shawn (Vezinaw), who runs our Los Angeles office saying, “I need Mike to take pictures when he’s on the road with his phone, they don’t need to be good, just anything so I can put them on Facebook.” And Mike and I both thought that was kind of goofy. But Mike started doing it. He’d take a picture of a meal he had and Sean would put it up there and there would be hundreds of responses to it. It’s seems odd but you got to do it.”

On The Melvins:

“I still think, as popular as The Melvins are, that they are just ridiculously overlooked. I don’t think there’s a better hard rock band going and that includes the huge bands that play arenas like Metallica or whatever. The Melvins are rock and roll.”

On Mike Patton’s current projects:

“He did the score for the Italian filmThe Solitude of Prime Numbers so we’re going to be putting out that soundtrack. A couple of shows he’s done over the years we’ve taped: there’s a Fantômas New Year’s show that we’re working on that’s going to be this really cool, really funny live DVD that we’ll be putting out.

He’s in the early stages of working on some new Tomahawk music and some new Fantômas music, more Mondo Cane—he’s literally working on six or seven records right now. He’s also got this project (that we’re not putting out) called Nevermen, that’s coming out on Lex Records. It’s with Tunde from TV on the Radio and Dose One from the Anticon world. It’s just going to be three vocalists. It’s just a weird, kind of cool record. He’s also signed up to reprise his role in the Darkness II video game.”

Check out the full interview at American Noise

Over at Zoo Industry they recently posted an interview with Mike’s partner in crime, Greg Werckman of Ipecac Recordings where he discusses Ipecac, the current state of the music industry, the Melvins and Faith No More.

On Faith No More:

“Well, as a fan of the band it is great to see them play again. As a friend of the band, I’m very happy with how successful the reunion was. But as a fan of rock music, it is a little sad that we depend on these bands from years ago to provide our entertainment. I could enjoy seeing Faith No More, the Melvins, Queens of the Stone Age, the Jesus Lizard, the Pixies etc etc play all the time, but we also need to support the next generation of rock bands. It can’t all be stale electronic music can it ?”

On recent/upcoming Ipecac releases:

“Got some cool upcoming releases. Just released BEAK> (a Portishead side project), releasing a DJ Rob Swift solo record in Feb, Mondo Cane, Mike Patton’s long awaited Italian pop project comes out in April, followed by new Melvins and more!”

Check out the full interview

Ipecac Recordings has always been good at throwing a party. Their Halloween and New Years bashes bring fans from all over the globe. Although I don’t think the former has occurred since the unpleasantness involving Carl Cox. =/ So this year Ipecac turns 10 with strangely little fanfare….

“As many of you know, on April 1st, Ipecac Recordings turns 10 years  old. We don’t have any big party to invite you to, or a special  release to give you or sell you. We simply would like to thank you for  your support. It is amazing that we have survived 10 years. In the  beginning, we were not even sure we wanted to be a “real” label. Some  would say we aren’t. We did not have lofty expectations, we just  wanted to put out some Cds that we liked that might not fit in
anywhere else. We have covered a lot of ground in 10 years and hope to  continue the journey for another 10.

This would not have been possible without three VERY important groups  of people.

1) We are eternally grateful to all the people that have worked with  us behind the scenes. The employees, the interns, the sales people and
distributors around the world that we have worked with, the  publicists, etc. This has truly been a team effort and we have been
lucky to have worked with some great team players.

2) YOU! We are also beyond grateful for our loyal and patient fanbase.  Despite not really having a sound, or look or ever being considered  “hip”, we have developed a strong identity thanks to you, our  supporters. By buying Cds, shirts, tickets etc. you enable us to keep  going. We know that no one loves everything we do, but it is nice to  see so many willing to try things with us. We take nothing for granted  and appreciate everything you do for us. It is not easy to survive in  this economy and in this often times hideous industry.

3) Finally, it really is all about the artists. Damn, it is cool for  us to look at our discography (on our updated website!). So many cool  releases. They are all important and special to us. The artists we  have worked with are not only talented but damn fine people too. That  makes all the work we put into it worthwhile. Our artists are our  friends, I can honestly say. Not every record has sold a ton, but we  measure success by looking beyond the accounting sheets. You all  deserve platinum records!!!! THANKS for letting us work with you.

Ok, that’s it for now. Happy Birthday to us all!!!
Greg, Mike & Shawn”

Happy birthday Ipecac, thanks for all the great music you have brought to us over the last 10 years.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_9802777

“It’s more important to put out stuff that is unique and that’s real, and if 1,000 people are into it, great. If 10,000 people are into it, then that’s really, really great, but at the end of the day, our business isn’t structured to sell a million records“