December was hectic. But Piebald’s Travis Shettel sent over a video, and some things are worth revisiting regardless of the calendar.
In it, Travis offers a brief tour of late-90s Boston as his band actually lived it. Aaron zipping around Allston on a scooter, delivering pizzas for Inbound Pizza. Andy juggling shifts at Newberry Comics with coursework at the New England School of Photography. John at Boston College, Laura already in his life. Travis himself pulling hours at Big Burrito while attending UMass Boston. “RIP Big Burrito, that place was magical,” he says, with genuine conviction. “The late 90s in Boston wouldn’t have been the same without it.”
The occasion for all of this: Iodine Recordings released a deluxe reissue of “If It Weren’t for Venetian Blinds, It Would Be Curtains for Us All” on December 9th — Piebald’s 1999 album, originally out on Big Wheel Recreation, back on vinyl for the first time since its original pressing. The album had been reissued digitally in 2016, but the vinyl had been out of print ever since. That’s been remedied.
Worth noting that this year Piebald turns 30, and the band has been doing the reissue work properly — “We Are The Only Friends We Have,” their following record, has also been getting the treatment, with Travis reflecting on that era: “We were at the crossroads of no longer being musical beginners, yet still young enough to be brash, bold, and free from real adulthood and music rules. We knew we had made our best and certainly most ambitious work to date; from songwriting to production to layout. Friends certainly changed Piebald from a passionate hobby to a personal lifestyle for the four of us.”
But back to “Venetian Blinds.” Piebald came out of the Merrimack Valley scene alongside Converge and Cave In, and this record caught them mid-pivot — hardcore roots giving way to something that resisted easy categorization, running on hook-driven songwriting and equal parts sincerity and satire. Witty, heartfelt, and genuinely hard to pin down. The kind of record people still call one of their favorites.
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The remaster was done by Jack Shirley (Joyce Manor, Quicksand) at The Atomic Garden. The original was recorded by Dean Baltulonis at Impact Studios in Gloucester, MA, mixed and edited by Baltulonis and the band, and mastered at 9West Mastering in Marlboro, MA.
Artwork was reconstructed from original source materials and photos — original design by Tony Leone, 2025 layout by Jeff Caudill — with studio photography by Bryan Sheffield and tour shots by Ezra Ace, Rama Mayo, Jeremy Michael Weiss, and Erik Zimmermann. Retrospective commentary written by the band is included. Project management handled by Casey Horrigan and Jessie Maas. This is Iodine Recordings number eighty-two.
The deluxe 2xLP adds 12 bonus tracks in a gatefold package — the lost God City Demos, remixed by Kurt Ballou, plus live recordings.
Vinyl variants include the Karma Blue Smash Deluxe 2xLP and the Sea/Orchid Splatter (Friends & Family variant, already sold out). A blue/white thunderbolts variant limited to 100 copies is also available. Merch — Melvin Tee, Jolly Roger Tee, Venetian Blinds Tee, and a Jolly Roger Hoodie — is up in the webstore.
Piebald will play Boston’s Roadrunner on March 26th alongside The Format and Adult Mom.
And while we’re here: the band has also announced “Tales For The Rages,” their first new album in 15 years. Thirteen tracks of emo-adjacent indie rock written and recorded between 2019 and 2025, tracked by longtime collaborator Doug Batchelder, mixed by Jay Maas (Title Fight, Citizen), and mastered by Jack Shirley.
A new single, “Still On The Couch,” is out now. Travis on it: “Even when we are in our own homes, in the comfort of our supposedly personal surroundings, we are being fed propaganda to buy products and ideas that we are told will bring us happiness or freedom. We don’t buy it!”
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“Tales For The Rages” is available for pre-order now via Deathwish Inc. (US), Evil Greed (EU), Devil Dog Distro (UK), and Imprint Merch (AU).
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