Still Alive!

How do everyone? Just a quick post to let you know that hence the fact i haven't updated anything on this blog for over half a year doesn't mean i am sitting under palm trees and drink cocktails out of coconuts (well, i wish) ... life's been way too much of a struggle getting everything of my "to do" lists and theres plenty of news coming soon here for the blog folks who actually read this...

i do not really recover from the latest events (see post below) and financially it's more than gloomy but i try to manage. theres the NEW SHOP (coming soon!), VICIOUS IRENE LP and MAKILADORAS LP (yeah, still not off the list) and CROSS STITCHED EYES gonna release their second LP "Decomposition" on Alternative Tentacles (USA/UK/ASIA) and Skuld Releases (Europe) as well as a CROSS STITCHED EYES European Tour for the late summer...

I soon gonna distribute Alternative Tentacles titles WHOLESALE and MAILORDER for the "crate kids" and distro people... so, hopefully i gonna get my ass sorted again and post more here soon.

Stay tuned and stay Punk (not Rock!)

AN UPDATE ABOUT CURRENT EVENTS...

Hi there!
To cut a long story short, after coming back from the Punk Illegal festival end of June my computer decided to go on "full strike" (which sometimes ain't too bad in other contexts) ... This means I had no proper access to (older) emails and programs I use to process the orders (invoices, shipping etc). To say it was a catastrophy ain't too much of an exaggeration and I had to struggle with the fact that my Apple G5 calls it a day. Using my older Models (G3 and, thanks to Conny, a G4) doesn't really do the trick since not all of my programs are compatible with these older models.

Working here is at the moment no fun at all and I currently don't have enough money to buy a new one, so I might be a bit slow with answering emails. Apologies for that.

ZOUNDS, was another pain in the ass, since I got a letter from the GEMA (German Copyright Wank) stating that the British labels CHERRY RED and COOKING VINYL claim license fees upon the ZOUNDS back catalogue. A mere €1300 has to be paid in cash (of course). Noone in the band informed me about this fact and their reaction was pretty much another downer since they don't see it as their problem, despite the fact that we arranged it as a fair, copyright free deal... - Fact is that I sold the Double LP way too cheap now (especially wholesale) but what can you do? I believed their DIY ethics were still valid but i can't see this anymore really.
The record will stay available until we (Mero and me) run out of sleeves and then we might call it a day.

There has been some long waiting slots for people who ordered the SJU SVÅRA ÅR - Storma Varje Hjärta LP and THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL / ICON OF EVIL - Split. LP. - Both records were supposed to arrive on time but sometimes things don't work out as smooth as they should and to this day neither of the records arrived here. Apologies again to everyone who waited. I throw in a couple of free stuff to make it a bit less painfull. Both records are now set as "Not Available", but keep an eye on the webshop, at some point  they will show up here. Maybe even today...

Speaking of "Webshop" ... to avoid troubles with non-functioning computer programs, I finally decided to set up a new online catalog with todays functional standards and all that riff raff that comes with it; "Customer" Accounts, Tracking orders, Tracking Stocks etc.  Thanks to Sandra - and my alter ego - helping with editing, the whole new engine should be up and running within the next few months. It is more than a relief to finally be getting some help with the distribution and label issues. So you might hear from both of us in order to deal with Mailorder stuff soon.

If you have interest and time, please fill in your name and contact details here: http://ruinnation.org/catalog/create_account.php?language=en&

It will save us from the hassle of moving the 2000+ address files and you will receive some extra email with specials and limited free stuff.  === > > NOTE: the "Birth of Date" format on the English version needs to be MM/DD/YYYY not as stated there... Dunno how to fix this bug yet but I work on it. Thanks :)

Finally... August, September and October will bring a bit of uproar here. I gonna move to a new house as well as go on tour with CROSS STITCHED EYES in the US/Eastcoast - second attempt (see BLOG) ... Tour goes on from the 5th of September until 3rd of October. Make sure your order come in before the 31st of August and check out the Website AND the Blog for updates on the moving plans and actions!

Cash is running very low here due to all the current and upcoming troubles (see above) and keeping RUIN NATION as a non-profit organisation is harder than ever before. I don't want to argue about business terms and rising prices and joining any more capitalist structures than I've already been forced to do. But, any order helps a lot at the moment and encourage friends ordering from RUIN NATION helps even more. I hope to buy a new computer as soon as possible and I won't mention how much I would like to release the MAKILADORAS LP within the coming three months, but have to pay off my ZOUNDS account now first. Sorry for that...stooopid.

 OK, that's it for now. Keep an eye on BLOG and WEBSITE for news and check out the new stuff listed below... Cheers,
 Stevie

CROSS STITCHED EYES - EAST COAST / CANADA TOUR 2011 CANCELLED !!!

North East USA and Eastern Canada TOUR May 2011

CANCELLED!!!

We're very sad to announce that the planned East US / Canada Tour will NOT happen this time round due the fact that another Band Member won't make it into the country due Visa Problems and slow processing of passport issues from the british embassy.

Due the fact that already Kris (Guitar) can't make it and now also the second guitar is not available for the Tour it makes no sense and we can't afford to book another Flight on such a short term to make it happen.

We had everything set up, thanks to Greg Daly who is an awesome person and hopefully will help us in future Tours.
Also thanks to Rooster of Nightgaunt Graphics, who provided all the merch in advance. If you want to get one of the fancy Cross Stitched Eyes Tour shirts... click here:

http://store.nightgauntgraphics.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_414

Any T Shirt order would help us a bit getting the debts down...

We will try to postpone the Tour to September 2011 and will post a proper statement ASAP.
We also recorded a new full lengh that might be ready by then.
We're really sorry for this, hopefully see you soon...

Cross Stitched Eyes, April 27th , 2011

GENERAL NEWS... (Edited!)

Hey there...

Seems like summer is coming quite early this year in germoney and it provides a lot of Festivals, Tours and Vegan BBQ sessions (i hope!) - I updated the Tour Section of the Ruin Nation Website, so if you have the chance check out the upcoming tours from such great and amazing acts like: SUMMON THE CROWS, VICIOUS IRENE, VISIONS OF WAR and JUGGLING JUGULARS and many more to come during the next three months. A frequendly updated Version is available here on the BLOG as well.

Go to: Tours Summer 2011.

A bit of a downer is the new MAKILADORAS Niemandsland MLP has to wait until i am back from the C.S.E. Tour in June. There was NO CHANCE in a million to have it out before due some trouble with the printed innersleeve. Many apologies for this (again) and i promise to have it out next. Inserts and Stickers are printed already and look great. - All PRE ORDERS will leave house first and if you want your other ordered items first, let me know and i change your order to the available items and send it out straight when back from Tour.

It's all not very tempting and this further delay pisses me off as much as you but getting along with the size and capacity Ruin Nation has become ain't too much of an easy job for just a one person operation.

Ruin Nation is in it's 18th Year now. Still going with the odd old values being not for profit but for delivering thoughts and ideas wrapped in paper or music out to the kids... Ruin Nation is official due the fact that it's too big to be undercover... Ruin Nation requires alot of work every day aside of the other activities i'm involved with. So, thanks for being patience and still supporting Ruin Nation you know it's highly appreciated and i will continiue a mere 18 Years (i hope) until we finally smashed the capitalist monster and gain back our lives.

Last but not least, there's a new VICIOUS IRENE LP and a new JUGGLING JUGULARS LP in the pipeline. The latter one is by far the most energetic i ever heard from them and being old friends i am uber happy to work with em again after so many years.

Ok, so far , see you :)   -Steve.