MAUSOLEUM Records: The Label Story

MAUSOLEUM not only quickly gained recognition because we released electrifying hard-rocking records produced by eminent bands, but our output was also "outstanding" from a visual point of view. We not only employed BLUEPRINT, a graphic design company where especially PATRICK MEEZE and JOHAN STUYCK created stunning illustrations, but also had our own in-house art department where ERIC PHILIPPE, and later MICHEL BOUCHAT, worked nearly around the clock designing the eye-catching artwork which had equally become a MAUSOLEUM trademark.

From the small one-room back office we moved upstairs and took over the whole first floor of the same building. Our roster of quality metal acts made it possible to rapidly build up a network of distributors all over Europe and North America. I was working day and night (well – some things never change) and desperately needed help so I lured away JAQUELINE VANDENBORRE, my trusted ex-secretary at INELCO, from the security of her well paying job to the hand-to-mouth life of working for an Indie heavy metal label. For the next three years we were virtually inseparable, and became more than just good friends. I will be eternally grateful to her for her dedication and hard work. After the demise of MAUSOLEUM she landed a job at CBS (now SONY), and she still works there today.

On a roll, we acquired the rights to "FIRE RAISER", a dynamite record by Finish act TORCH, and licensed VANADIUM’S second album: "A RACE WITH THE DEVIL". In the meantime LEO had produced another classic MAUSOLEUM album: "SEE YOU IN HELL" by CROSSFIRE, and OSTROGOTH delivered their self-produced "ECSTASY AND DANGER", their tour de force follow-up to "FULL MOON’S EYES" the mini-album which, half a year earlier, had already catapulted them into the cult-status zone of the heavy-metal-world.

My buddy JACK MAUER, the SHIVA studio owner, was married to ANNA, a Spanish lady, and had so learned to speak the language quite well. (He probably picked up a lot when ANNA yelled at him in her native tongue when she caught him chasing other women…). Thanks to JACK being able to negotiate in Spanish we were able to sign the awesome BARON ROJO to the roster. Performing two years in a row at the HEAVY SOUND festival - and although they sung in Spanish (except for BRUTAL VOLUME, the English language version of their album VOLUMEN BRUTAL) we sold all four of their records very well. We were also successful with OBUS and PANZER, two other bands from the Iberian Peninsula.

JOS KLOEK also turned out an invaluable member of the team. After a while LEO became less involved with MAUSOLEUM as it became necessary for him to be more attentive of the import-export and wholesale operation. KLOEK started By taking over the production tasks on KILLER and CROSSFIRE albums, and later on also recorded SPEEDWAY and THE DAY AFTER, the two enormously successful albums by speed metal band WARHEAD. He became the de facto MAUSOLEUM house producer and went on to work with FN GUNS in Belgium, DARK WIZARD in Holland, FISC in France, and the E.F BAND in Sweden. The latter he will particularly remember because he recorded the Anglo Swedish E.F. BAND during an exceptionally cold winter in a studio somewhere in the deep forests of Sweden at mind numbing, limb laming, and freezing temperatures.

I made it up to JOS by next assigning him to produce LIONSPRIDE in the luxurious and comfortable surroundings of the Brussels' ICP studio. LIOSNPRIDE featured one of my favorite vocalists, WILLY BECKERS, the Joe-Cocker-of–heavy metal, as well as the outstanding guitarist BENITO BOCCASILE. The ensuing album, BREAKING OUT, was in my opinion another grossly underrated effort.

JOS KLOEK not only produced numerous records for MAUSOLEUM, but also managed KILLER, and accompanied most bands on tour, engineering their sound during concerts and festivals. The WARHEAD boys called him SPEED RAT, and that's exactly what he had to be in order to get everything done.

Early 1983, through reviews in the British press, I became interested in LIMELGHT, a band from the North of England that had recorded an album for FUTURE EARTH, a local Northern label. I contacted the label-owner, DAVID MOFFITT, and effectively negotiated for the album "ASHES TO ASHES" to be re-released on MAUSOLEUM for worldwide distribution.

I had been thinking of opening a UK office for a while and DAVID MOFFITT seemed very much the natural candidate to head the operation. Soon DAVID and I not only became the best of friends but he also rewarded my confidence in him by signing some absolutely great acts to the MAUSOLEUM roster; WOLF, ACE LANE, CHINAWHITE, SYAR, SNOWBLIND, HAWKWIND, the impressive McCOY, and last but not least BLACKLACE, the American outfit fronted by the lovely, extremely talented and very sexy vocalist; MARYANN SCANDIFFIO.

Every red-blooded male in rock & roll wanted to get closer to MARYANN – me included. I however limited our rapport to a "strictly business" relationship, knowing that ANTHONY FRAGNITO, the bass player, was very much in love with MARYANN. Some serious friction did occur while BLACKLACE were recording their second album “GET IT WHILE IT’S HOT” in London, and GARY BARDEN, who at that time was the lead-vocalist with the MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP, did get somewhat closer to MARYANN than ANTHONY habitually tolerated. For a while I had my mind set on recording a duet with MARYANN and GARY BARDEN. I wanted to record a heavy-metal-ballad version of a song called "JUNKMAN" which I had discovered on a GENYA RAVAN album, on which she duets with IAN HUNTER. For some reason we never got around to it though.

Page 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5