The Blood Brothers Announce 'Burn, Piano Island, Burn' 20th Anniversary Limited Collectors Edition

Seattle post-hardcore provocateurs The Blood Brothers are commemorating the 20th anniversary of their seminal album Burn, Piano Island, Burn with a special re-issue out on October 6th.  

The 20th Anniversary Limited Collector’s Edition package includes the album on exclusive colored vinyl, “Ambulance vs. Ambulance” 7 inch, and expanded 32-page booklet with new liner notes and photos. The Epitaph webstore is offering a yellow, black and pink color-in-color variant (800 pressed), while BrooklynVegan will carry a yellow & pink half and half version (500 pressed). At official retailers, you can find yellow with pink & black splatter (2,600 worldwide).

Reflecting on the occasion, vocalist Jordan Blilie muses: “Listening to these songs twenty years later, I hear the sound of youth; of the world opening up. It's unbridled, it's overwhelming, and it's relentless. None of it should've worked, and honestly, some of it doesn't. But I'm proud of it for those exact reasons. That we stood there on the precipice, gazing into the unknown, and dove face first.”

Produced by Ross Robinson (The Cure, At The Drive In, Glassjaw) Burn, Piano Island, Burn is “a record that both sharpens and accentuates the group’s sassy and discordant take on visceral post-hardcore" according to BrooklynVegan. Clocking in at just under an hour, Punk News claimed, “This album has such raw intensity, such passionate vocals, such spastic melodies that...well you won't be able to stop yourself from jumping up and dancing around screaming like an idiot along with the words.”

From 1997 to 2007, The Blood Brothers’ “molotov mixture of suburb surrealism and sonic extremity” (Alternative Press) rocked and riveted critics and fans around the world. Formed in the suburbs of Seattle, the dueling singers Johnny Whitney and Jordan Blilie along with Cody Votolato (guitar), Morgan Henderson (bass) and Mark Gajadhar (drums) crafted a unique style of convulsive, groundbreaking hardcore that was quickly embraced by critics and fans of punk, hardcore and indie rock.

Over their ten years in existence the quintet released five critically acclaimed studio albums (four of which Epitaph has re-issued), including Burn, Piano Island, Burn, Crimes, and Young Machetes. Having moved on to other projects as diverse as Jaguar Love, Past Lives, Fleet Foxes and Head Wound City, The Blood Brothers called it quits at their creative peak, leaving behind a catalog the helped define a genre and continues to influence bands around the world.

Photo Credit: Robin Laananen