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Solunsky Front: Mali Svet 12” (2014, Ne! Records)

When Scarecrow played a gig at the legendary MKNZ club in Serbia, the first person we met was our host and promoter, Simon. We immediately hit it off, as we could tell right away Simon loves punk and is a giant nerd about it just like everyone in Scarecrow is. The show that night was great. Simon took amazing care of us, fed us great food, gave us way too much booze, and showed us a great time, but I want to focus on here is Simon’s distro.

Simon had a few distro boxes on a table at the club, and I flipped through them, as one does. I flip through a lot of distros, and I could tell right away that this was a very good one. Simon had a lot of the same releases we stock at Sorry State, and you could tell this was the kind of distro where everything that was there only got its space because Simon cared about it and wanted other people to hear it. I already owned about 75% of the records in his distro, so I could tell Simon’s tastes were aligned with mine.

About 1/3 of Simon’s distro was dedicated to music from former Yugoslavia, mostly reissues from 80s bands. I knew a few of them like Quod Massacre, Proces, and Tozibabe, but most of the artists I either knew only by name or not at all. Realizing I was in the company of a knowledgeable person with excellent taste in music, I asked Simon what he would recommend from the Yugoslavian section. I grabbed a few records (and maybe I’ll write about the others later), but the one I’m writing about today is this compilation of two recording sessions (and a few live tracks) from 80s Belgrade hardcore band Solunski Front.

Solunski Front never managed a vinyl release during their original 1981-1985 run, only appearing on a handful of cassette compilations. In 1993, a 7” EP came out featuring four tracks the band recorded in 1984, but it was limited to only 200 copies and quickly became impossible to find. The lack of released material has nothing to do with the quality of Solunski Front’s music, and (presumably) everything to do with the social, political, and economic conditions in 80s Yugoslavia. Much like the great, under-documented bands from Poland, Solunski Front continued to hone their craft despite their lack of access to the bigger and more commercial punk networks in the west.

The 1984 session captured on the a-side of this LP is incredible. According to the interview in this record’s insert, Solunski Front never considered themselves a hardcore band. They were inspired by early punk like the Ramones, the Damned, UK Subs, the Clash, and Dead Kennedys. Of those bands’ records, Solunski Front’s 1984 tracks remind me the most of Dead Kennedys’ Plastic Surgery Disasters album. Like that record, Solunski Front takes catchy, classic-sounding punk songs, adds intense musical chops that only come from years of playing, and blasts it out with a hardcore-informed sense of power and concision. Dezerter is another good reference point, particularly in the way the songs are dense with musical detail, meticulously arranged, yet that core of a memorable, anthemic punk track still shines through. The tracks on the b-side of this album, recorded a year earlier, are rougher and more primal, but still showcase Solunski Front’s immense talent.

So, thank you to Simon for sharing his knowledge and passion for punk. Thanks to Ne! Records for getting this brilliant document to a wider audience. And thanks to records for allowing me to have this incredible souvenir from Serbia that will make me think of our amazing night at MKNZ every time I play it.

What’s up Sorry State readers, it’s been over a month since the last newsletter, so I hope everyone has been enjoying the end of summer. I’ve been listening to a bunch of different music, but one group I keep finding myself coming back to is Funkadelic. My first introduction to their music was when I was probably around seven or eight and I was watching Good Burger with my older brothers and there’s a scene in it where Kenan and Kel get sent to a psych ward and they meet George Clinton in there and do an impromptu performance of (Not Just) Knee Deep to distract the guards while they escape. I remember loving the song and also wondering who the guy with the rainbow hair was cause he seemed important. It wasn’t till a few years later that I discovered the rest of Funkadelic’s music while trying to find out what the song from the movie was. The specific song I’m talking about is off Uncle Jam Wants You and, unfortunately, I don’t think the album is on any music streaming services, so I would have to listen to it on youtube. That’s why I was excited about snagging a copy at Sorry State a couple years ago one random day when I stopped in. Like all Funkadelic albums, it features some sweet cover art and some even sweeter art on the inside and back of the jacket. As the title suggests, there are some serious jams on here, my favorite being the aforementioned (Not Just) Knee Deep. It’s fifteen minutes of funk that’ll make even the biggest wet blanket get up and dance like they got ants in their pants. I highly recommend this album to anyone who has the desire to get into a funkier state of mind.

Heyyy Sorry State readers! Long time no write! Like the rest of ya’ll, I missed the newsletter too, so it’s good to be back doing a staff pick.

First, a big big welcome home to Scarecrow! Congrats on a super sick and successful European tour and experience! But we’re also glad you’re back!

I struggled with what to pick this week because we’ve received a gazillion killer records that I’ve had a lot of fun listening to, and I found a few in particular that are staff-pick worthy. Ultimately, I picked the Lafff Box S/T EP. This is one of the first newer releases that I got hooked on in the last few weeks.

A tiny bit of background first. Lafff Box is a supergroup of sorts. Hailing from Leipzig, Halle, and Berlin, they’re associated with Lassie, Ex-White, Liiek, and Poky.

This 7” is a short and sweet four song gem. The opener, Master, drew me in immediately. I played it a few times before I even moved on to the second song. That’s my favorite one for sure. I’m a sucker for the classic “1-2-3-4!” intro, because it usually signals that killer energy is right around the corner. And it was. Master is a perfectly constructed song. It’s got a dancy beat, it’s riffy, never repetitive, and no weak spots. It’s catchy as hell.

In general, I love the clean, stop and start style drum beats throughout the whole record. It lays the foundation for the mechanical sounding vocals with vibration. The vocals also become more aggressive at times, and I love when a singer waffles between different vocal styles.

I form my opinions on music very quickly because I’m just impatient to come to a conclusion. As much as I’m in a hurry to form an opinion, I think Lafff Box is in just as much of a hurry to grab your attention and keep it. They make the most of every second they have, and they have a very full sound. I love the riffs, the tempo changes, and the fresh, weird noises peppered throughout the record for additional stimulation and intrigue. Overall, their sound is chaotic, but it’s not sloppy. It’s more like measured chaos. Careful chaos? That works too.

That all said, I think Lafff Box is a fresh take on garage-punk. For lack of a cooler way to put it, it just sounds good. You know when you’re feeling super blah, and then you put on the Ramones and suddenly you’re dancing around? Well, maybe you’re not dancing, but you’re at least moving in place? That’s the type of energy Lafff Box is giving me. Come to think of it, the drums do sound kind of Ramones-y. I’m getting off track. Just try it. Take it for a spin. Or at least a bandcamp spin. I’ve linked it below.

Thanks for reading!

-Angela

https://turbodiscos.bandcamp.com/album/lafff-box-s-t

Hello readers and thank you for reading. As you probably know, the majority of the SSR crew has been away on tour with our band SCARECROW for the past month. I’m sure the updates (and everything else) slowed down a bit from Sorry State, with our beloved skeleton crew holding it down while we were gone. I hope with this newsletter we can pick up right where we left off. A ton of great records have arrived the past month. Rather than bore you with stories of having the time of my life on tour, I will just get right to my Staff Pick. To start off, I want to mention two tapes that are not in the photograph. The first one is NUKIES. While this is a tape, it is going to be an LP sooner or later on Adult Crash. I imagine they made the cassette to get the music out faster since most pressing plants are taking ages right now. I got one of these cassettes from a member of the band when we played in Uppsala. It’s fucking killing me that I cannot find it anywhere... Anyway, NUKIES rules. They play that beat I like, and they’ve got riffs for days. They sound like they are from Sweden, reminding a bit of bands like LARMA or HERÄTYS. I’m not positive who is in the band, but it’s definitely someone from AXE RASH and someone from ANTI-METAFOR. I say ANTI-METAFOR cos it’s the more recent band, but that same guy was in ANGER BURNING. ANGER BURNING is one of the greatest bands of the past 15 years. I first heard them on their Warcharge 7”. The EP is raw as fuck and it rocked my world when it came out. The riffs are very simple and straightforward, but the songs carry so much power. However, their real masterpiece came 4 years later, When. The name is cheesy, and yes they even have songs entitled When and When (Reprise). Don’t be fooled, though. Alright, I didn’t talk much about NUKIES I guess, but do yourself a favor and check out their tape so you’re ready to grab the LP as soon as it’s available!

The next cassette I wanna mention is the Summer Promo tape from INVERTABRATES. Anyone who reads this newsletter surely knows who they are already cos SSR re-released their demo cassette. This promo cassette is an excellent follow-up to their debut, all their best elements are now pushed to the fullest and I can’t handle it. The speed, the riffs... Chubb’s drumming is so fucked up. It makes me just want to quit playing music. I lean towards “Scandinavian” sounding bands usually, but every now and again I hear a band like this that just undeniably rips and it rocks my socks off. A completely unrelated band that had a similar effect on me was CLOSET CHRIST. I know this one came out years ago, but I can never forget it cos it is so fucking good, damn.

Moving onto the LPs, let’s start with BLACK UNIFORMS. We don’t have copies of this, but I am hoping to find us some... this is proving to be a bit difficult since it is a bootleg. I saw some copies on Ebay some months ago as a “pre-order” (for too much money) and I wondered what would come of it. Of course it didn’t say anything about being a bootleg on the listing, but naturally I assumed it was. There’s been no promotion about a reissue and Hard Core Horror certainly did not just repress this out of the blue haha. Eventually I tracked a copy down, and I was happy to return home from tour to it. It is really well done. Almost too well done.. It even has a matching matrix haha. Which is kinda fucked up, but if you look closely, you can see it’s missing the other portion of the matrix. If you didn’t have an original to compare it to, then maybe you could be deceived, which I don’t like so much. The red text is just slightly different in color, and some spacing is just slightly off. Nonetheless, I am happy this killer LP back into circulation. I hope that we can get some copies!

Sticking with reissues we don’t have in stock, I have been so damn excited about the NYX NEGATIV reissue! I think their demo completely smokes. It’s got everything I need from rawness to catchiness. I first heard them on the 2007 “reissue” split with DISCARD and became immediately hooked. It’s a shame I really don’t like their 1986 7" EP, which means the B-side of this reissue doesn’t do much for me. There’s a few compilation songs and an unreleased song on the B-side as well. I had never heard them before, so it was a cool experience. It’s just hard to beat their demo. It was cool to hear the live recordings that finish off the B-side as well, but I would probably rather like to flip it and have DISCARD on this side haha. At least this reissue does come with a nice booklet of cool photos and art. I think this band is pretty obscure, so it’s cool FOAD would do a reissue of it. Definitely check out the link I dropped above if you’ve never heard ‘em and hang tight til we get our copies.

Alright, next is MOCK EXECUTION. This band grabbed my attention with their 7" EP, so I had a lot of anticipation for this one. I have actually been listening to this album digitally for some time, cos I was asked to write a review. But of course, my dumb ass took the privilege for granted and the opportunity passed. At least I’ve been able to jam this beast on repeat. It’s hard to describe what this band sounds like. They have components of what sounds like ‘80s Finnish hardcore, with the riffing and the occasional grooves. But they play wicked fucking fast and the recording is really heavy, yet piercing, so it sounds kinda like crasher crust. In the end, it doesn’t matter, it’s all just hardcore. This one just sticks out quite a bit to me with its blazing, unique hardcore sound. Check it out and grab a copy!

Alright to wrap it up, NIGHTFEEDER. Don’t sleep. Buy one here right now. If that’s sold out, then try here. Their debut 7" was dubbed record of the week, so I’m guessing you’ve at least seen the name before. The 7" is excellent, but this LP is top-notch. They re-recorded two songs from the demo cassette and blast us with 9 new hits. The song “I’m a Letdown” might be my favorite song off this album, but it’s also the one song that sounds drastically different than the rest. Maybe that makes me like it even more? On their debut cassette they covered MISSBRUKARNA and that ruled so fucking much. It was cool to hear them do another catchy one, regardless of having such a gnarly hardcore sound. This band is like hardcore professionals. They know exactly what they’re doing, they know what sound they want. They’ve all been playing in bands together for more years than some of you have been punk, so they’ve got it super dialed in. I can’t wait to catch them live. Keep an eye out for this East Coast tour this fall!! OK, I will wrap this up now as I have other shit to do. Thank you for reading, and thanks to everyone for the support! Peace.

Hey there Sorry Staters! How are you all? It’s been a while. The long, hot summer is almost over. Time has flown past it seems. So much has happened in the world at large and in all our lives, it’s hard to keep up. Of course, the big event here in the Sorry State universe was Scarecrow’s European Tour. I’ll leave Daniel, Jeff and Usman to catch you up on some of their tour highlights. They definitely have stories. We’re all very proud of how well Scarecrow were received and how the tour went in general. They’re so cool. It sure is nice having them back at Sorry State Towers. We missed ‘em.

Even with half the team touring, business kept going back home. Records, new and old, have been flowing through the store at quite a rate. If you follow our Instagram posts, you’ll have an idea and certainly if you have visited the store itself you would be left in no doubt. Through our hustle and blessings from the vinyl gods, all sorts of interesting and cool records have come our way. Collections, large and small, are constantly being worked on to make sure we can bring you not only the rare gems but also the staples that should reside in any decent collection. In addition, all the certified bangers, cool, expensive, and hard to find stuff, we also naturally get in a lot of common and cheap records as well. Our bargain bins are always full of good records for less than $5, so no matter your budget you should always be able to find something. Assuming you have a non-blinkered approach to music appreciation, that is.

Personally, I’ve had another summer come and go without much to report. No vacations or beach trips or much “fun” at all, really. I must say that I do get my fun quota from work, though. Listening to music, dealing with records and the interactions with folks at the store is fun. For the most part. Lol. Anyone who has worked retail, a record store and the service industry know what it’s like. Anytime you deal with the public there’s the x factor that will always keep things interesting. For us in record stores, the x factor is, what will be in the box of records that this person is bringing in? Will there be something cool? The randomness and unexpected are what keeps me willing to get on my knees and dig through boxes of dusty records in the hope of pulling out that something special. Never stop digging, as they say. I’ve found many a great record wedged in between a classical LP and a Chuck Mangione. It doesn’t happen all the time but enough to make me want to check the worst looking, musty smelling, hand blackening pile of records just in case.

The vinyl gods smiled on me recently when they sent in a guy who had a bunch of 45s to sell. They were all pop singles from the late 60s through early 70s, which although not bad songs are hard to sell for very much these days. The modern record buyer seems less interested in 45s, especially without a picture sleeve. Typically, we pass on buying records like that, but they were all clean copies, and I did spy a couple that I knew and wanted, so I made him an offer and he accepted. At pennies on the dollar, it was a good deal, and I snagged a couple that made me happy.

The two that interested me were by Ann Margret, the Swedish American actress and singer who for most rock fans is known for her starring role opposite Elvis in Viva Las Vegas from 1964. That was my introduction to her and in that film, she comes close to stealing the show from Elvis, which not many others can claim to have done. Over the years, I would investigate other soundtracks from movies she was in and check out singles and albums when I found them. Most don’t offer much musically for me, but there are several gems in her catalogue here and there. Notably, the songs she cut with Lee Hazlewood in 1968 that resulted in the album The Cowboy & The Lady released on Hazlewood’s own LHI label the following year. That album has accrued almost cult status in recent years due primarily to the huge interest in Lee Hazlewood and his productions. The album was cut in Nashville and meant as a genuine country record and although it can be argued that Ann Margaret’s vocal style doesn’t quite suit the genre, the songs are decent, and Hazlewood does a good job of trying to recreate the magic and atmosphere of the hits he scored with Nancy Sinatra during the previous two years. For whatever reason, the record buying public didn’t agree, and the planned second record never got recorded. Ann Margret returned to her film and TV career and Hazlewood moved to Sweden for further adventures.

Before the Cowboy & The Lady LP was released, two singles came out and these were the two that I snagged. Across the four sides, Hazlewood experimented with several styles of music, pop, country and psychedelic. It was that last style that produced the winner. The song called It’s A Nice World To Visit (But Not To live In) is a cool fuzz guitar garage psych tune that rightfully has been the song sought after. For a good while, the only way to hear it was from the original 45, but in recent years it has appeared on compilations and expanded album reissues. Light In The Attic, the Seattle based reissue label did a great job a few years back with their handling of the Lee Hazlewood catalogue. They put out his albums and compilations that rounded up all those stray singles. I probably don’t need to tell any of you how cool Lee Hazlewood is. His story is well documented elsewhere but certainly do yourself a favour and investigate if you are not familiar.

Anyway, after years of knowing about this tune, it was great to finally get a copy. It would have been cooler to have found it twenty years ago to include in DJ sets when interest in garage and psych tunes was peaking and I was out spinning more often, but I did get to include it on the Worldy radio show the other week. For those unfamiliar with this record, you can click here to check it out. The title of the tune alone sums up probably how a lot of us are feeling these days, right?

I’ll leave you with just that nugget this week. If it was old hat for you, my apologies, but hopefully it will send you down some rabbit holes of exploring. Side note: if you haven’t watched Viva Las Vegas or the Nancy Sinatra TV special, add both to your viewing queue. Both are fab prime technicolor 60s essentials. I think the music is cool but if nothing else the fashion and cars definitely are. Happy watching. Until next time.

-Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Welp, this feels strange. It feels like it’s been a lifetime since I’ve sat down to write for the Sorry State newsletter. As some of you readers know, Daniel, Usman and I have been absent from our home here at SSR HQ while we were on a 30-day+ European tour. We had a blast. There are so many people I wanna shout out, particularly (now that we’ve finally met) our friends for life in Golpe. What a bunch of sweeties. So cool to hang with Bry and all the Sheffield mofos, as well as Mattis and Poffen in Stockholm, finally meeting Jocke from D-Takt and Rapunk!—not to mention all the people in different cities for showing us such great hospitality. Damn, it ruled. But blah blah, I won’t bore you with a long list of all the people I was stoked to see. But suffice it to say that between all the adrenaline-fueled fun moments along with the more challenging moments in our travels, it was a life-affirming experience. Since leaving to the play the fest in Philly back in June, I’ve basically been on the road or in the air to journey and play hardcore punk for quite a while now. It all kinda feels like a blur. Such a blur that I’m having trouble wrapping my head around that it’s the end of August already. My birthday is in just a couple days, and I still feel like summer just started. I’m working my way through some post-tour blues and readjusting to normal life, but it’ll all be cool. It’s weird. I think I’m ready for a break and for life to feel more mellow for a while. But fuck man, knowing how things go, we’ll see how long relaxation lasts.

Anyway, let’s talk about records. Have y’all heard this Gripe LP yet? Goddeyum it’s killer. I think I first heard this band earlier this summer. A buddy might’ve showed it to me for the first time while I was in Philly. But it’s right up my alley. That Amdi Petersens’ Arme style riffing mixed with some chaotic aggression and totally snarling but HOOKY AF vocals. So good. This new LP is cool bc it kinda captures 2 different eras/sounds of the band. Almost like the Herätys LP. The A-side is a new recording, and the B-side is a tape from a couple years ago. It’s funny though, the first recording I heard by Gripe I think is still my favorite, which is their newest tape. Posted on the No Deal channel on YouTube (of course), their 2022 tape is called Déjame Solo. It’s just 4 songs, but I think it’s the best stuff I’ve heard from them yet. The first track “(Estás) Bajo Control” is such a banger, totally catchy ripping mid-paced like APA. But I think that it’s a good thing Gripe’s newest release is their best! I’d prefer that over the “Oh, I only like the demo” syndrome that curses so many bands. Just keeps getting better and better.

I hope this Déjame Solo tape ends up being re-released as a 7”. Fuck man, I’d put it out. But until then, this Como Acabar Contigo Mismo 12” is keeping me stoked about hardcore. Do yourself a favor and blast this hot slab while you’re up to no good.

That’s all I’ve got this round. Glad to be back. Thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Chuck Biscuits’ Drumming on the First 3 Danzig Albums

Scarecrow didn’t visit too many record stores in Europe (I guess our schedule was too tight and there were other sites we wanted to see more), but between Scarecrow’s trips to Philly and New York earlier this summer and the handful of record stores we visited in Europe, I have a massive stack of recent purchases that I haven’t listened to yet. There’s also so much work to catch up on with Sorry State that I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by music and records. My first instinct would be to sit down with a big pot of coffee and try to listen to everything, but I’m trying to give my brain some space to breathe.

One record I was excited to pick up at the great Static Shock Records in Berlin was an original European pressing of Danzig II: Lucifuge. Lucifuge is the record I’ve spent the least time with out of Danzig’s first three. The third one, How the Gods Kill, I got when it came out after seeing the video for “Dirty Black Summer” on Headbanger’s Ball, and the first one is just an all-time classic. It’s the kind of record that, if you’ve hung around punks and metalheads for a significant portion of your life, you can sing along to every word of even if you’ve never owned a copy.

When I threw Lucifuge on the turntable, I was struck by a feeling of deja vu, as I had the same sensation as the last time I’d listened to How the Gods Kill. I put the record on excited to hear catchy tunes, but as soon as I started listening, I found myself enraptured by Chuck Biscuits’ drumming. I’m not a drummer so I only have so much I can articulate here, but Biscuits’ drumming sounds like no one else’s. I’ve always loved drummers who play way in the pocket (especially when they play fast and in the pocket), and Biscuits is deeeep in there. Further, by stretching the beats so far, he’s able to generate what seems like a massive amount of space for his vast library of fills. A track like “Killer Wolf” could be a tepid blues rock jam, but Biscuits keeps me hanging on every bar, wondering what he’s going to pull out of his bag of tricks next.

I think Rick Rubin must have felt the same about Biscuits’ drumming, because the drums are right at the front of the mix, particularly on Lucifuge and How the Gods Kill. When I blast those records, I feel like my head is right in the middle of Biscuits’ kit, and the sound is sublime. I have a soft spot for big budget rock recordings from the late 80s and the 90s. This was the era of recording budgets that ran into the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars, and when you spare no expense at getting big rock sounds, you can end up with some pretty incredible results. The drum sounds on Lucifuge and How the Gods Kill are a case in point… I can’t imagine how Biscuits’ drums could sound any better.

When I pull back and take my focus off the drumming, Lucifuge is my least favorite of the first three Danzig albums. While “Long Way Back From Hell” and “Her Black Wings” are undisputed bangers, certainly part of the canon of great Danzig tracks, the rest of the record leans too far toward blues for my taste. I don’t know where I picked it up, but I’ve always had trouble getting into rock whose blues influences come too close to the surface. Plus, I think How the Gods Kill is just a better record. On that album, Danzig leans even further into the diversity you hear on Lucifuge, but rather than focusing so much on bluesy and rootsy influences, you hear Danzig’s love for pop crooning come out on tracks like “Sistanas,” which is just a fucking gorgeous song.

Until I was reading up on Biscuits for this piece, I didn’t realize that he also played drums on Danzig 4. I don’t think I’ve heard that record, because by the time they released it in 1994 I had immersed myself in underground punk and had no interest in Danzig. I’ll have to check it out.

What’s up Sorry State Readers? This is my first write up in about three weeks as I was visiting a friend out in Madrid, so I wanted to write about what I was listening to while I was over there, which happened to be a lot of the Rolling Stones, naturally, as we had tickets to go see their show in Amsterdam. I love the Stones but if I had to pick a favorite album of theirs, I’d have to go with Tattoo You. This is another one of the many albums I can thank my brother for really putting me onto. I remember one time he said, “You know what the best part of Tops is? Heaven comes on after it.” He’s right though, the B side of this record is one of my favorite sides of any record. It starts off with Worried About You, which is a good song, but nothing too amazing for me. It’s really the last four songs on this album that make the whole thing worth it to me, which would be Tops>Heaven>No Use In Crying>Waiting On a Friend. Basically, any time I listen to one of them, I end up listening to all four. They’re all so great. My favorite of the bunch is constantly changing. Tops has one of my favorite choruses to belt out and do my best Mick impression. Heaven is one of the weirder songs in their catalog and sounds different from any of their other stuff, and I love it. No Use in Crying feels like a song only they could pull off and make it sound so good and Waiting on a Friend is the perfect end to the album. Anyways, Madrid is a city that thrives at night, so there were a lot of late-night listening sessions. We hung out there for about a week (I think I drank more Aperol Spritzes than water during that time) and flew to Amsterdam a couple days before the show, so we had some time to hang out there. It’s probably the coolest and weirdest place I’ve ever been to in the best way possible. Everything felt topsy turvy, but that also could have been the result of the many different things they’ve got to offer there. We walked about fifteen miles each day we were there just exploring the city and finding all these little spots. I loved just sitting out by the canals and watching the ducks and boats go by and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect coming from Madrid where it was getting up to 100 every day. The day of the show arrived, and we were just taking it easy and went to the Rijksmuseum and laid out on the lawn outside of it afterwards. We stocked up on goods before the show and headed back to the Airbnb to get ready. About an hour later we went to order the Uber to head to the venue, and I was double checking it on google to make sure we were heading to the right place when I saw the fateful headline “Mick Jagger Tests Positive for Covid: Amsterdam Show Postponed.” What a bummer. Oh well, there are lot worse places to have a free night in after a cancelled show so I wasn’t complaining. We headed back out and made the most of our night. We had one more day in Amsterdam and then went back to Madrid for a few days before I flew back home. All in all, it was an amazing trip, and although it would’ve been great to see the Stones live, it was a testament to how much fun we were having that we didn’t even let the cancellation bring our spirits down. We sat in silence for a moment after we had read the headline when my friend said, “Did we steal the sun yesterday and now we’re being punished?” before we both started cracking up. We very well may have, cause I had never had such a fun time. Some things are just out of your control and like Mick said, “You can’t always get whatchu want.”

Hi Sorry State readers! Hope everyone is having a good week! In Sorry State land we’ve just been busy prepping for our Scarecrow comrades (i.e. half of Sorry State!) to go on their European tour very soon. How cool is that?

Anyway, my pick this week is the newly released No Knuckle S/T. The album was actually made last spring and is finally seeing the light of day. The band recorded these songs on 1/2 inch tape on an 8 track-tape machine, mixed down to 1/4 inch tape on a two channel reel-to-reel deck. The result of that laborious effort is something really fucking cool and different.

Where to begin? This album is a conundrum of garage rock, punk rock, noise rock, rock-rock, all the rocks. I guess you could just say post-punk, but with elements of everything but the kitchen sink. There’s a lot going on here, and that’s what I grew to love about the record. The opening track, The Ladder, is pretty standard late 70s post-punk but with some unexpected elements of late 60s/70s style rock. I wasn’t sold on this track at first, to be honest. Call me crazy, but there were moments when I felt like I was about to board The Crystal Ship, and that’s just not my journey. But then a standout melodic punk style bass line comes out of nowhere and reignites my curiosity. It feels like you’re being pulled in at least two to three different musical directions, and that’s just during the first song.

The second track, Advertisement, is what made me stick around. Easily my favorite track on the album. It’s fast and urgent, it’s tightly wound, and the vocals become more unhinged. Not to mention that I love a song that doesn’t just crap out at the end or fade into nothingness, and this song doesn’t do that. So don’t sleep on the last 15 seconds of Advertisement. It follows all the way through and it’s a good primer for the next track. No Knuckle keeps up that same energy on Sanitation. Fast and tight drum beats, razor sharp guitar, and melodic bass all serve as the perfect backdrop for the vocalist to continue to go off the rails.

Halo is a really interesting track worth mentioning because I didn’t like it much at first, and now it’s my second favorite of the bunch. Things start off a little strange with some Jim Morrison-esque vocals. I still had no interest in taking a ride on The Crystal Ship or lighting anyone’s fire. But, when the vocals shift back to the more erratic punk style, I decided that the vocal changes were actually pretty great and only added more depth and intrigue to the song. And that diverse vocal style is always perfectly paced with whatever’s going on around him.

The second side is a bit more streamlined and the contrasts between sub-genres of rock aren’t as sharp. Taken together, the whole album is a rollercoaster ride that doesn’t give you time to catch your breath. Non-stop, unyielding energy and guts. It actually gave me a little bit of anxiety! Nevertheless, It’s obvious that No Knuckle gave everything they had on this record, and their technical skill does not go unnoticed. A really ambitious effort that paid off, in my opinion.

Stand out tracks for me are Advertisement, Halo, and Sanitation. Take a listen below.

See ya next time!

Angela

https://noknuckle.bandcamp.com/album/no-knuckle-2

Hello readers and friends alike, thank you for reading! I am writing to you this Thursday morning with more energy than usual. As of late, I am beat by this point in the week and struggling to get my thoughts into writing. I guess there is somewhat of a struggle that still exists today cos I’m not really writing about a record, but a handful of bands I just saw live over the weekend. To get us going, I wanted to mention that we now have the DELCO MF’s 7” I wrote about last week in stock NOW! This band fucking rules, seriously. Their live performance is so damn good. Non-stop hardcore action. I saw them live a few weeks ago, which is why I wrote about them. I caught them again at the fest this past weekend, and they were even better. They played at like 2 in the morning too, and still completely annihilated. I would be so tired and trashed by 2AM, there is no way I could’ve held it down like that. I can’t wait to see them again and hear what they release next.

Going along with this theme, I thought I’d write about the bands that really stood out to me at the fest. All the bands that played ‘Something To Talk About’ were legit good, and each day was fully stacked. Unfortunately, I did miss a few killer bands like ICD 10 and MUJERES PODRIDAS. I was beyond excited to have played the same bill as HORRENDOUS 3D. This band was unbelievably good. I have never seen a band play like this before in real life. They are so fast, in the crashing not blasting fashion. The guitar tone is harsh as fuck, ahhhhh... I heard they will be touring down the East Coast later this year with FUCKIN LOVERS!!! I really hope I can catch them or even bring them to N.C. Now I’ve seen FUCKIN LOVERS a fair amount of times, but they played a top-notch set at the Friday after show. It was the best I’ve ever seen them, easily. The tone was perfect, the drums were loud AND fast. It sounded like a GAI flexi or something. I really could not get enough.

Backing up a bit, the first night YDI played. I am not a big YDI fan. I think I have that reissue 12," but I was still excited to witness these Philly legends. I think only the vocalist is OG? Nonetheless, the band was excellent. Even the newer songs were pretty cool. I was worried they would completely suck, haha. Before they played, some friends and I were hanging in a back corner and noticed this guy with a huge Freddy Krueger glove on sitting all alone.. I wondered who let this mofo into the club with that thing on? Turns out it was the vocalist of YDI, Jackal. He also wore a plastic mask/helmet that had mohawk spikes on it. Pretty ridiculous haha. This same night, SCALPLE tore the fucking club up. Jesus. I had never seen them before, so I had no idea what to expect. They were certainly one of the best performances of the entire fest. I can’t wait to see them again. Right before they played was RAT-NIP. We had their EP before in the shop but foolishly I had never heard their stuff before, so I really had no idea what to expect. I quickly noticed RAT-NIP had the same drummer of BLOOD PRESSURE, so I got excited to see them after the realization. Their songs and performance were excellent. The band reminded me of POISON IDEA. They stood out a ton at the fest to me, and I would certainly drive up to 6 hours just to watch them again.

Moving onto Friday, the bill was overflowing with excellent bands. My boys RECKONING FORCE opened up the evening. It’s always good to gig it up with the homies, and these mofos are never a let-down live. Looks like they’re on like the fourth fucking pressing of their LP? If you’ve been sleeping, better grab one before it goes out of print! YAMBAG from Cleveland played a few slots after. This is a name I kept hearing around, and after I saw them, I understood why. This band ripped, totally full of raw energy. Seriously great band to see. Before SAVAGEHEADS took the night away, it was QUARANTINE. If you read my Staff Picks at all, you probably know I am a QUARANTINE fanatic. If you missed it, here’s a link to the fanzine I did when their LP came out. I’ve seen them three times now I think? And they punished the crowd at the show. Certainly the best I’ve seen them. Totally locked-in, and they played a new song! Hell yes. Word is they will do an LP sometime again, and I cannot wait. Does SAVAGEHEADS even need a write-up? Insanely good band. In every way. They also played an encore that consisted of a song played previously in set being played yet again, haha. The crowd still loved it. I wonder how many people even realized. It’s a shame about their LP pressing being totally fucked. The world is gunna eat that shit up once it’s finally out.

AMMO played the same after show as DELCO MFs on Friday night. I briefly checked out their debut 12" after Daniel dubbed it ‘Record of the Week’ a few weeks ago. While the recording didn’t really stick with me, their live set 100% did. It was 100% fucking hardcore. Non-stop, just like DELCO MF’s. We heavily stocked this record when it was released, but it has since sold out. However, I will still leave you with a link to grab one, cos we have a nice stack of restocks on the way. If you missed out and don’t wanna keep religiously checking the page, you can always enter your e-mail address on the link I just dropped and you will get an e-mail automatically when it is back in stock! Fun fact: AMMO and DELCO MF’s both had the same style encore as SAVAGEHEADS, haha hell yeah.

To finish off, I guess I will talk a bit about my band SCARECROW. If you didn’t know and care, Daniel and Jeff from Sorry State are also in this band. I was really happy to have played Jim’s fest in Philly. Jim is solid as fuck and I can’t thank him (and Amy!!!) enough for everything they have done for us. I love you guys. Soon SCARECROW will travel up north again to play the fest in NYC, and very soon after that we will embark on our month-long European tour. We have a new EP that will be released in the next week on my label with Jeff, and you can check out some of it here if you’d like. Alright, that is all for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone for the support! Peace!

Greetings friends. Thanks for checking in with us here at Sorry State Towers. Hopefully your summer is going well. We had a brief reprieve from the oven like temperatures over the weekend here in Raleigh but are back in the 90s again this week. Each year I say this will be the summer I get to the beach or take a vacation, but that hasn’t been the case for several years sadly. My last trip abroad was eight years ago when I returned home for my father’s funeral. For various reasons I have not been able to get back since then, but this year I am going to make it happen. It seems like everyone I am close to is over in Europe this year or has been or will be. Not least, of course, are our own fellow Sorry State heroes who have either just and/or will be blowing minds from European stages. Hopefully some of you over there will get a chance to see them play. Anyway, I am both happy and anxious about my visit and can’t wait to see my family and the ol’ homestead.

As I write this, I am literally surrounded by boxes of records from collections that we have recently bought and are processing. There is so much good music that I could close my eyes and randomly pull any record, and it would be worth checking out. There’s something here for everyone. New, old, rare, common, you name it. As much as I get excited about seeing rare and expensive records, I get just as much pleasure from the cheap and common stuff too. Perhaps more so. Often, it’s in the bargain bins that I find records that give me the most pleasure. Either because they are proven winners or because they introduced me to something new. It’s easier to take chances on the unknown when it only costs a few bucks. We do our best here at Sorry State to put good records in our bargain bins and folks aways come away rewarded from taking a dig. When you work in a record store, the perks are to get access and first dibs on stuff that comes in. That is obviously very cool, but can be expensive. I have chosen between eating well and having a record many a time I can assure you. There is also a part of me that doesn’t want to be taking too many good records even if I could afford to. We sure as hell snag a lot of cool shit here, but we are not the kind of store where the cool stuff never hits the bins. If you follow our social media and see the Friday New Used Arrival drops or come in and shop, I think you can attest to the fact that there are indeed good records to come in and see, touch, smell, listen to and take home.

As I have been collecting records for several decades now, I have plenty to pick from for these staff picks or to post on social media. I tend not to want to brag about things that I have found or own. I don’t like to show off or to make someone else feel bad because they don’t have it. I’m also embarrassed by the percentage of my income that goes towards these records and feel that I should keep that to myself. I can’t help it though. I’ll always be digging and will be probably cueing up a record the day I keel over. That or I’ll be buried under a falling shelf of records. Hopefully not. All I know is that I have loved music and records all my life, and they are a huge part of my existence. The biggest joy is being able to share my passion with fellow music lovers. Whether that’s amongst friends spinning tunes at home, out at an event DJing or here at the store. You can’t beat selling records right off the turntable.

Last Saturday was Record Store Day 2 for this season and although a smaller drop, we still had a good crowd of folks come through. The day began sweetly for me as one of the first customers was a little girl making her first vinyl purchase. She bought the Paul McCartney single. Coincidently, it was Sir Paul’s birthday, and I had a copy of Ram playing on the turntable. I thought it was an adorable moment. I loved that another generation of music fans were still being touched by Paul’s magic and getting into buying a record at the local store. There is hope for the future. Regardless of what she bought, she was beginning her relationship with records, and that was a beautiful thing. It was a bright moment in a world that can often seem quite rotten and made me feel that I was doing a job worthwhile.

Talking of jobs, I need to get on with that. My staff “pick” this week is just to encourage all of you to continue your love for music and records and, whenever possible, to share that love with those around you. Personally, this week I have been having fun in the soundtrack section. I pulled a couple of children’s records that I will quickly mention. The first one is the soundtrack to the Disney film The Rescuers released on their Disneyland Records label in 1977. This one is quite dear to me. My sister and I had this record back when it first came out and we played it over and over. Listening to it was like being in a time machine. I was instantly transported back over forty years to our family home where up in our converted attic bedroom we used to play the album on our old record player. It was a weird feeling, but a good one. I remembered almost every word. In fact, I sent a photo to my sister, and she answered back quoting parts of the adventure. She hadn’t forgotten either. As Disney cartoons go, it’s not a bad one to be honest and a lot of fun. The characters were voiced by Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor and Geraldine Page, among others, and there are songs sung by Shelby Flint. It was great having a copy of this back in my collection after all these years. I treasure it as much as anything else I own that is cooler, rarer, and way more expensive. It’s the memories that are attached to it that could never be activated or feel the same from a digital download or internet stream. God bless records.

The other nifty thing I pulled and have been having fun with is one called Space Songs by Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans. The record was part of a series called Singing Science Records released on the Motivational Records label in 1959. It’s great. The songs were taken from Ballads For The Age Of Science by Hy Zaret and Lou Singer and are about the stars, planets and moon and the future of mankind in space. Striking a balance of entertaining and educating is not easy and hard not to sound condescending. Kids might be kids, but they are not suckers and can still tell a good record from a bad one. This is a good one. There’s music and clever songs with the scientific information. Back in the late 1950s it was the Space Age, and we were rightfully thinking about what was beyond our planet earth and knowledge of science was cool. Despite the recent step backwards in accepting science here in this country and asshat millionaires building rocket ships, science is still the future for mankind. Hopefully soon our teachers can get back to teaching kids and kids can get back to learning stuff like science instead of how best to avoid being shot or having some angry parent screaming at them for wanting to learn history or for having two dads. But that’s a rant for another occasion and place. On the back of the album jacket, they show other records in the series, and I shall be keeping an eye out for them. They all seem interesting and worth picking up.

Okay, I have blathered on enough and barely said anything. Thank you for your indulgence if you read this far. Enjoy your week ahead and listening to your records. Whatever they may be, if they make you feel something, then they are special to you and worth having.

Cheers - Dom

Scarecrow spent last weekend at the inaugural Something to Talk About Fest in Philly and I had a great time! Everyone loves to complain about fests, but I like them. You get to see a lot of great bands you wouldn’t see otherwise (especially if you live in North Carolina), you get to see loads of friends you don’t see enough, and often you’re in the same space with said friends for much longer than you would be if they were just passing through on tour. Sure, fests can be overwhelming and exhausting, but for me the good far, far outweighs the bad. Even as fests go, STTA was something special. Jim and Amy, who organized the fest (with a lot of help from the other Philly punks), have a habit of surrounding themselves with great people, which made for a great vibe. And the lineup was phenomenal. I watched every single band that played at STTA (including the aftershows!), and I didn’t see a bad band the entire time! There wasn’t a band I wasn’t interested in, which made making time for things like eating, using the bathroom, and getting adequate amounts of rest very difficult. But hey, I made it! Like I said, I didn’t see a bad set all weekend, but for me the standouts included Rat Nip, Scalple, Mujeres Podridas, Fuckin’ Lovers, Savageheads, Quarantine, Horrendous 3D, Delco MF’s, and Ammo.

While we were in Philly, the hardcore record collecting contingent of the Scarecrew hit up Sit & Spin Records. I’ve only been to Sit & Spin a few times, but I feel confident saying it’s one of the best punk-oriented record shops in the United States. They have everything you could want in a record store… a top-notch selection of new stock, cool new and used band merch, and a wild selection of used items that ranges from bargain bin rippers to mega-rarities. I could kill a day and several thousand dollars there, but most of my attention (and my dollars) went to the rarities section, where one item got me very stoked.

This score brings together a couple of threads I’ve referenced in previous staff picks. I’ve mentioned numerous times that I am always down for a beater copy of a rare record… particularly if the vinyl is in decent shape but the sleeve has radio station call letters or other kinds of damage. I just don’t get those collectors who want pristine copies of everything… I like my records to feel like they have a little history, not like they’ve been sealed in a time capsule for decades. When I saw this copy of Iron Cross’s Skinhead Glory 7” on the wall at Sit & Spin, I could see right away that someone had used scissors to cut the band’s name out of the top of the record’s sleeve. Why would they do that? Maybe they booked the band and needed the logo for a flyer… maybe they needed it for a zine layout, or maybe they thought the name sucked and didn’t want to be reminded of it? Who knows, but when it allows me to get a rare record like this at way, way below the going rate, it’s easy for me to look past it. Plus, Skinhead Glory isn’t a record that I’d want to pay the going rate for. It’s not that I hate it or anything, but when you compare it to the other Dischord whole and half releases from the same period, it’s the runt of the litter.

Since I just filled this major gap in my Dischord collection, I think it’s time for a new family photo that brings me up to Dischord 8 1/2.

Now that I have Skinhead Glory, it seems very important that I acquire copies of Still Screaming and Boycott Stabb, which to be fair I should have done long before now… I’ve had plenty of opportunities. That’ll bring my Dischord collection up to about #15, though carrying it much beyond that will involve buying more and more records that I don’t care too much about.