Welcome to a new era
When I first started Pressing On, I had been travelling a bit more, often back and forth between the US and back to Toronto, and was booking more shows and often hosting bands at my apartment. After Faith/Void had closed I felt that Toronto was lacking a place to people to pick up physical releases from current punk, hardcore, and adjacent bands. I rarely saw people with a distro or selling tapes or records at shows. My goal was to grab tapes and records from friends' bands and labels and distribute them here. I'd often get records in person from labels like Unlawful Assembly, 11PM (Before Patrick was based in Toronto), and Chicago Research. I'm not a store, and getting large enough quantities to reach wholesale rate wasn't in my scope, but occasionally I'd splurge on some releases I believe in or felt special connection to (like MURO, or the VIOLENT CHRISTIANS 7" on Roachleg). Soon after starting, 2020 hit and the idea of selling records in person at shows was lost, but did create new ideas for the project. I had heard THE ANNIHILATED's Demo and wanted copies for the distro. Knowing it'd be cost-prohibitive to get copies shipped to Canada, I offered to do a Canadian version of the tape. I don't think of Pressing On too much as a label, but I have used it to release a few things I heard along the way that I wanted to give attention to, and as a means of releasing my own music. While I had intended to mostly just sell tapes and records at shows, those largely weren't happening. Typical stores seemed difficult to manage with low stock numbers, so I operated by posting about new acquisitions on social media and taking emails & direct messages to arrange payment and shipping, punk-post, or local pick-up. I'd like to divest from corporate-owned platforms as a means of cataloguing titles I have available. The first ways that I bought punk tapes and records (aside from the titles my local store would carry) were in-person distros, or ones online that ran much like this. A lot has changed since I started the project; for instance, Toronto has a punk-specific record store again, where I happen to work, but I do feel compelled to still give focus to bands and labels that might not get it otherwise. Maybe bands that self-release or smaller labels that aren't available through distributers we use at my work, for instance. To give spotlight to bands from my hometown made up of younger people keeping their scene alive. Or as a means of releasing and distributing my own music at the page and urgency I want, rather than hoping a label will do it for me. Maybe I'll include image on this site eventually. You can watch here for updates about new items. I've included links and ways to listen to all the music I've had a part in releasing, and a page of some links to some other punk-related projects that I believe in. Take care, fuck ICE fuck Isreal fuck the USA ACAB.