When I first started renovating the building that became Bridge Nine’s record store and HQ in Beverly, Massachusetts, I wanted to make a place where cool things could happen. It wasn’t going to just be a record label office, we’d already had that for over 25 years in a succession of spaces, starting in a bedroom and an evolving in a series of warehouses, each bigger than the next. They had their own character and let us work on records and mail them to people, but we were hidden away, hard to find, and unable to be a space where our community could gather and grow. By the time the pandemic started, I wanted something that fostered connection. And 2024 showed that we have become that space and so much more.
Bridge Nine is a record label first and foremost, so finding and supporting artists that inspire us is our most important role. We were excited to invite HEAVYHEX onto the label and support them with the release of their debut album, True To You, recorded by Jay Maas (Defeater, Love Letter).
We were also proud to get new pressings of Ceremony’s Rohnert Park (in time for their insane show at the Hollywood Palladium where they played the album front to back; the DYS Brotherhood LP (on green!); and Have Heart’s The Things We Carry and Songs To Scream at the Sun albums in time for their reunion shows this summer!
We were also happy to collaborate with our friends at Blackout!, Iodine Recordings and Trust Records to release Bridge Nine exclusive color vinyl pressings for a half-dozen albums for bands that we dig like S.S. Decontrol, Love Letter, B9 alums Crime In Stereo, Further Seems Forever, Stretch Armstrong, and coming very soon: Piebald!
We also celebrated the release of new books by our favorite artists: Matt Pryor (The Get Up Kids), Ray Cappo (Shelter, Youth of Today), Vinnie Stigma, and Roger Miret (Agnostic Front):
and invited a whole bunch of great artists to exhibit throughout the year, like Alyssa Watters, Lori Dawn, Mike Gallo, Christopher Michon / Failed Imagineer, Timmy Tanker, Alyssa Driscoll, and Meesh Dumas / Bold, Old, and Gold!
We partnered with The Vegan Market THREE times throughout the year, and packed our warehouse (and in August, the street next to our building) with delicious vegan food vendors:
The Vegan Market: August 2024 Edition
We also turned the B9 warehouse into a movie theater for two film premieres: Don’t Forget To Leave (about Tim Landers of the band Transit) and Join Or Die, about the importance of being an active part of your community!
Frank Turner cameo in the film Don’t Forget To Leave about Tim Landers of the band Transit
But the thing that got us the most excited, was to invite some of our favorite bands to perform the most intimate of sets in the B9 warehouse. HEAVYHEX celebrated the release of their new album on B9 back in May with their friends The Promised End and Spite House:
HEAVYHEX Live at Bridge Nine. Photo courtesy of Dom DiNardo
another highlight was having Calling Hours (ex-Farside) perform our two-year anniversary of the store being open show:
Calling Hours performing live at Bridge Nine on September 14th, 2024. Photo by Chris Wrenn
But the absolute banger, the “how are we going to top this” event was NYHC-pioneers Agnostic Front performing live as part of the release of Roger and Vinne’s new books:
Agnostic Front performing live at Bridge Nine Records on December 7th, 2024. Photo by Dave Boccio.
with a special half-New York, half-Boston AF lineup that featured Mark McKay (Slapshot) on drums and Jaime Sciarappa (SSD) on bass with Chris Foley (SSD) hopping on the drums for a cover of S.S. Decontrol’s song “Glue,” and Eugene Hutz (Gogol Bordello) helping Vinnie sing “Power.”
Also special shoutouts to Lenny Lashley, Keith Bennet, Smooth Brain, 5Ever, Return Address, Hyber, and Marley Brown for their special performances at B9 this year!
We want to extend a special thank you to Larry Kelley, Katherine Wrenn, Chris Padgett, Katie at Soy Much Brighter, Crystal Rose, and everyone who has made these events happen. We dreamed of a space where we could do stuff like this, and it’s become our reality. We’ve got a TON of things in the works for 2025, so make sure to keep up with what we’re doing and be a part of it!
Chris Wrenn
B9
