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by Mike Baronas
Independent soundtrack production company Perseverance Records has been bringing movie music to the masses since 2003 and it is founder Robin Esterhammer’s cult interests that will bring to light the scores from The Prophecy, Deadly Friend and Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 in the near future.
GASPetc: How & when did Perseverance Records get its start?
RE: It was in early 2003, when I spoke to Paul Tonks in England who writes most of my liner notes. He said that a friend of his had found the 1/4” tapes of Dr. Phibes Rises Again in a dumpster behind CTS Studios and kept them because he had such fond memories of the movie. Paul somehow knew John Gale, the composer, and he brought the two of them together. John was very happy to get a hold of his tapes and was very appreciative.
I then contacted John to see if he wanted to do a promo of his score. He said he would love to see his music released on CD, but only if the copyright owner (MGM) were involved. So I called up Jonathan Watkins, who was then in charge of music catalog development at MGM, and negotiated a deal. That was my first official Perseverance Records release.
I had done a promo with David Bergeaud before that which bears the 001 catalog number (Prince Valiant), but since that wasn’t an official release, I count Dr. Phibes Rises Again as my inaugural CD.
GASPetc: Is it the preservation of film music – no matter how large or small the title – that drives you?
RE: Yes, that, and the knowledge that I can make a lot of fans and collectors happy. It is always an extremely rewarding experience to see the response I am getting when a new title is announced. As with Remo Williams right now and a few other titles, which I mentioned in our first newsletter, the pre-sales are just going through the roof. Of course, it is also a financially rewarding situation, but I am always happy when I know I have released a title that is requested by a lot of people.
GASPetc: What titles do you typically shop for? Obviously cult sci-fi & horror titles are your niche.
RE: Yes. Mostly it is titles from the fantastic genre. Mainly because that is where my main interest lies, but also those seem to have the most fan appeal. Right now we are doing Kickboxer with Paul Hertzog which is obviously not from the fantastic genre, but the score is one for which collectors and fans of the movie have been looking for quite a while, so that is always a decision making point as well. I mainly am looking for titles that I get excited about and that I know I can sell at least 500 units of.
GASPetc: Any titles that have been particularly elusive?
RE: Dark Skies. I have been working on that ever since my Sonic Images days. Must have been eight years now. And then, of course, my pet project, Michael Kamen and Queen’s Highlander, which I have pursued for more or less twenty years, ever since the movie came out. But we are getting closer now.
 GASPetc: Which of your current catalog is of particular importance to you?
RE: I am particularly happy that we got Remo Williams. I know that this is on a lot of people’s want lists. I don’t know why this hasn’t seen a release up until now, because it is such a popular title, but I am glad that it was Perseverance who eventually got to do it.
Then you always try to focus on the CD that is coming out right now. You want to give it as much attention as you can in order to ascertain that it doesn’t get lost among all the other releases which are coming out at the same date by all the other labels. There is still a lot that I have to learn about marketing, but I think I have done a pretty good job so far. On specific titles I employ the services of Beth Krakower of CineMedia Promotions to help me with the publicity.
Website: www.perseverancerecords.com
Email: rob@6942.net
Reviews of Perseverance's CD catalog to appear next issue...
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