First repress of “Courage” by Help is coming!
Out this May via Three One G/Overdrive Records
The LP is getting an exclusive reissue, just in time for the European run of the band with Whores.
Three One G (US) and Overdrive Records (IT) announce the first European exclusive repress of “Courage” by Help. This joining of forces established a new collaboration across the Atlantic between the two music labels. This repress of the double EP album, containing “Courage” EP and the self-titled EP released in 2019, will be out on 16th May 2025, pre-order is up now.
Help’s EP “Courage” is centered around heartbreak and pain. Progress as a series of fresh new hells. Hoping that it is better to be in love than to be right, while enduring the apparent absence of both love and coherence in American culture. The short version of the story of this record is that both Ryan and Bim’s lives were exploding and falling apart. Okay, okay, it’s a breakup album. Their vulnerability in these songs became necessary for their survival. Though deeply personal, these songs are meant as an invitation for others to feel and hurt freely. After all, this may be one of the last freedoms we get to enjoy in this crumbled world. Courage. In the face of hopelessness, in the face of everyone pretending anything is fine, in the face of the end of things meant to last and last. Courage. For the band, Courage is a step towards a broader sound and an experiment in honesty over security. Their focus in all they do: Remove fear from decision making. Act in defiant joy. Refuse to dominate others. Do not hoard the gifts of the universe. Remember: the future is uncertain. Ends don’t justify means. Solidarity now. If the goal is growth, success is an ending. War and love are forms of death. This record is an example of the destructive nature of growth: on the planet, on the human spirit, on our ability to hold on.
This album includes the EP “Courage” and the self-titled EP released in 2019, available for the first time on vinyl in the first press of this release.
Portland’s Help is the frenzied sound of a broken and collapsing society. In a world beset with anti-human reactions to daily struggles, Help responds with ways to dismantle evil machines and systems. It is this pro-human mindset that brought Help band-mates Ryan Neighbors (Guitar/vocals), Morty (bass), and Bim Ditson (drums) together. All three had spent the last decade or so in other, perhaps more restrained, bands: And And And, Neighbors, Portugal, The Man and the electronic project Hustle and Drone. With Help, they are retrieving punk roots each member put aside in their teens. They are ripping the seams back open to see what’s really inside. “Everyone is angry,” says Neighbors, “Make some art about it.” Help is the band Portland needs right now. Fuck it, it’s the band the whole world could use a heavy dose of if we want to climb out of the dark ages of greed and into the next century of mutual aid and collaborative self-directed communities of creativity.
Courage was recorded at Hallowed Halls studio in their hometown of Portland with producer Sonny DiPerri (Portugal. The Man, Animal Collective, Protomartyr, Emma Ruth Rundle). The Three One G/Overdrive Records European exclusive repress will be available on two limited edition color vinyl (Splatter and Clear Yellow), pre-orders up on April 7th via www.over-drive.it, out on 16th May.
PRE -ORDER NOW
The band will be touring Europe with Whores this spring:
01.05.2025 DE Leipzig Soltmann
02.05.2025 PL Poznan Pod Minoga
03.05.2025 PL Warsaw Hydrozagadka
04.05.2025 LT Vilnius Sodas 2123
06.05.2025 ES Tallinn Paavli Kultuurivabrik
07.05.2025 FI Helsinki Kuudes Linja
09.05.2025 SW Stockholm Hus 7
10.05.2025 NO Oslo Desertfest
11.05.2025 SW Gothenburg Monument
14.05.2025 DE Berlin Neue Zukunft
15.05.2025 DE Hamburg Stubnitz
16.05.2025 NL Nijmegen Sonic Whip / Doornroosje
17.05.2025 BE Bruxelles Magasin 4
18.05.2025 FR Savigny le Temple L’Empreinte
20.05.2025 UK London New Cross inn
21.05.2025 UK Bristol The Exchange
22.05.2025 UK Manchester The White Hotel
23.05.2025 UK Glasgow Cathouse
24.05.2025 UK Edinburgh The Hive
26.05.2025 FR Lille Aéronef
27.05.2025 FR Nantes Cold Crash
28.05.2025 FR Pau La Ferronnerie
30.05.2025 SP Madrid Wurlitzer Ballroom
31.05.2025 SP Barcelona Upload
01.06.2025 FR Toulouse Le Rex
02.06.2025 FR Lyon Warmaudio
04.06.2025 IT Bologna Freak out
05.06.2025 CR Zagreb Klub Močvara
06.06.2025 HU Budapest A38
07.06.2025 AT Linz Kapu
HELP – Courage EP (w/ bonus Self-titled EP)
Previous press about this release
“The best new punk band on Earth — or, at least, recently voted best new band in Portland, Oregon — is made up of three veterans of Portland’s well-known indie-pop/rock scene. They’re called Help, and when they tear into one of their throat-shredding, veins-bulging, shirt-soaking hardcore songs, they tend to elicit widened eyes from even their closest friends.”
—Kerrang!
“…jolting slices of post-punk menace, allowing the songs to build upon themselves before being destroyed in a sort of existential cleansing.”
—New Noise Magazine
“In an era of mounting social anxiety, ever increasing political divide, and palpable hopelessness permeating even the most resilient of circles, ‘2053’ urgently calls for a carving out of time and space in which to experience and express collective despair.”
—ELEVEN PDX
