The time has finally come to announce this little ditty that we have been working on and rushed as fast as we could to coincide with their US tour together… Our neighbors from the North…The Flatliners along with our brothers from Austria…Astpai. This split 7” was originally released ONLY in Europe (250 copies) on Laser Life Records. Welcome to the family. We have some surprises for you NJ!
Let me give you the full story behind this record:
We here in the Panic State camp have known The Flatliners since the release of the first LP - Destroy to Create back in 2004 when they opened for Catch 22 on their Canadian tour. Since then, we have not only been fans but we are proud to call them friends.
When they released of “Cavalcade” we were finally in the position to put our more records so I have been trying (hounding - thanks for not telling me to fuck off) to get a Flatliners record out on our label and welcome them to the family. While the Flats were in Australia, Chris sent me a message asking me if we would be interested in releasing the split EP with ASTPAI that was only available in Europe on their tour together back in 2011 to coincide with their US East Coast tour together this year. We didn’t jump, we fucking leaped and rushed to get this thing out.
Chris got me in touch with Toni (Astpai) and we worked hard to get the files and artwork together with literally DAYS to spare. Toni had people retrieve the files for him from his computer because they were on tour in Europe with Smoke or Fire. Long story short, we got the files, updated the art work (Thanks to the rad Peter Wonsowski) and Zak Kaplan @ Pirates Press came through clutch as always and took care of us.
The result is a beautiful piece of wax with rad artwork and killer fucking songs. The Flatliners cover Astpai’s “Southwards” (from Heart to Grow) while Astpai tackle “Meanwhile, in Hell,” from The Flatliners’ full-length The Great Awake.
***ONLY AVAILABLE UNTIL MAY 4!!! Once we stop selling, we will print them for you. These are one of a kind and never to be printed again. They will ship 1-2 weeks after May 4th) ***
We here at Panic State are always on the look out for those in need and when we heard about and watched while glued to our TV/Computer/Phone screens the events that unfolded on April 15, we were sickened that people could do these heinous and thoughtless things to other human beings, especially in Boston. We may be from New Jersey but we consider Boston our second home and much of our extended “family” are from Boston (Lenny Lashley, Darkbuster, Bosstones, Big D, A Wilhelm Scream (new bedford but close enough) to just name a few), we knew we had to do something.
When we but the shirt together for Hurricane Sandy Relief and the Restore the Shore movement, we didnt know how big it would be, how much attention we would get or how much people all over the world would actually give a shit. But they did. The response was amazing and humbling. While this disaster cannot be compared to the tragedy in Boston, our response and feeling of responsibility must be the same. We will do what we can for you, our family.
100% of all proceeds will be donated to the One Fund to help those hurt/recovering after the disgusting and sickening acts on April 15, 2013.
BTW- I am a die hard Celtics fan so too bad. Knicks are gone in the first round….
