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What’s up Sorry Staters?

It feels like I was writing one of these just a few days ago. Well really… I guess I was? October was a crazy month. Dom was gone and visiting his family in England for a while. Sorry State’s 10-Year Anniversary came and went like a spontaneous combustion. And at the time that I’m writing this, Usman is still driving Golpe and Electric Chair on tour. I’m not even sure what day he’s returning to Raleigh.

The celebration of all things Halloween is behind us. I think I feel sad about that a little bit. I’m still a bit fried from once again making the trek up to Richmond. Public Acid played a show on Halloween night. Even for a Tuesday, I was overwhelmed by how many people showed up to this gig. Most people didn’t even recognize me… Let me explain: first of all, I guess with my poofy hair hidden, no one knew who the fuck I was while in costume, let alone the fact that I was clearly dressed as Captain Sensible. A few homies knew who I was dressed as immediately, but one friend asked me what my costume was, and then said, “Too deep a reference.” For real? Not in my universe. I was under the impression most people at a punk show would be familiar with The Damned. Whatever. I’ll be honest. I left the Halloween gig in Richmond not in the best mood. I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe it’s because while I was surrounded by friends, I didn’t feel like I got to spend enough time enjoying their company because the event was just too oversaturated. Maybe I had some internal emotions I wasn’t addressing while in the midst of trying to force myself to be in the Halloween spirit and party sufficiently. Who knows? Anyway, as Wayne Campbell would say, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to dump on ya.”

I will say that nothing makes me happier than accidentally stumbling into a record I used to love, revisiting it, and getting stoked all over again. A little blast of nostalgia never hurt anyone, but then it’s also a cool feeling to think to yourself, “Damn, this still rules.” In this case, I’m talking about the debut LP by The Briefs, Hit After Hit. What an appropriately titled record. This record originally came out in the year 2000 on Dirtnap. But along with many of the reissues we stock from Radiation, this record was repressed in this lord’s year 2023 on German imprint Wanda Records. Was this LP out of print for a long time? Sure seems like it to me. Maybe there was some other reissue in the 2010s? I dunno.

Personally, I first discovered The Briefs from when the opening track on this record and all-time banger “Poor and Weird” was featured as the song for Patrick Melcher’s part in the skate video Blackout from Black Label. Amazing skate video, which made an indelible mark on me as a young teenager. I mean, it was also the first time I heard “Waiting For the Blackout” by The Damned – but I digress. Patrick Melcher was a ripper, but more than that, the tune during his video part always gripped me. As a young punker in-training, I remember thinking, “who is this band?” Those pounding drums in the intro, and in a Ramones-esque fashion, the song opens with the repeated chant, which goes: “I’m poor and I’m weird, baby. You got no time for me.” I was hooked.

Immediately fun and energetic, there was something about The Briefs that was so infectious upon my first listen. And then lyrically, it was clear that these dudes didn’t take themselves too seriously and had a warped sense of humor. There’s a line from that same seminal track “Poor Weird,” that at one point says something like, “I see a little purple man disappearing in the street.” What drugs are you taking, bud? Call them KBD-influenced. Ramones? Buzzcocks? Whatever you’re thinking, it’s all down strokes and all badass. The band is a bit quirky and a bit silly. In some ways, the zany, snotty and slightly over-the-top vocal approach of main lead singer Steve E. Nix (again, hilarious) always reminded me a lot of Leonard Phillips from The Dickies. All things melodic, catchy, and full of attitude find themselves somewhere in The Briefs’ formula. I guess you could bill them as “pop punk,” but to me The Briefs don’t come across as sickeningly pop punk sounding as say Screeching Weasel or The Queers or bands of that ilk. The band has much more of that ’77 rock’n’roll punk edge.

If you want the quintessential looking cool and yet silly wearing sunglasses and leather jackets type of punk, then look no further. In terms of presentation, The Briefs incorporate a bit of that 70s pop art flair, which I totally dig. I tried my best to look the part in my staff pick photo above haha. But when I was revisiting this record, what struck me is how great the songwriting is. Song after song, The Briefs know how to write some killer hooks. To the point where I was thinking about this record coming out in 2000 and thought to myself… “Wow, current bands don’t write songs like this anymore.” As I mentioned before, “Poor and Weird” is an amazing opening track. The 2nd track “Run The Other Way” has these vocal inflections where my dude doesn’t just sing a word like “eyes” as just one syllable… Oh no, it’s “eye-ah-ah-ah-eyeees.” So awesome. “Gimme gimme danger, gimme something I can talk about.” I believe I personally identify with this message on a regular basis. Then next up is “Silver Bullet.” You know the Silver Bullet Band? Well, The Briefs would rather take a bullet and “Kill Bob Seger right now!” A beautiful proclamation. I also identify with this message. Someone’s probably gonna be like, “Dude, Bob Seger System is a good record. Yeah sure, whatever. But “that old time rock’n’roll is something we could do without.” The next song slows the tempo down a bit and I find myself immediately singing along: “Rotten rotten luh-uh-ove.” And as you keep listening to the record, the hits just KEEPS COMING LIKE THAT. The whole record is insanely catchy. A few of the tracks ramp up the tempo from driving Ramones pace to damn-near hardcore speed on songs like “Sylvia” and “Big Dog.” Then the final track on the record is a 30-second sing-along. Dalai Lama? Dolly Parton? What’s the difference, right?

A beautiful balance of clever, yet irreverent lyrics and amazingly catchy and hooky songwriting. Real punk. Yeah, I said it. What more could you ask for? I think you need to jam some Briefs. Scoop one of these reissues before they’re all gone.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got this week. It’s fuckin’ cold in my apartment. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up, Sorry Staters?

In theory, this newsletter will be delivered to you readers on the day before Halloween. Man, crazy how my favorite month of the year has just whizzed past me. This is surely due in part to my brain being fully immersed in preparations for the Sorry State Anniversary weekend. Which, to reiterate from myself personally, I couldn’t be more happy with how the event turned out. Thanks to everyone who attended, all the bands who played, all the vendors, and just everyone who made our 10-year celebrations feel so special. It fuckin’ ruled.

So, speaking of the season, every time the Eve of Samhain comes kicking’ around, I always try to hype myself up and force myself to engage in holiday-appropriate activities. Honestly, I haven’t done a whole lot of that this year. I went with a group of homies to a pumpkin patch and had a jack-o-lantern carving party. I stayed in and tried to watch as many horror movies as possible. Last night, I went to a Halloween party at Raleigh’s local Long Leaf Lounge where my friends were bartending and DJ-ing. It was pretty low-key, but fun. There was a costume contest which had me laughing my ass off and I had an appropriately bright orange Aperol spritz or two.

What I am incredibly excited for on this Tuesday, Halloween night, is the show that I’m driving up to play in Richmond. Public Acid is planning on doing some special cover tunes. I really want to spoil them in this write-up, but I’ll save it. Golpe and Electric Chair are also playing, cycling their way back on their current East Coast/Midwest tour. But also, locals Destruct will rip it, and then Zorn from Philly will surely bring some proper theatrics on this All Hallows Eve. One thing I will spoil, my plan is to dress up like Captain Sensible from The Damned for my costume. Too obvious? What can I say? I love The Damned and the Captain’s guitar playing. I wish I could provide photographic evidence to show off for this edition of the newsletter, but I’m scrambling to get all the pieces together. Hoping the outfit comes together like I’m imagining.

Speaking of Captain Sensible, I’ve got a conveniently relevant idea for my staff pick. We recently acquired a collection from this dude who had just about a complete run of the Crass Records catalog. Soooo many singles, some of which are the more fringe avant-garde/electronic releases on Crass that I’ve never really taken the time to listen to. But one record I always forget about is the 3-song solo single by Captain Sensible on Crass, This Is Your Captain Speaking. While I don’t necessarily deem The Damned or the Captain as ideologically far-removed from bands I would expect on the Crass label, it still just seems so strange that this little moment happened. It’s just kinda… odd.

Reading the liner notes, it seems like this single came about as a result of a collaboration between the Captain and Penny Rimbaud. They share songwriting credits. Penny backs up the Captain on drums, and Captain sings and plays guitar, and I assume several other instruments possibly. But for me, what was a super cool discovery is that you can hear an incredibly harmonious chorus of female backup singers, and I only found out as I’m writing this that it’s Dolly Mixture doing the backup vocals! Especially interesting, considering Dolly Mixture has been floating around constantly in the Sorry State consciousness as of late because of all these newer reissues coming out on Sealed Records.

Musically, the songs on this single are bouncy and upbeat and super melodic, but also just totally out there. Boisterous and bombastic at certain moments, then dark and meditative at others. When I think about that this single was probably written and recorded around the same time as The Black Album and Strawberries, it was surely when the Captain was going through a musically bold and adventurous period. You can hear those psychedelic influences coming through, but also sort of medieval organ choral singing? Yeah, it’s pretty weird, but I’m totally here for it. It seems like a record Syd Barrett would probably be proud of. Then there’s also spoken word samples that seem to be referencing the Soviet missile crisis, so there are some political aspects to the record as well. I’m particularly partial to the final track “The Russians Are Coming” myself. Brilliant guitar playing. It’s a ripper.

Anyway, while my actual staff pick wasn’t particularly spooky, I made it relevant to my personal Halloween experience haha. Hope you all have rad plans for Halloween, even if it does fall on a Tuesday this year. The Silver Shamrock jingle “one more day til Halloween” is ringing in my brain over and over. Can’t believe it will all be over shortly. There’s always next year! Well, you know, hopefully.

That’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

’Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Lemme tell ya, it’s been a busy week this week. Between trying to squeeze in a practice for my bands almost every night and getting together all the last-minute preparations for the Sorry State anniversary, now I am WIPED. I can’t wait to get home after working at the store tonight where I you’ll find me crushing a big ol’ tub of Chinese food. All that said, I think everyone who has gotten a weekend pass for the big event will be stoked on all the goodies we’ve been working hard to put together. Weekend passes are sold out by now, I think? If you still wanted to experience the event on the 20th and 21st and have still been debating getting tickets to the individual shows, you should just go for it at this point.

By pure coincidence of demonic bliss, Friday The 13th happens to fall in the month of October this year. It’s kind of a shame that we release the newsletter on Monday now, because it’s currently Thursday the 12th as I’m sitting here writing this. So all of you readers will be consuming my Friday-themed staff pick after the fact. Oh well. What more appropriate record could one talk about on a particularly spooky occurrence of this date than The Damned’s Friday 13th EP? It’s funny, the other day I was talking about how Poison Idea is probably my favorite band, and Angela called me out and said something like, “Oh really? I’ll inform The Damned.” Haha. Who actually declares a definitive favorite band? For me, it changes on a day-to-day basis. In actuality, The Damned is right up there and compete for the number 1 spot at any given moment.

Friday 13th feels like a transitional record for The Damned. It’s like the perfect in-between moment sandwiched right in the middle of the Black Album and Strawberries. I love this early 80s period of the band. They start incorporating some 60s-inspired psychedelic influences into their songwriting, but also begin to drift slowly more into the macabre with their aesthetic and presentation. Thankfully, they haven’t reached the melodramatic “Phantom of the Opera” goth vibes of Phantasmagoria quite yet (don’t get me wrong, I fuck with that on occasion as well, hehe). But this EP just feels like a perfect little moment. Over the years, “Disco Man” has become one of my favorite Damned tunes. A lot of the songs on the first Damned album are based around Stooges-esque bluesy riffing, and I would say a song like “Disco Man” is a pretty far cry from that sound in terms of songwriting. The melody writing and chord changes feel so refined and sophisticated by comparison. The meandering, haunting repetition of the refrain of “Are you ready?” that closes the song gives me chills.

The next song “Limit Club” opens with some straight up Transylvanian atmospheric organ and falls into this creepy, moody groove shrouded in a cloud of smoke. But then the smoke clears once you realize the gods are “la-la-laughing”. Then “Billy Bad Breaks” is possibly one of the Damned’s catchiest tunes they ever wrote with the SICKEST bassline from my man Paul Gray. In a way, this song feels like a sister song to “Smash It Up,” but maybe even more urgent and upbeat. Makes you wanna clap your hands with a group of people dancing all in a row like dorks. It’s some serious 80s movie school dance scene hours and I’m totally here for it. And to close out, they do a reworking of the Stones’ “Citadel” from their appropriately most psychy record, Their Satanic Majesties Request. The Damned do a great version, giving it a good kick in the ass and punching up the energy in the song. For a long time, I just assumed it was a Damned tune. Just sounds like a song they might actually write.

Anyway, I’ll take advantage of any opportunity to talk about The Damned. I’m gonna try to avoid walking under any ladders and steer clear of black cats this weekend. I’ll probably just stay safe at home and curl up with some films featuring Jason Voorhees.

Alright, that’s all I’ve got this week. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

I’m writing this a little later in the week than I do usually. Just got back from a quick visit to the beach this weekend to celebrate my buddy Mike’s birthday. I think I’ve still got sand between my toes, and it definitely still feels like there’s a couple bottle’s worth of Modelo in sloshing around in my belly. But I had a great time; I wish I could have stayed longer. Now I’m behind the counter at the store, doing my usual Sunday shift in a foggy state of mind. Good news is that after a warm weekend at the beach, this morning it was so chilly outside that I had to throw on my denim jacket. As the air gets cooler and you see people cluttering their yards with Halloween decorations, I know it’s getting to be my favorite time of year. Speaking of which, the Sorry State 10-year anniversary is less than 2 weeks away! (Holy shit). If you’ve been debating getting tickets last-minute, now would be the time! Don’t sleep.

In other news, me and Usman’s label Bunker Punks Discs & Tapes just put our latest release up for sale on our website! Screaming Death is a compilation, or “4-way split” as we like to say, featuring exclusive new tracks from Dissekerad, Rat Cage, Destruct, and our band Scarecrow. This project has been in the works since early 2021, and we’re so excited it’s finally seeing the light of day. All the recordings from each band came out amazing, and we wanted to make the presentation just as special as the tunes on the LP. Joe B did the incredible cover artwork, which is printed on a heavy weight reverse board jacket. The record also comes with a double-sided insert and a huge foldout full-color poster that I personally was hoping would come across as reminiscent of the posters that came with 80s Pusmort releases. For now, Screaming Death is only available on our website, but I’m sure we’ll stock copies at Sorry State very soon. Hope everyone checks it out and is as stoked on it as we are!

As I said, the shift in season around October is my favorite time of year. I’ve written about this in the newsletter in years prior, but I love to try and binge as many horror or trashy exploitation flicks as I can leading up to Halloween. This staff pick doesn’t really have much to do with punk, or records in general I guess, but I thought I’d change it up and talk about a movie. The other night, I rewatched Clive Barker’s Hellraiser. I watched 2nd installment as well, and it had been a looong time since I’d seen that one. So wild, all the alternate dimension labyrinth stuff. But I still think I prefer the first movie.

For those that are interested and perhaps unaware, the plot of the movie involves a character named Frank who unlocks a mysterious puzzle box which summons these demonic hell-spawn beings called “Cenobites”. The Cenobites crave suffering, and basically torture and reduce Frank to a bloody pulp. Later, the character Julia discovers Frank (or what’s left of him) in the attic of the house that she and her husband just moved into. Frank is her husband’s brother, whom Julia had a secret affair with. She begins luring men into the house and murdering them to sacrifice for Frank so that he can drain their life and become “whole” again. And there’s a lot more that happens, but I’ll leave the synopsis at that.

What struck me about the movie after having not seen it in quite a while was how amazing the practical effects look. The bloody, drippy flayed corpse version of Frank slowly gaining more and more skin looks so insane. Totally disgusting, yes, but also quite impressive. I can’t imagine what the “goop” budget was on this movie. So many frames of goopy, drippy, shiny crimson. And sometimes, with gross, gory effects in movies, if the visual looks kinda cheesy or just not well-done, the suspension of disbelief is kinda ruined. It can totally take me out of it and cause me to not take a movie seriously. Then again, sometimes I love low-budget movies where the vibe is totally campy. But with a movie like Hellraiser, I find myself totally immersed and transfixed. The scene where Larry is being pulled apart by chains and delivers the classic line, “Jesus… wept,” gets me every time. There’s definitely an element of titillating, yet horrifying sexuality thematically on display in this movie. Sure, it’s demons from Hell torturing people, but it’s also basically just extreme sadomasochism. Interesting ideas to digest while watching this thing.

To tie it back to punk, I remember the last time I watched this movie was when Scarecrow and Vidro were on tour together. After our show in Boston, we drove a little bit to Worcester to stay with Andy from Innocent and his partner, Elise. I had a blast hanging out there and was stoked to walk into their living room and see it decorated with horror ephemera everywhere. Hellraiser was already playing on the TV, so I only got to see bits and pieces of it. What was really funny was to watch Vendela, the singer of Vidro’s reaction to the movie. She had this look on her face looking at me kinda like, “you actually enjoy this?” Haha.

Anyway, I’m hoping to chime in with more spooky season themed staff picks in the weeks to come. But for now, that’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

’Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Sorry to all you readers that I skipped writing one of these last week. I usually try to bust some writing out on Thursday morning before the weekend and prior to Daniel sending out the newsletter on Monday. I remember showing up to the store last week and just feeling too busy and too overwhelmed to write anything down. But I’m back baby!

I’m sure you all have been noticing our updates about Sorry State’s 10th anniversary weekend. As I’m writing this, this coming weekend is the last few days of September, which means the fest is only 3 weeks away? Aaaagggh crazy! Make sure you get your tickets NOW. I think weekend passes are almost sold out. It’s gonna be wild. Can’t wait to see everybody and RAGE like barnyard animals.

Speaking of the Anniversary Weekend, one aspect that I’m not sure if I drilled into everyone’s brains properly so far is that we are planning on doing a HUGE drop of used records during that weekend. Lots of rare and original punk and hardcore. A few of these records we acquired years ago, and we’ve had them set aside in anticipation for the big event. But just the other day, we bought a collection from this local dude who had a bunch of cool punk stuff. In his collection, he mostly had a bunch of 80s UK punk stuff, like some Oi! and stuff on No Future. But he also had a bunch of classic LA punk stuff, most notably stuff on Posh Boy.

For whatever reason, as I was pricing this dude’s records, I was digging through his boxes and decided to throw on one of those Rodney On The ROQ compilations. I had never really checked out these comps too in depth before. But in this box, he had ROTR volumes 1, 2, and 3, and I was surprised at how captivating I found them and how much I enjoyed listening to these records. I sat there and listened to all 3 records all the way through. Rodney Bingenheimer seems to be a rather eccentric character. I know that in Los Angeles he was quite the socialite. And because of that, I guess I always associate him with sort of more the 70s glam era, when all the cool celebrities bedazzled in glitter and feathered boas would be binging blow all night at night clubs on the Sunset Strip. So the fact that Rodney was a huge factor in ushering in and championing the emerging LA punk and hardcore scene is so puzzling and interesting to me. On his radio show, Rodney’s personality seemed so gentle and mild-mannered. I’m sure for him to have the Germs on the air was pretty terrifying haha. But hey, he made it happen!

What’s so cool about these comps is that they feel like a real snapshot of what was going on in the LA music scene in general. These compilations were released on the Posh Boy label in conjunction with Flipside Magazine. Each record comes with a fanzine that’s basically like a truncated version of an issue of Flipside and contains interviews and information for each band featured on the comp. With each Rodney On The ROQ compilation, I’m pretty sure Rodney was heavily involved with the curation of songs and liner notes. The format and sequencing of all the bands has a pattern that must be totally intentional. Side A is always loaded with killer early 80s LA hardcore bands like Black Flag, Agent Orange, Adolescents, Shattered Faith, etc. Then the B-side on each volume is much more new wavey stuff and silly novelty songs. Like Volume 2 has the classic new wave hit by Gleaming Spires, “Are You Ready for The Sex Girls?” Which, when this song came on, I just giggled because I remembered first hearing that song on soundtracks for movies like Revenge of The Nerds and stuff like that. Both the 2nd and 3rd edition’s B-sides are front-loaded with tracks by the band Unit 3 With Venus, a new wave band with a pre-teenage girl lead singer. Clearly, this band must have been one of Rodney’s favorites. I mean “Pajama Party” is a rager, for sure. The juxtaposition between the A-side and the B-side makes for a really fun listen. You get all worked up raging to Channel 3 and Ill Repute, and then flip the record over and cool down with some David Hines doing “Land of 1,000 Dances.”

For all the lighthearted innocence perceived from these comps, there is also an underlying element of kinda greasy sexuality. I mean, each record basically has pinup style 60s beehive schoolgirls lookin’ saucy while jamming the hot new tunes. I’m sure it’s all in good fun, just a bit cheeky. One really cool thing I was trippin’ on when reading the fanzines is the interaction between the new wave bands and the hardcore bands. The Bangles are featured on Volume 3, and in the interview, Rodney asks them if they were scared of the “hardcores” being mean. I guess he was referring to a show where The Bangles opened up for Social Distortion. Susanna Hoffs says something like, “We were really nervous they were gonna spit on us, but they were really nice! The guys from Wasted Youth were like tugging on my dress and were drooling over Debbie’s skin-tight pants, but they seemed really cool.” Horny hardcore boys, what can I tell ya?

Welp, I’ll leave ya with that haha. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Yet another week has breezed right past me. What even happened? Oh, I guess I went to Hopscotch here in Raleigh this past weekend. I was lucky that Daniel got hooked up with a few extra wristbands for the festival. So, I thought, why would I not go see Dinosaur Jr. for free? I thought they sounded really great. J Mascis at one point at the end of their set said, “Anything you guys want us to play?” I yelled out, “Lou’s Anxiety Song!” I don’t think they thought it was very funny haha. For some reason, I also went to see Cro-Mags at Slim’s, a tiny little dive bar here in Raleigh. Paranoid Maniac totally RIPPED, and besides that, I don’t really have much positive to say about my experience that night.

In other news, we have announced the finalized lineup for the Sorry State 10th Anniversary Weekend! As well as all the venues where the 4 shows will take place. I’m so excited. By the time this newsletter goes out, I’m pretty sure the pre-sale tickets for individual shows will be up for sale on our webstore. GET YOUR TICKETS NOW. It’s a no-brainer. Let’s rage.

Alright, staff pick time. So, we just got in a stack of these Tiikeri 7”s. How appropriate that I decided to wear the one pale yellow shirt I own when talking about this pale yellow 7” sleeve. As some of you know, I first discovered Tiikeri with their LP Punk Rock Pamaus!!! that came out earlier this year. I already wrote about them in my staff pick from a few months ago. But am I gonna talk about them again? OF COURSE. Sorry, not sorry. This 3-song single originally came out in 2021 and was self-released by the band. But thankfully, the always impeccable Tom over at General Speech just released a beautiful reissue. Aaaand… he’s already sold out too! But Sorry State still has copies! I guess it just goes to show you, there’s something about Tiikeri that’s connecting with all of us punks out there. What can I say, dude? This band is just too infectious. Maybe it’s because we’re all living in a world that happens to be in a particularly bleak state of affairs, and instead of having a stark black & white cover and just being “heavy”, a light-hearted, melodic, and (dare I say?) “fun” punk record coming out is a well-deserved breath of fresh air.

I’m pretty sure all 3 of the songs on this 7” are also on the LP from a few months back. But again, this single first came out in 2021 and I’m almost certain it’s a different recording session. And even though I love the LP, I think I prefer the sound of this single. Even as bubblegum poppy as the songwriting is, the sound is just a bit more raw and gritty. The title track “Punk On Rakkaus” which means “punk is love” (aaaww) is the A-side—and when I say this is a “single,” you should see this thing! On the A-side, the actual grooves for the song are so small, and there’s so much dead wax after the track ends that it’s comical. Almost like they took those LA punk 12” singles I always joke about, and then shrunk it down to miniature size. It’s awesome. Tiikeri’s music, to my ears and as described by General Speech, is like a love letter to late 70s Finnish KBD-style punk and classic punk in general. I feel like Tiikeri’s connecting with that idea resonated with me more after experiencing the band’s presentation on the 7” format. The sleeve is a folded in such a way that instantly reminds of me of old Finnish punk EPs that I’ve literally held in my hands. The band has such a strength for replicating a vintage punk feeling with authenticity.

Okay, but now we’ve gotta talk about the artwork. I can’t help it. As a record nerd, the packaging grabs my attention. On the original pressing, it looks like the band hand-drew the layout for center labels over blank white labels. It’s a big-hole 7”, and Tom took that design and beautifully replicated the hand-drawn aesthetic as a printed label. It looks so great. The word “tiikeri” in Finnish translates to “tiger” in English. And they have a fuckin’ mascot. A little cartoon punk tiger with a studded bracelet. I mean “punk is love”? The layout is smattered with anarchy “A’s” inside of hearts. This record also includes a 16-page booklet, and every page is loaded with goofy and rad cut’n’paste/photocopy eye candy. There’s this one page inside the booklet that’s like a game: There’s a crude drawing of Sid Vicious in his underwear, and there’s and outfit that’s made to look like it’s taped to the page, but you can cut out the clothes and dress him. Let’s see, what else? We’ve got cartoon mice with safety pins through their ears, politicians with vampire fangs, punk crossword puzzles… I really wish I could read Finnish, because so much of the content of the booklet is handwritten text. Maybe I’ll venture to translate it one day. The advertisement for this record on the promo poster says “do you suffer from pogo-less leg syndrome?”, implying that this record will be the remedy you need. I mean, these Finnish dudes are just having a laugh really. And yet, you get this feeling that it’s also a labor of love—so where does the joke end and the passion project begin? It’s a fine line.

Punk is love, baby. Get you some Tiikeri in your life. It’ll brighten your day, I’m sure of it.

Is that all I’ve got? I guess so. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

I’ve been stoked to see the excitement surrounding our announcement of Sorry State’s 10th Anniversary celebration. Looking forward to announcing the final lineup with all the bands playing, along with the schedule of when and at what venue they’ll be playing. I know there are possibly some folks out there that don’t need a weekend pass and realistically can’t make it to both days or all the shows. We’ll be selling tickets for the individual shows soon too, so fear not. Perhaps Daniel is already planning on making some announcements in this edition of the newsletter that I don’t know about. Can’t wait!

Really, I should probably be hyping up a new record we’re stocking at the store. Oh well. Instead, I’m gonna talk about a record I was raging to while already a few beers deep. Classic. But hey, it’s been a while since I’ve talked about an old record! The other week, I made my second appearance on Mike from Analog Attack’s What Are You Listening To? podcast. All around cool dude, Scott Langlais showed off his copy of Toxic Reasons’ fourth album Bullets For You. Honestly, it had been quite a while since I’d listened to this record, but Scott inspired me to bust out my copy and throw it on the turntable. For years, I would have claimed that Killed By Remote Control is easily my favorite Toxic Reasons LP. After going into listening to Bullets with fresh ears, now I’m beginning to question my dogmatic perspective on this issue. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I was raging to this record. And now, if someone were to argue that Bullets For You is Toxic Reasons’ best album, I might go along with it.

I love Toxic Reasons, but I know they can be a divisive band for some punks out there. I’ve straight up heard people talk shit about the third and fourth records in particular. Their third entry, Within These Walls, is certainly their softest record. Dare I say new wavey? Toxic Reasons’ logo of the merging of flags was always a clear indication that they incorporate some English sensibilities into their brand of US hardcore punk. On the third record, it definitely sounds like they took some cues from English bands that got more melodic. There’s New Age-era Blitz type guitar parts all over that record—and there are honestly moments on that record that I really like. I mean come on, the cover art on Bullets For You is the same image on the insert of Voice of a Generation. Called ‘em out! Hehe.

But enough about that. I don’t know if “return to form” is the correct way to explain Bullets For You, but they definitely take a clear step toward more aggressive songwriting than the previous record. In some ways, I think Bullets is the band’s heaviest record, but also with some of their strongest and catchiest songwriting. Seriously, I think this record just kills top to bottom. For one thing, there’s no reggae numbers. Which I even think the band does well on an early single like “Ghost Town,” but it’s a welcome decision to avoid them in my book. The more aggressive, faster paced songs almost kinda remind of that slightly metal-inflected sound of English Dogs or Broken Bones. The vibe is kinda like they took the musical elements of a ripper track from an early record like “Destroyer,” but honed a more matured approach to hardcore punk songwriting. There’s some totally killer, speedy guitar licks that sound like the guitar player listened to Kirk Hammet’s guitar shredding on Kill ‘Em All one too many times. What’s fuckin’ brilliant about Toxic Reason’s approach to the ripping tunes though is that on top of the Fast Eddie-style gunslinger guitar riffing, they have huge, sing-along choruses. The song “It’s A Lie” shifts out of this more mathy, punchy descending transition right into a gang chanting “whooooa oh, it’s a lie!” It’s just begging for clenched fists waving in the air and the crowd chanting along. Probably the song most people know off of this record is “God Bless America” because it came out as a single a few years prior. I think that song only appears on the US pressing, and honestly, as much as I do like the song, it’s definitely not my favorite. The whole A-side is just ripper after ripper. Then, the last song on the record is “Gotta Believe,” which is easily the most melodic track. But it’s great! It’s got this sort of mournful, yearning undercurrent to the lyrics and the mood of the melody. This song almost kinda reminds of a song Grant Hart might write on a mid-era Husker Du record.

If you’ve avoided the later era Toxic Reasons output because you were convinced there was nothing cool to hear on them, then it’s time to change that. Do yourself a favor and check out Bullets For You. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got this week. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

It’s funny, now that we’re back into the swing of doing a newsletter once a week, all I can think about is how little I have to talk about haha. Last week, I was struggling to squeeze in all the things I’ve been up to. Whether I was talking about being on tour or whatever. This week just feels kinda regular. And that’s okay!

I guess the major bit of news we’re talking about this week is that Sorry State’s 10 Year Anniversary celebration has been announced! As the sole Sorry State employee who’s been here since opening day, I can’t believe 10 years have already gone by. Crazy talk. I’m so excited for us to announce the lineup of bands playing the fest. Along with the 2 days of stacked gigs, we also plan to have some special surprises at the store. I hope that some of you newsletter readers out there are marking your calendars and getting your travel plans sorted out so that we can see ya in October! It’s gonna be killer.

Anyway, for my staff pick this week, I’m gonna talk about this Blood Money reissue. We’ve sold a handful of these so far, but I thought I’d give it some attention. Weirdly, both of the band’s LPs from the 80’s have been reissued on Svart. Blood Money is an English band, and I know Svart typically reissues bands and artists from Finland. But then again, I guess they did Eyehategod and all kinds of random stuff. I’m mainly gonna focus on Blood Money’s first album Red, Raw and Bleeding!, originally released in 1986. The Svart description designates Blood Money as a cult band in the realm of New Wave of British Heavy Metal. But for 1986, I would say Blood Money was a little late to the game to be considered NWOBHM. I feel like maybe I’ve stumbled across that insane and radical cover art somewhere along my journey, but Blood Money still seem relatively obscure from where I’m standing. That zombie hand holding onto a crudely rendered chainsaw just dripping with blood and innards… Pretty gruesome, pretty rad. Did Razor quietly rip off this cover art a couple years later on Violent Restitution? I’ll let you decide.

I guess I could see where Blood Money could be more comparable with NWOBHM. They surely don’t fit neatly into the thrash metal family tree, a style which was running rampant at the time. To me, Blood Money sounds like a band that still had their foot stuck in the tar of traditional heavy metal but refused to sink with the other dinosaurs. This record brilliantly captures the transition of incorporating elements of speed metal and thrash into a more decidedly operatic, virtuosic style heavy metal band. But alright… lemme get into it… This record sounds INSANE. Like outta control. While I was listening to this the first time, I was just absorbing what the fuck was washing over me. Brought a huge smile to my face. This record is like an exercise in pure ridiculousness. In the BEST way. I mean DUH, if the artwork didn’t leave you to believe that already. When I listen to this record, I just imagine these dudes in the studio in Manchester or wherever, and all huddling to hype themselves up. Like they gave themselves a group pep talk, and were like, “ALRIGHT MATES: FASTER. LOUDER. MORE EXTREME!!” Then they got loaded up on a ton of blow and speed, and this off-the-rails heavy metal masterpiece/trainwreck is what emerged when they yelled, “BREAK!”

The singer’s voice might be a turn-off for some people. Definitely a more theatric, “hear me in the nosebleeds” approach to vocals. Almost more akin to Bruce Dickinson than say James Hetfield… Like my dude is really giving it all he’s got, but he is certainly not as gifted of a singer as Bruce haha. Danny Fox is his name I believe? And for whatever reason, the style and presentation also brings Steve Grimmett from Grim Reaper to mind. It feels like a similar brand of heavy metal if not exactly dead on. Let me explain what splendors you will find contained within this record: Gratuitous double kick. Gratuitous shredding guitar leads that are all over the place and kinda go out of key. Gratuitous use of vocal vibrato. Gratuitous reverb. Gratuitous lightning strike and revving chainsaw sound effects. And then, when you pull out the insert and see what these dudes look like… It’s really the cherry on top. We’re talkin’ greasy, thin mustaches. Tight, ill-fitting tiger stripe and fishnet sleeveless tanks. And of course, a more than necessary, unwieldy amount of studs and chains. Fuck yeah.

Svart always does a great job with their reissues. The packaging looks impeccable. The record even comes on this gorgeous blue smoke vinyl. If you need a fun romp through a long-lost gem of ambitious, extreme and ridiculous 80s heavy metal, then I would highly recommend Blood Money.

Alright, that’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

How long has it even been since I’ve written one of these? It feels like the crew over here at Sorry State got back into the swing of things with writing for the newsletter for a minute. But looking back now, I guess the last time was already back in July. Scarecrow went on tour and that certainly slowed us down again. Whoops! So it’s almost a month later… But hey, we’re back baby! Speaking of which, I can’t express enough how amazing it was touring with Vidro. I felt spoiled getting to see them absolutely RIP every night. Also though, it really felt like Scarecrow and Vidro made strong friendships in the 9 or so days we spent in a boiling hot van with no A/C together haha. All the gigs in the different cities we visited were great, and everyone who booked the shows and put us up took such good care of us. So rad getting to reconnect with outta-town friends in all the cities we went to.

Some other stuff that’s happened: The day after we said goodbye to Vidro, the Scarecrow crew rolled down to Richmond, and Public Acid played a gig with Appendix. Appendix totally ripped, NY tourist t-shirts and all haha. We came back home for not even a week, and then Scarecrow drove out to Charlotte to play a Thrasher event. We missed the skate event, which I was super bummed about. Someone told us later that at the Mooresville skate park, Andrew Reynolds busted out a huge backside flip while Poison Idea was playing. I could cry. But it’s all good. We got to hang out with the fuckin’ homies in Tozcos! It was officially my birthday when the clock struck midnight on Sunday, and we all went and drank cerveza in a cemetery. True 45 Grave hours. It was indeed “party time.”

Things are gonna be kinda quiet and back to regular routine for a couple weeks. In late September, Meat House will head out to Milwaukee for Unlawful Assembly fest. Woohoo, busy busy busy!

Anyway, enough about my bullshit. Y’all paid any attention to this Мир reissue that just came out on Beach Impediment? Don’t let the name fool you. Even with that Russian character in the name, this band was actually based out of Roanoke, VA. I’d honestly never heard anything about this band before. Apparently, with that spelling, Мир is actually pronounced sorta like “mere”. From what I understand, the band was active in the early-to-mid 80s. The recording contained on this LP was recorded in 1984, and has been remastered from the original reels. I think the band was fairly short-lived, breaking up as early as 1985. It’s cool to discover this recording because it’s another missing piece of the 80s southern hardcore story.

As expected from the mighty Beach Impediment, the packaging looks excellent. The insert is designed with a collage of flyers from shows that Мир played in the 80s. It seems like they were on the bill for some killer shows, having played with big names like Battalion of Saints and Scream. To my surprise, there’s actually several flyers of gigs Мир played with COC, which is super cool! There’s even a flyer from when Мир played The Brewery here in Raleigh. And funny enough, when I listen to this recording, there’s many sonic and stylistic elements of Мир’s sound that remind me of early COC and other NC hardcore bands. The drummer even kinda looks like Reed Mullin! Weirdly, even as soon as the first song kicks in, the raspy, youthful vocals along with the jangly, loose riffing kinda reminds me of Subculture.

While they are clearly a hardcore punk band, there’s some disparate influences going on with Мир’s music. It’s not straight ahead fast hardcore punk the whole time. There’s some slower numbers with super active, spider-walking bass lines. When I was listening to it in the store with Dom, he commented that he heard some definite 60s influences. Which I wouldn’t have necessarily noticed, but I think he’s onto something. On the back cover photo, the singer is wearing a frilly white shirt with what I imagine is a brown suede vest on top, along with a quaffed, shaggy haircut. All this to say that his style appears like he’d fit right in with a photo of a band featured on a Pebbles or Nuggets comp. The guitar also is heavily effected; there’s moments where the reverb almost sounds like he was trying to infuse some surf rock tone into the mix. There’s this one kinda schizophrenic song, where the band alternates between this stripped-down melodic section, but then launches into ripping fast hardcore. That track almost reminds me of that one self-referential song on the Neon Christ 7”. Super cool.

If you’re like me, you’ve had a hankering for plunging even deeper into the undiscovered, obscure gems of 80s USHC. This LP will scratch that itch. This Мир recording definitely deserved to be heard by all the HCPMF’s out there. Do yourself a favor and check this bad boi out. I promise it’s worth your time! Or at least I hope you dig it as much as I do.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got this week. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week, or at least I assume,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Holy shit, it’s been a while huh? I can’t remember how long it’s been since I sat down to write one of these things—let alone wrap my brain around producing coherent thoughts in written form. I’ll give it my best. I’m honestly feeling just a bit rusty. Time to shake the dust off!

What’s everybody been up to this summer? I feel like since last time we assembled a newsletter I’ve been out of town quite a bit. Shomo Fest 2023 in Philly was a fuckin’ blast. It was rad with Public Acid to reunite with our homies in Warthog. There was epicly hot gig underneath a bridge in Richmond where I got to see Subdued and Nosferatu up close and personal, with dust flying from hard moshtastic dancing and fireworks poppin’ off in the background. Also, my new band Meat House went on tour along with our buddies in Sorry State family members Mutant Strain, playing mostly gigs in the Midwest. Even though the tour was pretty short, it was one of the funnest tours I’ve ever been on. We partied, goofed off, and got into trouble. It ruled. Speaking of which, the Meat House 12” EP is out now, and thanks to everyone who’s grabbed a copy so far! We’re stoked that people seem to be diggin’ it.

In just about one week from today, Scarecrow are going on tour with our friends from Sweden, Vidro! They’re one of the best live bands I’ve seen in recent memory. Hope to some of y’all out at those gigs! Lookin’ forward to it.

So many great new releases have come out since we last did one of these. The new Deletär LP (sold out, but we have more on the way!) and the Nukies 12” pressing of their tape from earlier have both been on heavy rotation in the last week or so. But being the way I am, I thought I’d go a totally different route and talk about a reissue. I would never claim to be an expert on Canadian punk. Some deep cuts I love include the Unruled 7”, the Stretch Marks 7”, the Genetic Control 7”… definitely some serious bangers. But another band I love from Toronto is Youth Youth Youth. They released one 12” EP in 1983 called Sin, and until now in the Lord’s year 2023, the record has never had an official reissue.

The reissue is on a label called Blue Fog Records, which is a Toronto-based label that I think puts out lots of different kinds of music, definitely not just 80s hardcore punk reissues. There are some graphic design elements that they abandon from the original that I miss, but overall, I think it’s a pretty slick, clean looking reissue. You get a lyric insert and a printed inner sleeve with what I always refer to as “punk porn”—just a totally jam-packed collage of cool old black n white photos. Not unlike another compilation that I have called Repackaged, the A-side is the og 1983 EP in its entirety, and then the B-side is demo recordings. . The demos kinda remind of more song-based CA hardcore like Shattered Faith or Code of Honor. But by the time we get to the actual 1983 EP, musically, YYY play fast hardcore, but are definitely on the more melodic, tuneful end of the spectrum. What really stands out to me about YYY though are the lyrics and the singer’s delivery. He’s got that kind of self-serious, earnest demeanor, with often poetic, prophetic lyrics. A couple of the songs rather boldly and emphatically titled things like “Philosophy” or “Greed,” where a Canadian teenager breaks down some heavy topics with defiant conviction and seemingly no sense of irony whatsoever. Which honestly, I’m not even trying to poke fun at it. I just feel like it’s a rare thing to experience nowadays. It’s funny to even draw this comparison, but the vibe is not unlike 7 Seconds, but lyrically, YYY are probably more well-read I would say. Honestly, I feel like Bad Religion’s Suffer owes a debt to Youth Youth Youth from 5 or 6 years prior. YYY is definitely more hardcore and rougher around the edges, but the musicianship is top-notch and they’ve got that similar jangly guitar style and melodic riffing. Even the bass player’s (Paul Bishop’s?) rumbling, scale-walking style reminds me a lot of Jay Bentley.

All that aside, I think this YYY EP is an underappreciated gem of 80s Canadian hardcore. I’m stoked that this record is back in print so all of us hardcore nerds can rage to it without having to track down an original on Discogs and worry about it getting through Canadian customs haha. We’ve sold a few, but we’ve still got a good amount of copies of this reissue in stock here at Sorry State. So scoop one if ya can! Glad to be back on this newsletter grind.

That’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week?

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Man, what a 3-day weekend I just had. Here we are on Thursday afternoon, and I think I’m still recuperating. I just had the best time in Minneapolis. Maybe it’s just a midwestern thing, but whether it was punks that we met or just random people on the street, everybody in that city was so friendly. Like, genuinely. Will from Desolate Records and his partner Bretton were the top-tier, greatest hosts. They put us up in their beautiful house full of elderly cats for several nights and hung out hard with us every single day. They rule.

The Vans skate event at Familia skate shop was so killer. I honestly wish we’d made it over to the skate park earlier, because I think people had already been skating for a while it seemed like. Ronnie Sandoval was totally shredding for a while, going for huge ass tricks, but then he took a pretty gnarly slam. The demo kinda fizzled out after that. Elijah Berle was ripping it too. I got to briefly meet Tony Trujillo. All the rest of our crew was getting photos with him and stuff, but I was too nervous haha. He was mad cool though. It was kinda cool just to see all these more behind the scenes dudes either filming or taking photos that I recognized from watching King of The Road. The afterparty gig we played was rad too. It was in this weird big open event space that kinda felt like a huge wedding venue, but it was still cool. It was also rad just kickin’ it and goofing off with the Electric Chair dudes—visiting sex shops where everyone could ride a giant mechanical dick. You know, that kinda thing. Then we all went to this late-night swimming spot where I realized that everyone was just super comfortable with being nekkid. Just bodies of all shapes and sizes jumping into the lake. Totally non-sexual… just free, queer, accepting and comfortable. It was a beautiful thing. I, for one, stayed fully clothed and drank beer.

Public Acid all flew back on Sunday afternoon. Then I drove back to Raleigh from Richmond and arrived home at around 4am. THEN, I went to work on Monday morning, and John Scott came and bailed me out so Scarecrow could go play a rad gig with the Subhumans that night. Pretty killer weekend, if you ask me. More mellow this coming weekend, but there’s more fun times on the horizon. I’m stoked.

Anyway, that’s enough gushing about me. Now let’s talk about records you readers need to buy. Usually, Usman is the ambassador of all things Finnish hardcore. But this week, I’ll take a stab at a little write-up about some Finnish stuff that I personally think is killer. You’ll often hear people talk about Kaaos or Riistetyt or whichever band, but I don’t often hear people reference Aivoproteesi. In all fairness, the band never released a proper EP or album during their existence in the early/mid-80s. Aivoproteesi’s most notable contribution to the legacy of Finnish punk is their appearance on the classic Yalta Hi-Life compilation from 1984. Upon first hearing this comp back in the day, the Aivoproteesi songs always stood out to me. As much as love Terveet Kadet and Varaus’s tracks on this comp, for years you could always catch me saying, “Oh, the Aivoproteesi songs are the best thing on that comp.”

Sometimes I’m frustrated when I think bands from the 80s are so killer, but there’s nothing besides a compilation that I can get my hands on. I would’ve loved if Aivoproteesi put out a 7” or something. But nope. My fascination with these comp tracks got me always wondering if this band ever recorded anything else besides the session that appears on the compilation. I tracked down the BCT tape that had all Barabbas Records bands on it, but alas, it was just the Yalta Hi-Life songs. But after years, eureka! In 2020, an EP was released with unreleased Aivoproteesi songs. I managed to get my hands on one, finding out later it was limited to like 80 copies or something crazy. I was bummed when I found out it was a lathe cut, but it actually sounded alright. Now FINALLY, in our lord’s year 2023, a comprehensive compilation LP of Aivoproteesi recordings is now available. The LP is a split release between several labels, including the ever-reliable Hohnie Records, and also Final Doomsday here in the US. The record contains 10 songs from a studio session (including the songs used for Yalta Hi-Life), 4-track demos, and some miscellaneous live recordings. Your classic “throw everything on there” style compilation. I ain’t complaining. It’s not my favorite packaging I’ve ever seen, but the cover art looks kinda cool. It’s a thick gatefold sleeve, and the inside gatefold has a widespread collage of nice looking full-color photos that I’ve never seen before. I kinda wish there was a booklet included instead so all the photos were larger… But hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

If you love all things Finnish punk and are unfamiliar with this Aivoproteesi, I highly recommend you dig into this missing piece of your puzzle. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

What’s up Sorry Staters?

As the weekend approaches, I’m yet again scrambling to get one of these damn things written. I spent like half an hour trying to get the graphic above put together. It looks so stupid. It’s like one of those tattoos where a shark is busting out of the skin, but it doesn’t even look that cool. But at least it features images related to the key topics contained within this write-up. I’m partially anxious because as soon I leave the store tonight, I’m immediately hopping in my car and driving up to Richmond. Then I’ll wake up at 9am and hop on a plane to Minneapolis. Trust me, I ain’t complaining. I’ve talked about it in previous newsletters, but Public Acid is playing this one-off gig on Saturday. I’m way stoked about this Thrasher event we’re playing. I get to see some of my favorite pro skaters sponsored by Vans rip it up during the day and then go rip it up with Electric Chair that evening? Can’t wait.

Once again, I didn’t know what record to write about. I took the easy way out and decided to write about a record I threw on the other day. I’ve been listening to old LA punk constantly lately. The other day, I listened to the sole release by this band Kaos (not to be confused with the Finnish band Kaaos, spelled with 2 “a’s”). This single, entitled Product of a Sick Mind… was released on What? Records in 1980. This same label released a lot of other early LA punk stuff, namely “Forming,” the first Germs single. Kaos was a short-lived band formed out of the ashes of The Controllers. The A-side track “Alcoholiday” was born to be featured on a Killed By Death comp. Less hardcore sounding than their contemporaries, this song is a sleazy, ramshackle, garagey punk stomper. I’m pretty sure this song appeared on KBD #4, sandwiched in between a bunch of Zero Boys songs. On the B-side, “Top Secret” is a bit faster tempo and reminds of the Randoms’ “Let’s Get Rid of New York” or something similar on Dangerhouse. The last track is a heavy dirge lamenting about not being able to sleep. Funny enough, this final track “Iron Dream” I first heard when the Carbonas covered it. That repetitive refrain “I can’t sleep at night!” I always associated with the Atlanta punk greats. It honestly sounds like a song they could’ve written. So when I finally got into this Kaos single, it was exciting to connect those puzzle pieces.

I scored my copy of Product of a Sick Mind a few years back. I pull it out to jam every once in a while. Funny enough, my copy is the 12” version, so it’s one of those oversized punk singles with plenty of unnecessary dead wax. My favorite style. But there is a more KBD-appropriate 7” single version released the same year. Limited to 200 copies, it’s super rare and has become quite the collector’s item. I’ll stick with my oversized platter.

Weirdly, I haven’t been drinking much lately. And funny how that works, I feel pretty great. But inevitably in Minneapolis I think I’m gonna rage. Time to get my Alcoholiday started.

Welp, that’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff