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Goodbye Boozy Records: Cult-adored Italian DIY punk label finally join the digital age
Goodbye Boozy Records is a small, no-nonsense, DIY punk label from Teramo, Italy. Ever since 1999 they've been blasting up the punk-garage scene with their ferocious brand of uncompromising music; crude, minimal art, lo-fidelity and limited vinyl pressings that look and sound like they were cut by hand by one-man legend and sole proprietor, Gabriele Di Gregorio.
You might not know this, but the first-ever piece of music that Gabriele ever released was on a Compact Disc. "Yes, indeed, the first thing I put out was a CD named "Sprut" and that was in 1995," said Gabriele. "A few years after, Tzadik Records made a re-press of this CD as part of its composer series adding other songs under the title guise, Giustino di Gregorio."
Later, he put out four cassettes of wild and weird Italian garage-punk bands from 1996-1998 and then started to format his craft solely around 7" vinyl singles and EP's and the first-ever "official" release on Goodbye Boozy Records were from The Whittingtons in 1999.
"The music I love most is the American traditional music and after that first 7", I put out many other records mostly by North American acts." said, Gabriele.
Over the next few years, Goodbye Boozy and Gabriele would churn out 7" vinyl releases from BBQ (Mark Sultan), Royal Routes, Night Terrors, Gazelles!, King Khan & His Lonesome Guitar, Pindrivers, The Milky Ways, Monitors, The Cheating Hearts, The Suppressors, Choyce, Cocobeurre/Chocolat, Charlie & the Moonhearts, Autodramatics, Thee B-Sides, Red Mass, Useless Eaters, Okie Dokie, Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin, James Arthur, Broken Jugs and Broke Down Engine.
During this time he developed a loyal, die-hard worldwide fan base that held himself and his label in the highest esteem. GB's crude and simple way of pressing up classically themed, short-run copies organically grew into the much-storied punk rock institution it is today. Pretty soon, every punk and garage-rock band in the world (worth a toss) were getting lined up to release their super-limited collector wares that would often sell out within a few week's time. New bands from 'down under' started to dominate Gabriele's focus; Gee Tee, Drunk Mums, Aborted Tortoise, Ausmuteants, The Cavemen, The Wet Blankets, Sulphur Lights, amongst many others.
As digital and streaming services started to roll over traditional means of collecting and consuming music, Goodbye Boozy made a point of not conforming to adapting to any of that technology as a release format. However, at the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Goodbye Boozy finally made a much-welcomed leap of faith to Bandcamp where they have begun to digitally curate their impressive back catalog of 180+ releases.
So, whilst you wait ( like we have) for that new package of records from Italy to finally get out of 'postal quarantine', you can jump on over to "Goodbye Boozy Digital" and grab a quick fix for your pain.
