Thank you for everybody's patience and understanding as I was out running around for the past period of time. I'm home for a few weeks now, mailorder is basically all caught up, and I will be shipping right up until December 20 because I will be out of town again December 21 to January 31. My winter trip back home to Baltimore + another excursion out and about. Anything ordered at that time will ship first thing in February when I return to Minneapolis.
I realize that my constant here-and-not-here schedule is not a good way to run a business....good thing this is PUNK so running a normatively good business is not my top concern lol. But regardless, big thanks to everybody that is so patient and understanding about how BIP operates. I'm just one guy living my life lol.
Below I'm going to write a big spiel about these tours I was on, so if you just want the records, skip towards the bottom.
-Dan
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Over the last several weeks, I have been so fortunate to be running all over the USA on tours with two of my favorite bands in the game right now, real SPHC hardcore fam, Kuroishi and Sarushibai. Both tours were enormous successes in my opinion and I am so appreciative and thankful for the many people that organized our gigs, put us up for the evening, bought stuff, had a fist in the air, chatted with us, made these whole experiences so positive and memorable.
Behind the scenes, there were so many people helping make this stuff happen: Haroldo, Eddie, Tye, my bandmate Johnny, Cameron, Servo, and the Heavy Shelling team. Total respect and appreciation to each of these fuckin hardcore heroes. These bands would not be in your city if not for everyone's combined efforts.
I always tell foreigners, that touring the USA is like the wild wild west, you never really know what's going to happen LOL. Which is both very cool, fun, exciting, but at its worst can be very frustrating and annoying.
So, a bit on the tours themselves:
Kuroishi guys are seasoned veterans, an objectively GREAT band, simply leveling venues night after night after night with appropriately wild crowd responses. Most of them have been to USA before so did not balk at stuff like long drives, which is good because we had plenty of them. Some highlights from this tour:
-the drives through MT, ID, UT seriously lived up to the hype. Absolutely gorgeous landscape, a view of the USA that I had never seen with my own eyes before but it really did evoke all the romanticism and beauty as portrayed in movies.
-I got some nerdy questions answered at Raunch Records in Salt Lake City UT and I encourage everyone to stop by this cool store and cross your fingers you might see some fascinating Japanese hardcore videos not on the internet.
-Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas is actually pretty cool! I was pleasantly surprised, I went in with pretty minimal expectations and wound up staying in there longer than anyone else in our crew. It def leans a little Fat Wreck/NOFX but not as much as I thought it would. I found plenty of artifacts and little nuggets of information that piqued my interest and had the gears of my brain grinding a little. I think it is well worth the stop if you're in Vegas.
-we also stopped by that famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Vegas, the home of that Pawn Stars TV show, and I have never watched the TV show but I was blown away that this store had tons of anime shit wtf. Truly anime is popular culture now. I bought some One Piece figures since the price was right.
-PAPUSA LADY. WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU.
Sarushibai, it was their first time ever leaving Japan! I'm so thankful I could show them a right proper American adventure, with guns, dispensaries, karaoke, dingy house shows, the St Louis City Museum lol, and all the finest American cuisine: Terry Black's in Austin TX for beef ribs, Ray's Drive Inn in San Antonio TX for puffy tacos, Bunny's in Oklahoma City for onion burgers, Solley's in Milwaukee for butter burgers, etc etc etc. Some highlights from this tour:
-I had some mechanical problems that fucked up my schedule so in the end I had to drive 18 hours straight from Minneapolis to Houston wtf. Left at 6pm, arrived at 1pm, took a 1 hour nap in my car along the way. A new personal record for me. Do not recommend LOL it is too long.
-We went to see the house from Texas Chainsaw Massacre! But actually, I do not recommend this tourist stop except for the most hardcore fans of this movie. The house is now some generic restaurant and they do not lean into the history or novelty value at all. Shocking to me.
-the middle of the country is HUNGRY for punk. Every gig on this tour was particularly well attended and high energy, especially TX. I think without Chaos in Tejas driving the amount of touring traffic this region used to have, things have slowed down a lot, and the people seriously want to rock. I'm totally sold on the power of punk in 'the flyover states' compared to the coasts.
some various thoughts about touring USA these days:
-conventional wisdom now is that 'nobody buys records at gigs anymore'. I did not find this to be true. In fact, it was sorta the opposite, the novelty value of having a big distro of random punk records from around the globe inspired a lot of people into taking chances and asking for recommendations. Distro sales were really poppin off (thank you world and I hope everybody enjoyed the stuff I recommended). The real change, for me, is that credit cards accounted for probably 50% of sales, and apps probably another 30%. But I swear apps were regional! Like, on the west coast, everybody used Venmo, but in TX, everybody used CashApp.
-it is fucking HOT in the USA now. Global warming is real and the USA is warmed up. I actually think it's no longer possible to tour huge swaths of the USA during the summer months. I've always advocated for touring in spring and fall, but now I gotta double-down on this opinion. Unless your tour isn't going farther south than the Mason Dixon Line, come in the fall, even in the winter. Sarushibai was here in November, went as far north as Minneapolis, temperature never went below 50F.
-USA scene is still so YOUNG. USA scene has always skewed younger than the rest of the world, and I have always known this to be true, but I guess now I'm at an age bracket where I really start to feel it. Minneapolis runs a bit older than most of the USA and going around to other cities really accentuated that for me.
-Americans are so fucking KIND now. People were tipping me and Fenrir! Countless people telling us to "keep the change" as they were buying merch and such! People asking if they could overpay on credit card purchases! I thought I was a kind person. But fuck, I guess I'm not! Seems I'm fuckin Scrooge McDuck up in this shit, I would apparently rank pretty low in kindness! I couldn't believe the consistent and deep-rooted kindness and generosity we experienced across the country on both tours. I never experienced anything like that back in the day. I seriously think this is a post-corona cultural shift taken to heart by younger generations. I think it's an offshoot of "tipflation", except cooler because there ain't no screen asking for a tip, it's just people acting on their own initiatives and beliefs. And I will have to reflect on my own actions and whether I too ought to be a lot more kind and generous than I apparently am in my daily interactions.
Gigs that made a big impression on me:
-Kuroishi at the ZACC in Missoula MT. Probably the most high energy, high tension gig I've seen all year.
-Kuroishi at Black Water in Portland OR. One of the best venues in the game regardless, but, people often discuss the pressures and competitions of being in these 'big scenes/big cities', that you have to be soooOOOooOO good or else you'll look like an ass blah blah blah.....I have never believed that for a moment, seen wayyyy too many crappy big city bands to buy into that, but the openers at Black Water were bands I'd never even heard of before but were absolutely incredible, face-scorching shit, better than anything we got in Minneapolis. Wow, it almost made me a believer in this concept lol, like hot damn even the no-name bands here are fucking out of this world....
-Sarushibai at Trip 6 in Houston TX. I think Trip 6 is probably the best venue for DIY punk in the USA right now. A warehouse speakeasy with top-tier built in infrastructure (even got cameras on the parking lot, bless them!), run by some of the loveliest people I've met in a long time, and the gig was exactly the sort of punk atmosphere I like: only the freakiest and geekiest dirtball motherfuckers, no fashion or pretense, only warmth and fun. By 6 AM, we were still up partying and I was prepared to move to Houston LOLLL.
-Sarushibai at The Venue in Oklahoma City. Also one of the best venues in the game right now: a dispensary, arcade, and venue all interconnected in one building LOL. Talk about everything you need under one roof!
-Sarushibai/Heavy Shelling at Platypus in St Louis MO. Sarushibai/Heavy Shelling/Still Animals, hot damn, now that's an all-killer-no-filler gig
-Sarushibai/Heavy Shelling at Grandma's House in Chicago IL. LOL now THIS was a proper American experience!
-Sarushibai/Heavy Shelling at Ground Zero in Milwaukee WI. It's incredible what Aaron's done to this house. A true noise hero, total respect.
Bands that made a big impression on me:
-Heavy Shelling (St Louis) record coming on SPHC next year, 'nuff said. They did 4 gigs with Sarushibai, wish it had been more like 12.
-Sacred Games (San Antonio) I have not felt so genuinely excited about a newer American band in a LONG time. Practically my new favorite band!
-Crucified Class (Portland) new 7" currently en route, will be in webstore soon
-Myconid (Portland)
-Generation Decline (Bremerton) apparently I was the only one that didn't already know this band is jaw-dropping, also they are true noise heroes with the coolest house
-Life's Torment (Las Vegas) already a fan and they were terrific live
-Foilies (Missoula) good golly miss molly this band was outrageously good, and also the first time in a hot minute I've felt actively depressed watching someone play drums and thinking "damn I will never be that good huh" LOLLLLL
-Inferna (Oklahoma City)
-Disrobe (Chicago)
-Still Animals (St Louis)
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DECEMBER NEW ARRIVALS
First off we got 2 (!!) new releases on SPHC. There's 2 others done, new records for Sedem Minut Strachu and for Osmantikos, both co-releases that I'm waiting for my copies of. There's also a new Believe in Punk release almost done, just waiting for jackets to arrive. So, as usual, things continue to be very busy behind the curtains.
First, new Sun Children Sun LP. Maybe my favorite band in punk today? For me, they are the soundtrack to living my best life with freedom and agency. For you, I dunno, it's like Peggio Punx but very wacky lol. Anton told me "Sedicion meets power metal", yes, yes I do see that. Bands like this are why I even bother.
Second, new Sarushibai LP. We still have a fewwwwww copies leftover of the color vinyl we had for the tour. I think this LP is a great step forward from the previous LP and I am totally sold that Sarushibai have a masterpiece in them that will come in time. Also if you prefer it, they made a tape version of the new LP that has a live set tagged onto the B-side, we got a few copies leftover from the tour.
Tangential but I also came home with a stack of the Heavy Shelling demo tape. This is the new band of Iron Bars, Shaved Women etc crew, playing traditional USHC that hits all the short/fast/loud sonic characteristics I want from this style, but with a certain.....I dunno, it's not "snotty" really, and I feel bad saying "awkward" cause that doesn't have the right subtext.....ah I was talking about this with Joe at the Davenport IA gig, I can't quite put my finger on it....but there's just this certain something that's so god damn American about it LOL, a certain attitude that I totally love, can't get enough of. They just sit differently than any other band.
Well we are planning a debut vinyl release on SPHC next year, but you can get hyped now if you'd like.
Somewhat smaller distro update this time around, cause I was on the road and not sitting at a computer buying stuff, but still plenty of hot platters for your consumption.
Big ones for me:
Last Survivors LP - one of the most important recent Japanese punk bands, they basically set the standard for what all the younger bands play these days. Tuneful but not melodic, raw but not noisy, urgent and intense but also it's fun to pogo. As I say, punk music for a clean leather jacket.
Krigshoder LP - was waiting for this, blessed be. both extremely hyped and extremely great demo tapes on one convenient 12". One of the best modern hardcore bands, I'd expect nothing less with John on guitar.
Contropotere demo LP - a personal favorite since college, weirdo Italian squat crust with so much personality and vibe, but this demo sees them at their most stripped down, straight forward, and hardcore. Actually I've never spent much time with the demo so I'm happy to have it in a way I can really sink my teeth into.
But also want to shout out Indigesti 2xLP, a collector's necessity from the Furious Years of Italian hardcore, Phantasm EP which continues Australia's hot streak for terrific modern punk music, and Yu Wave comp LP, which I am so excited to dig into cause I'm not normally so into this sort of synth/goth/post/whatever music but eastern Europe is a place with a track record for quality here and I'm keen to hear the best it has to offer.
I also made sure to come home with some Foilies LPs and EPs after I saw them. They got a Zeke sense of high-octane rock'n'roll, live I felt like they had a certain pop-punk element to them too but that's not clear on the recordings at all. The records are pure speed rock madness. KICK OUT THE GRAMS.
We got a few handfuls of metal records. These Crowley LPs are definitely essential for heavy metal enthusiasts, but I'm actually more fascinated by this Rakstrata LP. This is Bangladesh's first heavy metal album! Pretty cool, I don't think I've ever heard any rock music from Bangladesh before this. Hell it is the #8 most populous country in the world and I barely know anything about it.
I also came home with a few Burning Leather LPs. Cool release, this was originally a CD-only release on Forward guitar player's Under the Surface Records, in support of a Japan tour he organized for them. To me, makes it feel very, 'stamp of approval', if you know what I mean. It's a great slab of rocked out metalpunk, very Motorhead and Inepsy.
And finally, we got PATCHES PATCHES PATCHES. Another load of GREAT patches from Dolly Patchaos in Indonesia. We had big stacks of Kuroishi and Sarushibai patches for their tours and we blew straight through them, and part of that is because of price/quality. Dolly makes the best patches in the game and I simply won't make patches with anyone else. They're adeptly screenprinted, so price is good, but they're on quality fabric with embroidered edges, no fraying or tearing or whatever, so quality is good too. His patches got a lot of compliments on tour and I agree wholeheartedly. Highest recommendation for your patch needs.
On the other end of the spectrum, we also got a few of Karasu Killer's new Contrast Attitude patch, glamorous embroidered patches on fancy vegan leather, official and licensed straight from the bands themselves, individually wrapped and lookin extra sharp.
For more commentary on this stuff and more, please scope our Instagram page, where we review choice new arrivals as they come. If it sounds cool when we talk about it, it'll sound even cooler when you hear it streaming on the online store, and even cooler still when you buy the record and slap it on your turntable.
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added to webstore on a flow basis in December, otherwise up in early February:
2 new SPHC releases
1 new BIP release
more of the latest FOAD and RSR stuff
more of the latest Japanese hardcore/punk/grind/noisecore stuff, including The Comes live LP and more Alchemy Records reissues
Tiikeri new split 7" SO STOKED
Autopsia demo LP SO STOKED
Chronic Disease demo LP SO STOKED
more More MORE
Thanks and talk more later.
-Dan