Greetings from still occupied Minneapolis,
Holy shit, how is it already June?? This month was seriously action-packed for me, tour, travels, I got sick (!?!?! first time I've been sick in 5+ years, but I was pushing too hard on too little sleep), it was my birthday and Lisa threw me a lovely party. Took awhile before I had space in my life to update the webstore and write this.
What I want to discuss here is the Gudon tour last month. WOW. I haven't been to a string of shows like that in a LONG time. Gudon was GREAT and people went the fuck off in turn. While I heard there were some doubters, I had confidence that our regional scene has enough latent strength to support such a monumental tour, and fuck, apparently I was right. I don't know what was more impressive, how many people showed up or how much blood I saw flying at these gigs LOL. A big THANK YOU to everyone that came out, moshed hard, bought stuff, enjoyed themselves. The insane success of this tour has been super energizing and inspiring for me, and Gudon is already beginning to plan their return.
But my biggest takeaway from Gudon tour is on a completely different theme. I had SO MUCH HELP with this tour, and I needed ALL of it hahahaha. I can't fucking believe I used to handle this shit by myself when I was younger. How??? Gudon tour was possible because teamwork seriously made this dream work. Matt our roadie, Lisa practically the other roadie, Ben going above and beyond the call of duty, Mat and Steve Seasnake and Aaron and Josh for making it happen, and behind the scenes, Johnny, Ty and Jimmy, Justin, Mars....this tour couldn't have happened without each and every one of these individuals contributing their time, energy, equipment, couldn't have happened without their dedication to the core. This whole experience has had me completely revise how I approach organizing, shown me my own personal limits and how to navigate those, and I can't even express how thankful I am to each of these people for not only making punk happen, but making this moment I was dreaming about for a few years happen.
And obviously my hat's off to Mr. Guy and Mr. Tank and Issa and Shirai and Dump-san and Zaki, for taking a bit of a leap of faith and flying over the coasts to the middle of the country and letting me cart them around for their Golden Week vacation LOL. We all gonna rock together again soon enough!!
Other topic that I can't not talk about: the current protest activity outside the Delaney Hall concentration camp in Newark NJ. Twin Cities sent a crew out there to back them up. Solidarity and respect to everyone on the front lines of fighting fascism. All power to the people. We will not go down without a fight. I wish I was there but alas, there's something to be said for picking up the slack left behind when others go out there.
If you're in that area, I encourage you to reflect on if and how you can contribute to the fight. Because these fights are not happening in a vacuum. You are in the picture, you are a participant, and it is your choice whether you stay silent and let it happen, or whether you do what you can to fight fascism. Think about what you think is effective and meaningful, what you think is best....and then go do it!
-Dan
--------
MAY NEW ARRIVALS
Speaking of the Gudon tour, the new 7" is out and shipping now. This is an American pressing of the 7" that came out on Blood Sucker in 2024. I distro'd that at the time....and I think that was about it for foreign distribution. So here's a version easily available for everyone outside Japan. An intro, a re-recorded classic, and two new ones. These were the first 4 songs of Gudon's setlist on their recent USA tour, so if you remember how explosive their performance was, its crushing magnitude, relive those feelings on a 7".
We're also reprinting the tour shirt, on a different color. Because I feel genuinely bad that most people attending never even got the chance to get the proper tour shirt with the dates on the back. God damn, I was not expecting quite the feeding frenzy of merch/distro that we received. I think at some shows I didn't even have a chance to set up, just being in physical proximity to boxes had people trying to buy stuff, rifling through my distro. Every night, I was proactively selling stuff from before the show started until after the show ended. THANK YOU for this because these sales were an important factor in the financial success of this entire tour.
So if you missed out on the shirt you actually wanted, here's another chance. We're running this preorder for 2 weeks, will produce the quantity ordered, and then I'll ship when production is completed.
We got a plethora of other hot new releases from around Asia.
If you're psyched on new Gudon EP, I imagine you must also be thrilled for an official reissue of Death Side/Chaos UK split CD, on its originally intended format. A GOATed release, with arguably the strongest material by arguably the best hardcore band ever. Words can't do justice to how important and constant tracks like "Try" and "Cry for the Truth" have been to my life's soundtrack, ever since I got The Will Never Die 2xCD when I was a teenager.
Other Japanese hardcore CDs of note:
new Bring Arrow CD - BIG RECOMMENDATION for one of my top favorite contemporary bands. Bring Arrow play the sort of catchy, rocking, upbeat hardcore akin to Paintbox, Just Be-era Judgement, Good Morning, and the band they share members with, Mikazuki-Bakuondan. Sarry is one of my favorite songwriters in the game. I'm so fuckin excited to dig into this one.
Novadies CD single from a few years ago - the new showcase project of Maru, Origin of M's instantly recognizable guitar player. While Origin of M was a mid-tempo groovy mosher, Novadies still features Maru's instantly recognizable dynamic and expressive guitar style but in a more standard Japanese hardcore context. More on this band in the future, get in on the ground floor now.
Camarada CD from a few years ago - This band knocked my socks off when Dirty Wombs played with them in Shizuoka last summer....but I promptly forgot to grab some copies of this wholesale from them, so, better late than never lol.
DSB - Substitute LP reissue - WAIT it ain't only on CD anymore LOL.
If you're more on the ragscore crust as fuck existence tip, then the hottest release you need right now is new Ferocious X EP, released for their wildly successful and very brief USA west coast tour. After their recent album, I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to hear this next move. I'm also really hyped on a vinyl version of new Esperanza album, a fantastic return to action by this attack punk/raw punk style band. Records like this got me thinking, should I get a leather jacket after all?? Also of note, new Attack SS LP.
If you got a need for speed, I'm really impressed by this blink-and-it's-sold-out debut Outgrow Madness LP, an all-star cast of characters playing power violence hardcore like they've mastered over the years. Fuck on the Beach has a new split 12" out too.
And if you're like me and you always got one ear towards southeast Asia, Indonesia's Kontradiski demo tape made a big impression on me with its total noise attack, but I'm most happy to see more material from SPHC alumni Shitnoise Bastards. A new split 7" and a new tape. One of the coolest noisecore bands in the game to me. Now, when are we doing the LP guys???
Europe dropped a couple really impressive new releases. Lots of discussion about the debut Ancient Lights LP, UK's most hyped new anarchopunk band, and we already know new Dissekerad LP kicks ass duhh, but for me the biggest winners are:
-debut Apoptosi LP, a younger band playing brutal Euro crustcore but with a Furious Years Italian hardcore edge that sets them apart from their peers. Particularly rabid and ferocious.
-Tormented Imp EP, vinyl debut of this younger UK band playing the sort of high-charge, rocked-out hardcore that I can never get enough of. The label copy references Poison Idea and Death Side, you get the idea.
-Indikator B new EP, the sounds of the Balkans!! I always find it refreshing to hear a band play their region's traditional style.
If you're more interested in old shit, my personal recommendation is The Apostles singles collection 2xLP, one of the most interesting and thoughtful anarchopunk bands, the kind of band that's worth sitting and actively listening to the records while reading the lyrics and taking in all the art. Or, if you want something less artsy and more hardcore, the 7b cassette reissue from Ukraine is a deeeep cut I was not familiar with but is pretty fuckin raw and raging. I also got some copies of these random 80's Polish reissues....I don't even know what this shit is, but what can I say, this is arguably my favorite time/place for punk so I just keep amassing everything from that scene.
If you got a need for speed, Belgium fastcore Travolta has another new split 12" out, and of course I grabbed the newest releases from Bringer of Gore for all your goregrind needs.
Not to be outdone, our own country continues to pump out the goods.
Las Vegas has been busy! SPHC alumni, maybe my favorite American power violence band in the game these days, God's America return with a new split 7", while Life's Torment continue to flood the zone with a nonstop barrage of raging fastcore.
On the exact opposite end of the spectrum and arguably a bit closer to what I actually listen to anymore, I'm really happy to get some copies of new Cigarette Camp EP, with their raw and short/fast/loud approach that correctly emphasizes the PUNK in pop-punk, and Smarthearts return LP, one of the best power-pop bands in the game and I'm so happy to hear from them again.
I recently saw Reek Minds new EP and Early Graves debut EP here in Minneapolis and thought both bands were fucking excellent. Reek Minds becoming increasingly brutal in their frantic, chaotic USHC style, and Early Graves brutal in a totally different way, playing that sort of contemporary "punk with a black metal edge" that Philly peers like Devil Master and Zorn got big doing, but with a more streamlined ugly raw black metal edge that leaves them more loose, raw, and nasty sounding than those bands. Great!!
I also recently saw Home Invasion EP and Man With Rope EPs on the Gudon tour and thought these bands were so excellent I bought some copies of their EPs wholesale at the gig. Home Invasion played Chicago gig, with a Negative Approach LP-gone-sXe sense of USHC. Really normatively great: sounded big and powerful, played tight and with a lot of attitude, good songs, Bastard cover was well executed, tasteful, made me smile. Good band. Man with Rope play Tragedy-style hardcore and I'm happy they played the St Louis gig. Similarly, sounded big and powerful, played tight and with a lot of attitude, vocalist had some political monologues that were immediate, pertinent, tasteful and well-spoken. Good band.
But if you're not interested in the modern world and just want to hear the good ol' days, dive in to this Intensified Chaos collection LP from San Francisco 1982. I have never heard of this band before but this is a fun listen, appropriately raw, loose, and PUNK, less tuneful and more hard than a lot of their CA contemporaries. I'm sure if they'd managed to pull off their planned 7" at the time, this band would be a collector's choice.
Speaking of the USA, I want to zoom in for one second on what's actually my favorite American punk scene: Cleveland.
I got some copies of the new releases of a couple new Cleveland bands, this stuff is so obscure and never gets distributed well, so this is a good chance to stock up.
Muzzle drop their debut LP, on Wax Mage (!!!!) so you know it's going to look and sound preposterously cool. Straight-forward hardcore punk. Members of Sockeye, Party Plates, and Laceration. Priced for punks, not Wax Mage collectors.
Pig Rides EP and demo tape, new hardcore band featuring Poopy from Sockeye. Poopy described this to me as being "metallic Japanese hardcore influenced", I don't really hear that myself LOL but I do think this fits nicely into the same realm as Inmates, Nine Shocks Terror, h100s, etc etc, and it is a bit heavier, with some metal accents, and a bit slower than these bands (not slow but got that bouncing mid-tempo).....actually I guess this could be a bit similar to newest Inmates LP, where they're trying to sound all Gism-like and such too. It's awesome. The 7" is a couple selected tracks from the demo tape.
Pill Time EP and demo tape, new flamboyant PUNK band featuring Larry from Darvocets/WetBrain on vocals. AMAZING shit. Think punk where it's bordering into new wave, got keyboards, and Larry's iconic warbling vocals. Tremendous.
And South America, not a lot but all killer no filler. Ignorantes LP, I already know I love it, Presto? LP reissue, have never heard of this before but excited to dig into this obscure 2000s Brazilian fastcore locals classic. Besthoven new album on tape, you already know these legends, but how well do you know BETOE tape? Another great raw and loose d-beat band, but this time from Venezuela by way of Spain. Been keen on this band ever since I saw them in Barcelona along the way. Cool band.
And finally.....PATCHES.
I got another FAT packet of patches from Dolly. To me, these are the best patches in the game. Price is right, quality is supreme. Got some restocks, got some new designs. Restocks are sporadic so buy now while the buying is good.
-Dan
next:
several monsterous nuclear stockpiles of FOAD stuff
latest Japanese and South American hardcore hits
I'm trying to get more Russian reissues but cross your fingers and send me good energy for this
more More MORE
Holy shit, how is it already June?? This month was seriously action-packed for me, tour, travels, I got sick (!?!?! first time I've been sick in 5+ years, but I was pushing too hard on too little sleep), it was my birthday and Lisa threw me a lovely party. Took awhile before I had space in my life to update the webstore and write this.
What I want to discuss here is the Gudon tour last month. WOW. I haven't been to a string of shows like that in a LONG time. Gudon was GREAT and people went the fuck off in turn. While I heard there were some doubters, I had confidence that our regional scene has enough latent strength to support such a monumental tour, and fuck, apparently I was right. I don't know what was more impressive, how many people showed up or how much blood I saw flying at these gigs LOL. A big THANK YOU to everyone that came out, moshed hard, bought stuff, enjoyed themselves. The insane success of this tour has been super energizing and inspiring for me, and Gudon is already beginning to plan their return.
But my biggest takeaway from Gudon tour is on a completely different theme. I had SO MUCH HELP with this tour, and I needed ALL of it hahahaha. I can't fucking believe I used to handle this shit by myself when I was younger. How??? Gudon tour was possible because teamwork seriously made this dream work. Matt our roadie, Lisa practically the other roadie, Ben going above and beyond the call of duty, Mat and Steve Seasnake and Aaron and Josh for making it happen, and behind the scenes, Johnny, Ty and Jimmy, Justin, Mars....this tour couldn't have happened without each and every one of these individuals contributing their time, energy, equipment, couldn't have happened without their dedication to the core. This whole experience has had me completely revise how I approach organizing, shown me my own personal limits and how to navigate those, and I can't even express how thankful I am to each of these people for not only making punk happen, but making this moment I was dreaming about for a few years happen.
And obviously my hat's off to Mr. Guy and Mr. Tank and Issa and Shirai and Dump-san and Zaki, for taking a bit of a leap of faith and flying over the coasts to the middle of the country and letting me cart them around for their Golden Week vacation LOL. We all gonna rock together again soon enough!!
Other topic that I can't not talk about: the current protest activity outside the Delaney Hall concentration camp in Newark NJ. Twin Cities sent a crew out there to back them up. Solidarity and respect to everyone on the front lines of fighting fascism. All power to the people. We will not go down without a fight. I wish I was there but alas, there's something to be said for picking up the slack left behind when others go out there.
If you're in that area, I encourage you to reflect on if and how you can contribute to the fight. Because these fights are not happening in a vacuum. You are in the picture, you are a participant, and it is your choice whether you stay silent and let it happen, or whether you do what you can to fight fascism. Think about what you think is effective and meaningful, what you think is best....and then go do it!
-Dan
--------
MAY NEW ARRIVALS
Speaking of the Gudon tour, the new 7" is out and shipping now. This is an American pressing of the 7" that came out on Blood Sucker in 2024. I distro'd that at the time....and I think that was about it for foreign distribution. So here's a version easily available for everyone outside Japan. An intro, a re-recorded classic, and two new ones. These were the first 4 songs of Gudon's setlist on their recent USA tour, so if you remember how explosive their performance was, its crushing magnitude, relive those feelings on a 7".
We're also reprinting the tour shirt, on a different color. Because I feel genuinely bad that most people attending never even got the chance to get the proper tour shirt with the dates on the back. God damn, I was not expecting quite the feeding frenzy of merch/distro that we received. I think at some shows I didn't even have a chance to set up, just being in physical proximity to boxes had people trying to buy stuff, rifling through my distro. Every night, I was proactively selling stuff from before the show started until after the show ended. THANK YOU for this because these sales were an important factor in the financial success of this entire tour.
So if you missed out on the shirt you actually wanted, here's another chance. We're running this preorder for 2 weeks, will produce the quantity ordered, and then I'll ship when production is completed.
We got a plethora of other hot new releases from around Asia.
If you're psyched on new Gudon EP, I imagine you must also be thrilled for an official reissue of Death Side/Chaos UK split CD, on its originally intended format. A GOATed release, with arguably the strongest material by arguably the best hardcore band ever. Words can't do justice to how important and constant tracks like "Try" and "Cry for the Truth" have been to my life's soundtrack, ever since I got The Will Never Die 2xCD when I was a teenager.
Other Japanese hardcore CDs of note:
new Bring Arrow CD - BIG RECOMMENDATION for one of my top favorite contemporary bands. Bring Arrow play the sort of catchy, rocking, upbeat hardcore akin to Paintbox, Just Be-era Judgement, Good Morning, and the band they share members with, Mikazuki-Bakuondan. Sarry is one of my favorite songwriters in the game. I'm so fuckin excited to dig into this one.
Novadies CD single from a few years ago - the new showcase project of Maru, Origin of M's instantly recognizable guitar player. While Origin of M was a mid-tempo groovy mosher, Novadies still features Maru's instantly recognizable dynamic and expressive guitar style but in a more standard Japanese hardcore context. More on this band in the future, get in on the ground floor now.
Camarada CD from a few years ago - This band knocked my socks off when Dirty Wombs played with them in Shizuoka last summer....but I promptly forgot to grab some copies of this wholesale from them, so, better late than never lol.
DSB - Substitute LP reissue - WAIT it ain't only on CD anymore LOL.
If you're more on the ragscore crust as fuck existence tip, then the hottest release you need right now is new Ferocious X EP, released for their wildly successful and very brief USA west coast tour. After their recent album, I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to hear this next move. I'm also really hyped on a vinyl version of new Esperanza album, a fantastic return to action by this attack punk/raw punk style band. Records like this got me thinking, should I get a leather jacket after all?? Also of note, new Attack SS LP.
If you got a need for speed, I'm really impressed by this blink-and-it's-sold-out debut Outgrow Madness LP, an all-star cast of characters playing power violence hardcore like they've mastered over the years. Fuck on the Beach has a new split 12" out too.
And if you're like me and you always got one ear towards southeast Asia, Indonesia's Kontradiski demo tape made a big impression on me with its total noise attack, but I'm most happy to see more material from SPHC alumni Shitnoise Bastards. A new split 7" and a new tape. One of the coolest noisecore bands in the game to me. Now, when are we doing the LP guys???
Europe dropped a couple really impressive new releases. Lots of discussion about the debut Ancient Lights LP, UK's most hyped new anarchopunk band, and we already know new Dissekerad LP kicks ass duhh, but for me the biggest winners are:
-debut Apoptosi LP, a younger band playing brutal Euro crustcore but with a Furious Years Italian hardcore edge that sets them apart from their peers. Particularly rabid and ferocious.
-Tormented Imp EP, vinyl debut of this younger UK band playing the sort of high-charge, rocked-out hardcore that I can never get enough of. The label copy references Poison Idea and Death Side, you get the idea.
-Indikator B new EP, the sounds of the Balkans!! I always find it refreshing to hear a band play their region's traditional style.
If you're more interested in old shit, my personal recommendation is The Apostles singles collection 2xLP, one of the most interesting and thoughtful anarchopunk bands, the kind of band that's worth sitting and actively listening to the records while reading the lyrics and taking in all the art. Or, if you want something less artsy and more hardcore, the 7b cassette reissue from Ukraine is a deeeep cut I was not familiar with but is pretty fuckin raw and raging. I also got some copies of these random 80's Polish reissues....I don't even know what this shit is, but what can I say, this is arguably my favorite time/place for punk so I just keep amassing everything from that scene.
If you got a need for speed, Belgium fastcore Travolta has another new split 12" out, and of course I grabbed the newest releases from Bringer of Gore for all your goregrind needs.
Not to be outdone, our own country continues to pump out the goods.
Las Vegas has been busy! SPHC alumni, maybe my favorite American power violence band in the game these days, God's America return with a new split 7", while Life's Torment continue to flood the zone with a nonstop barrage of raging fastcore.
On the exact opposite end of the spectrum and arguably a bit closer to what I actually listen to anymore, I'm really happy to get some copies of new Cigarette Camp EP, with their raw and short/fast/loud approach that correctly emphasizes the PUNK in pop-punk, and Smarthearts return LP, one of the best power-pop bands in the game and I'm so happy to hear from them again.
I recently saw Reek Minds new EP and Early Graves debut EP here in Minneapolis and thought both bands were fucking excellent. Reek Minds becoming increasingly brutal in their frantic, chaotic USHC style, and Early Graves brutal in a totally different way, playing that sort of contemporary "punk with a black metal edge" that Philly peers like Devil Master and Zorn got big doing, but with a more streamlined ugly raw black metal edge that leaves them more loose, raw, and nasty sounding than those bands. Great!!
I also recently saw Home Invasion EP and Man With Rope EPs on the Gudon tour and thought these bands were so excellent I bought some copies of their EPs wholesale at the gig. Home Invasion played Chicago gig, with a Negative Approach LP-gone-sXe sense of USHC. Really normatively great: sounded big and powerful, played tight and with a lot of attitude, good songs, Bastard cover was well executed, tasteful, made me smile. Good band. Man with Rope play Tragedy-style hardcore and I'm happy they played the St Louis gig. Similarly, sounded big and powerful, played tight and with a lot of attitude, vocalist had some political monologues that were immediate, pertinent, tasteful and well-spoken. Good band.
But if you're not interested in the modern world and just want to hear the good ol' days, dive in to this Intensified Chaos collection LP from San Francisco 1982. I have never heard of this band before but this is a fun listen, appropriately raw, loose, and PUNK, less tuneful and more hard than a lot of their CA contemporaries. I'm sure if they'd managed to pull off their planned 7" at the time, this band would be a collector's choice.
Speaking of the USA, I want to zoom in for one second on what's actually my favorite American punk scene: Cleveland.
I got some copies of the new releases of a couple new Cleveland bands, this stuff is so obscure and never gets distributed well, so this is a good chance to stock up.
Muzzle drop their debut LP, on Wax Mage (!!!!) so you know it's going to look and sound preposterously cool. Straight-forward hardcore punk. Members of Sockeye, Party Plates, and Laceration. Priced for punks, not Wax Mage collectors.
Pig Rides EP and demo tape, new hardcore band featuring Poopy from Sockeye. Poopy described this to me as being "metallic Japanese hardcore influenced", I don't really hear that myself LOL but I do think this fits nicely into the same realm as Inmates, Nine Shocks Terror, h100s, etc etc, and it is a bit heavier, with some metal accents, and a bit slower than these bands (not slow but got that bouncing mid-tempo).....actually I guess this could be a bit similar to newest Inmates LP, where they're trying to sound all Gism-like and such too. It's awesome. The 7" is a couple selected tracks from the demo tape.
Pill Time EP and demo tape, new flamboyant PUNK band featuring Larry from Darvocets/WetBrain on vocals. AMAZING shit. Think punk where it's bordering into new wave, got keyboards, and Larry's iconic warbling vocals. Tremendous.
And South America, not a lot but all killer no filler. Ignorantes LP, I already know I love it, Presto? LP reissue, have never heard of this before but excited to dig into this obscure 2000s Brazilian fastcore locals classic. Besthoven new album on tape, you already know these legends, but how well do you know BETOE tape? Another great raw and loose d-beat band, but this time from Venezuela by way of Spain. Been keen on this band ever since I saw them in Barcelona along the way. Cool band.
And finally.....PATCHES.
I got another FAT packet of patches from Dolly. To me, these are the best patches in the game. Price is right, quality is supreme. Got some restocks, got some new designs. Restocks are sporadic so buy now while the buying is good.
-Dan
next:
several monsterous nuclear stockpiles of FOAD stuff
latest Japanese and South American hardcore hits
I'm trying to get more Russian reissues but cross your fingers and send me good energy for this
more More MORE
The murderer Jonathan Ross told his neighbors he was a botanist,
because he was ashamed of being an ICE agent.
They can wear a mask to hide their face,
but the mask will never hide their sins and their shame.
SEEK FORGIVENESS FROM YOUR GOD, ICE AGENT.
YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE IT FROM ANYONE ELSE.
