News

Work has really been kicking my ass lately. We’ve been short-staffed at SSR for a variety of reasons, and it feels like lately I do nothing but work work work. I keep at it every night until I’m totally exhausted, and when I finally get home, I’m so shellshocked that I just want to curl up with a book and enjoy the silence. Here are a couple I’ve been spending time with recently.

Julian Cope: Head On / Repossessed (2000)

Julian Cope is probably most famous as the frontman of the post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes, though I know him mostly as a music critic and historian. I’ve since gone back and checked out Kilimanjaro and enjoyed it, but what lodged Cope’s name in my memory is his pair of books—Krautrocksampler and Japrocksampler—that, respectively, offered capsule histories and buying / listening guides for the 70s German progressive music and 70s Japanese rock scenes. The music in those books totally blew my mind and I’m forever thankful to Cope for helping me to appreciate Amon Düül II’s Yeti and Speed, Glue, & Shinki’s Eve, but his writing is strong enough to keep me interested even with subjects I’m less attached to. This book collects both of Cope’s memoirs, with Head On covering his childhood, participation in the original Liverpool punk scene, and the founding and dissolution of the Teardrop Explodes, while Repossessed picks up where Head On left off, carrying you through the rest of the eighties as Cope establishes a solo music career and grows ever more interested in the antiquarianism that seems to have occupied much of his life since. (The bits about Cope finding his inner collector of vintage toys are particularly interesting.) Cope has done his share of drugs, Herculean amounts of psychedelics in particular, and you’d be silly to take his account of the events he describes in these books as the gospel truth. But his interpretation is so hilariously cracked, so hyperactively preoccupied with a search for deeper meaning, that I couldn’t put this book down.

Tony Wilson: 24 Hour Party People: What the Sleeve Notes Never Tell You (2002)

I put this book on my reading list years ago, apparently not realizing what it was, and a few weeks ago I finally picked up a copy and read it. I’d assumed this was an autobiography by Factory Records founder Tony Wilson, but that’s not precisely what it is. The author is Tony Wilson, but it’s actually a novelization of the 24 Hour Party People movie, which was itself based on Tony’s real life and story as the founder of Factory. So it’s not Wilson telling you his story, it’s Wilson adapting and expanding on the story someone else came up with based on their interpretation of what may or may not have actually happened. How’s that for post-modern? This one took a little while to grab me. I haven’t watched the 24 Hour Party People film in years, but I remember it well enough, and the early chapters at least hew pretty close. I kept wondering to myself, “why the fuck am I reading this?,” particularly since I find Wilson’s prose often pretentious and over-wrought. But I’m glad I stuck with it, as there were some gems and some LOL moments, and it felt a little deeper than the film, which flew through the years at an insane clip. I wouldn’t go out of my way to pick this up, but if you find a cheap used copy or something it’s an enjoyable enough read.

Mickey Leigh: I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Punk Rock Family Memoir (2010)

My friend Seth has been telling me about this book for years (and it’s been on my reading list since then), but I finally dug into this memoir by Joey Ramone’s brother Mickey Leigh. I’d also read Marky Ramone’s memoir Punk Rock Blitzkrieg a few weeks ago, so I’ve been steeped in the Ramones universe and I’m struck by how different that world looks from all its various angles. Both Marky’s and Mickey’s books focus on the band’s shifting power dynamics, and while I thought Marky’s analysis of what transpired during his era of the band was sensitive and thoughtful, Mickey’s book peels back several more layers of the onion. The 80s and 90s eras of the Ramones are much better documented, but Mickey sheds a lot of light on the band’s early days. Tommy Ramone’s story had always intrigued me; I always wondered why he left the band and how he transitioned from being a Ramone into being a producer, and I learned a lot about that from this book. Leigh also charts Joey’s mental state from childhood throughout his whole life, and his perspective on Joey’s OCD and other struggles is very three-dimensional and sensitive. Mostly, though, what stands out about I Slept with Joey Ramone is how well it’s written. Particularly coming from the more mannered prose of Julian Cope and Tony Wilson, Leigh’s writing feels crystal clear and tightly focused, with enough detail to make scenes come alive without getting bogged down in purple prose. It’s just good, journalistic-type writing, and when you pair that with a story about something I’m already interested in, you have one addictive book.

Hello and thanks for reading. I have not been home very much since the last newsletter, which also means I have not been playing many records at all. I do listen to music at work a lot, but it’s usually digital. I can’t even tell you what I was jamming this last week though. My brain is feeling pretty foggy. I unexpectedly woke up today feeling like shit, so I did not come into work. I was going to bail on the newsletter, but on second thought I decided to write about one of the records that was featured in this week’s Hardcore Knockouts. It’s kind of funny to me how bad DESTRUCKTIONS beat VARAUS. I think that DESTRUCKTIONS are really good, but I think that VARAUS’s songs are more memorable to me. Maybe DESTRUCKTIONS is more popular because they were active after the 80s? They’ve also had more reissues. There’s no particular reason why I paired them together for the match, except that I recently got the VARAUS record and was looking for another Finnish 12” to put them against. I’ve had the DESTRUCKTIONS LP for a long time and it really was not that hard to find when compared to other Finnish records. VARAUS seems to be extremely rare. I’ve only ever seen one in person, and that was literally in Finland when we went on tour earlier this year. It’s ironic this record is so rare because I too commonly hear the story of someone finding their copy for something like $15 or even $2, but of course this is a very long time ago, before the internet started dictated the going rate for records. Regardless, it’s crazy to think about something so rare going for so cheap.

I should’ve taken the time to do some proper nerding before writing, but I didn’t plan for this staff pick. I think the first pressing of the 12” had 200 copies and the repress in this poster sleeve had 150. I’m really not sure, but Finnish punk/hardcore bands often pressed stuff in small quantities back in the 80s. I think their 7” had 300 copies pressed. Anyway, I think I’m just explaining how rare it is in my head, since it was the most expensive record I have ever bought! Haha. TAMPERE SS would probably be around the same I paid on this one, but that was a not-so-straightforward deal with cash and trade. If I can remember right, Anarkist Attack was the most expensive record I ever bought for a really long time. I remember when the most I’d spend on a record was $50. That amount went up to around $100 fairly quickly, and I feel like it hovered there for years. It’s hard to remember, but I think the SVART FRAMTID or maybe BANNLYST 7” was the first record I ever spent more than $100 on. After that, it was all downhill. Or uphill? Haha.

I am no longer in denial of being a collector, but I like to think that I’m not as pretentious or snobby as many of those I encounter on the internet. I always pick up a good reissue, mail order from labels I wanna support, and of course I buy records from bands at gigs. The one thing about an 80s pressing of a record, though, is that like nine times out of ten it is gonna sound so damn good. I know this isn’t always the case, especially when the recording wasn’t the greatest. The interesting thing about tons of Finnish hardcore records is that they were recorded with professional engineers. If you didn’t know, tons of bands would be working with engineers who hated them and who obviously hated their music. Typically, bands could afford just enough time to record one take of each song. Regardless of the conflicts these bands would encounter during record sessions, the results were phenomenal. I remember reading about the original VARAUS 12” online, and how bad the sound was. Not that the band was recorded poorly necessarily, but that tape they used was shit or something. In the Svart reissue of the 000 7”, they explained a similar situation they had when they recorded. The engineer didn’t give a shit about them and recorded them on a heavily used tape. The volume is kinda all over the place, and even falls out at times on the original pressing of that record.

The VARAUS 12” material was reissued on a discography CD in the 90s and later on LP in the 2000s. I’m pretty sure the vinyl version was just made from the CD master, since it’s the same track list. The unfortunate thing about the reissues is that they are missing three songs from the original 12”. I had read that when they were mastering the audio for the reissue, they decided these tracks were no longer usable. Obviously, it couldn’t be that bad since the reissue sounds really good and I have heard the rip on YouTube, but I was really curious what to expect when it came to the real deal. It felt pretty crazy to open up the parcel. I actually felt pretty crazy for days after, knowing this record was now tucked away in my shelves. I don’t think that feeling has disappeared either, really. It was packed like mad, which I really appreciated of course. The dude said it was NM, and NM it was indeed. I laid the needle down and the speakers were overwhelmed with that fuzzy VARAUS guitar tone.

When it came to the sound stuff I read about, it was apparent once I was able to play the original. The recording is good, and the pressing sounds nice. It’s not like the 000 7”. It’s not apparent immediately, but on a few songs you can actually hear another band in the background! I think I heard harmonica? Not really sure, but there’s something going on there, haha. I can hear some Finnish folk-type singing here and there too. This stuff doesn’t just happen between songs, but even between some quiet parts. I’m probably making it sound a lot worse than it really is, cos the record does sound really good and you gotta be paying attention to catch this stuff, but it is certainly there. It’s silly to think about some Finnish folk stuff being recorded on this tape before some raw hardcore shit like VARAUS. It also makes me wonder what the sound source for the reissue was, cos maybe they didn’t even have the original tape anymore? I’m gunna have to get back on that one. Alright that’s it for the week. Thanks for reading. And thanks A TON to all of those who bought records off me last month so I could pay off this sucker!!

Hi there Sorry Staters. Here we are with a newsletter coming out on the eve of the US election. Is this the eve of destruction or the beginning of a new era of hope and positivity? I’m feeling election anxiety and fear for the future. As a legal resident but non-citizen (yet) of the United States, I unfortunately do not have the right to vote, although I get to pay taxes. Let’s hope that enough of the people that can vote do and the world can finally be rid of the orange scum that has been poisoning our lives for the last ten years or so.

I missed the deadline for the Halloween week newsletter last time out, but am writing this on Halloween day here at the store, where Jeff has a custom themed video playlist set up with a TV screen on the counter so customers can shop and watch and listen to cool horror videos. Nice. For the record, my favorite horror character is Dracula. I like the Hammer House Of Horror films best, but also love horror comedies like Shaun Of The Dead and Young Frankenstein.

For my pick this week I’d like to recommend The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy: Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury album released in 1992. I’ve been listening to it recently, inspired by the current political and social landscape and because we recently had a used copy come through the store. What a great mix of hip-hop and rock this record is. Perhaps you’ll remember the MTV “hit” Television, The Drug Of The Nation, which continued from where Gil Scott-Heron left off with his The Revolution Will Not Be Televised from two decades previously. Both songs were ahead of their time and stand up equally today as they did when first recorded.

Heroes consisted of Michael Franti and Rono Tse, who formed after the end of their previous group the Beatnigs, which were an experimental industrial group who also fused rock with hip-hop. Michael Franti, of course, became more widely known with his next band, Spearhead.

Undoubtedly, the brilliant Television track stands out as a highlight of the album, a song they brought with them from The Beatnigs, but they cover other social and political issues across the other cuts on the record. Racial identity and sexual identity are subjects tackled and done well. Many people have written that they were inspired and changed after hearing these songs. I’ve read that college professors would quote lyrics from the album to demonstrate a point that they were trying to get across to their students. Certainly, one could still learn a lot from playing this album. Music, be it hip-hop or punk or whatever else, can be like a newspaper or a textbook teaching us and informing us. As a dumb white kid coming up during this era, I can certainly vouch for the educational benefit of listening to records like this.

There is also a cover on the album. A nice working of Dead Kennedys’ California Über Alles updated to reference the then Governor of California Pete Wilson. Added to some copies of the album was an additional one sided 12” with the track Rock The Vote (Exercise Your Rights), which was to encourage voter turnout in the 1992 elections. It’s a bangin’ cut and hopefully influenced some would-be voters. I’m not sure whether the track targeted the US elections or worldwide, but the 12” and vinyl editions of the album only appeared in the UK and Europe. As far as I can tell, there is no US vinyl pressing. Although I remember buying the album on CD when it came out, I can’t recall hearing the Rock The Vote track until I found a vinyl copy years later.

The group, although being critically well received, didn’t break through to big commercial heights, although as mentioned before, the track Television was a minor hit. During this period, they toured with a lot of big groups and opened for U2 on their Zoo TV tour and featured prominently. They also opened for Nirvana and Rage Against The Machine.

Fans of guitarist Charlie Hunter might know that he got his professional start with the group. He’s featured on the album and played for a while in their touring band before moving on to his own projects.

If you dig sample based hip-hop from the golden age with a production value like the Bomb Squad or Public Enemy mixed with Alternative Tentacles vibes, then this album will be right up your street. If you aren’t already familiar, of course. Even if you are familiar, now is a good time to pull this one off the shelf and give it a spin or to dial it up on your preferred streaming platform. I’ve added a couple of YouTube links there for you to check out and will leave you with a great clip taken from the Save Our Cities Rally in Washington, D.C. back in 1992, which has the group play Rock The Vote, California Uber Alles and Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury, another key cut from the album. Click here to watch that.

Alright, that’s all from me. The rest of the world, please pray for us all over here in America that our national nightmare ends this Tuesday. Probably going to be a shit show, but wish us luck anyway.

Cheers - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

As I’m writing this, my bubbling anxiety is taking a physical toll as I prepare to go out of town. But it’s the good kind of anxiousness. This happens to me every time I get ready to go on tour. Meat House is getting amped up to hit the road with Bloodstains from California. Shaved Ape, which is really just one pissed off primate backed up by us Meaty boys, will also be in tow. Just 5 gigs, but I’m sure they’ll be killer. I’m sure many of you have already scooped a copy of Bloodstains’ debut LP. They’re fucking great, and I’m stoked for them to rock the East Coast. First show of tour kicks off in NYC on November 6th! Hope to see you fuckers there.

I’ll keep what’s going on with me on the personal front brief, but I did wanna mention how much fun the Halloween cover show was here in Raleigh a few nights ago. Scarecrow all dressing up and overcompensating with our over-extended devil locks, attempting our best jab at classic-era Misfits, and having a bunch of friends up front shouting along to the songs made it a night to remember. I think we raised a good chunk of money to donate toward disaster relief in Western North Carolina, so big kudos to Usman for handling all that.

I wanted to talk this week about the debut LP from Raleigh’s own DE()T. Yep, that’s the word “debt” with the “b” missing, to be clear. DE()T has been playing gigs in the area for quite a few years now. The band contains a bunch of familiar faces who have played in many other bands in Raleigh and elsewhere. The band’s synth player, Matt, now lives in Richmond but is still constantly traveling back and forth to the keep the dedicated “De()t-Heads” happy. Their demo tape came out pre-pandemic, and now in 2024, they finally have a proper release on vinyl! Their LP is entitled Think Of Your Future, released on local label Simp Records. I gotta say, I’ve seen this band live countless times, but dropping the needle on this LP for the first time I was super impressed at how the record sounded sonically and how impressively air-tight the performances are. Stoked that my dawgs threw the fuck down.

How do I describe DE()T? The lazy description would be like “synth/garage/punk”, but I think to just say DE()T sounds like The Spits would be selling the band short. It’s freakier than that. It’s more intense than that. It’s much more interesting than that. The band walks a thin line between incredibly hooky and catchy—even danceable—songwriting, but mixed with a super chaotic, abrasive, and dark atmosphere lurking beneath the surface. The singer/guitarist Colin’s vocal style weaves between a demented, somewhat bored, aloof groan, but then all the sudden he unleashes a totally gnarly throat-scraping snarl. The opening track on the record, “Lambs To The Slaughter,” starts with this cold, low and creepy synth riff. When the track kicks in, the guitar strikes this counterbalance with these sharp, jagged, dissonant stabs that are rhythmically syncopated against the synth part. This sort of dark, pulsating rhythmic feel reminds me of the darker side of post-punk, not unlike Killing Joke. But then, a track like “Why Should It Be Absurd?” amps up the tempo and gets more toward hardcore territory. I guess I might throw out the Screamers as another influence, but DE()T to me is so guitar forward that it’s difficult for me to directly associate them with bands that have a synth as a dominant instrument. The synth just adds another layer to the sonic palette of the band’s sound. Sonically, this record just sounds super crisp, expertly captured by local engineer Missy Thangs, along with Colin from the band mixing, having an extensive recording pedigree himself. Jonah Falco’s job on the mastering also doesn’t hurt.

And I gotta say, as much as I love the catchy synth melodies and the bright guitar work that goes totally off the rails, the rhythm section just kills it on this record. The drumming is so damn tight and in-the-pocket, with slick, heavy-handed, murderously fast snare rolls. Nothing soft or feathery about the drumming at all, totally slammin’, driving with razor sharp rhythmic intensity. And the way the bass pulses on the intro to a song like “Stayin’ In” just sounds so heavy, laying a foundation for the menacing groove while the guitar scratches these dead notes. Seriously, what gets me about DE()T and the way the band constructs their songs more than anything is how they so cleverly arrange each instrument’s role in the band. The method with which each player takes up space in the mix is so expertly thought out. It feels like the band has a seasoned maturity in the way they play off of one another. This record is a unique of blending of interesting, wonky and powerful elements of several corners of the punk genre and is chock full of great songwriting by these dudes.

DE()T also has a follow up 7” EP that I’m pretty sure Sorry State is going to be putting out at some point? That’s all on the horizon. I will take this opportunity to let you know that DE()T is going on tour later this month in mid-November—a run of mostly southern cities, I’m pretty sure. Make sure you catch them if the band is coming to your city!

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

‘Til next week (or probably not since I’ll be on tour),

-Jeff

Last week we were in the lead-up to Halloween, and now that’s behind us. I think both the 45 Grave and Misfits cover sets went pretty well. So many people came up to me and said, “you know, I’d never heard of 45 Grave before, but I checked them out and they’re really good!” Since not as many people knew them, the crowd reaction was a little more muted for that set, but I think the band totally nailed all the tricky bits I was worried about. And then after Black Flag (who were pretty good!) came the Misfits set, and people lost their shit. It was so much fun. I don’t think I’d been to a house show in Raleigh in several years, and even though the crowd at this one was totally different from the last one I went to (whenever that was), it still felt like Raleigh… no cool guys, just a bunch of freaks out to have some fun. I hope we can do it again soon.

I had a lot of stress and anxiety leading up to Halloween. Not that I was nervous it wouldn’t go well, but just because I had so much on my plate that I felt really overwhelmed. There was about half a day on Friday when I felt myself decompress when I realized the gig was behind me, but I’ve been pretty much right back into overwhelmed mode with all the stuff going on at Sorry State. I’ll be sticking close to home for the near future, but much of the rest of the staff has time off planned in the coming weeks, so I’ll have a lot of work to cover their duties while they’re gone, and there never seems to be enough time to get my work done in the first place. That’s life, I guess.

Along with the stress of the Halloween show, I was in some negative headspace earlier in October because I read a Henry Rollins book. I heard him on a bunch of podcasts talking about his new book Stay Fanatic Vol 3, and since it sounded like something I’d find interesting, I started reading the first volume in the series. And while there was a lot of information in there I found interesting, I think it pulled me a little too effectively into Hank’s world, which seems very lonely. While I share his passion for punk’s history, the way he approaches it—at least how it comes across in Stay Fanatic—is so solipsistic that it makes me question my own love for music and why I’m so devoted to it. There are so many things that seem interesting about his life, particularly all the traveling he does and all the money he gets to spend on punk records and memorabilia, but reading about it through the texture of his day-to-day experience left me feeling really down. I’m struggling to articulate why it made me feel bad, but it definitely did.

I suppose Rollins’ book popped into my mind because of what I chose as my staff pick this week: the Fall’s very first album, Live at the Witch Trials. Of course, Rollins is a big fan of the Fall. Also, Rollins constantly revisits his favorite records, which is something I don’t do nearly often enough. The Fall are my favorite band, but it had been months since I listened to them. Another thing that made me think of the Rollins book is that he often notes October is his favorite month, and he particularly likes to revisit his favorite records every October. It was actually November 2 when I spun Live at the Witch Trials, but I get the point. While we’ve had a very warm week here in Raleigh, it still feels like fall with the leaves changing and falling and the days getting noticeably shorter (particularly after the time change this weekend). During a colder spell a couple of weeks ago I had to get the fireplace going in my living room, and I felt the pull of winter cosiness. It’ll be here before I know it, and I’ll be sitting there wishing it was over.

Anyway, it’s nice to listen to one of your favorite records during a transitional time like this. While the world is changing around you, your favorite records remind you of who you are. I kind of forgot—or at least lost touch with—how much I love the Fall until I blasted the record. But when I listen to the brilliant closing passage of “Frightened,” the sinister bass line of “Rebellious Jukebox,” the relentless clatter of “No Xmas for John Quays,” and the ethereal poetry of “Live at the Witch Trials,” it hits me somewhere deep. This is what I love. This is who I am.

If you’re a 40-year-old millennial like me, the Interstellar soundtrack might hit a little different than most. Hans Zimmer’s score taps into a sound that mirrors our generation’s own journey—one that blends nostalgia with the awe and anxiety of growing up in an age of constant change. As kids, we grew up on the cinematic epics of the 80s and 90s, such as E.T., Star Wars and Back to the Future, just to name a few. And now, as adults, Interstellar speaks to the complexity of the world that we find ourselves in today.

Zimmer’s composition is more than just background music to a sci-fi movie; it’s a rich, emotional landscape that draws from the vastness of space while speaking to the intimacy of human connection. His decision to build the score around the powerful, resonant tones of a church organ was a stroke of genius. It evokes both the grandeur of the cosmos and the spirituality of time and memory, as if reminding us that no matter how far we travel, we’re still bound by the love and the forces that make us human.

Then there’s “Mountains,” a track that takes the listener to the edge of their seat with its ticking, pulsating rhythm, mimicking the relentless march of time, a theme that hits hard for anyone, like me, in their 40s. The passage of time, both in the film and in real life, feels like something both vast and inescapable. Zimmer uses time signatures that feel like they’re stretching and compressing, just like the plot of Interstellar, and it evokes a very real sense of urgency and existential questioning.

One of the most poignant aspects of the score is how it reflects the generational concerns that have been simmering for millennials. We’re a generation that has been both optimistic and burdened by the realities of a rapidly changing world with climate concerns, technological leaps, and economic instability looming large. Just like the film’s characters, we’re asking the big questions here: What will the future hold? What kind of world are we leaving behind? Zimmer’s score echoes those anxieties while offering a bit of catharsis at the same time. What interesting questions to ponder as we go into the election in a few weeks.

In many ways, Interstellar is the perfect soundtrack for a generation that grew up looking to the stars and is now navigating the complicated, grounded realities of adulthood. Whether you’re a cinephile, a vinyl collector, or someone who just loves getting lost in an epic score, this album is a must-have. Zimmer has given us a score that doesn’t just accompany a film—it’s a sonic journey that mirrors the experience of grappling with time, love and what it means to leave a legacy.

What’s up Sorry State readers? Another month has flown by. Halloween is this Thursday and I’ll be driving up to Baltimore for two nights of Billy Strings and company performing the music of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and to say I’m excited would be an understatement. Not only is it one of my favorite movies, but it also has one of my favorite soundtracks for a movie and ‘ol Billy always puts on a hell of a show for Halloween. My girlfriend and I will be dressing up as Ash and Linda from Evil Dead and I’m excited to see other people’s costumes. Since the month is almost over, I guess this will be my last write up about a movie and this one isn’t even really a horror movie. It’s probably the least Halloween-y one I’ve written about, but I still think it’s worth mentioning. Continuing from last week with the theme of psychological terror, this week I’m writing about the 1971 Australian film Wake in Fright directed by Ted Kotcheff and written by Evan Jones. Like some of the other movies I’ve talked about this month, I caught this one probably a month or two ago here at the Alamo in Raleigh and instantly loved it. I had never heard about it before going to see it, but the description for it sounded very appealing and I trust Raleigh Alamo’s Weird Wednesday picks. This film follows a young Australian school teacher who, because of a financial bond he signed with the government, must teach for two years at a small school in the outback. He plans to go visit his girlfriend in Sydney for the holiday so he heads to the nearby town of Bundanyabba (AKA The Yabba) so he can catch a flight there. When he arrives, he heads to a local pub where he meets a police officer who befriends him over a couple of pints. The officer then takes him somewhere where a room full of people are illegally gambling on a game that’s essentially just flipping a coin. Our main character joins in and happens to find some luck and win a couple games, probably making more in those games than he had all year teaching. He sees his way to financial freedom and paying off his bond in one fell swoop, put in all that money he made and let it ride. He loses it all in two rounds. The ultimate gambling sin: never wager what you can’t afford to lose. Now penniless and stuck in The Yabba, he turns to the people of the town and the bottle. The rest of the movie is watching this seemingly put together man unravel in the heat and exhaustion of this mining town and its wild inhabitants. Drink all day, drink all night. If you’re hungover in the morning, keep drinking. Very similar to The Lighthouse, which I wrote about last week. Maybe it says more about me that movies like these freak me out the most. This story actually seems not that far-fetched.=; maybe it could even happen to YOU! Okay maybe not, but all I’m saying is if I was all alone in the middle of the outback, there may be some overlap (maybe minus the kangaroo hunts.)

Hello and thanks for reading,

I haven’t been spending much time listening to records the last two weeks, unfortunately. I haven’t been home much, and at work I’ve mostly been listening to MISFITS in preparation for a Halloween cover show, and INDIGESTI. For some reason I can’t stop listening to INDIGESTI. I have picked up a handful of records here and there over the last few weeks. When I saw DESTRUCT up in Richmond a few weeks ago, I was very excited to grab their new 12” split with LIFE. Sorry State does not have our copies yet, but hopefully this time next week you will be reading me rave about it, haha. If you missed this one, you can check it out here and get excited for us to get copies in stock. I was wondering what I would write about this week, since I haven’t been playing much stuff at home. I realized this morning I was overlooking a record that I have been jamming the last few months that I can finally write about. And that is ZORN’s brand new 12” on Sorry State, Endless Funeral. No joke, my housemate just walked by room and said damn man you’ve been playing this shit a lot lately…haha.

While Sorry State has many parts of the operation that all of us significantly contribute to, Daniel is the one who decides what’s released on the label. It is his label in the end, of course. There is some stuff we release that I don’t like at all, and then there is some stuff that I think is absolutely killer. This new ZORN is some of that killer shit. I do kinda have a soft spot for these goofy maniacs, since we’ve known each other since like 2017 I think. I feel like I have seen them more times than I can count. If I remember right, SCARECROW’s first outta town show was with ZORN and DARK THOUGHTS in Philly. I remember our demo tape was not even out yet, haha. I feel like ZORN has come really far since their earlier stuff, and live… holy shit. They are so powerful and tight, with just a touch of violence, haha. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am not a fan of metal. While ZORN leans so far into metal, it might be more metal than punk; their roots in hardcore are still present and bring driving force to their songs. They are a bit gimmick-y with the make-up, chains, and coffin; but don’t let that mislead you into thinking the band relies on gimmicks. They write excellent, dynamic songs. I’m not really sure what their influences are. I feel like music is the last thing we ever talk about when hanging out, haha. Surely the vocalist Eric loves MERCYFUL FATE, though, and I know he is a major songwriter in the band. The B side begins with a song entitled Endless Funeral, and it’s my favorite song on the record. The guitar is just so crazy, and it’s even more crazy they incorporate it into hardcore. It took me a minute to figure out what it reminded me of. Maybe I’m nuts, but it sounds like some shit you’d hear on a castle level on Super Mario. I love it.

They just kicked off their Euro tour today. If you live in Europe check out their tour flyer. If you live anywhere close to the cities they are playing, be sure to make the effort to see them cos you will not be disappointed. If you missed it, their debut 12” is now back in print! They will have copies of both 12”s on tour. Alright I think that’s all for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks for your support.

What’s up Sorry Staters?

I feel like I’m already starting to get the post-October blues over here as I’m writing this. Halloween hasn’t even happened yet and I’m starting to feel the dread! I think myself, and everyone at Sorry State, has just been so busy that it feels like the month has gone by super quickly. In previous years, we’ve even done an extra special “spooky edition” of the newsletter, but it feels like I haven’t felt as much of the Halloween spirit going around as I’d like. Oh well.

On Halloween night, however, we are doing a cover band gig that’s also a benefit to raise money for disaster relief in Western NC. The good cause is killer, but I’m also just stoked to dress up and play some of my favorite Halloween-centric punk tunes. I’m in a 45 Grave and Misfits cover band. The last couple of practices we’ve had, I’m feeling really stoked on how it’s coming together. Also currently, our Swedish buddies Christoffer and Wilhemina are hanging out in Raleigh! It’s so rad that after meeting them in Sweden while Scarecrow was on tour that they decided to make the trip to come visit. The Swedes have invaded Sorry State and it will be rad having them around for the Halloween festivities. Hell yeah! If any locals reading the newsletter wanna know where the location of the gig is going down, please reach out!

Okay, so I ask you all to indulge once more as I talk about horror movies! The other night, I went to a screening of Nightmare on Elm St 3—The Dream Warriors at Alamo Drafthouse. Perhaps the best horror sequel ever? I mean Freddy and Dokken, what else could you want? The theater was sold out, and it was so awesome to see the movie on the big screen and have everyone react and laugh at all the right beats in the flick. Another thing about the Alamo is that they have a pretty killer selection of VHS available for rental! Naturally, I gravitated toward the classiest selections available. I debated writing about one of these movies I rented. Who could resist the strength in advertising on the box art for Ghoul School? “Sex! Babes! Rock and Roll!” All things relevant to my interests haha. This movie started pretty rough, but ended pretty strong. A fun romp with the most rudimentary but ambitious gore special effects. Would recommend. Then again, I also rented Chopper Chicks In Zombie Town. Also pretty killer. Why don’t they make movies like this anymore?

In the end, for this week’s newsletter, I decided to talk about the classic to end all classics, Evil Dead 2. I rewatched my copy at home the other night and I realized I need to remind myself to at least watch this banger once a year. I gotta say, it’s probably my favorite movie of all time. I mean shit, me being the total nerd that I am, I’ve got the fuckin’ chainsaw tattooed on me with “Groovy” above it. I just love it. It’s the perfect blend of absolutely insane violence with goosebump-inducing creepiness, but simultaneously totally hilarious. A perfect balance of insane groundbreaking effects, psychedelic gore, otherworldly atmosphere, all centered around a claustrophobic setting of being stranded in an isolated, dilapidated cabin in the woods. Not really a zombie movie, though some people lump it into that category. Demonic possession is probably closer? Word to the wise: if you read from the Book of the Dead, a creepy ancient book that happens to be bound in human skin, you may find that an unexplainable force takes over your friends and watch them become inhabited by a Kandarian Demon. Just sayin’.

What’s interesting about the Evil Dead franchise is that there are 3 films, each filmed in a different decade—one for the 70s, 80s and 90s. And each film has an element of retelling, or even reimagining the story of the initial film. Evil Dead 2 is basically a remake, but with slightly different characters. For my money, it takes the eeriness of the original and amplifies the visual spectacle. At the heart of the franchise is, of course, the majestic Bruce Campbell, who plays the main character, Ash. His performance comes across as a fairly innocent and brave protagonist in the original Evil Dead. But in this sequel, Campbell’s performance is heightened to a William Shatner-level of exaggerated, fourth-wall breaking absurdity. Just his physical comedy, when his hand becomes possessed and he’s forced to basically give a convincing yet slapstick “fighting with myself” performance… He’s flipping over himself and beating himself up, the whole nine yards. It’s great. Then when he chops off his own hand with a chainsaw? The close up on his face with that glint of his eye of total madness… Then the final gag, when he traps the severed hand and weighs down the bucket with a paperback of “A Farewell to Arms”… I mean, COME ON! It doesn’t much more brilliant than that.

I think that might be as much as my brain can muster for this particular “staff pick”. I highly suggest you make a point to revisit the Evil Dead.

Welp, until our next meeting post-All Hallows’ Eve,

-Jeff

It’s been a super busy week for me and I’ve had virtually no time for recreational music listening. It feels like October is this insanely busy time where we try to squeeze in a ton of activity in between the slower-moving months of the summer and the holidays (the invigorating fall weather helps with this), and consequently there seems to be something going on nearly every night after work. Alongside gigs and other social engagements, I was at the Sorry State warehouse until the wee hours of several mornings packing orders (thanks to everyone who picked up the new Zorn record!), and I’ve been cramming in a ton of practice for the two cover sets I’m playing on Halloween. Scarecrow is doing a full set of Misfits songs, and another group of friends is doing 45 Grave. My wife Jet is singing in the latter group and it’s her first time playing in a band like this. We’ve made a couple of practice recordings and I hear her listening to them all the time. It reminds me of when I first started playing in bands. I would tape every single rehearsal and most every gig—I probably recorded just about every note Cross Laws ever played—and I would listen to these recordings all the time, ostensibly to analyze them and think about ways to improve, but mostly just because I was so excited to be part of making this noise. Playing music with friends is still one of my favorite things to do.

I’ve done a bunch of cover sets over the years, and it’s always both socially and musically rewarding. For some of these, an existing band has learned an entire set of covers, but typically it’s an ad hoc group of people who come together just for one gig. It’s nice to play with different people every once in a while, and I’ve particularly relished the opportunity to play with incredible drummers like Eric Chubb (who played in our Adolescents cover band) and Connor Donnegan (who played in our Descendents cover band). Mostly, though, it’s the songs themselves that teach me the most. I’ve never been one to play along with records, really, and I don’t feel like I have much innate musical talent. What I learned about playing music I learned for the express purpose of being in a band, and I rarely learned more than I had to in order to reach that bar. When I started writing music—which was concurrent with starting to play music—the process was totally intuitive. While I might have had a certain sound in mind, I made songs by pushing notes and chords around until they made a kind of sense, sort of like how a sculptor takes a lump of clay and massages it into a legible shape. A lot of other people I’ve played with come to music from an analytical perspective, hearing things they like, pulling them apart to find out how they work, then tinkering with those plans to reshape them into their own vision. That’s never been me, though… I write music the same way I learned to paint, slopping it onto a canvas until it looked like something.

Playing cover songs, though, makes you realize how many ways there are to write a song. Learning a whole cover set even more so, because you really get an insight into particular songwriters’ processes, quirks, and preferences. Every band I’ve ever been in has composed the instrumental part of songs first and then added vocals and lyrics at the very end, but when you learn songs by bands like Discharge or the Misfits, you realize the vocals are in the drivers seat for much of the time. I remember reading that “Bullet” was a poem Danzig wrote as a teenager, the Misfits setting the words to music years later. Certainly, there’s no other way they would have ended up with the song’s ridiculously long bridge, where the band plays the same simple riff 17 (?!?!?!) times in a row. Playing “Hybrid Moments,” Jeff pointed out that the song is basically all chorus… three of them in a row with a brief connecting part to join them together. There’s so little to the song, but I think most people agree it’s one of the Misfits’ very best. “Halloween” is another one that blows my mind, the way the verses and choruses blend into one another, linked by this A chord so there are parts of the song where I can’t say definitively whether I’m playing the chorus, the verse, both, or neither.

Along with picking up songwriting tricks, playing in cover bands also helps develop your playing chops, and 45 Grave has been the most challenging cover set I’ve ever done from that perspective. That band could play! I remember when we did the Adolescents, I was nervous about all that downpicking, and when we did the Descendents, their melodic bass parts were a stretch for me, as I’ve always been more of a rhythmically focused player. But in both cases, with some homework, help from my more musical peers, and a lot of practice, I could eventually play, more or less note for note, what’s on the records. A lot of 45 Grave’s bass parts, though, are just over my head and beyond my playing ability. I’ve had to dumb them down to make them work for me, but I think (I hope!) I’ve done this in a way that doesn’t take away from the songs. Either way, I feel like I’ve learned a lot from getting deep inside these songs.

I always say I’m going to spend more time learning how to play other people’s songs and learning from them in this way, but I never end up making time for it unless I have the pressure of a show and its deadlines. On a long road trip this summer, I remember listening to the entire Big Boys discography in one go and thinking I should take the time to learn a bunch of their songs, as they’re a group whose bass lines I could learn a lot from. In fact, “learn a bunch of Big Boys songs” is still on my to-do list, un-crossed-off and taunting me. And then, of course, there are bands like Wire or the Fall whose bass parts I love, but whose style of playing and composition are totally different to mine, to where it seems daunting to even begin figuring it out. Taking the time to learn that music thoroughly would surely up my game as a player, but I guess there are too many orders to pack, too many books to read, and too many records to listen to at this point in my life. Maybe one day.

Alright fellow Sorry Staters! It’s finally starting to feel like fall outside and if you’re anything like me, when the world starts to get a little bit darker earlier and the leaves start to fall, you’re probably in the market for something more than just background noise. Something to get completely lost in. Something to match the season changing. And let me tell you, Dummy by Portishead is not just an album; it’s an experience. It’s like stepping into a smoky, dimly lit room where the air is thick and time doesn’t matter. Have you ever found yourself in that space where the world feels surreal, and all you want is to melt into the vibe? This is the soundtrack for that. Trust me.

Now, let’s get real. I wouldn’t recommend putting this record on for just casual listening. No, this is the type of record I recommend for when you’re ready to feel something. When you’ve smoked a little, or let’s be honest, a lot, and you’re in that headspace where every sound feels like it’s crawling into your mind, Dummy will take you there and beyond. Beth Gibbons’ voice? It’s ghostly and seductive, like she’s pulling you into some other dimension, whispering the truths you didn’t know you needed to hear. And the beats? Oh, man. They’re dark, minimal, and just twisted enough to mess with your head in the best way.

Tracks like “Sour Times” have this eerie, seductive pull, perfect for when you’re staring at the ceiling, thinking about every decision you’ve ever made. And “Roads?” That song will have you contemplating the meaning of life, feeling every note as it’s unraveling some deep truth of the universe. The whole album is one trippy ride, where the sounds are as important as the silences in between, and it all washes over you like a dream you don’t want to wake from.

This album has that ‘90s trip-hop aesthetic down, but it still sounds fresh like it exists in its own little bubble of time. It’s the perfect companion for late-night smoking sessions, staring at the stars or just zoning out in your own thoughts. Every track has its own mood, its own atmosphere and if you let it, Dummy will take you on a journey, no questions asked.

So, roll one up, dim the lights and let Portishead guide you through their dark hypnotic world. Trust me, this album will alter your brain chemistry. Don’t just listen—feel it—and you can thank me later.

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone had a good week. Man, this month is flying by! I can’t believe Halloween is just around the corner. Time waits for no one. Continuing on with the theme of horror movies this month, the film I’m writing about today is probably my favorite genre of horror, psychological horror. While I love watching a good slasher, what really gets my gears going is watching something that really fucks with your head. Often when me and my girlfriend are sitting on the couch trying to figure out what to watch, she’ll say “can we watch something made after 2000?” Fine, we can’t always live in the past. At least this movie is in black and white and takes place in the 1800s, so we got that going for the old time feel. Today I’ll be writing about The Lighthouse (2019) starring Robert Pattinson and William Dafoe. I actually really enjoy Robert Pattinson as an actor. For the longest time I only knew him as the dude from Twilight, so I didn’t think much of him until I saw Good Time (2017) and really loved how he played his role in that. I’ve been a fan since. Pattinson’s character Winslow is set to begin his month long stint of keeper at an isolated lighthouse while under the supervision of Thomas Wake (Dafoe’s character), a former (and drunken) sailor. Basically, this whole movie is just Wake breaking the spirit and psyche of Winslow. You watch these men slowly lose their sanity and descend into madness as they hunker down in a lighthouse getting drunk off kerosene and having visions of sex with mermaids. Or was it a vision? This movie does such a great job of mixing reality with the delusions of a young man and it becomes hard to tell what’s real and what’s not. Who’s telling the truth and who’s already gone so far off the deep end there’s no coming back. Both actors do a fantastic job of displaying the madness of their characters and make you question everything. I think this is easily one of the best films to come out in the last decade. If you haven’t already seen it and are looking for a different kind of horror this season other than bloody violence, definitely give this one a watch.