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What’s up Sorry Staters?
Another busy week here at the good ol’ Sorry State HQ. Beyond all the tasks on the Sorry State front, Usman and I have spent some late nights trying to get Bunker Punks stuff put together. I’ve hand-stamped so many sleeves that I’ve lost count. I’ve got blisters on me fingaz! Those of you reading who are still waiting on an order from Bunker Punks, thanks for your patience! We’re really stoked on how these bonus Koro sleeves came out, so we think it’ll be worth the wait:)
There’s been tons of boxes of new releases piling up at the store over the last couple days. Toxic State, Iron Lung, Relapse… so much cool new stuff to check out! But I gotta say, all these new 7” reissues on No Plan Records really caught my attention. Funny enough, the Jerry’s Kidz 7” had already been on my mind recently. A friend of mine who lives a couple thousand miles away posted his 2 copies of this 7” the other day… with both different sleeve variants (mad jealous). I think I even remember thinking to myself, “Damn, how come no one has reissued that Jerry’s Kidz record yet?” I had completely forgotten that we had a batch of squeaky clean new copies already in the mail and set to arrive just a couple days later. Funny timing!
Jerry’s Kidz, spelled with a “z” and not to be confused with the other Jerry’s Kids from Boston, were from New Mexico. This 7”, titled Well Fed Society, was their only release and originally came out in 1984. In my obsessive deep dive into the history of 80s USHC, I always wonder to myself if there’s at least one good hardcore record released from each of the 50 States. For New Mexico, I think this 7” is the glowing example. This 7” was also the sole vinyl release on what I can only assume is the band’s own label called Test Site Records—surely a homegrown reference to the Manhattan Project and atom bomb testings in New Mexico. I gotta say, the artwork on this 7” is right up my alley. I mean, come on, there’s a skateboarding skeleton on the back cover! What must it have it been like to be a young hardcore punk band in Albuquerque in 1984? I imagine if you’re in the middle of the desert in New Mexico, there’s gotta be some droughted-out drainage ditches that would be killer for skating. Jerry’s Kidz sound like a bunch of skate rats. The vocals carry a tune, but the singer’s voice is pretty snotty. They sorta sound like a little blend of Rebel Truth, but with the the snotty, haphazard desert flavor of peers JFA… not to mention the skateboard connection. The opening track “Marionetts” is so killer. The lyrics are pretty rad, a metaphorical depiction of being a puppet in life whose strings are being pulled by the powers that be until death. There’s a song about drinking and driving, “DWI, drinking and driving as American as apple pie.” Genius. This record is definitely a sleeper hit of 80s hardcore and seems to be not super well known. I remember we had an original copy come through Sorry State several years ago, and I regret to this day not taking it home with me. Seems like this record is actually pretty rare, because I’ve never seen another one. But now, thanks to No Plan Records, you can get a faithful reproduction for a small fraction of the price.
Welp, that’s all I’ve got this week. As always, thanks for reading.
‘Til next week,
-Jeff