Crave Magazine » Content » Extreme Film - 2008

Behind the Suit and Tie
Produced by Robert Bolger Jr.
By Soup

“Labels do not pay your rent or your mortgages or buy you cars. They’re there to front you money to produce a piece of product that they need to sell”

Robert Bolger Jr. is the driving force behind the upcoming documentary Behind the Suit and Tie, which is about the behind the scenes workings of the metal music industry. The film is filled with interviews with label heads, artists, and industry personnel including Doug Keogh (Roadrunner Records), Brian Slagel (Metal Blade Records), Ray Harkins (Century Media), Paul Conroy (Ferret Records), Ozzy bassist Rob “Blasko” Nicholson, ex-Megadeth and current F5 bassist David Ellefson, and Gary Susalis (Music Choice). I had a chance to speak to Rob over the phone about the film and the industry in general, and if the film is as direct and brutally honest as the man himself, we are in for an interesting ride upon its release. Naturally, I have to disagree with his stance on magazines but it is hard not to notice the winds of change at work in the industry as we know it.

Crave: Can you explain what the premise of the film is?
RB: Basically, it showcases the truth of how record labels cannot survive in this day and age of digital downloading. It’s also going to showcase what goes on behind the scenes of a record label and how a record label sets up a release and puts records out and sells them.

Crave: What exactly is the “Mystique and Bad Blood” behind these labels that you were thinking about when considering what needed to be addressed in this film?
RB: There’s just a lot of misunderstanding between artists. Meaning, a lot of artists think that the labels are like a bank, which is not the case. Labels do not pay your rent or your mortgages or buy you cars. They’re there to front you money to produce a piece of product that they need to sell.

Crave: The film directly addresses the future of music in regards to digital downloading, MySpace, and piracy. Do you think the decision to accept and embrace this new age is more for the labels to make or should the artists control how they are represented online directly?
RB: I think the artist should control all that. Eventually, you are not even going to need a label for hard-working bands that can get on the road and tour and produce merchandise. The only types of bands that need labels are the lazy bands that don’t want to put the time and effort into doing it on your own. The DIY type thing, you know? Artists should be in control.

Crave: What, in your opinion, is the line between being highly successful and selling out?
RB: I don’t think there is any line. I think a lot of people in this day and age that are for real, that are on tour, they want to sell out. They want to make money and that’s what their goal is. A lot of bands, that’s their career. They turn it into a corporation to incorporate money to generate to live. Yeah, selling out...that’s good. I had fun when I was 15 doing it for free. Now I’m older and I have a livelihood. Yeah, I want to sell out.

Crave: These days, people can just reach out through the internet and in order to adapt, the labels have to embrace this fact. Do you think this marks the death knell for radio as we know it?
RB: Radio is dead already. I don’t believe in magazines, because here’s where the internet comes into play, you read everything online. Magazines and radio are dead. That’s a reason why a lot of these labels are taking a hit, because they are spending in the old way. Now it’s a new day and era, and they are spending tons of money on radio and magazine ads and that’s just ridiculous. Today, you want a fan to hear and see your music and music video, it needs to be either online directly or on TV.

Crave: Five years ago, pick a town, the local band there would have only the local fan bases and now you can have people in Japan listening to their band the day they put it up.
RB: This is basically more towards exposing the industry, to educate these new up and coming bands on what they should do and what they shouldn’t do. One thing, if you’re a band and you’re on the road, you’re touring and doing it on your own, you need to have a booking agent, and you need to have a lawyer. Managers are non-existent today because a lot of bands are just going out and booking tours on their own and dealing with booking agents directly. The majority of the industry is run by crooks.

Crave: And you are whistle-blowing on them with this film?
RB: Yes and no. I don’t want to give it away but there’s going to be a lot of interesting stuff in it. It’s going to open up a lot of eyes; I’m hoping to get a change from this, you know, seeing the industry change.

Crave: As you say, there are a lot of crooks out there. Do you expect any backlash once the film reaches a wide market?
RB: I’m sure. This isn’t slander, this is Truth. Everybody has a right to know the Truth. I’m not here to bash or hurt anybody; I’m just here to spell out the Truth.

For more about the project visit
www.myspace.com/behindthesuitandtie.