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What’s up Sorry Staters?
It’s a New Year! Exciting, right? At least I know it’s already been off to a good start for me. I just returned from my trip with Public Acid. We played 4 shows, all with exceedingly long drives from one location to the next. But all the shows were so good that it was worth it. We started off in Cleveland. We played the very first gig hosted in this brand new warehouse space that is being run by friends of ours. It was killer. Yambag and Sorry State alumni Woodstock 99 also played. Then we were off to Toronto. My first time ever in Canada! The show was basically a Not Dead Yet offshoot. We played with our friends in Poison Ruin, and SHIT closed out the show and totally tore the roof off the place. Then we spent New Year’s Eve in Montreal. Played once again with No Fucker. Public Acid got playing after some technical difficulties, and the clock struck midnight while we were still in the middle of playing. So there were no big cheers to “Happy New Year” or anything, but the bar did have free champagne for us, which was nice.
Then our last show was in Boston. This was my first experience playing in a proper VFW hall. I guess technically they called it a “legion hall.” To be honest, I don’t really know what that means. There was a small bar in the middle of the hall where a bunch of old men were hanging out drinking Budweiser. Probably just scowling at all the punks filling up the place. The bartenders were super friendly, but there was a still a part of me that was thinking these people do NOT want us here haha. In the big open room where all the bands played, a giant American eagle sculpture towered above the drum set. Pretty funny.
By the time we arrived, we only caught a few songs of that band Intensive Care Unit. Then, The Massacred played. It was the record release show for their new EP Post-Mortem. To me, it always seems like Boston bands have a high bar for sound, presentation and the way they play. Tight as FUCK. I was watching the guitar player’s picking hand, and there was no triplet or fast picking played outta time. Military style. The same goes for this 7”. You can hear how well-executed it is. The gruff, barking vocals are commanding and the riffs are super catchy. It seems like they’re going for kind of a UK82 style, but there’s an element of how the band puts it together that still undeniably US hardcore. But even the sleeve looks like it could a release on Riot City or something… outside glue tabs, thumb cut, and all that. The stamped dust sleeve is also a nice touch. Beautiful packaging. Sorry State already had copies in stock by the time we got to Boston and played this show. Definitely make sure all you punks grab a copy from us.
Savageheads also played and were great, as always. The show was over by 10pm, and we decided to break up the drive so that we didn’t need to drive straight to Richmond from Boston in one drive (and in my case, then head to North Carolina after that). We hopped in the van and discussed our options. We talked about possibly staying in Philly on the way home. I dozed off in the van expecting to take a shift driving if someone got too sleepy. I woke up who knows how much later in a McDonald’s parking lot. One of the dudes in the band said, “Guess what? We’re in Virginia.” Without knowing it, I found myself in Richmond at 8am. What a wild ride.
I feel like less than a week into 2023, we’re already getting some fresh bangers. Can’t wait to see what other killer punk releases this year yields. Speaking of which, all you Sorry Staters make sure you pre-order that Sirkka 7”. It’s one of my favorite releases we’ve put out in quite a while. Don’t sleep on it!!
That’s all I’ve got I suppose. As always, thanks for reading.
‘Til next week,
-Jeff