Rock and Roll Killing Machine by Drowningman

About this episode

The episode discusses the band Drowningman and their unique approach to fulfilling a record contract, alongside stories of other artists attempting to escape similar obligations.

This week, we're talking about two things we think are quite interesting. First off, we chat about the early mathcore/metalcore band Drowningman and reflect on why they never quite reached the heights of their peers, such as Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan—bands they often found themselves touring with in the late 90s and early 00s. While that story is compelling in itself, Drowningman can also count themselves among the artists who tried to sabotage a contractual obligation to a record label. As the story goes, they hit the studio with Kurt Ballou (Converge, God City Studios) to record a very weird album, tentatively titled Best Album Ever . The record was never officially released; it was allegedly created with the sole intention of being purposefully bad in order to satisfy, and terminate, their two-album contract with Revelation Records. In the end it never saw the light of day. This got us thinking about other artists who have tried to escape their contractual obligations. We use this lens to take a wee sojourn into the annals of music history, unearthing stories of several big-name artists who tried, and sometimes succeeded, in doing something similar. We hope you…

People in this episode

Host: Unsung Podcast

Topics covered

• mathcore
• metalcore
• contractual obligations
• music history
• Drowningman

Keywords

• Drowningman
• mathcore
• metalcore
• contractual obligations
• music history
• Kurt Ballou
• Best Album Ever

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Drowningman, Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Revelation Records

Books & works: Best Album Ever

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