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Hello fellow Sorry Staters! What a wild fucking time we are living in right now. Why can’t all the reasonable, kind-hearted people just be blasted off into space to start a new colony on Mars or something?! I hope everyone continues to make the best of this horrible timeline. Therapy has been doing wonders for me to get past it all, but damn does it still feel heavy.

Black metal has always been a genre that has kinda been adjacent to punk for me. I have always been intrigued by it and have always thought it was so daunting trying to figure out where to start, but like everything else I just jumped in with what was being talked about the most. This has never really steered me wrong, but this past week I have been going down a hole consuming a lot of raw black metal and dungeon synth… well mostly dungeon synth. I can’t help but love something I can just have on in the background while doing mundane chores around the house while imagining that I’m on my way to fight some big-ass dragon like I’m a character in Skyrim.

Old Nick is one of those raw black metal / dungeon synth acts that when you first hear it, you can’t help but scratch your head and wonder if they are being serious or not. Old Nick released their first album in 2020 and have released plenty more in the five years they have been together. Some sound completely the same, and some that take on a whole new meaning to raw black metal and dungeon synth. Often using lo-fi dancey type beats at the beginning of songs to using a melodica and a mandolin in most others. In the album Crisp Winter Dawn Of My Night Moon, the track Haunted Broom comes out of the gate with a thumping synth that sounds like some evil dream sequence. It’s a great EP from start to finish, and everything in their catalog is totally worth checking out.

Hi Sorry State readers! It’s me again. I hope to get on here from time to time, particularly if I’m super stoked to write about a record. This is one of those weeks.

First, how’s everyone doing? It’s a hot and gross day out, and the grass feels like straw. But I hear it’s gonna rain this week. I can’t wait for it to be real fall. Hey, it looks like October has us covered with some sick shows in Raleigh. Rigorous Institution is on tour and swinging by Raleigh on the 19th, and Golpe (also on tour) is hitting up Raleigh on the 20th! Trust me you do not want to miss either show. I saw Golpe at Sorry State Fest a few years back, and they did not disappoint.

Okay, so my pick is a no-brainer for me. It’s the latest installment in the Dark Thoughts catalogue! Brought to us by Stupid Bag in the US and Drunken Sailor in the UK. It’s their fourth album, Highway to the End, and it’s their first LP since 2018. Lemme tell ya, It was well worth the wait.

This one is 11 songs in 16 minutes, and maybe their fastest record yet? The opening track, Slept till 2, is the perfect opener. It’s super short, but it’s a great way to say “we’re back!” It’s fast and punchy and the perfect teaser for what’s to come. The second track, A Different World, is one of my favorites on the record. Hell, it’s one of my favorites in their whole catalogue. The rhythm, melody, and vocal delivery are perfection.

I’ve written a staff pick on the debut Dark Thoughts album, so I’m not gonna go into it, but there are times I’m listening to this new record that I’m reminded of that masterpiece. Maybe it’s the speed and vocal flow that brings me back, but this new one is more guitar-centered and a bit less poppy.

Each Dark Thoughts record brings something different, but while staying within the boundaries of what makes Dark Thoughts, Dark Thoughts. I hate to use the word, boundaries. That’s such a dumb industry word. I hope you know what I mean, though. So yeah, it’s fast and high-energy, hooky and addictive like its predecessors. But I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge its darker and more reflective themes.

Some songs are obviously deeply personal, so I don’t think it’s appropriate to address lyrical content I have no clue about. But the following lines from the song Off the Rails resonated with me: “it’s ok to fall off the rails for a little while. Everybody falls off the rails for a little while. Fallin’ off the rails again.” That made me think that I don’t even know if I’ve ever been firmly planted on any proverbial rail. If there’s a rail, I’m usually just hanging onto it and hoping for the best. I just got a flashback from that scene from Lost Boys where all the vamps and Michael (minutes away from becoming a vampire) were hanging onto the rails under the train tracks, and then they each fall into the darkness. Anyway, back to reality.

There is also a ballad on this new album called Please Don’t be Lonesome. This was an unexpected addition for me. I gotta say it grew on me, but it took some time. The first half is pretty different for Dark Thoughts, then about halfway through they speed things up. It maintains a gloomy but hopeful vibe throughout the track. I find that while the album is somewhat darker than the previous albums, overall, there is a hopeful undertone peeking through.

I gotta mention this little part at the beginning of the last song, Sweet Success, when Amy says, “ok stay where you are, we’re gonna do one more.” I don’t know what it is about Amy’s voice, but it adds something to the dynamic that I can’t really explain. So, I will just say this. I’d love to hear Amy sing on a Dark Thoughts song. There’s something about her voice, and when she does her thing, you just want to hear more. And come on… Daniel Cox just can’t miss on drums. Fast and tight, perfect rhythm, etc. This Philly trio has their shit all the way together.

Dark Thoughts mastered the Ramones formula in a way that still feels fresh and exciting. In a way that feels way more than just a Ramones-inspired band. They definitely adopt the Ramones three or four chord, hooky, fun, high-octane sound, but they flesh out that blueprint in their own way. In a way that makes me stop wanting to call it Ramones-core.

Personally, it’s hard for me to rank their four albums. The debut will always be number one in my heart. After that, it gets tough, so I’m not gonna do it. I will say you need all four, as each one truly brings something new to the table. In the first three albums, you get some snotty, dancy, poppy, and light-hearted lovey moments. And the latest album adds something more guitar-driven and a little more serious to the recipe. But like every album before it, Highway to the End is a banger. It’s exciting and fresh and never ever boring. I will forever look forward to new Dark Thoughts music. Get yourself a copy now!

Thanks for reading!

Angela

Hi and thanks for reading. I have been blasting records for a change. I have also been getting blasted drunk every night for like three weeks, and my body is without a doubt feeling it. Instead of writing about records I have been listening to, I am going to write about the 185 Miles South podcast Daniel was just featured on this week. I guess I’m not really writing about the podcast too much, but more about VORKRIEGSPHASE, who is pictured above and talked about a bit in the podcast.

So, I can’t tell you how many times I yelled out, “Oh my god…” while listening to this podcast. My opinions differed so often from what was being said. Not every time, of course, but goddamn sometimes I was like, “What the fuck?” haha. But that tracks, cos I think that SOA 7” they praised in passing pretty much sucks, so it makes sense we’d have significantly different opinions on hardcore. I know it came out in 1981, and stuff coming out that early usually means something to me, but in this case it does not. Now something like the KAAOS/CADGERS split 7” that also came out in 1981, that is right up my alley… straightforward, raw and pissed off, with political lyrics and not Henry Rollins’ buff ass singing about wanting to die, straight edge, or girl problems. I don’t mean to dog the podcast, so I hope it doesn’t come off that way. It was a good listen, and I appreciated the shout-out in the beginning.

I kinda wish I was there to interject with some nerdy trivia, and that brings me to talk about VORKRIEGSPHASE here today. So, when talking about VORKRIEGSPHASE, like most people I encounter, they raved about the insane guitar tone. Something I find so funny about that is how the band’s master did not sound like that, and it was Rock-O-Rama that changed the sound, to the band’s disliking. In the podcast they talked about the LP and EP, and they weren’t sure which came first. If I was there, I would have interjected and let them know the LP and EP are from the same session, and they were released on ROR at the same time (they are just one catalogue number apart). They actually mentioned this bootleg with their demos that came out a few years ago, and inside that bootleg the insert has an interview with Frank, the guitarist from VORKRIEGSPHASE. At some point I learned where this interview was originally published, but I can’t remember for the life of me where that was. I can’t type out the entire interview here, but I will add these few bits that I found the most informative.

Q: So, tell us about this legendary guitar sound of yours—how did you manage to play your guitar with so much distortion? What effects did you use? What guitar sound did you try to re-create, if any?

Frank: I used a tube screamer and distortion and had a Marshall amp, plus Ariana pro II guitar with DiMarzio pickups. And yes, I liked to create a powerful distorted guitar sound that sounded mean while playing fast.

Q: I’m assuming the biggest influence on VORKRIEGSPHASE sound was the golden bands of UK82 (i.e. DISCHARGE, CHAOS UK, DISORDER, and G.B.H.) What bands did you listen to at the time? What was the inspiration for the unique VORKRIEGSPHASE sound?

Frank: DISCHARGE, BAD BRAINS, and MDC were some of my favorite bands at that time and they were a big influence. We did want our own unique sound and so our drummer had a big impact on this regard.

Q: In retrospect, it is very tempting to group VORKRIEGSPHASE with other hardcore bands from the early 80s with similarly distorted guitar sound such as CONFUSE, GAI/SWANKYS from Japan, or the chaotic sound of Italian bands like EU’s ARSE, IMPACT, and WRETCHED. Or the “DISCHARGE” bands from Sweden like SHITLICKERS and ANTI-CIMEX, or indeed the bands from Finland like TERVEET KÄDET, KAAOS, TAMPERE SS etc. Were you aware of these specific bands at the time?

Frank: Ha ha ha, “SHITLICKERS?”… Yikes… haha… no I did not listen to any of these bands.

Q: OK, so how did the Rock-O-Rama thing come about? Did you send demos to Herbert Egoldt or did he “discover” you? Did you sign a formal contract with him?

Frank: We did send a demo and yes he liked it—yes we had a contract… we sold our souls haha.

Q: As the story goes, Hebert Egoldt remixed your studio recording “behind your back” and this ended up on the records. What really happened?

Frank: Yes—the master tape we listened to at the end of the recording session was different from the final album release. He added some kind of overdrive to the guitar sound, too much buzzzzz for my taste—I love crazy distorted guitar sounds, but there is no point in creating a sound that eliminates the chords we played. An example is “Neue Heimat”—listen to the start of the song, that’s exactly how I liked the way the guitar mixed. The drum sounds pale, it’s kinda lost…

Alright, I’m outta time, and I don’t have it in me to type out any more tiny text haha. I will try to find the source of this interview and where it was published originally. Check out the podcast if you have not yet! They talk about a ton of killer records. Cheers and thanks for reading.

I wanna mention really quickly that last-minute I got asked to appear on Analog Attack’s What Are You Listening To? podcast this Friday (September 26th). Tune in if you’ve got nothing better to do!

I might need to keep my staff pick brief this week. Brain is running on fumes. We’ll see how this goes… While it’s blazing hot outside today, there have been hints of the autumn season approaching. October is always my favorite time of the year. Pretty soon, I might annoyingly wanna only talk about movies rather than records. But speaking of the seasons changing, does anybody else operate in this way where you have records that you save to listen to until certain times of the year? You say shit like: “It’s just the perfect record for summer!” Perhaps this impulse is a rather dorky way to approach listening to music, but I’m definitely guilty of categorizing records in this way.

One record I’ve been listening to recently and that I always reach for when it’s particularly gloomy and grey outside is For Ever Grounded by The Effigies. Funny enough, a little birdy told me that Daniel might also be writing about a beloved punk band from Chicago this week. It’s funny to think about that this is technically the first Effigies full-length album. Following several great EPs, For Ever Grounded was released in 1984. While those post-punk influences were always detectable even as early as their first EP in 1981, on this LP they dive headfirst into that sound. Some people might consider this to be a major departure for the band. Maybe there was something in the air at this point in the mid-80s? But I feel like there’s several mid-period records by hardcore bands I lump into this category—like, bands who shift into more moody, melodic and contemplative songwriting. Obviously, Within These Walls by Toxic Reasons comes to mind… except for maybe the reggae song. Even Social Unrest on SU-2000 with a song like “There’s A Stranger Inside”. But For Ever Grounded is maybe one of the most intentional seismic shifts from a band’s early material into creating something different altogether.

Firstly, let me say before I joke around in a cheeky manner that I love this record dearly. But from the moment you drop the needle on the first track, you know you’re not about to hear “Body Bag - Part II”. The effect-laden, majestic and meandering guitar intro on “Smile!” with its droning, almost Eastern-influenced melody makes you feel like you’re about to hear something more like “She Sells Sanctuary” by The Cult. And to some degree, this is not far off. The second track, which is one of my favorites, “A Tight And Blue Cut” opens with a jaggedly funky bass riff totally drenched in chorus. The song then breaks into a totally angular marching 4-on-the-floor drum pattern, like a frantic, meth-fueled disco groove. The juxtaposition and separation between the propulsive bass groove and the melodically and rhythmically opposing high-pitch guitar work sounds so cool. Very otherworldly and unique. We even get some obviously artificial and canned-sounding hand claps mixed super loud, which also happen at the most catchy and opportune moments.

This record has so many great songs, just one banger after another. The next couple tracks sound more like the early Effigies records. Songs like “Silent Burn” and “Coarse In Vein” are much more riff-forward with big guitar chords and a driving drum beat more akin to hardcore. But then the final track, “Something That…” is a moment of pure pop goodness. The sweetness of the groovy, major-key bass line sounds like something that could be plucked from a mid-80s New Order record. The vocals on this song, with their bouncy, almost rap-like rhythmic cadence, come across more like Depeche Mode than a hardcore punk band. That said, The Effigies do decide to record a reprisal of their classic anthem “Mob Clash”, which originally appeared on their debut Haunted Town EP. Now, I love the original version from 1981, sounding very timeless and organic. But this re-recording on For Ever Grounded has a bit of an 80s production sonic makeover and is played at a faster tempo, which in some ways captures the band sounding much more confident. Even originally, “Mob Clash” had a bit of a funky disco hi-hat groove, and the way the band repurposes and reinterprets the song makes it feel like it gels perfectly along with the rest of the forward-thinking material on this LP.

If any of the disparate musical influences I’ve mentioned appeal to you… or if you’re even a fan of the early The Effigies material and you’ve resisted checking out this record, I highly suggest giving it another shot. You might need to go in with an open mind. Just realize that this classic melodic Chicago punk band is also good at writing a pure 80s pop song. Then again, maybe you’ll hate it. Oh well. I love it, personally.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. Next week I’m sure I’ll be talking about subjects more-so related to Jack-O-Lanterns and Jason Voorhees. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Last week we put up a preorder for new reissues of the classic Naked Raygun albums. After a few years of licensed vinyl pressings on Haunted Town Records, Naked Raygun’s catalog is returning to Quarterstick Records, the Touch & Go subsidiary that handled the first round of Naked Raygun CD reissues in 1999. I don’t know if there will be anything particularly new or special about these pressings, but I’m stoked to have the essential albums by one of my all-time favorites back in stock. The other day I was driving home from Greensboro after picking up a collection for the shop. The sun was shining, it wasn’t too hot (a rarity in North Carolina), and the day seemed to beg for some singalong punk. That’s when I decided I’d celebrate these reissues by listening to the entire Naked Raygun discography and putting together a quick user’s guide to the band’s catalog for those of you who might not know them well or haven’t checked out everything. I also put together a YouTube playlist featuring all the key tracks I call out below, which functions as a nice audio primer on the band.

If you’re a total Raygun novice, the first thing you should know is that Naked Raygun is from Chicago. Not only are they from Chicago, but they’re a particularly Chicago-y sounding Chicago band. For many people, it’s Naked Raygun and their peers the Effigies who defined the Chicago punk sound with their big vocal melodies and tough, but slightly somber-sounding, chord progressions, echoes of which you could hear in the city’s home-grown takes on pop-punk and emo that came long after NR and the Effigies’ heyday. Chicago’s scene was somewhat unique among American cities in that its bands (and Naked Raygun and the Effigies in particular) took a lot of influence from 70s UK punk. The Buzzcocks and Stiff Little Fingers seem to have been held in particularly high regard in Chicago, so if you love that sound—big guitars, big vocal melodies, a driving rhythm section—Naked Raygun is going to be right up your alley.

Naked Raygun’s first record was 1983’s Basement Screams, though it’s not the place I would recommend starting if you’re digging into Naked Raygun for the first time. Even though the band had been bumping around for several years (they formed in 1980 and contributed an early version of “Bomb Shelter” to 1981’s Busted at Oz compilation), Naked Raygun hadn’t quite found their voice on Basement Screams. You can hear glimmers of their later melodic punk stuff (particularly on “I Lie”), but the record draws more from UK post-punk bands like Gang of Four, Wire, and Joy Division. Naked Raygun would always have quirky, arty moments on their records, but the scales tip in that direction on Basement Screams. While I wouldn’t rank it among Naked Raygun’s strongest records, Basement Screams certainly has its moments, and for people whose tastes lean toward artier sounds, it might be the only Naked Raygun record you really like. I’ve always been partial to the song “Tojo” with its upbeat, Fall-esque rhythm, big chorus, and odd lyrics. If you take a liking to this era of the band—and many people do—check out reissues of Basement Screams, whose bonus tracks flesh out the picture of this first iteration of Naked Raygun. Key tracks: “I Lie,” “Tojo.”

Collector Nerd Sidebar: In 1984, Ruthless Records previewed Naked Raygun’s debut album with a 3-song 7” called Flammable Solid. This record has never been reissued. The versions of “Surf Combat” and “Gear” on the b-side are exactly the same as the album versions as far as I can tell, but the a-side track, “Libido,” sounds to me like an alternate mix that shaves about a minute off the song’s runtime and adds some electric organ overdubs. This release is for nerds only, and super-duper nerds will also need it with the vellum lyric insert and sticker. My copy actually has 3 stickers, 2 of which have different Naked Raygun stamps, so I guess that makes me a super-duper mega turbo nerd.

Naked Raygun’s first proper full-length was 1985’s Throb Throb, which saw guitarist John Haggerty join the band, an important moment because—along with Jeff Pezzati’s soaring vocals—Haggerty’s beefy guitar sound was Naked Raygun’s most identifiable sonic hallmark. The earlier, art-punk Naked Raygun is still here on tracks like “Gear” and “Libido,” but “Rat Patrol,” “Metastasis,” and especially “I Don’t Know” (that lead guitar part!!!!!) find the core element’s of Naked Raygun’s high style falling into place. Another standout is “Surf Combat,” which fits in that art-punk bucket structurally, but is so kinetic and boisterous that it’s kind of hardcore. With all that energy and the band’s leanest, most direct-sounding recording, Throb Throb is a lot of hardcore fans’ favorite Naked Raygun album, and a great place to start if you love 80s American hardcore but don’t really know Naked Raygun. Key tracks: “Surf Combat,” “I Don’t Know.”

For me, though, Throb Throb’s follow-up, 1986’s All Rise, is Naked Raygun’s best album. I think most fans would agree it has the best production, with a clear, bright, and heavy guitar sound, hefty bottom end, and the band delivering an energetic, locked-in performance. Stylistically, this finds them at a fruitful intersection of their art-punk and melodic punk periods. Tracks like “Mr. Gridlock” and “The Peacemaker” have a similar sort of tension as early Killing Joke, but they’re songs I can’t imagine anyone other than Naked Raygun doing. But the melodic songs are undeniably the album’s highlight, with “Home of the Brave,” “Knock Me Down,” “I Remember,” and “Those Who Move” all delivering the combination of power and beauty that I think of as Naked Raygun’s thing. And there’s also “New Dreams,” another canonized Raygun classic, which sounds like it was ripped straight off Pink Flag with its aggressive yet artfully minimal attack. All Rise is an utterly singular record, and for my money one of the great American punk albums… there’s just nothing else out there with its unique combination of characteristics. Key tracks: “Home of the Brave,” “New Dreams.”

Here I must interrupt my run-through of Naked Raygun’s full-lengths to highlight the band’s 1987 non-album single “Vanilla Blue,” which came out between All Rise and its follow-up Jettison, self-released on the band’s own Sandpounder Records (the label’s only release). I mentioned earlier that Naked Raygun took a lot from UK bands, and they must have been mimicking the singles-oriented approach of those bands in putting out “Vanilla Blue” as a stand-alone 7”. God knows that releasing your band’s best song this way was a perverse gesture in the United States circa 1987, when general interest in 7” singles seemed to be at an all-time low. But fucking SHIT, “Vanilla Blue” is a banger. Starting with a kitschy but credible surf intro, it blossoms into the definitive Raygun tune, Haggerty doing little more than bashing out the chords but sounding like a million bucks doing it, while Pezatti delivers the song’s soaring melody with a stoic cool that, Sinatra-like, hints at a world of feeling beneath the surface. Thankfully, “Vanilla Blue” has been tacked onto some reissues of Jettison, but I don’t know if it gets lost in the shuffle of this latest catalog reissue… that would certainly be a shame. The original pressing isn’t hard to lay your hands on, though. Oh, and if you’re wondering what’s on the B-side, Naked Raygun made another perverse choice in backing their best song with their worst song, the novelty tune “Slim.” Key track: “Vanilla Blue.”

In 1988, Naked Raygun was coming off a pair of brilliant records, poised to make their artistic triumph, and… I wouldn’t say they whiffed, but they didn’t fully connect. On the band’s third album, Jettison, the Buzzcocks-style melodic and driving songs that had provided their earlier records’ highlights come to dominate the runtime. “Soldiers Requiem” is a Naked Raygun classic and among their very best songs. It’s so simple, too… John Haggerty bangs out the song’s classic-sounding chord progression over a driving punk beat while Pezzati totally abandons the English language for the track’s brilliantly whoa-tastic chorus. Even the way they balance those driving passages with the more musically expansive instrumental breaks is so Buzzcocks, the band having absorbed every drop of wisdom from Singles Going Steady. As great as the songs and performances are, though, Jettison is plagued by a tinny recording that blunts their impact. The guitar sound on Jettison is like Hüsker Dü’s on New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig, and as with those records, I can’t help but wonder what Jettison would have sounded like with All Rise’s perfect balance of warmth, heft, and crispness. The album’s sequencing accentuates the feeling of bathos, ending with a live cover of “Suspect Device” that’s fine, but feels like an afterthought. Even with these flaws, though, Jettson is a brilliant album and well worth spending a lot of time with if you develop a taste for Naked Raygun’s unique style. Key tracks: “Soldier’s Requiem,” “The Mule.”

Naked Raygun returned in 1989 with their fourth album, Understand?. Understand? has a much stronger recording than Jettison, with Haggerty’s trademark guitar sound back in full effect. Again, there are some great songs. “Wonder Beer” is like raw meat tossed into the packs of hungry Raygun fans, its massive chorus calling back to the band’s most anthemic moments. “Treason,” which the label promoted with a pink vinyl 12” single, also has its place on the list of Naked Raygun’s best songs. Its four-note lead guitar riff is punk rock elegance personified, the simmering tempo shows off how great Naked Raygun was at holding teeth-grinding tension, and by this point you know there’s a fucking great vocal hook in the chorus. As great as some moments are, though, the band just sounds tired on Understand?. The songs have this torpor about them, like they’re deliberately pulling back the tempos, and when they apply that approach to a slow song on “Vagabond Dog,” it’s downright turgid. I still like that song and I love Understand?, but it’s missing a certain spark when you compare it to the band’s other albums. As with the Beatles’ Let It Be, it’s an example of great musicians operating at not exactly the height of inspiration. Key tracks: “Treason,” “Wonder Beer.”

I don’t know if guitarist John Haggerty indeed felt uninspired when the band recorded Understand?, but he left Naked Raygun sometime after recording it, forming the brilliant Pegboy, whose first album Strong Reaction rekindles the spark that was missing on Understand?. As for Naked Raygun themselves, they replaced Haggerty with guitarist Bill Stephens and soldiered on, releasing their fifth album, Raygun… Naked Raygun in 1990. Obviously, losing a key member like Haggerty is going to affect the band’s sound, but I think Raygun… Naked Raygun often receives derision from people who just assume it isn’t any good. Personally, I think it’s a better album than Understand?. The band doesn’t sound sluggish like they did on that album, and they’re still churning out classic songs. The album’s opening track, “Home,” continues Raygun’s pattern of opening their albums with a classic track, and the next song, “Fever Island,” nails what Jettison should have sounded like. Stephens proves a capable stand-in for Haggerty, to where I wonder how much of this material was worked up before Haggerty left. The Buzzcocks-esque one-note guitar part on the chorus to “Home” and the way Stephens cranks out the chords on “Fever Island” are textbook Haggerty. If Stephens came up with those parts, it’s a testament to how perfect he was for the job. (Also, don’t miss the b-side of the “Home” single, a cover of Chelsea’s “Last Drink” that fits Naked Raygun’s sound perfectly, particularly since it works as a kind of sequel to “Wonder Beer.” There are also two Buzzcocks covers from around this time that appeared on a tribute compilation… these are also worth hearing.) Key tracks: “Home,” “Terminal,” “Last Drink.”

While Raygun… Naked Raygun sounded like a step in the right direction to me, it proved to be the last album in Naked Raygun’s original run. The band fizzled in the early 90s, though they came together sporadically in the years after, apparently unable to develop much momentum. A temporary reunion in 1997 led to a recording session with Steve Albini that went unreleased at that time, but eventually came out as part of a collection called Last of the Demohicans. While that recorded is padded out with a bunch of live stuff, the 1997 tracks are excellent. In some ways, these four songs sound like a different band—it seems like Stephens really finds his own voice as a guitarist here rather than emulating Haggerty—but they feel creative and exciting in a way the last few Naked Raygun albums didn’t. As you might expect, Albini’s recording is also one of the best the band ever got. Another shoulda coulda moment in a catalog that has too many of them. Sadly, The Last of the Demohicans isn’t part of the current reissue campaign, but the Chicago label Dyslexic Records did a vinyl pressing a few years ago that shouldn’t be too hard to find. Key track: “Off the Edge.”

So that’s Naked Raygun’s original run as a band, and then some. Eventually Naked Raygun got back together for real, releasing a series of 7” singles on the Riot Fest label (I think one of Riot Fest’s early coups was promoting a well-received Raygun reunion show) and eventually moving to the seminal Wax Trax! label for their only post-reunion full-length, 2021’s Over the Overlords. These releases all have a more modern sound, and they’re not as good as the records the band’s classic lineup did, but they’re solid melodic punk records packed to the gills with Jeff Pezatti’s unique songwriting and singing. Once you’ve digested the classic material, any of these records (as well as the assorted live records that have come out) can give you the Raygun fix you can’t get anywhere else.

If any of this piques your interest, you can preorder Naked Raygun’s catalog at Sorry State and listen to our Naked Raygun Key Tracks playlist here.

Hello fellow Sorry Staters! This week will be a short one for me. I have been getting ready for my vacation coming up and my brain has become mush trying to fit everything in and trying to not forget anything for my trip. If I take a trip longer than a couple of days I get nervous that I will forget something, and having a slight phobia of flying doesn't help much either. At least I am heading to sunny Orlando to see some top notch haunted houses at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. One record I have been digging a lot since we got it in is the new Dark Thoughts record, Highway To The End. Dark Thoughts is from Philly, PA with members in other bands such as Delco MF's, Kinetic Orbital Strike and Condumb. Right off the bat, the cover is iconic, using a silhouette of the Ramones' Road To Ruin record. Caught my attention immediately seeing it! What can be said about this record? It's really fast, fun Ramones style punk with the same down stroking guitars and fast repetitive drums that people love with this style of punk rock. A must listen if you like Teenage Bottlerocket or The Lillingtons. Dark Thoughts’ singer’s voice sounds very familiar, and that is not a bad thing at all. As always, we have been working hard at listing some really killer used records and CDs and have a ton of really great new stuff to check out. Also, pre-order the new Home Front if you haven't already!

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone has had a nice couple of weeks since my last write-up. I got back from my trip to France last week and had a great time over there. I really enjoyed my time in Paris. It felt like there was just an endless number of things to do and places to see. It’s hard to beat just wandering around and settling down at a nice café and just ordering some drinks and roasting some heaters and just doing some nice people watching. The south of France was also super cool, especially after being in such a giant city. It was awesome to just take the train down and spend some time on the coast. I didn’t realize how salty the Mediterranean Sea was; it was fun to just float on the surface so easily. We went on a nice hike along this path on the rocks that led to this beautiful kinda hidden bay with a little beach, so we stopped and hung out there for a while and did some swimming. All in all, it was a great trip, and I definitely wanna go back someday and spend some more time there. Anyways, enough about my vacation. Today I’m writing about some other Americans that spent some time in Paris, the funk band Ice AKA Lafayette Afro Rock Band. The band started out up in Long Island, but quickly relocated to France after they formed. Maybe they were just on a mission to bring the funk to France. The other day I came into the store and Dom was blasting one of their records and it immediately caught my ear. This album, Afro Agban, is full of funky-ass tunes that are certified to make you groove. The whole album is amazing, but I really dig the track Alow Aton. It just has such a cool intro, and the organ is going crazy on this one. If you only have 35 minutes today to listen to music, listen to this album! You will be better off for it.

Hi and thanks for reading. We recently got a huge order in from UK distributor Plastic Head, and we got a few copies of this EXISTENZ reissue from them. Heptown Records originally reissued this LP back in 2018, and that’s actually when I first discovered EXISTENZ. Unlike most of the raging Swedish hardcore bands I know, they do not typically play with a d-beat style. Regardless, their debut 1983 7” is some of the rawest hardcore that came out of Sweden I have heard. I wish someone would reissue that damn record! When comparing the 7” to the LP, the LP is not nearly as good—however, I do still consider the LP an essential record. It’s much less chaotic and kinda has more of a UK82 feel to it. I wish I took the time to check what the Swedish Punk Encyclopedia had to say about EXISTENZ before writing today, but in my typical fashion as of late I am not prepared. I know they were from Helsingborg, which is the same town SWANKERS PMS was also from. If I remember right, the same artist handled artwork for both bands’ 7”s as well. EXISTENZ reformed sometime in the 2000s. I haven’t checked out any of their new material, and maybe it’s terribly presumptuous of me to think it’s gunna suck, haha. However, a fortunate outcome from their reformation is that you can find all their ‘80s shit on their bandcamp page. They’ve got all the tracks under Let’s Get Drunk Before It’s Too Late, but you can hear the 7” and a handful of songs that only appeared on compilations following the LP. I think I only have one of those comps, so I was especially excited to discover I can stream some nice quality tracks online. Funny enough, it sounds like they ripped an actual 7” to get the tracks on bandcamp, haha. Maybe that’s why it has still yet to be reissued! The LP reissue is quite nice. It’s pretty much an exact reproduction of the original with the reissue label’s information added. The original record included an insert and the reissue upgraded that to a printed inner sleeve. The LP features a ton of photos of the band, and they did an excellent job with the printing of the reissue. Too often I see reissues with that moiré pattern shit on the photos. Maybe you know what I’m talking about? Or I am just picky, haha. Ahh… alright, I guess that’s all I got today. If you don’t know this record, I’d suggest you check it out! If you know EXISTENZ and don’t have this reissue—jump on it! Cheers and thanks for reading.

Hi there and thanks for clicking on our newsletter. How are things with you? Surviving, I hope. It’s not easy, that’s for sure. I know I say it all the time, but thank God for music and the arts. I’d go insane if I didn’t have records, films and books to escape with. Currently watching World War Two movies is really doing it for me. They always have, but there’s something even more satisfying now about watching Nazis getting their faces kicked in. I highly recommend it as therapy for the times we live in. It’s a good reminder of who the bad guys used to be in the world. This past week I watched a bunch about European resistance fighters foiling Nazi plans and generally f’ing them up. Great stuff. I also watched one of my favorite old Tarzan films, where Nazis are trying to kill the local tribes and steal their mineral resources. Tarzan puts a stop to them, helped by Cheetah who steals a part to their radio and does a good job of annoying them. Fantastic. Got to love seeing a chimp outsmart a bunch of Nazis.

Anyway, back to the music. There’s never a slow week as far as new records coming into my life is concerned. Whether it’s new releases or cool old used records, I always feel blessed when something that I haven’t heard is introduced to me. The reason I am here and why we are all here. Music. It’s the best. It’s what feeds our souls. Not to sound too corny. You know what I mean. When we come to write our staff picks, I think we all try to write from our hearts and tell you about stuff that we genuinely like, and with me it tends to be whatever I am listening to at that moment. So, for this week I am going to encourage you all to check out the album, Even When I’m Not, by Harry Kakoulli. Released in 1980 on Oval Records.

Regular readers might remember that I mentioned him a few weeks back. It was regarding his song I’m On A Rocket that was included on the great compilation All The Young Droids that I recommended you all to check out. We just got that restocked btw. That song is great and one of my favorites from the comp, and it led me to finding a cheap copy of his full-length LP on Discogs that includes the tune. I hoped that the rest of the album might yield at least one more song as good as Rocket and at the very least not suck. It doesn’t suck, but I’m On A Rocket is still the jam in my opinion. However, I do like the rest of the record. It’s got a quirky new wave vibe with a lyrical delivery that could have only come out of the U.K. circa late 70s/early 80s. There’s lots more interesting synth sounds on the other songs, and even the obligatory reggae/dub track that all records at the time had to have. Thankfully, it sounds more like The Clash than The Police.

Kakoulli was the bass player in Squeeze previously and was also in the short-lived band England’s Glory with Peter Perrett of The Only Ones. This was his debut solo album. The Rocket single was the only accompanying 45 and was backed with another track from the LP called I Wanna Stay. He saw out the rest of the decade releasing a few more pop singles and then moved into house music and tribal electro territory.

I can’t talk on any of those records, but can highly recommend listening to Even When I’m Not. It’s a fun record. Lots of good songs. Check it out.

Cheers - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

It didn’t really occur to me until I sat down to write this, but we’ve skipped a week since last time, huh? Daniel took a break from the newsletter so that he could take a road trip and go see our Sorry State label comrades Yleiset Syyt play a couple gigs in New York and Philly. I’m jealous. Our Finnish buddies only played a few shows on the East Coast and didn’t quite travel far south enough for me to go see them play. Oh well, maybe next time.

While I’m on the subject of bands touring, I wanted to mention that my good friends and bandmates in Invertebrates are on tour right now. They’ll be playing a bunch of shows in the Northeast and beyond, working their way up to Varning fest in Montreal. Make sure you catch them if they’re playing near you! Damn, I hope I get to travel doing cool punk-related activities soon. Not much going on with me. I got to see a couple of my good friends get married this past weekend, which uplifted my spirits. Beyond that, it’s been business as usual. Speaking of which, time to move on and talk about records!

Over the last several months, I would look at the empty space in the bins of our “metal section” at the store and just think to myself, “Hmmm, we could do a lot better.” I wouldn’t say I was embarrassed exactly, but our heavy metal selection definitely required some beefing up. You can only sell Master of Puppets so many times before you satisfy demand, I suppose haha. So recently, Daniel and I made a concerted effort to stock a bunch of cool, classic metal titles from labels like High Roller, Earache, Peaceville, and tons of others. I must say, the metal section is looking HEALTHY now, and I’m pumped.

The record I wanna talk about is one that we only just recently stocked at the store, the debut 1986 LP Recognize No Authority by Détente. I’ve loved this record for a long time, but never have managed to lock down an og 80s copy on Metal Blade. But I must say, High Roller does a beautiful job with their reissues. Even just holding it in your hands, the record feels high-quality. All the records come housed in these super nice heavy-duty sleeves. Plus, they hook me like a sucker with the bonus goodies. This Détente record comes with a reproduction of the original black & white inner sleeve, but they also include a full-color photo collage, a reproduction (what I call) glossy promo photo, and a HUGE foldout poster. The mastering on the actual vinyl also sounds crisp and loud. Hell yeah.

For those unfamiliar, Détente was a metal band from Los Angeles that only released this one LP during their initial run as a band. Stylistically, I think Détente falls somewhere between the emerging crunch-crunch sound of mid-80s thrash, but still has elements of speed metal as well as classic early 80s European heavy metal. Détente definitely brings the speed of thrash with that chugga-chugga rhythm guitar playing. But the only reason I don’t push to immediately classify them as straight-up thrash has a lot to do with the production and some of the musical choices in the guitar work. The sound of the record still has that early 80s, kinda reverby atmosphere and that old-school, boomy, bombastic kick drum production in the double kick work. Then guitars often play these spidery, noodly, yet virtuosic parts that to my ears harken back to the guitar stylings of Mercyful Fate. All that said, what brings Détente to the next plateau is that the way they deliver these songs brings such a lethal level of aggression.

Let’s just get into it, cuz everyone knows it’s true: the crown jewel of Détente’s sound is vocalist Dawn Crosby. I just can’t say enough about how rad Dawn’s voice sounds. Her voice is so damn gnarly and intense, like she gargled broken glass before recording her vocal takes. Soaring, high-pitched, but gritty screams of violence. And there’s never a moment of subtlety with Dawn’s singing, so if you decide to listen to the entire LP, then you’d better strap in, buddy. Not that her voice is grating to listen to, but you might emerge out of your listen with scars and bruises. What’s cool is that Dawn will sing with these soaring banshee-like screams, but then the boys will echo her words with these low, grunted gang chants, which makes for a cool contrast. It weirdly sounds demonic and ceremonious at times. The chorus of one of my favorite tracks, “Shattered Illusions,” is a great example of this, with a kind of call and response vocal pattern.

In many ways, Détente were trailblazers—not only because of their unique sound, but also in breaking down conventions of heavy metal dogma. Would it be too much of a stretch to classify Détente in the crossover category? Because of their raw and gritty approach to heavy metal, but also their use of imagery, the band appealed to punks and metalheads alike. I mean honestly, just that front cover with its black, white & red graphic design depicting police brutality, it really looks like an old UK punk record. There’s also some live footage of Détente in the 80s and you can see Dawn wearing a GBH shirt, which is so rad. Unfortunately, Dawn tragically passed away very young in the mid-90s. Thankfully, we have this ripping metal classic in her memory.

Apparently, the band reunited in the late 2000s. Funny enough, I talked about Hellion several weeks ago, and Ann Boleyn took over vocal duties in Détente for a short period. If you’ve never checked out this record and have any interest in thrash or speed metal—or honestly, even if you’re into that Lifeless Dark LP—I think this record will be right up your alley.

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

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

We took last week off from the newsletter so I could spend a few days driving around the east coast of the United States seeing bands, visiting record stores, eating vegan deli sandwiches, and trying to squeeze in the odd hour of work on my laptop whenever I could. The journey started at the Life / Destruct gig in Richmond, proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia to see Illiterates, then up to New York and then Philly to catch two of Yleiset Syyt’s four US tour dates. The shows were a blast… the bands ripped, and it was great to see so many friends, particularly my Finnish buddies Ville and Tumppi. And while I only mentioned the touring / headlining bands above, all these gigs were stacked with killer locals too, including bands I knew like Richmond’s Ultimate Disaster and Philly’s Early Grave and bands that were totally new to me like Norfolk’s Living Dead and Richmond’s Massacre System. If you didn’t already know it, punk is alive and well.

I also visited a ton of record stores on my trip. I got to catch up with Tony at Celebrated Summer, Colin at Sit & Spin, Max at Nexus, Dave at Vinyl Addiction, and check out a bunch of other shops too. Of course, I came home with a ton of records. It’s a weakness of mine. I’m interested in so much music that it’s nearly impossible for me to leave a record store empty-handed. Even in a crummy store, I can usually find a record or two that I’m curious about. At stores like any of the Academy locations in New York, where the stock is always fresh and the prices are attractive, I’m dragging armloads of vinyl to the counter. If I’m lucky, I find a few things I’ve been actively looking for (Academy, for instance, had several punk compilations that were on my want list, one of which I’m sure I’ll write about for the newsletter soon), but usually what I find are records I’ve heard about but don’t really know, or things that just look intriguing. And then sometimes you decide that today is the day you finally pull the trigger on a record you should have bought a long time ago… such is the case with my pick for this week:

The Authorities: Puppy Love 12” (Buckwheat Headlock Productions, 1995)

Like many people, I’m sure, my first exposure to the Authorities was via Screeching Weasel’s cover of the song “Achtung,” which appeared on Kill the Musicians, their first collection of non-album tracks that came out (on CD only!) on Lookout! in 1995. I must have bought Kill the Musicians right around the time it came out, and I wore that fucker out. Aside from the Minor Threat discography CD, it was one of my first exposures a compilation of non-album tracks by a punk band. I would soon learn that these were usually where the gold was, since punk bands often put their best songs on EPs and singles. That’s certainly the case with Kill the Musicians, which contained many of Screeching Weasel’s best songs. Even among those, though, “Achtung” stood out with its hooky vocals (the verses are even catchier than the chorus!) and those precise, lunging stops that occur throughout the song. Brilliant track.

While I’m sure Ben Weasel’s rambling liner notes for Kill the Musicians mention that “Achtung” is a cover, it was many years before I heard the Authorities again. I’m guessing my next exposure was “I Hate Cops,” which memorably kicked off Mystic Records’ We Got Power (Party Or Go Home) compilation (which I often refer to as my favorite compilation of all time). “I Hate Cops” is right up there with “Achtung” as far as brilliant hardcore punk tunes go, but there was still more to hear! It was probably somewhere in the late 90s when I heard the first Killed by Death compilation, which features both “I Hate Cops” and the Authorities’ third stone-cold classic tune, “Radiation Masturbation.”

All three tracks (along with “Shot in the Head,” which ain’t no slouch either) appeared on the Authorities sole 80s release, 1982’s Soundtrack for Trouble EP. Sadly, I’ve never been able to land an original pressing, but in 1995 Buckwheat Headlock Productions combined Soundtrack for Trouble with a previously unreleased 1983 studio session and released it as the Puppy Love LP. While the 10 extra tracks you get on Puppy Love might not have the cache of the original Soundtrack for Trouble songs, you’d be hard-pressed to discern any dip in quality. The band still plays with fire, hard and fast but brimming with classic punk hooks and a touch of 60s psychedelic texture. If you’re a fan of Angry Samoans, you’ll love it… though I’d argue the Authorities do it even better. It’s nice, too, that Puppy Love is succinct, taking an all-killer-no-filler approach rather than digging up sub-par material like live and rehearsal tapes. It’s so short that it spins at 45rpm.

The Authorities were from the small city of Stockton in northern California. Music heads will remember Stockton has another notable musical export: indie rock legends Pavement. The bands aren’t unconnected, either; Pavement’s original drummer Gary Young helped engineer and mix the 1983 session on Puppy Love and also played drums in a band called The Fall of Christianity with Authorities guitarist Brian Thalken. I’m a fan of Pavement and the Authorities, and it’s cool that Pavement has always name-checked the Authorities. The Authorities definitely got a mention in the recent film Pavements, and Pavement even got the Authorities to reunite when they curated the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in 2010, which led to more touring and some releases by the reformed band (which, honestly, I haven’t heard).

While the version of Puppy Love I picked up at Academy is the original 1995 pressing on Buckwheat Headlock Productions, Get Hip Records has kept the Authorities flame alive by keeping both Puppy Love and Soundtrack for Trouble in print. We should do a better job keeping them in stock at Sorry State, but they’re out there and available if you need to get some material by this brilliant band in your collection.

Hello fellow Sorry Staters! You made it to the next volume of the newsletter in my little, very little corner of the internet to blab about my previous week’s listening ventures! Lots of bands go on tour, and either you wait for your city to come up or you just have to miss them on tour if you can’t afford to travel. In the year 2025, this should not be the norm with tons of streaming platforms out there, and I feel like all bands should hire a team of folks to ride along on the tour and live stream the concerts. One band that is changing the game on this concept is King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Over the past few years, King Gizzard has been live streaming all their shows for free on their YouTube streaming channel. It’s helped grow the community surrounding the band, and I believe it has also given access to the shows for folks that cannot attend, which has made this band explode in popularity.

This weekend was Field of Vision in Buena Vista, Colorado, which is King Gizzard’s weekend-long festival with so much going on. Everything from art projects to drag school… something for everyone. The reason I mention streaming is that the band was nice enough to stream the entire festival for free. Fans could tune in to see so many great bands from all over the world. A couple that stood out to me were Memo PST, Babe Rainbow, Gaye Su Akyol and Jay Weinberg and Argus.

During the day I made it a point to watch Jello Biafra’s spoken word and DJ sets, which of course did not disappoint. His engaging storytelling was hard to listen to when you were distracted by him wearing a gigantic foam pope hat and, you know, just Jello being Jello. His DJ set on drag night was really fun to watch. He was dressed up like an older lady going to tea in the afternoon, wearing a long blonde hair wig, a huge bouffant hat, and a flower dress he got from goodwill that has probably been there since the 80s. Luckily for me, someone took a picture of his set list, so someone else made a playlist of it on Apple Music. It includes all the great hits from all his side projects like Mojo Nixon and Guantanamo School of Medicine along with some songs from Alternative Tentacles label-mate, Wesley Willis. One highlight of Jello Biafra being there was being able to see him perform “Police Truck” with King Gizzard on night one. It sounded great and had a little King Gizz twist on it, which is what everyone was hoping for!

One of the main reasons I love watching King Gizzard live shows is that they have a catalog of 32 albums. When you have that many, you have a wide variety of songs you can play and not repeat songs for a long time. They played for 3 hours each night, going from their heavy stuff and microtonal psych albums to their electronic album and ending with more jammy type psych rock. Honestly, these were some of their best set lists that I have heard since I started following the band back in 2018. I know I have written about King Gizzard many times in my portion of the newsletter, but I feel like it’s well deserved. The band is huge, and they are only getting better at writing songs and presenting them even better at live shows.

Until next week! Be sure to check out everyone else’s pick and go buy some records! Also, We got some really kick-ass new shirts in, so go buy one of those too!