When you're passionate about your craft you need only add hard work and some street smarts to edge closer to your ultimate ambition. Such is the moral of the Cleopatra Records legacy, a distant dream just over a decade ago (a century in today's market conditions). The mid '80s were a magical time in the Los Angeles music scene. The energy, the glamour, the excess...all hitting a frenzied peak. A young entrepreneur by the name of Brian Perera was in the thick of it all, beginning his career making & marketing T-shirts & various swag in his Southern California garage for rising stars like Guns N' Roses and Jane's Addiction. With a desire to release an out of print Motorhead and a rapid fire mind that quickly learned the ins and outs of the record industry BP purchased the license, distributed and marketed what would be the first of thousands of releases on the soon to explode Cleopatra Label Group roster.
The mid '90s by contrast were all about the independent spirit. The Glam & Sleaze rock scene Perera helped promote a decade prior had ballooned beyond anyone's control and crashed to Earth as the Alternative movement, devouring anything that smelled of Corporate stadium rock. One dark faction of this new breed was the second wave of Gothic Rock or "Goth" to be proper. With that instinctual premonition and support of the original L.A. Goth havens like Helter Skelter, Retail Slut and Vinyl Fetish Cleopatra was a welcome home for the leaders of this pack (Gary Numan, Christian Death, Alien Sex Fiend, Rosetta Stone...). Years before the fashion was bottled and sold at suburban malls, pioneers like Cleopatra's early guard: Electric Hellfire Club, Switchblade Symphony, Front Line Assembly, Die Krupps, Spahn Ranch, Leather Strip and Razed In Black were bashing their way through the woofers and across the dancefloors of Industrial clubs world wide.
As electronic music mutated, the company (with the assistance of wife, Yvonne Perera and publicist friend / former GM, Brian McNelis) were working like a railroad crew, staying a few steps ahead, laying the tracks for the genre to ride forward on. Top acts of the dance movement like Future Sound Of London & Loop Guru would send the Hypnotic Records offshoot into the stratosphere. Rave culture expanded to define a large segment of a chemical generation and Hypnotic was there to chronicle its stars like Crystal Method and its misunderstood adherents on the award winning documentary DVD: Better Living Through Circuitry. Later the label would also release groundbreaking works from the hottest DJs on the planet; Paul Oakenfold and Superstar DJ Keoki as well as seeking new talent like the rising Effcee.
Though most well known for it's Goth Daze, Cleopatra has also continued to put out many of the most influential Punk bands like Dead Kennedys, Sid Vicious, G.B.H., Iggy & The Stooges, MC5, Agent Orange, D.R.I., U.K. Subs, The Exploited and The Damned. Long time label fan, administrator Paul Morse has been around since the early years to help the company stay grounded in its gothic roots.
Many iconic books of these genres have been published through the Cleopatra machine, from Gothic Rock, Industrial Revolution, Space Daze, The Ozzy Osborne Story and the currently hot, Hollywood Rocks! coffee table homage to the Hair Metal faithful who knew what portions of the Sex, Drugs and Rock N' Roll equation equaled the maximum bang for the buck.
Never one to turn his back on a scene in need, The Cleopatra Label Group branched off into yet another area in the late '90s extending a hand to many Heavy Metal casualties of faceless Major Labels as they ceremoniously shaved the hair from their grungy corporate rosters. Deadline Records became a proud home for legendary artists like Quiet Riot, Warrant, Great White, Motorhead, Night Ranger, Bret Michaels, Kip Winger, L.A. Guns and the Lynch Mob who had helped make this city the Rock And Roll capital of the world!
As Hip Hop continues to dominate the charts, Cleo's partner in crime, X-Ray records will carry on the tradition set by SX-10, KRS-One, and the Roots Of Rap posse by partnering with Navarre Distribution to produce the next DVD for Gangsta Rap godfathers, Westside Connection! In 2005, X-Ray had it's biggest success yet with the release of the solo album of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony alum, Layzie Bone. The album, It's Not A Game, features guest appearances by the likes of Snoop Dogg, Twista, Layzie's brother Krayzie Bone and others. In the first week of its release, the album landed on the Billboard Top 100 chart - a monumental first for the Cleopatra Label Group!
Lesser known perhaps, but no less vibrant hues in the Cleopatra Family rainbow were imprint labels like Stardust (who's classic reissues of giants like Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Lena Horn, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean are amongst the finest looking packages you'll see in the Jazz and oldies bins of your local retailer) and Goldenlane Records (Marvin Gaye, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Leadbelly, B.B. King, Little Richard...). And of course, a fan favorite Purple Pyramid Records brought monsters like Yes, Santana, Jimmy Page, Hawkwind, and Ian Gillan back to appreciative album collectors seeking those rare gems for their CD collection.
With a staff highly comprised of former Metal Blade and Century Media employees like Tim Yasui & Jason Myers, it was only a matter of time before the metal focus came back around. Having already put out slabs from the likes of Venom, Tiamat, Enthroned and star-studded tributes to Slayer, Metallica and Cradle Of Filth the Cleo coven were no strangers to metal's darker side. In 2003 the Magick Records imprint was established with the unleashing of Black/Death Metal new blood, Wehrwolfe. In the following two years, the Magick roster exploded with some of the best acts in Power, Goth and Death Metal from around the globe - the fabled Icarus Witch, underground favorites Twisted Tower Dire, old-school black metal band from Germany, Negator, the all female death metal trio, Flowing Tears, Greek guitar legend Gus G's new project, Firewind, the young upstarts from Finland, Machine Men, and a whole lot more.
Not to be outdone, Deadline Music released CDs and/or DVDs from L.A. Guns, George Lynch, Ratt Attack (Stephen Pearcy), Hollywood Rose (Axl Rose & Izzy Stradlin's pre G N'R crew) and the incredible 4CD box set Hollywood Rocks! The audio companion to the aforementioned Hollywood Rocks! Book. 2006 promises to be one filled with nostalgia, and metal madness the likes of which haven't been felt since the early days when Brian and his friends were just happy to be a part of the Hollywood scene, let alone adding fresh fuel to the fire. Enjoy the ride, the boyz and ghouls.The Cleopatra Label crew certainly are!