04/06/2021
This is going to be huge - Raw Engery records is relaunching the label!!
On Wednesday, May 3 1995, this article appeared in The Toronto Sun featuring Chris Black "of Toronto's infamous punk record label, Raw Energy" promoting the use of the Internet on his 386dx with which he had launched our first website. It was Chris who convinced me to get a computer, in fact he wanted "a computer on every desk" and, by the end of the year, we had.
At the time, I was still typing letters and press releases on my trusty IBM Selectric. But, in reality, Doom changed everything. Chris did a lot more around the office, and for the bands, working with promoters and retailers. In the article, he mentions our ad in Details and the responses it was generating - being sent to us by email. I'm sure we were still on dial-up at the time. Thanks, btw, to Earl Epstein and his crew at Passport for online access and our first domain!
Most people don't know this, but all the bands we signed upon his arrival required his approval - because as the drummer of Sons of Ishmael he really knew his music - and the bands signed really needed to know how to play if they wanted onto the label.
Chris put together both shows and tours and, in the vein of MRR's Book Your Own Fu**in Life, eventually assembled the listings and published - along with Linda Cook - our own useful book called A Cultural Industry Directory (ACID). He was integral to our growth as a brand, not just a label, especially with the launch of Raw Energy Radio, as well as Raw Energy Promotions and a whack of other new divisions as we headed toward 1999. I don't know if you can read the article, but the last quote - his Computer Confession - is "I love my computer...when I go away, I miss it."