Editing Nothing Records (section)

== 2004–07: End of the label ==
=== Coil ===
{{Very long section|date=January 2018}}
[[Coil (band)|Coil]] holds a unique place in history of Nothing Records, being one of the first acts to sign to the label, as well as remaining one of the final acts at the end of the label, all the while having released no material during their entire tenure on the roster.  [[John Balance]] and [[Peter Christopherson|Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson]] founded Coil in 1982 in London, England, after collaborating on a few side projects and following their departure from [[Psychic TV]].<ref name="AbrAhAdAbrA">{{cite magazine| url=https://archive.org/stream/No01Abrahadabra/abrahadabra01#page/n17/mode/2up|language=nl |title=Coil Interview: The Price of Existence is Eternal Warfare | magazine=AbrAhAdAbrA|issue=1|date=23 January 1985|access-date=19 May 2017}} {{small|([http://www.brainwashed.com/common/htdocs/publications/coil-1985-abrahadabra.php See English translation] at ''Brainwashed'')}}</ref>  Other collaborators, such as [[Drew McDowall]] and [[Danny Hyde]], would frequently record with the band, some becoming members for a time.  By the time Coil arrived at Nothing Records, they had released three studio albums.   ''[[Scatology (album)|Scatology]]'' and ''[[Horse Rotorvator]]'' were released on Force & Form, which was manufactured and distributed by K.422, a sister label of [[Some Bizzare Records]].  ''[[Love's Secret Domain]]'' was released on Torso in Europe and the seminal [[Wax Trax! Records]] in the United States.  These albums has helped establish Coil as one of the premiere acts in [[Experimental music|experimental]] and [[industrial music|industrial]], prior to joining Nothing Records.

Following the success of ''Love's Secret Domain'', Coil began work on a new studio album in 1992, entitled ''Backwards.''  In 1993, a tape believed to have been a studio demo intended for the Boudisque/Torso labels was leaked as a bootleg cassette.<ref name="angelfire1">{{cite web|url=https://www.angelfire.com/electronic2/saamoa/pages/backwards.html |title=Backwards Demos |website=Angelfire.com |access-date=2016-11-16}}</ref>   In 1994, however, Boudisque went bankrupt and Torso shut down operations, leaving the Backwards material without a home.  The cassette demo's tracklist consisted of eight songs; "Heaven's Blade," "Wir-Click-Wir," "Elves," "Simenon," "In My Blood," "Spastiche," "Crumb Time" and "March of Time."

[[Trent Reznor]] had been a longtime admirer of Coil, stating their "'Tainted Love' video remains one of the greatest music videos of all time.  I was always more attracted to Coil than [[Throbbing Gristle]]; the darkness and the scatology really chimed with me.  If it's not immediately obvious: ''[[Horse Rotorvator]]'' was deeply influential on me.  What they did to your senses.  What they could do with sound.  What Jhonn was doing lyrically.  The exotic darkness of them permeated their work."<ref name="Sword, Harry"/>

In addition to his work in Coil, Peter Christopherson was an established music video and commercial director,<ref>{{cite news|title=Peter Christopherson obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/nov/28/peter-christopherson-obituary|access-date=15 December 2013|newspaper=The Guardian|date=28 November 2010|first=Alexis|last=Petridis}}</ref><ref name="Gavin">{{cite web|title=Peter Christopherson: 1955–2010|url=https://www.creativereview.co.uk/peter-christopherson-1955-2010/|work=Creative Review|access-date=7 May 2017|first=Gavin |last=Lucas|date=26 November 2010}}</ref> having worked with artists such as [[Rage Against the Machine]], [[Filter (band)|Filter]], [[Robert Plant]], future Nothing Records label-mates [[The<!--not a mistake--> The]] and many more.  It would be through his directing work that Reznor would first reach out to Christopherson, seeking to hire him as director for [[Nine Inch Nails]]' ''[[Broken (1993 film)|Broken film]]''.  Reznor recalled, "I figured that if I hired (Sleazy) as a director, then I could at least meet him and hang out for a bit.  We established a friendship, and that friendship was very valuable to me.  Making the ''Broken'' movie was a lot of fun.  There was no label involvement or pressure from anyone, it was just he and I talking.<ref name="Sword, Harry"/>

Christopherson accepted Reznor's offer and went off to film material for the ''Broken'' movie, which he felt was so realistic, he informed Reznor, "I'm going to send it to you, but it's going to show up in a paper bag unmarked because there could be ... I'm not sure I want the authorities knowing this came from me."<ref name="Sword, Harry"/>  After reviewing the film, Reznor stated, "It felt like we'd crossed over into territory that was perhaps too far.  And to be honest, at that point I was living in the [[Sharon Tate]] [[10050 Cielo Drive|house]] recording ''[[The Downward Spiral]]''.  Anyway, that's where I was living when this package turned up, and I thought, 'Enough.  I don't know that I need this kind of thing.'  With the house it felt too stunty, and Peter agreed."<ref name="Sword, Harry"/>

In spite of opting to leave the ''Broken'' movie unreleased, it began to surface as a bootleg, eventually making its way onto the Internet.  "We shelved it, but little did we know that the Internet would come into existence, and it would find its home on there," stated Reznor.<ref name="Sword, Harry"/>  In addition to the ''Broken'' movie, Christpherson directed music videos for the Nine Inch Nails songs "Wish" and "Gave Up."

Amidst these visual collaborations, Reznor also invited Coil to sign with Nothing Records.  They are believed to be one of the earliest artists to have joined the label, signing a multi-album deal.<ref name="auto1"/>   Prior to their arrival at Nothing, Coil already had several ties to other acts on the label.  [[Meat Beat Manifesto]] had remixed Coil's song "The Snow," calling their remix "Answers Come In Dreams."  The band would revive this title for their [[Answers Come in Dreams|2010 album]] of the same name.  Peter Christopherson had previously directed several music video for Nothing Records act [[The<!--not a mistake--> The]], for their songs "Infected," "Heartland" and "The Mercy Beat."  [[Autechre]] widely praised Coil as one of their primary musical influences, and even planned musical collaborations together at one point.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.indexmagazine.com/interviews/autechre.shtml| title = Trent Reznor on Coil & Nine Inch Nails, Plus Recoiled Review | author = Laureniere, Steve| work = Index Magazine|year = 2000| access-date = December 16, 2017}}</ref>

In 1992, Trent Reznor also invited Coil to remix the Nine Inch Nails song "Gave Up" for their ''[[Fixed (EP)|Fixed]]'' EP and  their collaborations would continue with the release of ''The Downward Spiral.''  Christopherson would direct the music video for "March of the Pigs" and also received a director's credit for the Nine Inch Nails' home video ''[[Closure (video)|Closure]]''.  Coil would also do remixes for the Nine Inch Nails releases ''[[Closer (Nine Inch Nails song)|Closer to God]]'' (alongside fellow Nothing Records label-mates Meat Beat Manifesto) and ''[[Further Down the Spiral]]''.  An alternate version of their "Closer (Precursor)" remix by Danny Hyde was used in the opening credits to the 1995 [[David Fincher]] film ''[[Seven (1995 film)|Seven]]''.

In 1995, Coil began work on their first release for Nothing Records, which they decided would be the ''Backwards'' album.  With the Torso demo material already completed, the band decided to head into Reznor's Nothing Studios in New Orleans to re-record the material, as well as write new music.  Recording at Nothing Studios began in June 1995 and was completed by January of 1997.  Trent Reznor did not perform, produce or write any material for it. John Balance recalled, "We produced it ourselves, with Danny Hyde as engineer and with excellent help, complete co-operation and enormous investment of time, energy and genuine enthusiasm from all the people at Hot Snakes studio (a.k.a. Nothing Studios).  In particular [[Chris Vrenna]], who helped us iron out technical stuff, Brian the studio manager, who kept it running smoothly, and of course Trent himself, who kept out of our way while letting us loose in his secret domain."<ref name="auto1"/>

During this time, Reznor would once again invite Coil to do a remix for the Nine Inch Nails song "The Perfect Drug."  This time, however, Coil declined to participate, citing lack of time, due to the recording of ''Backwards.''.<ref name="auto1"/> In spite of this, Peter Christpherson did assist on two Trent Reznor songs; "Videodrones; Questions" and "Driver Down," for the [[Lost Highway (soundtrack)|soundtrack]] to [[David Lynch]]'s ''[[Lost Highway (film)|Lost Highway]]'', also released on Nothing Records.  Reznor had lobbied for Coil to take on a greater role in composing music for Lynch's films, but Lynch declined.  John Balance recalled, "You know, with ''Lost Highway'', Trent literally forced (us) down David Lynch's throat, saying 'Look, please put this Coil stuff on.' You know, he really did help to get us on that soundtrack, but he (Lynch) wasn't interested. He wanted [[David Bowie]], he wanted [[Marilyn Manson (band)|Marilyn Manson]], he wanted whomever he could get. He just said, 'These people are really big. I want this film to be really big.' He didn't give a fuck about the integrity."<ref name="Whitney, Jon"/>

Initially abandoning the title of ''Backwards,'' the band announced the album would be called ''International Dark Skies''.<ref name="auto1"/>  However, after [[NBC]] announced a TV series named ''[[Dark Skies]]'', the band abandoned the name.  For a time, they began calling the album ''God Please Fuck My Mind for Good'', then ''Fire of the Mind'' and ''The World Ended a Long Time Ago'', before later returning to the name ''International Dark Skies'', with Balance commenting, "I'm not letting a bad TV program change my vision of the world."<ref name="auto1"/>  However, the band eventually would circle back to referring to the material simply as ''Backwards''.

In addition to the ''Backwards'' album, a companion remix album was also once in the plans for release on Nothing Records.  John Balance commented, "We are planning to involve a whole bunch of people in remixing tracks from our new Nothing album, including [[Steven Stapleton]] of [[Nurse with Wound]], [[Autechre]], [[Charlie Clouser]] and others we haven't asked yet, so it would be unfair to speculate on.".<ref name="auto1"/>  In addition, Nothing also planned to re-issue the first two Coil albums, ''[[Scatology (album)|Scatology]]'' and ''[[Horse Rotorvator]]''. However, the rights to these albums became caught up in a dispute between Coil and their former label, [[Some Bizzare Records]].  John Balance recalled in 1999, "We have no news over Nothing releasing ''Horse Rotorvator'' and ''Scatology'', because we gave them it about 5 years ago and had it legally able to be released in the U.S., but Nothing's lawyers were unhappy with a slightly less than watertight legal situation, so didn't go ahead."<ref name="auto2">{{cite web| url = http://brainwashed.com/coil/news1997.php| title = Coil - News 1999 | author = unknown| work = Brainwashed| date = 1999| access-date = December 16, 2017}}</ref>  Balance would go on to claim that Some Bizzare label owner Stephen "Stevo" Pearce initially agreed to the Nothing re-issues, before later demanding more money, stating,  "Since that, that fucking arsehole {{sic}} Stevo Pearce has reared his very unpleasant head again and asked Nothing for more money and generally thrown a spanner in the works.  He originally gave Coil permission to give it to Nothing as part of a half-hearted attempt to be nice to us and make some amends, including financial, for the terrible way he has continued to treat us over the fate of these two records.  Actaually he wasn't trying to be nice, he was trying to cover his ass for some early crap he tried to pull off."<ref name="auto2"/>

In 1997, Some Bizzare reissued both albums in the UK, against the wishes of the band. Coil released a message to fans urging them not to support these reissues, claiming they were unauthorized, due to the fact that Some Bizzare had not settled with them on unpaid royalties for the albums.  John Balance even went as far as cursing the reissues.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://brainwashed.com/coil/news1999.php| title = Coil - News 1999 | author = unknown| work = Brainwashed| date = 1997| access-date = December 16, 2017}}</ref>  In response to the Some Bizzare reissues, Coil remastered and reissued both albums themselves, on their own [[Threshold House]] label.  The covers to both albums featured a message to Some Bizzare label owner "Stevo" Pearce, stating "Stevo, pay us what you owe us!"

Coil provided intermit updates on ''Backwards'' over the course of 1997, stating that the album was held up for countless reasons.<ref name="auto1"/>  Meanwhile, the band remained prolific, recording numerous new releases, including ''[[Moons Milk (In Four Phases)]]'', ''[[Musick To Play In The Dark Vol. 1]]'' and ''[[Musick To Play In The Dark Vol. 2]]''.  Over the following years, while ''Backwards'' never saw a release, the band would occasionally comment on the album and Nothing Records, always insisting they were still a part of the label.  "For the record it is us, Coil, who are delaying over this particular title.  Not Trent or Nothing, who have been very, very quiet about it all and have waited patiently for it," they wrote in 1999.<ref name="auto1"/>

In 1999, Coil began performing live for the first time.  On June 18, 2001, the entire 1993 ''Backwards'' demo was broadcast on Dutch radio station [[NPO Klassiek|Radio 4]], when they hosted Coil as in-studio guests to coincide with a live performance on June 1, 2001. A four disc CD-R set of the entire broadcast was released in an unknown quantity as ''Dutch Radio4 Supplement''.  The ''Backwards'' demos became widely circulated on the Internet.  Three extra tracks, "Bee Has the Photos," "Egyptian Basses," and a different version of "Spastiche" became circulated with the demos online over time.

In 2004, after a legal dispute arose between Trent Reznor and Nothing Records president [[John Malm Jr.]],<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1487166/20040521/nine_inch_nails.jhtml | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040603111244/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1487166/20040521/nine_inch_nails.jhtml | url-status = dead | archive-date = June 3, 2004 | publisher = [[MTV]]. [[Viacom (2005–present)|Viacom]] | access-date = 2010-01-07 | first = Jon | last = Wiederhorn | title = Ex-Manager Says Trent Reznor Stabbed Him In The Back 'With A Nine Inch Nail' | date = 2004-05-21}}</ref> Reznor officially declared the label defunct, with no Coil albums having ever seen release on the label.  That same year, John Balance would tragically die in a fall inside of his own home.<ref>{{cite web|last=Christopherson |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Christopherson |title=Who'll Fall? |work=Threshold House |url-status=dead |year=2005 |access-date=2 March 2007 |url=http://www.thresholdhouse.com/departures.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070226223256/http://www.thresholdhouse.com/departures.html |archive-date=26 February 2007 }}</ref>  Peter Christopherson announced that Coil would not continue as a band.  However, he would focus on the band's back-catalogue, which including revisiting the Nothing Records material.

In 2005, Coil announced the release of ''[[The Ape of Naples]]'' on their own Threshold House label.  The album was considered to be the final version of their once-intended Nothing Records material, featuring updated versions of five tracks recorded at Nothing Studios; "Fire of the Mind," "It's In My Blood," "I Don't Get It," "Heaven's Blade," "Cold Cell" and "Amber Rain."  It also featured other songs that are believed to have been originally created around the time of ''Backwards''.  The band also included a thank you to Trent Reznor and Nothing Records in the liner notes.  In 2007, [[Important Records]] reissued ''The Ape Of Naples'' on LP, alongside a companion album of material, called ''[[The New Backwards]]''.  ''The New Backwards'' was later made available separately as a CD in 2008.  The album featured additional material from the Nothing album sessions, remixed by Peter Christopherson and Danny Hyde in 2007.

Peter Christopherson passed away in his sleep on November 25, 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brainwashed.com/coil/ |title=Coil |website=Brainwashed.com |date=2012-06-20 |access-date=2017-06-16}}</ref> Just prior to his death, Christopherson gave permission to Trent Reznor to use the name [[How to Destroy Angels (band)|How To Destroy Angels]] for his new band he was launching.  The name was derived from Coil's first 12" single.  Trent Reznor even stated that prior to his death, Christopherson claimed to be working on music to contribute to How To Destroy Angels, commenting "Around that time I reached out to him, [[iPad]]s had just come out and I sent him one (with the music on it), because he was in Thailand and away from technology.  I just wanted to make sure that he was ok with it, because clearly I wouldn't have done it without his blessing.  He mentioned, 'Hey, I've got some stuff that I'm working on which could be interesting (for How To Destroy Angels)... it could be interesting, but it could also be way outside the realms of anything that you'd be interested in.  We could work together, and maybe under the umbrella of How To Destroy Angels.'  And I said, 'Please do. Send whatever you have.'  And nothing ever showed up - he passed away not long after that.  So sadly I didn't get to hear what he had planned."<ref name="Sword, Harry"/>

In 2012, members of the Nine Inch Nails fan-site echoingthesound.org were able to raise funds to send to Danny Hyde, who had revealed the existence of outtakes of commissioned work Coil had produced for various Nine Inch Nails singles and EPs.  Once a suitable amount had been raised, Hyde torrented the tracks to fans via [[The Pirate Bay]].  Danny Hyde later licensed the songs to British label [[Cold Spring (label)|Cold Spring]].  On February 24, 2014, Cold Spring released the remixes under the name ''[[Recoiled]]'' on 12".  The album artwork was created by a member of EchoingTheSound and closely resembles [[Russell Mills (artist)|Russell Mills]]' frayed rope design for ''[[Further Down the Spiral]]''.  The songs were released and marketed as "Coil & Nine Inch Nails," despite the fact that Trent Reznor is the sole writer on all tracks and remains uncredited in all editions of the release.<ref>"Fixed EP" liner notes</ref>

On October 9, 2015, [[Cold Spring (label)|Cold Spring]] released Coil's original ''Backwards'' album, which was once again arranged through Danny Hyde.  This marked the first time the Nothing Records material had been released as was originally intended for the label, with no further remixing or additional songs.  No mention of Nothing Records is given on the album, with the liner notes swapping out a Nothing Studios credit with "Magazine Studios, New Orleans"<ref>"Backwards" liner notes</ref> (Magazine Street being the former location of Nothing Studios).  In November of that same year, Danny Hyde himself also published the album for download on his website, offering six additional bonus tracks, primarily consisting of alternate versions of the album songs; "Spactiche," "Heaven's Blade - 98 Jams," "Wur Click - 98 Lo Chords," "Mellotron Song," "Heaven's Blade - 96 Vox Version" and "Wur Click - 98 Tk3 Vox Bits."  Hyde also included a digital insert on his website for the download version, featuring his own liner notes, which give special thanks to Trent Reznor and former Nine Inch Nails member Chris "Pod" Vrenna, for their inspiration and tech.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.auralrage.com/Backwards%20offer.htm| title = Backwards Offer | author = Hyde, Danny| work = Aural Rage| date = November 2015| access-date = December 28, 2017}}</ref>

Despite having never released anything on Nothing Records, the band remains widely associated with the label.  The vast catalogue of Coil remains highly sought-after by collectors and fans, while their music has gone on to influence countless musicians, such as [[Alec Empire]], [[Chris Connelly (musician)|Chris Connelly]], [[Autechre]], [[K.K. Null]] and [[Nine Inch Nails]].  Coil's unfulfilled multi-album deal with Nothing Records can be loosely retraced through comments from the band throughout their tenure on the label.  ''Scatology'', ''Horse Rotorvator'', ''Backwards'' and an incomplete ''Backwards'' remix album were all intended for release on Nothing at various points.  To date, all of the material has seen release outside of Nothing Records, with the exception of the unfinished remix project for ''Backwards''.