Interview with Libyans

The Libyans album A Common Place was the first record I bought from Sorry State Records. I remember that the song "Paralyzed," one of my top 25 songs of all time floored me. It was seriously a transcendental experience. I went back into the store and bought all the Sorry State Records I could find - Double Negative's Daydreamnation, the Shitty Limits' Speculate/Accumulate, the Whatever Brains LP, and a bunch of other stuff. If you don't get it at this point, Sorry State Records is my favorite label. I buy everything that comes out of that camp and have never been let down. A really incredible label run by the best dude, Daniel Lupton, and host of a bunch of rad bands that have always been nice to me, which goes a long way for me at least.

The Libyans record didn't leave my turntable for days. It still vacations on my turntable for extended periods and we're talking about having bought it two years ago. Libyans, The Clash, and The Descendents basically got me into punk music. And those are three bands demonstrate completely different ways of playing punk, which showed me that punk was an entirely dynamic and varied genre. I was hooked. I'm still on that punk-ass fishing line (HA!).

Libyans are a band originally from Boston, though they are pretty split up now, having their vocalist Liz live in Chicago and the rest scattered about. I've never seen them live but a boy can dream. Hearing their plans for tours after their new album comes out has me giddy as a schoolgirl. Hopefully through this interview, you will also become giddy. If not, you can get the hell out!

You can check out their release on Sorry State HERE or check out their FACEBOOK PAGE

Jordan: So for those who are maybe unfamiliar with Libyans, tell us a little bit about your band. Who’s in the band and how did you all start?

Aaron: I think we started in 2007. It was me, Aaron, playing bass and my roommate Dan at the time was playing drums. Liz came along and we had a friend named Marcus who was the guitarist. Basically, Dan wanted to be in a band with me cause we were living together. If I remember correctly, we got drunk and had access to a practice space and weren’t playing Libyans stuff but making noise. Liz had just moved Boston and Marcus, who’s in the band Brainkiller, had moved from Albany. We just kind of met and started playing music. At the time there was another band with Dan and Liz that was a garage-rock outlet. We were just supposed to do a tour with them but the band broke up right before the tour, so Libyans toured.

A: Fast-forward two years and Marcus is moving to Texas. Kevin who had recorded our original stuff - the Demo and the Welcome to Neighborhood 7” said he’d be in the band so that’s the short history.

J: Had you guys played together before? How did you meet?

A: I was working as an intern with one of Dan’s best friends from High School and I met Dan through him. I had never been in a band before and we just hit it off one night geeking out about the Minutemen. Liz had been in bands before and Kevin had been in bands - he was from Western Mass. Liz knew bands from around the place. I had played drums before, not in other bands. Bass was new to me. It was definitely a learning experience and continues to be.

J: Was there a big punk scene in Boston when you all were meeting up?

A: Yeah, it was pretty healthy around then. Seemed like there were a ton of bands. There was a tattoo place “Regeneration” in Alston and they used to have shows there. It seemed like every week there was a show and that was a good meeting spot. There were always a ton of basements and houses doing shows at the time. It waxes and wains especially in Boston. Just recently, it seems like every basement or punk house got shut down. We were supposed to play in Boston two days ago but the venue we were supposed to play fell through and the other places were already booked. We ended up playing Western Mass, which was a good place to play. That was our first show of the year.

J: How often do you guys play shows?

A: It varies. Liz moved to Chicago about a year ago because she had finished grad school and we were working on the newest album for a while. Last summer we did a full U.S. tour from Seattle to Kentucky. Most of us have full-time jobs so we try to do ten or twelve day tours once or twice a year because of vacation time. Last year we did a small U.S. tour and went to Japan to play shows.

J: What was Japan like?

A: It was pretty cool. We didn’t know what to expect. We had toured Europe a year before and just figured we ought to go to Japan. It’s pretty nice over there because the venues have a backline of drums and bass and everything so you pretty much just need to show up with guitars, cymbals, and sticks. It’s pretty amazing in those respects. People seemed pretty receptive to us. The bands there can fucking play, too. It was like “holy shit!” Everyone basically had the story where they had been playing for fifteen years and only recently felt confident enough to play in a band. In the U.S. it was more like pick up an instrument and we’ll figure it out along the way. Everybody seemed pretty adept at their instruments there.

J: What were some of the good bands you all played with?

A: Most of the shows had around five bands. We played with this band Fightback. They were super noisy and I remember thinking “Holy shit, that’s the best band I’ve seen in years.” I think they were members of the Japanese band Forward. But a lot of the bands we played with were famous Japanese bands. Right now I can’t remember many band names but Fightback was incredible.

J: Who have you guys played with in the United States that you really enjoy playing with?

A: Frankly, I like playing with a lot of the Sorry State bands. I think it’s a like-minded set of people. I’m not really the best guy to ask about who we like playing with - it’s usually like I have friends at the show and haven’t seen people in a long time. When those people have bands seeing them and getting back together is great.

A: But we just played with Broken Prayer in Chicago, which is Liz’s other band, and they’re on Sorry State and just released an LP. They’re a pretty cool group. There’s a bunch of people from the Raleigh area that moved to Chicago.

J: Yeah, we have an awesome punk scene here. A lot of punk houses and basements and even some venues and restaurants are hip to having punk shows, which is great.

A: Yeah, I was out there last fall, but there were a lot of cool shows. I saw a Huey Lewis cover band at a place in Logan Square. It was a Mexican restaurant, but I mean, it was a Huey Lewis cover band so it was amazing. Guys from Canadian Rifle were doing Bruce Springsteen covers. It was pretty cool. Chicago’s a pretty cool city.

J: Boston actually reminds me a lot of Chicago. I haven’t been there in a few years, but when I was, I thought it kind of had the big vibe of having stuff to do but you didn’t feel isolated since it was impersonal.

A: In June I moved to Providence, so I probably go to Boston once a week, but anymore none of Libyans are in Boston.

J: How’s Providence?

A: I like it a lot. It’s cheaper down here and you get way more for what you pay for. I have a backyard and get to live alone. I had four roommates in Boston and I lived there for seven years. There were a ton of people going in and out and it got to be a lot.

A: But there’s a lot of Music and art in Providence. Not all hardcore. And I appreciate it. A lot of times there will be an electronic band playing with a punk band and then a dude with an acoustic guitar. It makes the shows more interesting. I imagine Raleigh is sometimes like that. In Boston there will be a super aggressive hardcore show where the bands are similar. I prefer shows where the bands are all different but the people are like-minded.

J: So how’s the recording process for the new LP been?

A: We mapped out most of it the week between Christmas and New Years. Liz flew out and we recorded at Kevin’s house in Western Mass. He basically has a recording studio out of his house. We haven’t mixed it but everything’s pretty much done. I think it came out pretty well. I’m really excited to let other people hear it. Some of these songs are more than a year old at this point. We played a bunch of them on tour for years and it’s good to have a document of it instead of hearing a song in your head.

J: When do you think the record will be out?

A: Hopefully by summer. I know we’ve talked about doing a tour this summer because Dan is in grad school right now so his time off is based on school cycles. We’re going to do it on Sorry State again for sure. Daniel Lupton has been really supportive of us and been psyched about what we do.

J: What are the songs like?

A: I think, if anything, it’s still moving forward. I’ve become a better bass player and that shows on the album. I think we can really play as a band now whereas in the past, even before A Common Place, we were trying to figure out how to play. I think it’s pretty cohesive as far as playing together goes. Also, the songs are really good. It’s our best album to come out this year.

J: Nice! I can dig that.

A: Yeah. (laughs)

J: So how does a song get done by you guys? Do you each do your own parts or are there full ideas?

A: It’s never really full ideas. A lot of times I’ll record something at home with an acoustic guitar. I’ll come in with a part and then people will flesh it out and things get changed around so someone will come in with a riff or two or an idea and we go back and forth until we’re happy with it. That’s been the songwriting process all the way through. A lot of times someone will bring something in and we’re pretty harsh on each other. At this point we’ll be like “Oh, that sucks.” (Jordan laughs) And it’ll be like, “Oh, I’ve been working on this for like three weeks!” So you have to go back to the drawing board, at the least. But the stuff that’s good that makes it through the process has to be pretty good.

J: Well, that’s cool that you guys are okay with that. I guess?

A: Yeah, it just makes things better, I suppose. That idea of nothing being sacred. It’s a good way to work through things. If someone says something sucks, maybe the person will try to work through the song and come back with the good things.

J: What’s the longest song you guys have written?

A: I don’t know. That “Crash Course” song is close to three minutes, but it’s kind of slower. There’s a two and a half minute song on the new album, maybe. It might be like 2:16. Maybe we all have really short attention spans, but when we’re playing a two and a half minute song we’ll think “whoa, that song is really long.” I guess some of the older songs are longer.

J: Have you thought of making music that isn’t punk-oriented?

A: I’m not sure. We all play in different bands. I’m playing in a group that’s more slowed down and less punk but with punk aesthetics. I think Libyans works well when everyone is playing as fast as we can. We’ve tried slower stuff in practice, but it seems to just fall apart for some reason. We haven’t really pushed away from the punk stuff, though what everyone listens to for the most part isn’t punk.

J: So what do you guys listen to, if you had to categorize it, or is it just a huge variety?

A: Well, I can speak for myself. I’ve been pretty into darker country music from the 50s right now. This guy Jody Reynolds. He’s got a lot of bullshit, but he also has five or six songs that are amazing. He wrote this “Fire of Love” song that The Gun Club covered. There’s a song “The Girl with the Long Black Raven Hair” that’s just amazing. But they’re categorized as the original death-rockers since it’s gloomy.

A: I’ll listen to stuff like that and other stuff. I really like Mission of Burma. I just saw them a couple weeks ago and I still think they’re incredible. But when we’re driving we just play whatever anyone is into at the moment. It’s a pretty big range of rock spectrum. Rock and country. Not a whole lot of hip hop.

J: I have to check out Jody Reynolds.

A: Definitely check out Jody Reynolds. There’s another song called “Endless Sleep.” Some of his stuff is total bullshit like “Tight Capris” [Jordan: Yikes] where it’s total bubblegum but four or five songs are really amazing. I like a lot of that. I think Liz is more into powerpop stuff and anything from New Zealand or Australia. Stuff like the Clean and the Bats. Dan’s been into Grateful Dead for a while now too.

J: That is not what I would have expected.

A: It’s just stuff that’s just sonically different than distorted guitars all the time. Your ears need a break if you always go to those shows. It’s always good to not be too into one genre of music all the time. There’s a lot out there.

J: That’s what I have. Anything else?

A: I don’t think so. Kind of weird doing a phone interview. But, I think it went well. You’re gonna edit the fuck out of this, right? Make it really good?

J: Never when you swear.

A: All right. Cool.

Interview with Daniel Lupton from Sorry State Records

Sorry State Records Logo

Sorry State Records is one of the premier punk rock labels in the country at this point, though it seems to have miraculously been started simply in the right place at the right time.  Daniel Lupton, the brains behind SSR, believes that he released his first 7" in 2004 and has since released about fifty records.  The bands at Sorry State are largely punk-rock based but vary from there a lot.  Some of the best known bands from there are Double Negative (Raleigh Punk Royalty), Libyans (a poetically-sound hardcore band from Boston) and Whatever Brains (one the triangle areas staples in new music).  And these bands are all completely different.  Listening to Whatever Brains is kind of like being in that weird tunnel in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory if the chocolate were all LSD.  The members of Double Negative have been floating around in hardcore bands for a long time and have a straight up balls-to-the-wall punk rock show that is transcendent. I've never seen Libyans live, but they're more melodic, crafting punk songs shouted by a wonderful frontwoman.  The only thing these bands have in common is that they're released on Sorry State Records.

Double Negative Logo

Recently, Sorry State released 2 killer LPs (I mean, these suckers are glued to my turntable).  Joint Damage released their album "Strike Gently" earlier this year and Stripmines released "Crimes of Dispassion."  These are absolute modern classics.  They're both fun North Carolina bands that wax and wane to a unique emotional spectrum.  Fucking smart.  The Joint Damage LP has a bit of controversy following it, as a "Juggalo Rap" group was named the same thing and issued a cease and desist to the band.  It's ludicrous!  On the back of the Joint D/ album (they had to change their name), we understand the reason for this lawsuit.  "As a juggalo...I found it an anti-juggalo record" says one of the members of clown rap group Joint Damage.  That thing had me cracking up for days.  The LP comes with the letter of the cease and desist order.

The albums are also always really cheap and come in sweet packaging.  The Double Negative "Daydreamnation" LP is a shiny dude with lyric sheets and a sweet logo.  These records can be found all over the place from The Sorry State Website to local record shops like All Day Records and Bull City Records.

I was pretty curious about the record label and e-mailed Daniel Lupton about it before we settled on a time we could talk about his vision and record label.  Daniel had a lot of good things to say about his view on punk rock, the triangle area, and the creative process in music and music marketing.

Jordan:  So, Daniel, when did you end up starting Sorry State Records and how did you know that you wanted to release punk music?

Daniel Behind Ketchup, Milk, and Water

Daniel:  I think the label started in 2004.  A lot of people have asked me that lately and I’ve been meaning to check, but that’s my best guess.  As far as punk music goes, it’s kind of the only music I’ve been super interested in.  I like plenty kinds of music, but most of my favorite music ever comes back to punk.  I’ve been both influenced by officially punk bands or bands that have the punk ethos.  It’s really the world I know from going to shows, making friends, and being part of the scene.

Jordan:  Which bands in particular have formed your opinion on punk?

Daniel:  The band from when I was a kid was Minor Threat more than anything.  I think I got the CD with all of their stuff on it when I was around fourteen years old.  It was one of the first punk albums I got and it blew my mind.  I was straight edge for years and years pretty much because of that record.  So much about it.  And as I started reading about it, the whole Dischord attitude of being fair to bands and the punk scene being big, productive, and revolutionary, rather than something  to consume or being the stereotypical nihilistic punk.  I was an art kid and that whole ethos was immediately attractive to me.

Jordan:  So what would you say Punk’s role is now in terms of the spectrum of bands with positive qualities or, like you said, the more nihilistic version?

Daniel:  There’s always bands with different people and I definitely have a healthy appreciation for the more nihilistic end of it; bands like Black Flag and the Germs that are darker and scarier, and there are still people who push that angle and there are still people who push the positive and productive angle.  I think there’s room for both and punk has that dynamic where the two poles play off of each other and I think that’s why it’s remained vital.  Either of those takes would get stale on their own if they were left to just grow, but there’s always the push and pull between those two founding tenants of punk.

Jordan:  So, in the case of Sorry State Records, do you find that you release one version of punk music more than the other?

Libyans -  A Common Place (Cover)

Daniel:  No, I think my tastes are pretty wide and the label is often a reflection of what I like and am interested in so there are bands like Shards who are this drug-fueled, nihilistic mess, really.  Then there are bands like Libyans who are composed, poetic, and thoughtful in a way that I think a lot of people don’t associate with punk.  Frankly, either of those things can catch my ear and I think as long as I’m putting out records, I’ll be pulling from everything that punk is, and punk is really just about anything when you get down to it.

Jordan:  Are most of the bands whose records Sorry State puts out from North Carolina?

Daniel:  I don’t know what the percentage is, but it’s close to half and half at this point.  I think I’m kind of the default punk label if you’re in North Carolina.  A lot of bands will send me a demo.  This comes from a lot of different experiences, like touring with my own band, getting to know people, even from all over the world.  A couple of our bands are from Sweden.  We have one band from Japan. But I like that punk is fiercely local.  There’s a lot of hometown pride and I’m incredibly proud of what we have in North Carolina, but I want to also use this global connection.  Basically, any moderately sized city in the world, I can have loads of fun and someone to hang out with and drink a beer with.  I think all of those things are great.

Jordan:  The Whatever Brains in particular seem like a totally different band than the typical punk-sound.  How did you get connected with those guys?

Daniel:  Actually, I wanted to put out their first record.  They started playing shows and I immediately loved them.  I basically said if they ever wanted, then the door was open: if you need anything, I’ll do it.  I put out the Crossed Eyes’ 7”, which has members of Whatever Brains, which was garage, but I think at the beginning, I think at first they thought they would get labeled as a hardcore band, not that anyone who listens to five seconds of their music would ever do such a thing, but they didn’t want to go that standard route.  I don’t know what changed but, if I remember correctly, their fourth 7” was coming out and their label was needing some money and very last minute, they proposed doing this release and I basically helped pay their pressing plant and they slapped my logo on the back of the record and sent me a couple hundred copies.  That went really well.  I don’t know if that got rid of the band’s reservations, but now they record something and send it to me.  I’m on the band’s listserv and I get the demos when they send it right out.  I just loved that band from minute one.

Daniel:   I think a lot of the retro-hardcore scene has lost a lot of its energy in the past couple years and I was definitely caught up with that, and I was in a band called Cross Laws and our goal was to make music like it was 1982 and we never heard a record after that.  I think that puts you in a corner and after a couple years of that, we got bored.  I think that a lot of people start like that and get better at their instruments and decide they want to write a song instead of an explosion and it’s a natural progression.  I think when you look at the history of punk, there are times when everyone coalesces around the same idea, like the ’77 punk scene in Britain or the early 80’s hardcore scene.  There are times when there’s an excitement around a certain idea, and then there are times when people start to value creativity and artistic ambition, rather than fulfilling a template, like post-punk or the 90’s hardcore scene, and I think it’s a natural dynamic when you go through a cycle.  I really love them both.  I like feeling like I’m part of something that everyone’s on board with.  But I’m also an art person at heart and I love to see people being ambitious aesthetically.  I like that too and I’m glad I have a label that can handle those changes and I’m excited about the bands we  have and what they sound like.

Jordan:  Have you always been located in the triangle area while you’ve had this label?

Daniel:  Yeah.  I grew up in Virginia and went to college in Richmond and moved early to Chapel Hill in 2002.  I started the label around 2004.  I remember sending off the order for the first 7” in my apartment and getting the record in the mail shortly after I knew how.  It’s been a North Carolina thing from the beginning.  And that was part of the name too.  The first 7” I put out was by this band Direct Control and they were based in Richmond, but all three were from North Carolina.  And it seemed like we were all saying “Hey, we’re all from the same Sorry State.”  There wasn’t a lot going on at the time, so it was a little bit of a pun.  Now it’s not like that at all.  There’s tons going on.

Jordan:  What has the expansion of the label been like?

Daniel:  It’s been really organic.  I put out a record, then sold those records, then the money came back and then I put out another record.  It goes on and on.  There have been times when I’ve got a little ahead of myself.  Last summer I put out, I think, four LP’s and 2 7”s at once, which was completely obscene.  I didn’t really have the money and found some way to scrape it all together somehow.  But there have been times when I’ve had to push further to expand a bit more, but really it’s been totally organic.  Since I’ve made the label into a proper business and registered with the state and started paying taxes, I’ve been reading about business a bit and it seems like I’ve actually done it in a smart way.  Measured growth and not doing more than I should at any given time.

Jordan:  So how does the distribution fit into the whole scheme of everything?  Do you only distribute your own records?

Brain Flannel Live

Daniel:  I have hundreds of hundreds of records that I carry.  That end of things kind of supports the label.  If you just did a label and didn’t also distribute other records or trade with other labels, it would be really hard to make that financially viable.  It’s cash-intensive.  You press a record for 500 copies and send out 300 or 400 copies to distributors and that money doesn’t come back, at the very least, for months and months and months.  So distributing records and trading in small quantities with labels keeps money flowing through the bank account and it actually is kind of profitable, whereas just releasing records is, at best, a break-even proposition and usually not even that.  It’s also cool just having a ton of packages sitting on my porch every day when I get home and I’m able to see what’s happening with new music.  If I’m curious about a band, it isn’t like I’m spending $15 to order that LP; instead, I’m just thinking that I’ll order 5 copies from the label and listen to a copy.  If I like it, I may take it and if not, I’ll just sell all 5.

Jordan:  Yeah, today, when I was getting done with my day, I had Maximum Rock N Roll sitting on my porch and it was a godsend.  I just needed it.

Daniel:  Yeah, I got mine yesterday and definitely just sat on the porch and read it (laughs)

Jordan:  Exactly!  So, something that I’ve been cracking up about a lot recently has been the Joint Damage thing with the lawsuit.  Can you talk about that at all or is that something you’d rather brush under the rug?

Joint Damage - Strike Gently

Daniel:  It’s just sort of a bummer.  This band who, from everything I can see, thought of the cease and desist order seems to have the emotional intelligence of a three-year-old and whenever he comments on my facebook page or the label’s, I just think that he’s just making himself look like a complete idiot, and I never say anything because the person’s doing a just fine job of making himself look (pause) stupid.  Really, I just want the whole thing to go away.  It sucks because they threatened me with a lawsuit and I don’t even have the money to fight a lawsuit.  That’s the thing.  When someone does this to you, it’s going to be thousands of dollars right away.  If they win the case or not.  Just the threat of it is enough.  I had a lot of sleepless nights and grinding of teeth, but I haven’t heard anything about it for a while.  We changed the band name and did what we needed to do so hopefully people don’t keep harassing that band on their facebook page and people will forget about it.

Jordan:  Do you find that you have to stick your name out for your bands a lot of the time or does stuff like this just not really happen?

Daniel:  I know at least one person well from pretty much every band on the label and if there is ever someone in a band that I don’t want to work with, I just won’t put out a record for them.  Stuff like the Joint Damage situation doesn’t really happen and even this wasn’t Joint Damage’s fault.  Who looks up to see if someone has a band with the same name?  Who cares?  There are probably 15 bands named Double Negative and 10 named Shards.  When I first got the letter and called the guys in Joint Damage and said “I wish I could be totally punk with this and say ‘Fuck you,’ and fight this, but I can’t afford it.  I don’t have time and I can’t hire a lawyer”  Fortunately, I’ve never been in this kind of situation and hopefully they don’t come around very often because it wasn’t fun.

Jordan:  Do a lot of bands on your label have a lot of crossover in terms of people being in multiple bands either on your label or elsewhere?

Daniel:  Yeah, it’s a bit of both.  It’s a natural cycle of bands at one sense.  I know the same thing happened with Crossed Eyes morphing into Whatever Brains.  My old band Cross Laws turned into Devour and now we’re not playing anymore and we’re all in different bands.  Really, I’ve put out around 50 records at this point and it seems like it’s been permutations of about a dozen or fifteen people, especially if you look at the North Carolina people.  These are the people who are on the same wavelength and it seems like we’ve almost grown up together or at least have the same reference points. They just do what they’re trying to do and I respect that.  I’m happy to just stick with this and the people I have and know what I’m getting from a personal angle in terms of commitment and morality even.  I know they’re ambitious and know that they’re going to blow my mind every time.  Seems like I’ve just developed a bunch of great relationships and I’m really lucky.

Double Negative's Scott Having Fun With His Friends

Jordan:  Does live music affect your business at all?  What are the effects of a band on your label wanting to do more shows?

Daniel:  I don’t ask bands to do anything.  In terms of live shows, it can make a difference.  If I know that a band is going to do a lot of touring, I know that the band is going to help get the word out about their record and I know that I need more copies.  At the same time, for instance, Joint Damage plays Charlotte, Raleigh and Atlanta and I think that’s probably all the three cities they’ve played and it’s probably not going to change.  It affects me in the sense that I only press 300 records with a pretty high wholesale price and I’ve almost sold all of them already.  Some bands love to tour, but some bands don’t.  It may affect how many records I press or whether I am into doing super deluxe packaging, but I don’t really care (laughs).  Bands can tour or not, but I still get to see bands that are close by, so that’s what I really care about.

Jordan:  Can you say anything about releases for Record Store Day?

Whatever Brains LP 2 Cover

Daniel:  This year was my first one.  It’s a limited Whatever Brains record.  I had the idea to do it about six weeks ago or something and quickly e-mailed the pressing plant to see if I could get the records on time.  They’re showing up tomorrow (April 17, 2012) and Record Store Day is Saturday.  I just got it in the nick of time.  I e-mailed the Whatever Brains and they recorded the song that night.  Then they had some odds and ends and outtakes that they used for the rest of the EP.  It’s a cool thing to do.  For the first six or seven years of the label existence, there was no local attention.  The tightknit hardcore scene bought our records but no record stores sold my stuff.  SchoolKids never took my stuff.  CD Alley didn’t.  Chaz of Bull City Records was the only person who was super supportive from Day 1.  Besides that, people didn’t care.  But then Bryan C. Reed started writing for the Independent and wrote about Sorry State releases and shows and I had this big show two years ago when the Libyans came down from Boston and I did a big show for them.  The Independent wrote about that and there was a big crowd and I put out limited records and tote bags.  Then I did the Whatever Brains record and they’re such a big local band.  So Sorry State’s on the radar now and people have heard of the label.  It’s strange to meet people who aren’t a punk or local who have these records that we’ve put out. People will say “Oh, I have that Double Negative LP” or “I have that Whatever Brains LP.”  That’s super weird to me and I used to be distrustful and even scared about it, but since that happened, it allowed the label to get bigger.  All Day Records has been extremely supportive.  The Whatever Brains and Brain F≠ (Brain Flannel) have become local phenomena.  They’ve sold tons of those records and really personally recommended them to people.  I wanted to do something to say thanks.  So the Whatever Brains record is only available in North Carolina and Virginia record stores.  The idea was just to make local people excited and get out to the stores.  We’ll see how it goes.  I just hope the stores all sell them.

Jordan:  Yeah, I’ll definitely be picking that one up.  I got on the Sorry State train last year because Chaz basically played Double Negative and Libyans for me and they blew my mind and he was like “yeah, this is a local label.”

Daniel:  Awesome!  (Laughs) Yeah, Chaz is the best.

Jordan:  So what can we expect for the future of Sorry State?

Daniel:  I don’t know.  I’m just taking it one day at a time.  Right now I have a pretty solid roster of bands.  I basically put out a record and by the time I’m ready to put out a second record, the next band has recorded one for me, so I’m pretty settled in the cycle.  Next month I have Bukkake Boys, Double Negative, and the new Whatever Brains LP and after that a bunch of bands are starting to record like Manipulation are starting an LP, Dark Ages are starting on a new LP, and this one new band.  I keep telling myself I won’t put out something by a new band, but there’s this new band called Broken Prayer and they’re from Chicago and I’m putting out an LP from them and it’s just awesome.  It’s sort of like hardcore mixed with postpunk mixed with synths.  I don’t know if you’ve heard that Total Control yet?

Jordan:  I love that album!  (I’m actually interviewing them later)

Daniel:  Yeah, this sounds like Total Control mixed with early 80’s hardcore.  It would have a hard time picturing that in my mind what that means, but they’re doing it and it sounds original and exciting. So every day I’m just waiting and hoping they send me rough mixes, but they haven’t yet.  I’m going to keep putting out records and get better at selling them and not losing money, but, you know, I’m doing my best.  (Laughs)

Jordan:  Nice!  Any last words for the interview?

Daniel:  Yeah, I just want to say thanks.  Yeah, it’s awesome to have people doing stuff like this locally.  It gets me excited