Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! It’s been another busy week here at SSR. Last weekend, the Scarecrew went up to Philly for the Quarantine record release gig, and as expected, it was totally sick. Both Quarantine and ICD10 killed, and I think Scarecrow did OK too. My friend Jake filmed the whole gig and you can check it out on their YouTube channel. Thanks so much to the Quarantine folks, the crew at Foto Club, and everyone who took such amazing care of us in Philly and showed us such a great time. Scarecrow will be back at Foto Club for a New Year’s Eve gig as part of our tour with Scalple. Read more about that below! Another piece of big news is that we have an exclusive Sorry State color variant of the new Poison Idea live album, The Beast Goes East. More info on that below, but note our version is limited to 100 copies and not likely to stick around forever. Besides all that, we have a big slew of ragers for you this week, so keep reading for all the latest.

Hez: Guerra Interior 7” (Discos Enfermos) Guerra Interior is the latest record from this hardcore band from Panama, carrying forward the sound they developed on their previous 12” and 7”, but with even more explosive results. The core of Hez’s sound is a heavy pogo rhythm with dark but catchy hardcore riffing and maniacal, distorted vocals. When I wrote about their previous records, I compared Hez to Blazing Eye, and while they still have some similar elements, they’re really developed their own sound on Guerra Interior. I’m particularly enamored with the catchy lead guitar lines and the brief but exciting explosions of electronic/synth noise, either of which makes the already-intense music bubble over into a froth of wild energy. Hez is great at those kinds of dynamics; see the first track, “Ruina del Hombre,” which tempts you to settle into the groove of the mid-paced parts only to blindsid you with ripping fast hardcore. This is one of those records where just listening to it makes you feel you’re in the middle of a mass of bodies, limbs and beer cans flying in a pressure cooker of energy.

When TKO Records, knowing what huge Poison Idea fans we are here at Sorry State, approached us about doing an exclusive color variant of their new P.I. live LP, The Beast Goes East, we jumped at the chance. The opportunity to connect Sorry State with Poison Idea, however tenuously, is super exciting for us, but The Beast Goes East is a package we can get behind. Check out the official description below and note the Sorry State exclusive white vinyl is limited to only 100 copies. Also, below check out some cool production photos of the Sorry State exclusive pressing being manufactured at Cascade Record Pressing in Portland!

For the first time ever, TKO RECORDS & AMERICAN LEATHER are proud to present THEE definitive audio and visual document of POISON IDEA’s historic 1990 North American tour - THE BEAST GOES EAST.

Teaming up with renowned author and Hardcore/Punk historian Tony Rettman, we were able to uncover a previously unheard soundboard recording of PI’s set at City Gardens, Trenton, NJ from the May 06, 1990 stop on their tour. Sourced directly from the house engineer’s cassette, THE BEAST GOES EAST captures a raw, blistering performance from the KINGS OF PUNK, just months before the release of their 1990 masterpiece FEEL THE DARKNESS.

THE BEAST GOES EAST is presented in a deluxe gatefold jacket, designed by John Yates in his signature “Punk Note” style, with liner notes from Rettman, (who was in the audience that night). Bound into the gatefold jacket is a 20-page booklet of previously unpublished tour photos. A color 11.5" x 22" poster is also included.

When Quarantine shipped us our copies of their LP, their bass player Jeff (@my_fetalbrain on Instagram) included a bunch of his artwork in the box. One piece was his interpretation of an old R Crumb drawing, and when we saw it we knew we had to use it for some merch. I’m sure we’ll do some t-shirts down the line, but in the meantime we printed up a bunch of these stickers, which we’ll be throwing in free with orders for the next several weeks until they run out.

After a slight delay, the cassette copies of Hüstler’s new EP arrived last week and, as promised, we shipped your preorders right away. As of now, I think we have shipped all but a couple, and everyone should have received tracking numbers. Remember to keep an eye out for the upcoming Hüstler 12” compiling both of their sold out cassettes, out in 2022 on Sorry State!

Scalple and Scarecrow are doing a short northeast tour over the New Year holiday! Check out the sick flyer courtesy of the incomparable Keith Caves. If we’re coming near you, mark your calendars.

More Swedish hardcore madness on this week’s edition of Hardcore Knockouts! I ride for Crude SS, but I think I’m team Avskum on this one, even if I think Avskum’s later material (especially Uppror Underifrån) is even better than these early tracks.

Cast your vote in the next edition of Hardcore Knockouts on our Instagram stories next Tuesday!

My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is Attack & Decay’s Squirrel Sonatas in the Key of C. Attack & Decay were from Michigan and Squirrel Sonatas (released in 1992) is a vinyl version of their 1987 demo tape. While the date on it is kind of late, the music is pure 80s-style US hardcore. My friend Brandon Ferrell (R.I.P.) introduced me to this years ago, and I love turning people onto this cheap ripper whenever the opportunity arises.

Remember, you can always combine your order from Sorry State’s Discogs site with your order from our webstore and save on shipping!

NOVEMBER 19
MUTANT STRAIN IN CHARLOTTE

NOVEMBER 19
SCARECROW IN CARRBORO

NOVEMBER 20
MUTANT STRAIN IN CHARLOTTE

NOVEMBER 27
ZORN IN PHILLY

DECEMBER 4
TETANUS IN CHARLOTTE

DECEMBER 6
TORSO IN OAKLAND

DECEMBER 13
MUTANT STRAIN IN CHARLOTTE

1. Anti-Machine: S/T 7” (Toxic State)
2. Hologram: No Longer Human 12” (Iron Lung)
3. Scalple: Skillful Butchers 12” (Sorry State)
4. White Stains: Make Me Sick 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus)
5. Torso: Sono Pronto A Morire 12” (Sorry State)
6. Lasso: S/T 7” (Sorry State)
7. The Chisel: Enough Said 7” (Wardance)
8. Quarantine: Agony 12” (Damage United)
9. Kohti Tuhoa: Väkivaltaa 7” (La Vida Es Un Mus)
10. Vatican Commandos: Hit Squad for God 7” (Radiation)

Now that we’re more than a month out from the most recent round of Sorry State releases, we’re seeing some of your distro favorites make their way up higher on our list of best sellers. As usual, y’all have great taste. Pat yourselves on the back!

Click here to see what the SSR Crew is into this week!

First up this week, we have a couple of exciting items from Finland for you. If you couldn’t tell by this week’s staff picks, we’re big fans of Finnish punk here at Sorry State. Jeff and Usman tell you all you need to know about these two rippers in their staff picks, so get the lowdown there and pick up these killers from Yleiset Syyt and Pyhat Nuket while you can!

Just today we got a big box from Iron Lung Records. I am super excited about this new Urin EP. I liked their previous one, but when I heard this new record, I flipped out. They played a track on Life During Wartime a few weeks ago and I stopped cooking dinner so I could consult the show notes and find out who the insanely sick band that was playing was. Besides the Urin EP, Iron Lung has also dropped a reissue from the Electronic Circus, an early 80s English synth project with connections to Visage (one of my favorites) and Gary Numan.

Iron Lung’s Urin 7” is actually a co-release with Germany’s Static Age Musik, who put out the record in Europe. Coincidentally, we just received copies of another new release from Static Age, the retrospective LP from 70s Swiss punks Sperma.

We just got in a package from Spain’s Discos Enfermos featuring a reissue of HHH’s Intellectual Punks EP (we even have some copies on limited splatter vinyl!), Hez’s Guerra Interior 7” (our Record of the Week), and a VERY few copies of the vinyl reissue of the 2013 demo by Spanish hardcore band Alerta!.

Maldito Ruido is a new label from California, and we have their first release in stock now: a reissue by Mexican punk band Autarkia. Punks Al Slam came out on cassette in 1993, and this first ever vinyl version was remastered by Mike Kriebel (of those great Beat Sessions cassettes) and sounds great.

Philadelphia’s World Gone Mad Records is back with a new release from Philly’s Dridge. We carried Dridge’s previous cassette, and this LP continues to develop their unique mix of first-wave black metal and dark post-punk.

Merge Records has released two classic early records by New Zealand’s the Clean: their debut single, Tally Ho, and their first 12” EP, Boodle Boodle Boodle. I believe these tracks were available in the Clean box set that Merge released some time ago, but I’m stoked to have these re-released in their original format with the original art. Our copies are even on limited color vinyl!

Finally, we just got our copies of the new album from Sydney, Australia’s Low Life, From Squats to Lots. We’ll also have copies of the new reissue of their hard to find first album, so watch for that hitting the site soon!