Manson signs to Cooking Vinyl

Yes, of course, there's a blustery statement trumpeting the news:

"We will always be our worst audience, until we stop being an audience and start being an artist,” he said. “Any art is flesh and blood, no matter how you perform, decorate or display it. But we all want the passionate horror of that blood. And blood is what I am here to bring.”

But all the bluster in the world, and the dignity-salvaging side label called Hell, Etc, can't alter the fact that what Cooking Vinyl do - and do bloody well - is a nice line in bands whose focus is on serving the audience they have, rather than conquering new worlds. Manson - god bless him - has joined music's greatest conservation programme.