Engineer Records update on Metal Heart Radio
- david1170
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Metal Heart Radio have interviewed David Gamage, head honcho of Engineer Records, all about what’s new on the label recently.
They also asked him about being the guitarist of The Atlantic Union Project and Come The Spring, and the author of 'The Fire Still Burns' and 'A Hardcore Heart' books.
Engineer Records is a truly independent, alternative record company based in England since 1999 with well over 400 releases. Founded by David Gamage with a focus not only on musical releases but also with a book publishing arm, Earth Island Books. They concentrate mainly on anything punk and hardcore with an overlap into post-punk, indie rock and similar alternative genres.
Alan – Hi David, so how long have we known each other? 15 years?
David – Hi Alan, Oh, I’d say we’ve been communicating and working together in the scene for at least twenty years now. It’s great how we can find partners to work with all over the place and spread the word about alternative music and its messages. I really appreciate your help.
Alan – When did you first think of starting Engineer Records?
David – I started Engineer Records back in 1999. Before that I’d run a fanzine and tape distro, and then worked with a couple of friends on Scene Police Records. I was playing in bands from 1990 onwards but took a bit of a break so that allowed me to really get the record label underway using a lot of the contacts I’d made touring with my band. Initially it was to help get my friends bands release out there and better known, and we’ve pretty much stuck with that ethic ever since.
Alan - Your first steps? What were your first bands? What kind?
David – Well, at the time I was playing in a kind of proto-emo band called Rydell. We’d been touring a lot with great bands like Hunter Gatherer and Hot Water Music and had built up quite a following so I used that to my advantage to get things going, releasing the Hunter Gather album ‘Low standards for high fives’ on CD and then a Hot Water Music / Rydell split 7”. These were followed by the release we actually worked on first, but it took a while to put together as it was a compilation, taking tracks from a lot of friends bands demos and getting them better known by adding them to a few well-known bands tracks. It was called ‘Firework Anatomy’ and included tracks by Grade, Penfold, Red Animal War, Speedwell, Kevlar, San Geronimo (ex-Lifetime), A Rocket Sent To You, Crosstide, Ashen, Slowride and The Casket Lottery, supplying an exclusive cover of Shudder To Think’s ‘Red House’. Also, Hillside, Mock Orange, That Very Time I Saw, My Spacecoaster, Dira, Two Weeks from Tomorrow, Five Cent Hero, Hunter Gatherer and of course, Rydell. These were all great bands, both from Europe and the US, many of whom we’d work with on full releases for over the next couple of years, and all seemed to represent the flavour of the scene to me at that moment.
Alan – You currently have publishing overlaps in Europe as well as the US and Canada. You have a lot of admiration from me.
David – Thanks Alan, it’s hard work but I love to be creative, and I love to help people if I can. It keeps me going. We get sent a lot of good demos and quite a few decent manuscripts for books now too. Although my first love is music and playing in HC bands, I’ve also been working in publishing for about thirty years now and have a lot of good contacts, so I decided to do more with that. We’ve published over fifty books now, mostly about the punk and hardcore scene or the bands within it and despite all the hassles, we’re still going strong. As I’d always say, if you wanna do it, just do it. That’s the punk, d.i.y underground way.
Alan - Why I wrote admiration, it's simple. LPs are making a slight comeback at the moment, which is good. Still, sales are not what they were between 1985 and 2000. All of that was still pretty good, and sales were relatively high. Yet you persist. I really know a lot of publishing houses that have gone out of business, precisely because of low sales.
David – Ha, exactly that. It’s not easy. Sales have gone down just recently; everyone seems to be having a hard time. We’ve gone back to a lot of vinyl releases because we believe in that format and people like it. It’s expensive, so we press fewer of each now, maybe just 200 or 300 at a time rather than 500 or 1000 now. We have CDs and digital too, even a few cassettes. We try to support the bands in any way we can and help them achieve what they want for their releases. The same in theory with books, which also cost a lot to produce and ship. Not all of them are successes, of course, but we keep on and we do our best. We work alongside some good partner labels too, always better to share the work and coverage if possible.
Alan – You have also published books, I mean you as a writer. Which ones are they and what are you writing about? About punk?
David – Yes, although my first book, ‘Punk faction’ was just a collection of my old fanzine, BHP, from back in the day. (1990’s). During covid though my band couldn’t play many gigs and generally I had some spare time, which is unusual for me. I started writing a few tour stories down after being asked about it by my two sons, and it all developed from there. My first proper book is ‘A Hardcore Heart’ with over 666 pages of hardcore tour stories, punk rock influences and tales of people and places I’ve met in the scene. These include playing with Hot Water Music, Samiam, NoFX, Green Day, Leatherface, Jailcell Recipes, and visiting venues all over Europe. Then, most recently, I wrote another massive book, over 700 pages, entitled ‘The Fire Still Burns’ with similar gig anecdotes and post-punk influence stories about eighty more bands, all of which are superb and deserve to be much better known. Both books are packed with first-hand scene stories and wiil introduce the readers to real characters and brilliant bands.
Alan - There is also a bit of a problem with book publishing, I think people are reading a lot less than they were 20 years ago.
David – I don’t know about that. It was difficult a few years back and is always expensive to do, BUT I actually think more people are reading books again now. They need a break from the screen and digital world, and frankly they need a break from the constantly negative real world too! Added to that, it’s not just pop-punk kids, it’s older hardcore guys who are now at an age where maybe they want a decent book and a vinyl record and can afford it.
Alan – Which bands do you most remember releasing and why?
David – Oh, we’ve been lucky. So many good bands have worked with us. We only ever release bands we are really into, so I like them all, obviously. But I’ve been very proud of quite a few. Early on I’d say Chamberlain, we did two great albums for them, Speedwell, Planes Mistaken For Stars, Dead Red Sea, Hot Water Music, Crosstide, Elemae, Kover, Junior Achiever, Flyswatter, Kyoto Drive, The Satellite Year (now reforming!), Her Only Presence, Sirens & Shelter, there’s so many. And more recently, I’ve been blown away by Sleave, Kid You Not, Fat Heaven, Tired Radio, Rites, Bear Away, Rad Owl, Neckscars, Raincheck, and Oh The Humanity! Our newest releases are for Zero Again, an awesome UK punk band, and a split LP for Weekend Cigarettes and Verse, Chorus, Inferno. Two incredible Italian melodic post-punk bands. We have more goodies coming up too. I’m always excited about our latest release.
Alan – How many titles have you released since 1999?
David – Our next catalogue number will be IGN444. So well over 400 releases since then and still going strong. I’m a glutton for punishment. We make time to help other labels too, so many of these releases are co-label joint productions. That is a good thing I think. (Our books label has surpassed fifty books published now too, so that’s not bad going either, in around six years).
Alan - Do you have any humorous, funny experiences that you would like to share?
David – Many, but we could be here all night. The whole thing about bands, especially when on tour, is that creative comradeship you get. Many of the alternative scene people are real characters. The promoters, the fans, the zines, not just the bands. They make HC what it is, wherever you go. There are so many stories, and that’s what I wrote those books about really. It’s not all good though, there’s been a few nightmares too, of course. My bands first US tour was destroyed by the 9/11 disaster, as it started two days later all down the east coast. There’s bene drunken antics, bad promoters, fights, arguments. Good and bad times. I’ve had a lot of releases where we’ve lost money, that’s par for the course, but also some bands that haven’t been cool about it at all. You just take the rough with the smooth.
Alan – what will you be publishing soon? Books and albums?
David – Well, my last / current book is ‘The Fire Still Burns’, the follow up to ‘A Hardcore Heart’, as I mentioned. My most recent record, that I helped write and played guitar on, was The Atlantic Union Project ‘3482 Miles’, and I’m very proud of both of them. That’s my band Come The Spring, but with a new singer. But looking at new things we’ll publish, we’re working on records with Zero Again, Weekend Cigarettes, Verse Chorus Inferno, Abermals, Calathea, Datura, Low Standards High Fives, Barking Poets and Neckscars right now. We’re also working on new books about UK Subs, Propagandhi, Discharge, and various local hardcore scenes. We keep busy. There’s never a dull moment. No such thing as spare time. Just do it!
Alan – Thanks for the interview, anyone who wants anything from David can check out his site, it's full of goodness.https://www.engineerrecords.com/
This interview has now also been published by Hell Magazine in the Czech Republic here: https://www.hellmagazine.eu/david-gamage-rad-jsem-kreativni-a-rad-pomaham-lidem/
David has also just answered an interview with Thoughts Words Action punk rock blog here: https://thoughtswordsaction.com/2025/03/18/interview-david-gamage-the-author-of-the-fire-still-burns-and-a-hardcore-heart/
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