Hello and welcome to what I'm guessing will be the last SCR news update of 2006; mainly because not a whole hell of a lot is going on over here for the next few weeks. Of course, if something exciting happens I will certainly post it, but this time of year tends to be rather slow, at least SCR news wise.

There is one newsworthy event happening this weekend that I'd like to call your attention to, particulary if you live in or around the Oakland area, and that is the first of two CD release shows celebrating the upcoming release of Hammerlock's furious fifth CD, Forgotten Range. (See poster at right or the shows page for further details.) As you can see from the box below, the official release date isn't until the end of January but the band will have a small amount of (literally!) hot-of-the-presses CDs on hand. There is also a second CD release show happening down in Austin, closer to the release date, where they will be joined by Texas' most dangerous band, Rancid Vat, and Texas' most deviant band, Honky (and apparently there's some big ass tattoo convention in town that weekend as well) so that show is destined to be quite an event; just thought I'd mention it so you can plan accordingly.

Anywhoo, while I'm here I just wanted to wish everyone and anyone who may be reading this news page (both of you!) a happy holiday season full of whatever it is you enjoy during whichever holiday you celebrate. My holiday season will be filled with finishing up the next issue of c14 but that's another topic for another website.

'til next update,
xo,
leslie

Happy Halloween everybody! I don't know what you've all got planned by way of observing this excellent holiday but I hope it's something fun. We here at the SCR compound will be celebrating two joyous occasions today - All Hallow's Eve and the much anticipated release of the third full-length CD by The Earaches, Time On Fire. Further information on this fine, fiery release can be found by clicking on the title or visiting the catalog page. The band will be marking the occasion next month with a pair of CD release shows (one all-ages show & one bar show) in their hometown of Seattle and, of course, further information on that can be found on the shows page.

Speaking of shows (aren't I always?) the lovely and talented Miss Alexandra Richmond helped the Kommandant book what is sure to be a super fun unusual evening of full contact rock and roll coming up here in Philly on November 10th. (See the poster to the left of this paragraph / shows page for more info.) I suppose you could call this the unofficial kick off party for the Labor Party's East Coast Tour; and, guess what? I just did. They will be joined by fellow Steel Cage-ians Jukebox Zeros, Thee Minks & Son Of A Gun and I think it's safe to say, with a line-up like that, we are all in for a good time. Hope to see you there!

'til next update,
xo,
leslie

Although today is a Tuesday, today is not a new release Tuesday, so this update doesn't mark the addition of anything to our humble catalog. I had to update the shows page though, so I figured I'd jump in and double plug some of these shows by mentioning them on this page. Seems like a reasonable thing to do right?

Anywhoo, as many of you already know, Halloween is right around the corner; and we here at Steel Cage Records love Halloween! I was mainly referring to Larry & I with that remark but I know for a fact many of the bands we work with love Halloween as well, because each year one or more of them plan special shows / events to mark the occasion. One band that really knows how to celebrate a pagan holiday is ANTiSEEN (seriously, their Halloween shows are legendary!) so if you're anywhere near Raleigh, North Carolina on October 28th I strongly suggest you get your ass on over to Volume 11 Tavern and witness the carnage for yourself. If you see a sweatpants clad longhaired weirdo running about the place with a hollowed out pumpkin on his head, tell him I said hi.

Mr Steel Cage and I will not be anywhere Raleigh on that date but we will be near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (that's where we live) so, accordingly, we will be getting our collective ass on over to the Khyber - before 9PM! - to witness what is sure to be one insane, memorable, and insanely memorable evening of music and madness hosted by Hostile City's own Sickidz. Interested parties can see the full line-up by clicking on the brightly colored poster I designed for the event to the left of this paragraph. Interested parties can also get the details, in a less brightly colored and more linear format, for this show, the ANTiSEEN show & many other upcoming SCR related events (like Thee Minks' appearance on the latest installment of the Underground Garage Rollng Rock 'n' Roll Show and the Labor Party's East Coast tour) by visiting - what else? - the shows page.

'til next update,
xo
leslie

Hello everybody, and welcome to what I have decided to dub our back-to-school update - for no other reason than I'm feeling kind of fall-like today. Anywhoo, as mentioned in the last update, today we have a shiny new slab o' plastic to add to our ever growing catalog of full contact rock & roll and that is I Bleed, the newest release by Phoenix, Arizona's Labor Party. Yay! The band marked the occasion a couple weeks ago with a celebratory CD release show at Jughead's (and it was apparently quite the par-tay; you can see pics from it on their MySpace page) and they will be further marking the occasion in November with their first East Coast tour. Again - yay! As is usually the case with tours booked by our resident tour booking guy, the Kommandant, they will be playing with many an SCR related band along the way; and, of course, you can get the full details on the when, where, and with whom of these and oh so many other SCR related shows on the shows page.

'til next update,
xo
leslie

We're still in between release dates but I just thought I'd jump in and mention that, as usually happens around this time of the year, there are a whole mess of rock and roll shows coming up that you might wanna think about clearing a spot on your schedule for. This Saturday alone there are literally SCR related shows taking place all over the country: Radio Birdman is playing in Chicago with Easy Action (John Brannon's Easy Action that is, not to be confused with Johnny Casino's Easy Action); Blowfly is playing at Emo's in Austin with Rancid Vat; Whiskey Bitch is playing at the Surly Wench Pub in Tuscon with Sonic Titan (plus Mission Creeps & DJ's Don & Diane Bombshelter - sorry, I couldn't find a link for them.) And last but certainly not least, as you can see from the swanky Frank Labor designed poster to the right of this paragraph, there is a totally packed bill at Jugheads in Phoenix to celebrate our soon-to-be newest release, I Bleed, by Labor Party. Yay! And yes, the band will have copies of the CD at the show. (Because, unlike the Radio Birdman 7" - see prior updates for that story - this one came back from the pressing plant a month ahead of the official release date.) More info. on the Labor Party CD can be found in our next update, on Sept. 19th; and more info. on the above shows an all sorts of other events coming up over the next few months, can be found - where else? - on the shows page.

Hope you're enjoying what's left of the summer.
xo,
leslie

In reference to our last update, I suppose done-ness is in the eye of the beholder because, while the sleeves were in fact ready on Wed. as promised by our printer, they kinda left out the part about them not going to retrieve said sleeves from the place where foil stamping happens until Thursday morning. So, in the end, sleeve and vinyl did have to spend one last lonely night as single entities before being joined in holy plastic bagged matrimony. (Just like my sister and her now husband did before their wedding; sans plastic bags.) At any rate, I am very happy to finally be able to say that the Radio Birdman Hungry Cannibals 7" has been collated, and bagged, and is in fact ready to be sent on it's merry way. Therefore, let's not waste any more time in decalring this highly anticipated release officially released. Yay! More info. can be found by clicking on the title above or by visiting the catalog page. And, while we might not have gotten the sleeves back in time for the actual release date, we did manage to get the package completed in advance of the band's even more highly anticipated upcoming US tour. Dates for these shows, and all sorts of other rock and roll happenings, can be found on the recently updated shows page.

'til next update,
xo
leslie

As you may already know from previous postings, the official release date for the Radio Birdman Hungry Cannibals 7" is tomorrow. In conjunction with this fact, there have been many, many boxes of shiny red vinyl records sitting in our dining room for the past couple weeks, patiently waiting to be collated & bagged & sent on their merry way. Unfortunately, the sleeves aren't cooperating and, as it turns out, won't be ready until the day after the official release date, AKA Wednesday. Sigh. Needless to say, this lack of sleeve completion prevents collating, bagging, and sending (merrily or otherwise) - not to mention the fact that it slightly mars our (almost) perfect record of having records back in time for their release dates - but what are you going to do? If I could foil stamp each and every one of the covers myself I would… but I can't. So I won't. Therefore, even though I didn't bother to change the date in the little box down there, the record will not be posted / available on this site tomorrow. It will, however, be posted / available on this site as soon as we get the sleeves. Anywhoo, just thought you might wanna know. I mean, that's what this page is for right?

'til next update,
xo
leslie

Hello readers of the SCR news page! (Assuming there are any of you out there.) Mr. Steel Cage and I are back from vacation - relaxed, refreshed and ready to trot out two brand new slabs o'wax sure to put even more sizzle in this already sizzling summer.So let's get down to business, shall we? First up, alphabetically and in catalog number order, we have a two song 7" from a literal legend, the original dirty rapper, Blowfly. From what we've been told, this is his first official vinyl 45 release since his landmark "Rap Dirty" single, released in 1979. Also basking in the glow of today's new release spotlight is thee newest release by Philly favorites Thee Minks; three yummy treats to tide you over until the release of their second full length CD (sometime in 2007.) Further information on each of these fine releases can be found by clicking here (for Blowfly), or here (for Thee Minks), or by visiting the catalog page.

'til next update,
xo
leslie

No real news to report today but I had a little summer cleaning to do (update the shows & links pages; add Jukebox Zeros t-shirts to the merch section; etc.) so I thought I'd jump in and say hi. Hi!

I also wanted to let you all know that the SCR mail order department - aka me - will be on vacation from July 24th to August 7th so orders placed before the end of the day on Friday, July 21st will be sent out before we leave; orders placed while we're away will be sent out on Tuesday August 8th. Okey dokey?

'til next update,
xo
leslie

Hello everyone, and welcome to our final new release Tuesday for the month of May. As you may have already noticed, it's also the final Tuesday of the month and, as you may not have noticed if you live somewhere else, here in Philly it is a steamy 90-something degrees today. So we're gonna have to keep this somewhat short because it's like a thousand degrees in my office, aka our attic, and I'm about to pass out. (OK, fine, it's not literally a thousand degrees in my office; but trust me, it's fucking hot up here.) So, without any further ado, I am pleased to announce the official release of True Grit: The First Five Years, the fourth release by Hammerlock to grace our ever humble catalog. As the title would imply, it's a collection of songs culled from the band's first five years of existence and, oddly enough, the CD is made up of tracks from two of my favorite releases from the now out-of-print Man's Ruin catalog. Anywhoo, if our fridge contained some cold Coors in a can I would most certainly tip one or more of them back in honor of this momentous occasion, plus it would cool me down, but since Larry always buys Yuengling Lager in bottles and I drank too much beer at my sister's Memorial Day BBQ, I think I'll have a vodka collins instead. You may choose to celebrate in any way you see fit. And when you're done doing that, you can find more information on this fine release by clicking here or visiting the catalog page.

'til next update,
xo
leslie

I know it was starting to seem like this day would never come - or at least that's how it was starting to seem to Pete, Larry & I - but on this most unholy of new release Tuesdays we are collectively thrilled to be able to unleash Sioux City Pete & The Beggars' debut CD, Necro Blues, on an unsuspecting world. More info. on this fine release - the first SCR project to be rejected by multiple pressing plants (interested parties can scroll down to the 04/18/06 update for more details on that) - can be found here or by visiting the catalog page.

'til next update,
xo
leslie

I don't really have a whole lot of news to report today but I thought you'd all like to know that the remaining copies of The Earaches / Jukebox Zeros split 7" have been added to our humble catalog. Red Eye picked up a bunch for distro as well so they should be appearing in stores near you sometime in June - or at least in stores near you that still sell vinyl. Anywhoo, more info. on this slab o' tour memorabilia can be found here or by visiting the catalog page.

'til next update,
xo
leslie

I just wanted to jump in and offer one final reminder about The Earaches / Jukebox Zeros Two For The Road tour, which kicks off tonight in Seattle at The High Dive with special guests Glorious Day & The Electric Kisses. For those of you who are not in the Seattle area but are located somewhere on the West Coast, there are plenty of other opportunities to see this most rockin combo of rockin' combos over the next two weeks - and, as always, I cordially invite you to visit the shows page for more details.

If you're not located somewhere on the West Coast but are located somewhere in the Philadelphia area, and are looking for something to do tomorrow night, come on out to the North Star Bar where Thee Minks will be playing alongside a whole mess of other bands whose labels are also distributed by our distributor Red Eye USA (essentially it's a showcase, hosted by Red Eye, as part of the Thrilladelphia Festival); further info on this show can also be found on the shows page or by clicking on the poster to the right of this paragraph.

'til next update,
xo
leslie

Guess what everyone - the time has come for our first new release Tuesday of the year. Hooray! That took a while, huh? I concur. I'd give you the explanation of the why and the how of that, but it would just bore you. Instead, let's all join in welcoming the self-titled debut 7" by Whiskey Bitch to our humble roster. Perhaps you're already familliar with this most excellent conglomeration of sleaze rock madness from their appearance on the most recent c14 comp., or their legenadry live shows, or any of the other times I've explained who the band is (see below); or maybe you're not. Either way, more info. on this release can be found here or by visiting the catalog page.

In other SCR news, we had to push the release date of the Sioux City Pete & The Beggars CD back by a few weeks. This in itself isn't all that newsworthy - we've had to rearrange release dates for various projects, for various reasons, in the past - but in this case we had to actually find an alternate pressing plant to handle the job because the booklet was rejected, due to it's "questionable images," by not one but ALL of the vendors the plant we normally run our stuff through use to outsource their printing jobs. A Steel Cage first! (Although I'm sure everyone will try harder in the future.) I'm still not really sure what image or images imparticular were deemed "questionable" but our new friends at Imprint should have finished CDs in our hands in a few weeks and at that point you can all make up your own minds as to what is and is not "questionable."

Speaking of censorship, I had another design related first recently and, once again, it was not in a good way. The poster I did for the impending Two For The Road tour (featuring The Earaches and Jukebox Zeros; visit the shows page for the recently updated confirmed dates) was flagged by My Space and taken down from the Earaches' page. I'm going to refrain from going off on a whole tangent here (Larry, Earaches drummer Steve Jones & I already did that for like a half hour when Steve called to tell us about it) but, seriously, WTF!?! I have posted the original and censored versions here for your viewing enjoyment. (The stars on her breast and ass seemed to pass My Space's oh-so-strict guidelines; or at least, they haven't taken it down yet.) Again, you can make up your own mind as to whether or not the original poster is too racy for web viewing.

'til next update,
xo
leslie

No real news to report today but I did have to update the shows page so I figured I'd jump in and give anyone who actually reads this thing a quick update on our first two releases of this calendar year - both of which feature musicians whose records were among the first we ever released.

First up will be the debut slab o' wax from Whiskey Bitch. The test pressing is due here any day now & I should have the sleeve finished up next week so, assuming all goes well on both of those fronts, we should be on schedule for the release date below. For those of you unfamilliar with this band, they're a Tuscon (by way of LA and Seattle) based rock & roll supergroup featuring, among others, Wendy Lee "Sparkle Plenty" Gadzuk & Downtown Dave Chamillard, founding members of The 440s.

Following that will be the first official CD release by Sioux City Pete & The Beggars. Some of you may know Sioux City Pete from The Chickenhawks or his various solo projects. The Beggars is a whole other animal though and, really, something that needs to be experienced first-hand. The Kommandant mastered this masterpiece of menacing broke down blues the other day & I'm in the process of conjuring up appropriately evil artwork so that is also on track for it's scheduled release.

So there you have it - all the SCR news I can think of to print.

'til next update,
xo
leslie

Hello and welcome to the first official update of 2006. Sorry I haven't updated sooner; there hasn't been much news to report. I do have some news to report today however, and that news is: our ever diligent resident tour booking guy, the Kommandant, has been hard at work hammering out the details of the upcoming Spring '06 West Coast leg of the SCR Cross Country Counter Cultural Exchange Program featuring Seattle's The Earaches & Philly's own Jukebox Zeros. In other words, they're goin' on tour - together! Yay!! Thus I have updated the shows page with the currently confirmed dates. The tour doesn't start until the end of April by the way, so we all have plenty of time to plan accordingly.

'til next update,
xo
leslie