ARSON ANTHEM is NOW officially on sale as of Feb 19th! It's available everywhere in stores and online.... Please support AA on the radio by clicking this link to hear the stations playing the band, some on-air interviews, and phone numbers so you can request to hear AA. Thanks for your support: http://thehousecorerecords.com/aaradio.aspx

 Housecore is the definitive Philip H. Anselmo collection; the advancement and release of projects Philip is either involved with directly or believes in creatively.

Hey listen up! You wanted to know about us, right? Put yer ears to the speakers and take a deep breath. Here we go….

The main goals with Housecore Records are obvious: This is music for the real complete true fan of the underground. The basics of H.C.R. are the releasing of real music, first and foremost. Our main goal is to put more of the power and money into the hands of the artists creating the music, while being on an independent label, sans all the bullshit. To make a home for artists with a variation in their brand of "art" is a very real possibility. Although there are "Metal" and "Hard Core" bands that will be released, THIS IS NOT JUST A "HEAVY" LABEL. The music will be diverse and eclectic.

Why the name "Housecore" you ask? And with good goddamn reason you should ask my friends! It's an idea that's been driving us, and anyone who listens, completely freakin’ crazy for a loooong while. It was at very first concocted in the early/mid 90's, at Philip's earliest address (AKA Colbert Street) after leaving Texas to return to his home town of New Orleans, Louisiana. At least three or four projects were recorded there by the man himself and several other prominent N.O. musicians. The music was - we thought - always too good not to share with the rest of the world.

After Pantera broke up, and the legal battles cleared up (yes there were many), Phil Anselmo hooked up with Snake Szabo (formerly with metal rockers Skid Row) and The McGhee brothers, who are one of, if not the biggest, managerial firms in music. When they got DOWN the recording deal that they did, it was a known fact that Phil was NOT going to sign anything that did not allow HOUSECORE RECORDS to operate. They respected his wishes. So over a decade later, the dream was finally fulfilled.

Enter Gene Joanen of NOCTURNAL RECORDS, who has always been a true friend, as well as a trail blazing and innovative businessman. The uniting of labels was a natural. Philip had 'The Name' to generate interest in distribution, and Gene had the mechanics. We collectively have an awesome M-F’n‚ home team. Good friends, good family, and good music.

Philip’s old address by the lake in N’awlins, where we all used to hang out, was a primary catalyst for this entire project. So what you must have burning in yer head, I imagine, is what part did the Colbert Street house play in the name/inception of Housecore Records?

After Pantera's “Far Beyond Driven,” there would be periods of up to six months Anselmo would have off. Colbert Street was a party every night. It became a haven for musicians throughout the N.O. scene. We'd wake up hung-over, feeling evil, burn one (or two), swim, burn another (or a few), and just start flat out jamming. Before you realized it, out of thirty different people and friends to choose from to write music with, you were in ten-eleven different bands. Four or five of which we took deadly serious. The others were either on-the-spot captured brilliance, fully experimental, or just total horseshit… but it was all worth it in the end. Also, to be HOUSECORE was an all-encompassing lifestyle. Philip would smoke out in bed all day, with nothing to do but write new parts for whatever project he was working on at the time - by the time people would start showing up for
practice, there was the ritual of sliding on some slippers, grabbing a drink and coming downstairs to jam in the same clothes that were slept in. That was the Housecore uniform. Housecore is music written at home, played at home, and recorded at home.

Colbert was the beginning of that for us.

Why should Philip form a label? What were Philip's reasons to start his own label? Read on McDuff….

It’s a labor of love really. It’s not expected for anybody to get rich off this. We know what it's like to be trapped in a contract that you have no clue about, nor much if any control of what's really going on with your music and career. Housecore is for the fan, but also for the artist, and to put the power and profit back into their hands for their hard-earned labors of love and art. They deserve it.