The underground has never been short of people with opinions about how things should be done. Fewer are willing to spend decades actually doing them. Romanian promoter Coro has been at it since the late ‘90s, when Axa Valaha Productions meant a fanzine, a label and whatever else he could make happen with the time and resources at hand. Since then, the operation has grown to include concerts with some of extreme metal’s best-known names, but the small-scale work has never disappeared.
These days, Bucharest Deathfest is the next chapter, with its first two-day edition coming in 2027 at Quantic. We talked about the people, the gigs and the stubbornness required to keep an underground scene going long after the novelty wears off.
Coro
© Axa Valaha Productions
Hi, Coro. Welcome [back] to the pages of Din Întunerec, this time as our interviewee. You founded Axa Valaha Productions in the late ‘90s, initially as a small underground label and fanzine. What originally drew you to the idea of starting Axa Valaha Productions?
Coro: Hi, thanks for having me on your pages. I started Axa Valaha Productions solely by passion, I had a lot of free time back then, underground metal music was my obsessive passion, so I decided to add my little contribution by writing and spreading the trumpets of death to those interested back then.
Over the years, you’ve worked with numerous artists from Romania and abroad. Is there an early interaction that has stayed with you to this day?
Coro: Yeah, of course, I stayed in touch with quite a lot of people I got to know and work with back in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, both from Romania and abroad. Some of them are long-time retired, a relevant few are still active and I recently produced the album of one of them, my old-time friend and partner in crime Insepultus.
Turning specifically to the fanzine, one fact that remained in my head for a lot of years is the following: in the autumn of 2003, an issue of the fanzine featured over 75 pages of reviews, interviews and articles on the metal scenes in India and Thailand, all written in English. What can you tell us more about that particular issue and the personal desires behind it?
Coro: That was the last published issue of Axa Valaha fanzine and my biggest effort in terms of content. I had an intense correspondence with hundreds of people all over the world, my fanzine became well-known in the international scene, so I was flooded with promo materials, from both major or underground labels, as well as from various bands, so I had to keep my promise and write about most of them. Looking back, I think I did a fair and sincere job, with hundreds of copies being traded all around the world.
Why did you choose to focus on the metal scenes in India and Thailand at that time?
Coro: Those two scenes’ reports from India and Thailand were written by some of my pen pals from those countries, whom I asked for help in making their local scenes better known in Europe and I remember they were super passionate and the results were excellent. I did the same contributing with Romanian scene reports for various underground publications abroad, when asked for it, even recently.
Let’s turn to the live shows. In the past, you organised several concerts at Club A in Bucharest. Looking back, what did those gigs mean to you?
Coro: I started organising a small fest in my hometown Turnu Magurele in the late 90s, from 1998 to 2001, inviting relevant underground local bands of those times. After that I started doing concerts at Club A, Fire Club and Underworld in Bucharest and the feedback was fantastic, full house most of the time, people were hungry for extreme metal. I also managed to invite bands from abroad and did my first local and regional tours.
I believe the most important factor back then was that my shows inspired other people to do the same.
After the time spent organising gigs in Club A, you eventually chose to include larger venues. What led to that change?
Coro: I never stopped doing small concerts for underground bands, I’m still doing this even right now. To answer your question, some people visiting my underground concerts saw my potential and asked me to associate to be able to offer something bigger and better in terms of bands and venues. That’s how I managed to organise Hatework Festival in late 2006, together with Marius and Giani from the band Sincarnate, with a solid regional line-up and Sinister as headliners.
Shortly after we did the legendary sold-out Cannibal Corpse concert in March 2007, followed by shows with Rotting Christ in the countryside and Suffocation, Dismember and Misery Index in Bucharest. The rest is history, with Watain, Deströyer 666, Venom, Sodom, Asphyx, Agathocles, Umbra et Imago, God Dethroned, Exodus, Suicidal Angels or The Ocean included in my portfolio and organised either alone or with different partners.
Then I did November to Dismember Metal Fest together with my friend Dan of Ribcage Booking who’s still my trusted advisor and partner in crime up to this day.
Bucharest Deathfest is also held under the aegis of Axa Valaha Productions. What criteria do you consider when booking bands for the festival?
Coro: Deathfest was the small mini-fest organised by Dan of Ribcage Booking since 2008 in Oradea, Transylvania. Since he moved to Bucharest more than a decade ago, we also moved the fest here doing it from time to time as an irregular mini-festival when we had interesting bands whom we managed to fly-in or they already toured the area, like Avulsed or Rectal Smegma. We did a local pandemic edition of Bucharest Deathfest in those under pressure horrible conditions and that was the moment when we decided to build the current version of Bucharest Deathfest with a better-curated line-up, aligned to the underground and death metal ethos we love.
Previous editions have featured bands such as Fleshcrawl, Analepsy, General Surgery and Vulvectomy, alongside many others. What was your experience of working with those bands?
Coro: I stayed friends with all the bands who played Deathfest, some of them are coming back, like it’s the case with Vomitory in 2027. I met many of them on different occasions, having more time to spend with them, all super nice guys.
How would you describe the audience’s reception of those editions?
Coro: We’re on the right way with Bucharest Deathfest, as we found the proper balance and vibe to make it interesting and appealing to more people with every new edition.
Official festival logo
© Axa Valaha Productions
With the 2027 edition featuring Vomitory, Volière, Beheaded and Profanity, among other acts, what thoughts are you heading into this new edition with?
Coro: The 5th edition of the festival will also be the first one to happen two days, so we’re doubling the efforts and general costs, we already announced the most solid line-up of bands until now, so we hope we’ll manage to reach a fair amount of people to have a good time with death metal.
We are lucky to be hosted by Quantic, the best venue in the whole Eastern Europe in my opinion, which is a big plus, and we built a proper small festival crew to run everything smoothly and a group of supporters called Gașca de Prieteni who supports the festival in blind, offering a certain safety-net for our project.
Official event poster
© Axa Valaha Productions
Bucharest Deathfest will bring Severe Torture to Romania for the first time. How did this booking come about?
Coro: That’s one of the main things I try to make it happen at Deathfest, to offer a great, historical death metal band who never played Romania before as headliner, beside as many excellent underground bands as possible. With Romania being already on the big touring map for major bands, it became more complicated to find a proper headliner to premier it at my festival, but I think I still manage to handle this in style.
It was a long two-month conversation with Severe Torture and their agent to fix all the details, I am confident it deserved the whole effort, and the Dutch brigade will offer a great concert.
Having attended and organised concerts for so many years, you’ve had plenty of opportunities to observe audiences up close. What changes have you noticed in the different types of audiences attending metal shows in Romania?
Coro: I always considered a metal fan myself, beside the fact I’m working as a full-time professional in the show-bizz area for more than two decades. That’s the reason I try to show up and visit as many concerts and festivals as possible, if I have the time and the mood.
I’m glad to meet old-timers and regulars at the metal shows and always curious to get to know new people and try to understand what they like and how they see the scene as a whole. No opinion is wrong, some of them are just more superficial than others.
What would you like to see from Romanian crowds in the future?
Coro: You see, metal music and especially death metal is not just regular music to be consumed as a snack for entertainment, it involves loyalty to a certain lifestyle. I don’t have any expectations from the local audience, if they truly feel they like to be a part of the scene and contribute with their presence now and then, so be it! I will be around and keep doing it for them!
Working in the underground often means dealing with uncertainty, setbacks and results that don’t always match the effort involved. What has this experience taught you about yourself over the years?
Coro: Underground is my whole life; I have nothing left beside it. I understood the hard way that bigger, better things can be done together with more people involved, sharing expenses, effort and ultimately cash and glory. I learn a lot every day from other professionals in the music industry while trying to educate youngsters to do this job the proper way. I avoid drama, gossip or rage bait and always tell the truth, even if it’s uncomfortable and not a popular opinion. I respect and put my trust in people and people trust me!
If you could sit down with the person you were when you first started Axa Valaha Productions, what would you tell him?
Coro: To never give up!
And what do you think he would find hardest to believe about where you are today?
Coro: That I never gave up, living the dream! Forever Underground!
