The Novice debut 7″ out now at www.greennoiserecords.com

The Novice was based in Mito, Japan and were active between April 2010 and August 2012. Members included Jeff Burke of Marked Men/Potential Johns fame, Takahiro Hashimoto and Isao Fujita who have both played in numerous punk bands and Seiko Harada, whose first band was The Novice. Recorded with Fumito Yamazaki from Your Pest Band in April (?) 2012 and Jimbo Kawamata from Firestarter designed the cover.

Jeff Burke is one of the most distinctive singer/songwriters in punk today, and this single will be instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with his work. Short, choppy, fast, catchy buzzsaw pop, with the perfect balance of melody and grit. This is the first and likely the last release under the name The Novice, as Jeff has recently moved back to Texas from Japan, put together a new lineup, and is changing the name.

One time only pressing of 1000, all copies come with download coupon. FIRST 200 ON YELLOW VINYL, available mailorder only

All shows with Hollywood!

4/17 – Baltimore, MD @ Wind Up Space with The Tough Shits
4/18 – Richmond, VA @ Nile with The Shirks, Big No
4/19 – Nashville, TN @ The End with Useless Eaters, JP5
4/20 – Huntsville, AL @ Happenin Fest @ Vertical House Records with Dent May, Useless Eaters,
4/21 – New Orleans, LA @ Siberia with Missing Monuments, Buck Biloxi & The Fucks
4/22 – Tallahassee, FL @ Hidden Hand Repo Man, Space Heaters, and Atomic Dog
4/23 – Orlando, FL @ will’s Pub with Gold Pelicans, Wet Nurse
4/24 – Miami, FL @ Churchill’s with New Coke
4/25 – St. Augustine, FL @ Nobby’s with Post-Teens
4/27 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl – Atlanta Messaround with Parting gifts, The Middle Class, Dwight Twilley
4/28 – Chattanooga, TN @ JJ’s Bohemia

Sugar Stems – Can’t Wait LP out now! First 200 are on gold vinyl and are available via mailorder ONLY (or at Green Noise Records, for those in Portland). Plus, mailorder customers get a free ltd edition poster, while supplies last!

Betsy (The Flips) and Jon (Teenage Rejects, Catholic Boys, Tuff Bananas, Sticks’n’Stones, Rumble) Heibler started the Sugar Stems in the fall of 2007 with bassist Steph Swinney Conard (also of The Flips). The band played its first show in May of 2008, and originally featured Zach Byrne (Goodnight Loving) on guitar. The current lineup was cemented when Drew Fredrichsen (Leg Hounds, Jetty Boys) took over on guitar and backing vocals. The band released its debut single, “Beat Beat Beat” b/w “Crybaby”, on Bachelor Records in 2009 and a year later issued its full-length debut Sweet Songs of the Sugar Stems on Bachelor and Dusty Medical Records. Those of us who’d been long awaiting an heir apparent to The Shivvers and Nikki and the Corvettes literally jumped for joy when we heard Sweet Songs, spending the subsequent months dancing in the streets and angrily rebuking local radio stations for failing to play “I Gotta Know”. If you think it’s a stretch to call said album a modern classic of power pop, you probably haven’t heard it!

The Sugar Stems returned in 2012 with a pair of incredible singles on Certified PR Records that suggested the band had somehow managed to improve upon perfection. It was perfectly appropriate, then, that the title of the band’s long-awaited sophomore album would be Can’t Wait. Released at the tail end of 2012 by Screaming Apple Records (Germany) and Dream On Records (Japan), Can’t Wait now gets an American release on Dirtnap. This terrific LP shows “growth” in all the best ways. Without abandoning its signature honeyed melodies and high-spirited candy pop style, the band has made a more mature and consistent album that’s definitely its best to date. The production has been stepped up another notch, and every song sounds like a hit. If you missed the singles “Greatest Pretender” and “Like I Do”, they’re here in all their infectious glory. But it’s the more melancholy tracks that really showcase Betsy Heibler’s development into one of the finest songwriters working today. Songs like “Make Up Your Mind” and the gorgeous “Love You To Pieces” are steeped in the timeless traditions of Brill Building and British Invasion pop, yet feel entirely fresh in the year 2013. Even when the songs themselves are not exactly happy, there’s something about the Sugar Stems’ music that just makes you feel good. No sophomore jinx here, folks. Can’t Wait was totally worth the wait. Why is this band not huge?! ALL COPIES COME WITH DOWNLOAD COUPON.

Sugar Stems mp3 debut on Spin! LP out next week!

http://www.spin.com/articles/sugar-stems-6-feet-under-cant-wait-dirtnap-song-premiere

Youthbitch is a four piece based out of Portland,OR, but made up of transplants from Illinois, St Louis, and Idaho. Their second LP, ‘Don’t Fuck This Up,’ came out on Jonny Cat Records in August 2012. The Willamette Week called it ‘the best local document of such a sound since the Exploding Hearts’ Guitar Romantic, and it deserves a vaunted spot next to Gentleman Jesse’s self-titled debut in taxonomies of contemporary classics. This is the first time we’ve done a 7″ with an up-and coming local band in years (The Mean Jeans – License 2 Chill 7″ was the last one, in fact). Once you hear this, though, it will be immediately apparent why we broke our long dry-spell. Split release with Jonny Cat Records. All copies come on color vinyl with a download code.