LONDON RIOT FIRES BURN BASICK RECORDS WAREHOUSE TO THE GROUND

[UPDATE, 11:15am EDT: An official statement by Basick sent exclusively to MetalSucks follows.]

As far as I know Basick has some of its international stock housed there but at the moment we’re trying to find out what the extent of the damage is from the distributors. What we do know is that a MASSIVE amount of UK independent music labels are affected by this.

The hope is that the distro have shipped most of the stock out of the country already but again, at the moment we’re still trying to find out exactly what the situation is. Sorry we have no more details at this time.

Original post:

The riots that have been blazing on in London since Saturday night following the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan by police have suddenly hit a lot closer to home for metalheads worldwide: the Sony DADC warehouse that served as an international distribution center for PIAS, including Basick Records and a number of other independent record labels, has been completely burned to the ground and all their physical stock been destroyed. Basick Records is the home of Aliases, The Arusha Accord, Chimp Spanner, Circles, Monuments and several other metal bands. The devastating blaze has been confirmed on Basick’s Facebook page.

I’m horrified by what’s going on in London, and I can’t say I understand it. Violence and arson are not the answer. The widespread fires and looting seem to affect mom and pop stores and small companies more than anyone else, destroying the very communities the protesters are supposedly fighting for.

Best of luck to Basick and all the other affected labels with picking up and starting anew. We hope no one was harmed in blaze. From what I can gather this fire affected only international stock, not what’s kept to sell within the U.K., but it’s still a huge loss.

Chime in with your thoughts on the London riots below.

-VN

Thanks: Luke Friebel