Interview with Yosuke Konishi of Nuclear War Now! Productions & Helios Press

Questions by Sandi Mujanovic & answers by Yosuke Konishi
(2024/02/01)


Question 1:
Am I correct that NWN! Productions was started in your apartment's bedroom in San Francisco with a couple of DIY noisy
black metal tape releases and did you imagine that you would continue on such a long journey in the metal landscape when you did those?

That's not entirely accurate, the record label started in Berkeley California when I was living there to attend University of California Berkeley. I did couple of terrible sounding black noise tapes with a friend of mine. It wasn't anything interesting! The label didn't really become serious until 2001 when I travel to Vancouver to witness blasphemy live. I recorded the performance and that became the live ritual record.

Question 2:
How come you decided not to put any copyrights on your early releases like Abigail's debut album and Toxic Holocaust's debut album? Respecting wishes from the bands or something else that withheld you? You probably could have made some more bucks, but I guess that wasn't your goal, but to stay true?

Who cares about copyright text! It's not important in underground metal and punk. If I own the rights to recording then that's between me and the bands. I think your question was more like why didn't I try to buy the rights to the first Toxic Holocaust album. That's because I was poor and naive about stuff like that. In hindsight I probably should have gotten alone to buy the rights for Toxic Holocaust and midnight.

Question 3:
Some may compare your early days to labels such as New Renaissance or Wild Rags, do you agree? Do you respect those labels' legacies? What are your all-time favorite record labels?

I like and respect both of those labels a lot. However both labels did release a lot of garbage as well so I hope that nwn doesn't end up like that. At this point nwn has been around longer then both of those labels combined.

Question 4:
Obviously you had an obsession with South American bestial bands like Sarcofago and such early on, do you still enjoy them as much these days as you did back then when you reissued INRI and did a Death Yell double-LP?

South American Metal especially those that came from Brazil where some of the best in the '80s. Sarcofago remains the best extreme metal band that ever existed in my opinion. What sets the Brazilian bands apart from bands from other places is that they came up with the very distinct sound and style that cannot be replicated even by current bands from Brazil. The only bands that get close are Tormentador, Impurity and Necrogosto. Of course I have work with other South American bands from Columbia Chile and Peru. There is something special about South America metal and it's ugliness that speaks to me differently. This is not to say that metal from other places are not good, I have work with many European and Asian band as well.

Question 5:
When did your friendship with Blasphemy the Ross Bay Cult band start? You met them at a show in San Francisco or you had prior mail contact with them? The Fallen Angel of Doom reissue was very well done

I was talking to Ryan Forster in the late 90's and early 2000's about Conqueror and other Ross Bay bands. That was my connection to that scene back then. I did not meet blasphemy until the live ritual gig that I mentioned earlier.

Question 6:
Was it hard to get the rights of Oath of the Black Blood over to your own label, high price?

It was just a matter of talking to the band and offering a fair price. I think holocausto appreciated the fact that I was very upfront and clear with my offer and he was already aware of nwn from blasphemy records. The Oath of Black Blood remains as one of my all time favorite compilations from a black metal band. I feel truly honored to have had the opportunity to reissue this masterpiece for their 30th anniversary.

Question 7:
What was exactly the year you decided it was time to part ways with the city of San Francisco? Were they not good to you on a personal level that you got an attraction for Texas? Lots of criminality in SF that bothered you or am I wrong? Side question: what was your fsvorite record store to visit in SF since back then you didn't have Eastern Front yet?

We decided to move away from the San Francisco Bay Area in 2020. The decision came about because of the unstable situation in Oakland and the rising cost of living there. The school system was better in Texas as well. My favorite record store in the Bay Area is Amoeba Music.


Question 8:
Who were your main financial allies in getting you to realize your own record store called Eastern Front? Will you ever sell the real estate or make something like a sports gym out of it when people lose interest in metal and so forth? Maybe a good idea to look ahead for that?

Eastern Front records is the creation of myself and myself only no one else is involved. The warehouse here in Austin Texas is only used for the record label. We have a pull-up bar in the back so you could say that it's also a gym!

Question 9:

How long back does your connection with Patrick Kremer of Iron Bonehead go? I know you guys organize festivals together, but there was also 1 co-op release, namely Sacrificio, why not more?

I have known Patrick for a very long time. I think we were trading for at least five years prior to meeting him in 2008 at a gig in Berlin. That's when we hatched the idea of doing a nwn Fest in Berlin. We have done several other releases together like Volahn, Mystifier, etc.

Question 10:
What band are you to this day most proud of you got the honor of releasing?

Blasphemy and Beherit.

Question 11:
Do you think you will continue until ANTI-GOTH 999 and then focus on your new business venture Helios Press I've been reading about, can you tell us a bit more about that? Side-question: will the pressing plant just produce vinyls or will you have an off-set prining machine in there as well to make jackets and so on?

We will keep on releasing records on nwn until I die and maybe my son will take over and keep on going. I have no plans to quit. Helios press is a completely different business venture but it will only help nwn in the long run because we will be able to produce the right amount for each record. We will not do any offset printing as part of Helios

Question 12:
Who came up with the idea of the NWN/Hospital fest, was it you or the guys from Hospital? (Great idea by the way).

That was an idea that was coined by Dom of Hospital. He approached me about a joint Festival in Japan and things fell into place rather quickly once Beherit confirmed.

Question 13:

Who illustrated the NWN gunmen logo? That's one of my favorites

That is artwork we found in a newspaper article about gun control.

Question 14: (Last one and feel free to do a final promo shout with future release plans and other businesses you want to start):

Thank you for the questions! We're working hard on this Helios Press endeavor and are looking forward to seeing it through and getting up and running. More details to come. Please follow our progress on Instagram.

YK
nwnprod.com
heliospressing.com
instagram.com/nwnproductions
instagram.com/heliospress

Question 15 bonus question:
What is the most sought-after NWN release ever, do you know?

Maybe the Sarcofago die hard pic LP or the Von DLP? I am not sure as I don't collect my own releases.