Hammerbox Announcement

Hammerbox Announcement

Hammerbox has always been one of those pivotal bands for me. They were the first NW band that really resonated with me when I moved to Eastern Washington from Southern California in the early 90s. Their songs were dynamic and driven and emotional in a way that just spoke to my angst-ridden heart (I mean, they were a much better band than I’m describing… I was just moody as f**k at 17)

It wasn’t all that long into my high school radio days, that I saw a flyer for the band announcing an upcoming show in town. I got it in my head that I should interview them for my radio show (The Underground – every Friday from 3pm – 6pm)… despite never having done an interview before and not having any equipment to do so.

Undaunted by any of this, I borrowed a micro cassette recorder (you know, the kind REAL journalists used back then) from someone (to this day I cannot remember who… sorry! And thank you!) and enlisted the help of my friends, Chris Baugh and Megan Roberts to join me in making this happen.

And would you believe, sure enough we made it happen. Arms full of merch (and a random micro cassette recorder) as confidently as we could we made our way to the “backstage area” of the Hoedown (which was just about big enough for a couch and not much else) and introduced ourselves to the band and asked to do an interview. They were kind, and gracious and agreeable. And from what memory serves (never did manage to transfer that tape to anything usable), gave a thrilling and charming interview responding to ever-important questions like “so where did the band name come from?”…

…which turns out to be a much more fortuitous answer than could ever have been predicted… the response given was from Dave saying “Oh we had this song called Down In The Hammerbox and we liked it so we just used it” and that answer remained stuck in my head for years.
… now skip to 2017 and there I am rooting around in Carrie’s basement for promo stuff for the Goodness on vinyl campaign and there are a couple of reels sitting there… and one of them is marked “Hammerbox – Down In The Hammerbox, Tragic Static, and Under The Moon (which turns out to be a really cool jazzy version)”

And a conversation with Carrie ensues that’s pretty close to “Hey Carrie, are those songs working titles or you know… song songs?” “Oh those? Those are songs…” “Ooooookay, I’m gonna just take this reel off your hands for a moment or two”…

The reels have been transferred and Latent Print Records is getting ready to release these two great songs, marking the early days of the bands start. Recorded in 1990 but (obviously) haven’t seen the light of day… until now.

Please take a moment to check out our pre-order campaign and help us spread the word if you can.

This band means the world to me and I’m so stoked to be able to share these songs with you.

LPR008 – The Ladybird Unition – 5 Song EP

LPR008 – The Ladybird Unition – 5 Song EP

So way back in December of 1994, The Ladybird Unition recorded a handful of songs. These songs were circulated to a handful of folk and that was about it. Until now. While this release was originally intended to be support the Loudermilk / The Ladybird Unition / Dust Moth shows, seemed to make sense to do our part to help pass the quarantine time some by releasing the EP now, rather than waiting until the shows are rescheduled later this Fall (hopefully)

You can find LPR008 – The Ladybird Unition – 5-Song EP on vinyl over at the Latent Print Records web store (along with hats and shirts too!)

Thank you so much for your support!

Available now:

Western State Hurricanes debut LP announced

Western State Hurricanes debut LP announced

When I started the label, I made a list of five records I was hoping to see on vinyl (and, fingers crossed bands reunited) Now the list has grown since then but, today marks the announcement of the fifth of those original ideas and I’m so excited to announce the pre-order campaign for the Western State Hurricanes
 
I can’t count how many times I played that original demo tape of theirs. And how great I always felt those songs were. And are. Some of them have made the transition into Long Winters tunes but, there’s an angularity and punch to the WSH versions that drive those songs in a completely different way.
 
In my early days of trying to find my way into the Seattle music scene, I recall helping set up a weekend of shows with the Nevada Bachelors, Western State Hurricanes, and Death Cab for Cutieat the OK Hotel and then the following night we repeated the bill, made it all ages and added Jen Wood. That one was at a place that at the time was called the Beatbox (that previous to that I think was an old strip club. I seem to remember a dancer’s pole in the middle of the stage at this show) on Capitol Hill. It was an epic weekend and a testament to just how great the bands in this area could be.
 
The Western State Hurricanes were one of those bands that always had a sort of mythical aura around them. Helping to refocus the Seattle music scene beyond the ideas of what drove people to pay attention to the Northwest in the 90s to begin with. They had a flirtation with Sub Pop Records, a rivalry with The Stranger‘s music editor Everett True, and during the brief time they were active, they captivated anyone and everyone who came across their path.
 
Bo Gilliland, Stephanie Emery, Michael Shilling, and especially John Roderick, have already put in a great deal of effort in bringing these songs back to life and I can’t wait for what comes next. The album will consist of 10 songs, on colored vinyl, and the band has agreed to a couple of reunion shows in February of 2020 to help support release.
 
We’ve put together a great campaign with some excellent reward/perk options for you, should you be so interested.
 
Thank you so much for reading this far and (if you’d be so kind) helping spread the word.
 
Carrie M Akre & Old Friendly Announcement

Carrie M Akre & Old Friendly Announcement

LPR006 is here!

Well, the announcement for it is anyway. A split 7″ between Carrie M Akre & Old Friendly. Both songs are previously unreleased and both songs are fantastic!

Carrie‘s track, “For Kaia” comes from the transitional songwriting period between Hammerbox and Goodness and arguably could be considered the first Goodness song as it features the original line-up of the band with Danny M Newcomb, Eric Akre, Garth Reeves, and Maryellen Cooley. A song about family, support, and love. Have been fantastically in love with this song for so long and am so excited that we’re able to release it and share it with you.

On the Old Friendly side, the band presents a song that marks their first recording since 1997. A brand new track titled “The Speech”. With the line-up consisting of Dean Smith, Craig Woodall, Jon Boetes, Joe Gilmour, and Jim Acquavella this time around, they’ve really crafted an amazing track that is hopefully a sign of more to come 😉

Because we’re always planning, learning, trying to keep things exciting around here, we’ve chosen to forgo the usual pre-order/crowd-sourcing plan for this one and will have it available for sale on the 17th of August at the Tractor Tavern to coincide with Carrie’s CD release show. After that it will be available online and in some of your finer record shops across the land.

As an additional note, for those of you in the Tri-Cities area (or for those of you looking to take a roadtrip, we’re working on a joint release show on Saturday October 19th. You’ll definitely want to mark your calendar for this!

Special thanks to Baiba Rubino of Broken Clock Photography and Olivia Barajas for the photos to help create the covers, Mike Strassburger for the excellent design work, Chris Hanzsek for advice, wisdom, and mastering, and Cravedog, Inc. for helping make this release as awesome as it is.