BAZILLION POINTS' IAN CHRISTE Interviewed On 'Heavy Metal Book Club' (Audio)

Veteran journalist, metal historian, author and publisher Ian Christe of Bazillion Points was interviewed on Episode 8 of the "Heavy Metal Book Club". You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

Asked in a 2009 interview with Noisecreep what possessed him to start a book imprint, Christe said: "Books are what I know about. I love them. They have incredible staying power. I basically went from reader to writer to author to publisher. I was a magazine writer for 10 years and then worked on my first book, 'Sound Of The Beast', for HarperCollins from 1999 to 2003, and during that time I learned a lot about how books are put together. I was incredibly frustrated many times and started to believe that I could do better. I was wrong about a lot of things, but right about enough things that Bazillion Points has taken off. Like the best indie labels, I really did it out of necessity … to get these books out to the public."

Regarding whether there were any other publishing houses he you modeled himself after early on, Christe said: "Publishing nowadays is very corporate, and sad to say, corporations suck at producing art, music and books. You'll always be at a disadvantage if you have to justify a book to a committee. The immediate pioneers in my mind are the punk publishers like Henry Rollins' 2.13.61 and Adam Parfrey's Feral House, but guys like Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin started many indie houses back in their centuries. In fact, publishing is inherently non-conformist and countercultural and small literary publishers like Black Lizard and New Directions are just as punk and scrappy in their own ways. And, of course, I'm inspired by DIY record labels like Dischord, Metal Blade, Earache, Touch And Go, Kill Rock Stars and Earache, because I've been into music for such a long time."

Interview (audio):