Let me set the stage here for you. I’m standing in a record shop with a bag of cassettes politely trying to explain to a man with a tucked in polo shirt what Baldy Longhair is about. Suffice it to say I wasn’t successful. Defeated I headed back out and on to the next shop. It was a really long walk outta that place and back to my car too. At least that’s how it felt. They can’t all be winners but damn this particular shop owner was pretty blunt with his disgust for… well me I guess. I suppose I wouldn’t be the first punk to feel a little cast aside, put down, misunderstood, disenfranchised, and so forth, but I was really letting it get to me in that moment. As I drove on to the next shop on my list I threw “…Are Healthy” by The Disconnects on my car stereo. Before you knew it my mood started to pick up. Their song Frustration was exactly what I needed to hear. I was ready to give it another shot. The next record shop I hit I went in with renewed vigor. I actually had a good time chatting this owner up. And he even took a bunch of tapes. At one point he told me “If you’ve got the balls to make and sell tapes in this day and age, who am I to turn you down? People say I’m crazy for running a record shop!” The rest of my travels were met with similar ups and downs and ins and outs. But at the end of two straight days of driving around a few shops now have Baldy Longhair tapes on their shelves. And hopefully more will follow. I’m sure of it. Check to see if your local shop carries Baldy tapes. If they don’t and you’d like them to, let us know… or better yet let them know. We’d appreciate it.

I guess the bigger point in the story I just told or at least the one thing I keep coming back to in my head anyway, is that all my life music has been my therapy. Name any emotion you either want to counteract or exacerbate and I’ll give you a tune or twenty to listen to. One of the main reasons for starting this label was a want for spreading the music that I dig and showcasing bands that I like. But on another level I’m hoping that maybe at some point one person that bought one of our tapes throws it on when they’re in a bad place and gets something/anything out of it that makes them feel at least a little better. That’s actually more important to me than the six dollars I got from them. I mean that.

Six months in… four releases under our belts, three more on the way, a ton of positive reviews (many of which you can now find on the fancy new product pages in our webstore), countless shows, new friends, and a positive outlook on the future of the label. Check out all our great current releases by The Disconnects, Through Thorn And Brier, Crazy & The Brains, and St. Sunday. And stay tuned for future releases by Vultures United, The Scandals, and our first vinyl offering… a split 7″ between Crazy & The Brains and The Disconnects that will include a limited run of tapes for the first few people who pre-order. But more on that later.

For now though if you’re feeling down about something sing along with me and The Disconnects…

This is a wake, an involuntary shake-up
When every single day is a struggle just to be who you are
And it’s a cop out , when they label you the wrong crowd
Don’t you ever let them cast you aside or put you up on the shelf
And it might take a little time just to figure it out
But sooner or later you’re gonna find out what it’s all about
I know that you’re laughing down there, I know and I don’t care
Frustration, it’s a daily aggravation and sometimes it might seem
Like there’s no end in sight, like right now
Open your eyes up, and take a look at your surroundings man
Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one who really cares
I know it’s hard man, but you gotta do the best you can
You gotta pick yourself up off the ground, get up and try it again
Have you been put down and kicked around all of your life?
Who are they to tell you what’s wrong and right?
I know that you’re laughing down there, I know and I don’t care
Frustration, I need a permanent vacation
Don’t you hate to see a good man kicked when he’s down?
It’s not you only, everybody gets lonely, sometimes there aint never no such thing
As a second chance, so drink up

But like Beavis and Butthead, tapes are now coming back. And they should. Sometimes things go away and we don’t know why. And when they come back, if they come back, we get nostalgic. But also we start to remember how great they really were. Technology is astounding. I have my iPhone in my hand about 70% of the day. Everything is wireless.  If the internet goes out I get nervous.  Amazing as it all is it’s a little cold. When we were kids we’d often go camping. People do this as a way of getting back to nature. A way to free themselves from modern living. Listening to tapes and vinyl for me is like getting back to nature. Take a deep breath. Soak it all in. Relax. Have a coffee. Have a beer. Have another. Flip sides. Flip em again. Make a mix tape. No not a fucking playlist! A good damn mix tape. It’s more than just a few clicks and drags of a mouse.  It’s an art. Think about the time you have on each side. Think about the order in which the songs should go. Make a rad cover for it. Might take you all day. Might take you all night. But take the time to really consider the music.

Some people might think a tape only label in this day and age is a bad idea. I can’t think of a better one. Really. Cept maybe bringing back Beavis and Butthead. My people…they are without TP. And i’m gonna give it to ‘em.

If you work for any such fine punk establishment hit us up at baldylonghair@gmail.com.

Other than that stay tuned for more new release news in the weeks and months to come (one big one in fact involving carnivorous birds and women). And please come out and see some of the bands working with us when they play your area.

You know how many forms of ID you need to get a PO Box? Two.  And a Passport only counts as one.  This is more information than you need to get paid on a new job, and slightly less than to get a drivers license.  I don’t know why but this fascinates me.

So the point is this… send me some demos and I’ll surely listen to em.  Send us an SASE and we’ll send you some stickers.  Send us a postcard from your next vacation if the mood strikes ye.  Send us a creepy and inappropriate love letter if you wish… but please no fatties.

So far it’s been pretty easy on me.  Scribbling ideas on pieces of paper at work and on the train.  Going to shows and drinking beers with the Baldy bands.  Contacting vendors and laying the groundwork.  The real heavy lifting of course is being done by the bands themselves.  I’ve been lucky enough that all the guys I’ve been dealing with are all driven and talented.  A few of them have gotten me some of their tracks and all I can say is that I’m soooo majorly stoked to have been given the opportunity to put their stuff out on such an amazing format.

Finally a huge debt of thanks is owed to one dr. julio kikujiro kim.  A friend for many years that I’ve been on a many punk rock adventures with that also believed in me enough to throw down some funds to make Baldy happen.  I can’t even begin the think of all the tapes we swapped in high school and all the shows we went too and all the fun we had.

Be sure to check back with this blog often for more news, announcements, and goings on in the baldy universe.  I’ll try and keep ya’ll posted every step of the way with how and why I’m doing what I’m doing.