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Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! This week we’re taking a week off from our regular format to share memories of the Sorry State 10th Anniversary Weekend that just happened in Raleigh. Apologies if you don’t want to see this, but we’ll be back on our regular bullshit with the next newsletter. And, as promised, there is already a TON of new stuff in the webstore since the last update, so give it a look and check back regularly because new stock is still arriving pretty much every day.
So, how did the weekend go? In a word, INCREDIBLE! Miraculously, everything went off without a hitch. All weekend people came up to me and told me how they hadn’t had this much fun in ages, and I couldn’t agree more. The bands were killer (as expected!), but the vibes were also amazing all weekend… no BS, no drama, no fights, no bad feelings… just a bunch of punks descending on a city and being punks for a couple of days. There were so many moments when I stopped and thought to myself, “I’m having as much fun as I have ever had in my life.” To still have experiences like that at 44 years old is a huge gift, and I owe that all to punk.
Now for the inevitable long list of thank you’s. I got so many props, congrats, and kind words this weekend—and I couldn’t be more thankful for that—but Jeff and Usman deserve just as much credit. In fact, this entire project was really Jeff’s baby. I’m not much for marking occasions—especially my own anniversaries—and if it were up to me, you would have been lucky to get a social media post about our 10th anniversary. However, Jeff started planning for this event YEARS ago. Once we decided we were going to do it up, Jeff, Usman, and I sat for untold hours in my windowless office at the SSR warehouse hashing out everything and moving from vague idea to working plan. Both of them contributed just as much as me to what the fest became, and both spent countless hours—much of it off the clock—making everything happen. The rest of SSR’s staff—Dominic, Angela, and John Scott—also contributed great ideas, and (just as importantly) they kept the store and mail order going with no interruption as work on the fest started to heat up. And while she’s not on the payroll, my wife Jet probably should be given all she does to help with SSR, particularly this week hosting Electric Chair and Golpe at our house, organizing food for the bands, and helping to put out all the inevitable little fires. I love all of you so much.
As much work as we put into planning this weekend, there were SO MANY things that didn’t occur to me in advance, and in every single case, someone else stepped in to figure things out on the fly. The staff at the three venues—Kings, RUMAH, and the Pour House—were all mega helpful and professional, and we never could have pulled this off without their hard work and expertise. Chief among these is Amanda at RUMAH, who did more for this fest and does more for Raleigh than anyone could possibly understand or appreciate. She is someone who makes things happen, and I can’t emphasize heavily enough how lucky we are to have her in Raleigh.
Speaking of fest MVP’s, I have to give a special shout-out to the Delco MF’s crew from Philly, who stepped in averted a huge potential crisis at the 11th hour. Electric Chair’s connecting flight from Philly to Raleigh was delayed by over 12 hours, and after Trae posted about their situation on Instagram, the Delcos—on literally a few moments’ notice—drove to the airport, picked up Electric Chair, and drove them all the way from Philly to Raleigh. Best case scenario, EC would have arrived at the fest just in time to play their set after traveling for 24 straight hours… more likely they would have missed it entirely. Where was I during all this? Asleep! By the time I woke up Friday morning all this had happened and everything had been taken care of with zero input from me. WOW.
Another huge thanks goes to all the bands who played this weekend. Aside from Golpe and Electric Chair, none of these bands were on tour… they made the trip just to play this one gig, including Personal Damage from Los Angeles, Woodstock 99 and the Hell from Cleveland, Illiterates and Keith and Vince from Meat House and Shaved Ape from Pittsburgh, Savageheads from Boston, and so many others. And not only did all these bands come, they all brought their A game. I mean, with so many great bands playing, you really had to, and everyone did. Speaking of which, I was worried I would be distracted the whole weekend, but I got to watch every single song of every single set. And it all fucking ruled.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who attended the festival. It was amazing to have so many people I care about in one place, and my only regret is that I couldn’t spend more time with each of you. Special shout-out to Vaenka and Conrad for coming all the way from Salt Lake City, Felix fucking Havoc coming from Minneapolis, and to the numerous people I talked to from Chicago, New York, Boston, Connecticut, Georgia, and other far-away places who came all the way here to be part of our little thing.
Thanks again, everyone. Here are some photos…
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