NERDS RECORD STORE

If we think about important places in the hardcore scene in Tokyo, NERDS RECORD STORE in Shibuya is definitely at the top of that list. I believe most people in hardcore community worldwide have already heard about this place somehow.

Established in 2014 via RETRIBUTION NETWORK / ICE GRILL$. The owners are Hiro, who also serves on guitar in legendary Japanese HC band - LOYAL TO THE GRAVE, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (also State Craft and countless other music projects), who has been distributing hardcore music via Retribution, and Mizuki who runs ICE GRILL$, dealing with the pop punk side of things.The shop's main focus is vinyl, but it also has tons of CDs in stock and a good amount of band T-shirts, fan zines etc. But mostly records - all hardcore, punk and also a fair amount of metal and grindcore - everything I personally call a ‘cool spectrum’, otherwise it’s called ‘underground music’. You choose.

The main focus is the new hardcore, basically the best stuff from all over the world. Although there are Japanese releases, worldwide hardcore is what the Japanese people want (they are probably not as obsessed with themselves as we are with them).

You can also find lots of old school classics, but more from the classic 80’s American hardcore era.

I visited the shop for the first time in September 2023. In fact, it was the very first place I went to in Tokyo, as it’s been on my ‘wish list’ forever. During my short stay I got back there to check the new arrivals, but mostly to hang around for a little chat. Guys also had a big stall in the Bloodaxe Festival on 23rd September, and obviously Hiro also played the show with Loyal to the Grave.

Hiro with LOYAL TO THE GRAVE

Running the shop as well as playing in one of the pioneering bands in Japanese hardcore and being involved and supporting lots of tours and shows, Hiro is the man who knows best what’s happening in Japan in their hardcore scene. He is also a super nice guy. 

We agreed that I will put it all into words on my return to London and will send a few follow up questions. 

So here it is:

Hi Hiro, I hope you are good. It was such a pleasure to finally meet you and visit NERDS in person! Do you have lots of foreign people visiting on a daily basis, who purposely come just to see the shop and say hello?

H: Yeah thanks for stopping by the store and some shows as well. It was an honour to meet you last year. Yeah, after covid we have so many visitors from foreign countries daily. 80% of people are from outside of Japan lol. It's a wonder to me but the store has its 10 year anniversary this year so I’m so happy that people know our store and come to stop by.

I know you’ve been releasing music and running distros long before you’ve opened a physical store, could you give us a bit of the history of what led you to open NERDS?

H: Yeah I had my old distro called BLOODAXE COMMUNICATIONS in 1999. We just printed catalogues and sent them to customers and we got orders through phone and fax. We started a web store in ‘06 as RETRIBUTION NETWORK DISTRO. And we released some releases on the label. 

I opened my store in 2014 with Mizuki from ICE GRILL$ who is putting pop punk releases in Japan and organising tours as well.

This was a big challenge in my life. Because I used to work at a company as an office worker. 

But now almost 10 years have passed and I'm having a great time with my job. Now I have RETRIBUTE RECORDS and TOUR also still HARDCORE DISTRO for mail order as well. 25 YEARS STRONG!

I have a feeling that the majority of people in Japan prefer CDs over vinyl. From your perspective, what is the reason for that, purely financial or is there more to it?

H: Yeah I can't believe people will buy CDs in this country. If I sell 100 items of a new album from some bands, 90 copies would be CDs, 8  Vinyl and 2 cassettes. I don't know the reason much because no one buys CDs in the UK or USA right? (only a few collectors still buy cds..) but Vinyl prices are going high in Japan because retail prices over there and also postage, USD/EURO rate in Japan  etc.. This means there is worth to my label and what we are doing now through RETRIBUTE RECORDS. 

Apart from running NERDS full time, what are other projects you are currently involved in?

H: Yeah we have stacked releases in 2024 on my label. The 1st release is DOMAIN. 

We are working with great labels that are very active and popular in the hardcore scene world wide, like Triple-B, DAZE, FLATSPOT, CLOSED CASKET etc... We will announce new releases next week from your England. Also just announced a MOURNING/TEMPLE GUARD Japan tour. We released their full length on my label in 2022/2023 so stoked for this UKHC takeover tour in May. Also I am ready for the new release of my band LOYAL TO THE GRAVE  in a few months. I will be involved in this release as well so we have many plans. And I have a few tours as well. Watch out!

In Japanese hardcore, what would you say are the bands to pay attention to at the moment? Is there an obvious direction things are heading right now?

H: Yeah, the Japan hardcore scene is growing up well! Lots of new bands are playing in the scene and they are organising shows by themselves and releasing material actively. Also older bands are still opening up the scene so we are one in the hardcore scene. VIEW FROM THE SOYUZ, DECASION, TIVE, ALSEID, TRUE FIGHT, UNHOLY11, played on our NERDS FEST and RETRIBUTE TOUR  end of last year. They are doing great as young gunz. Also mighty KRUELTY, GATES OF HOPELESS, NUMB, SAIGAN TERROR, SUPERSTRUCTURE, DOMINATE, BYBO, NERVOUS LIGHT OF SUNDAY... many more haha.

Thank you so much for your time and especially for the hospitality I’ve got in Japan from you and all the HC community. I hope to be back next year and I’ll be definitely hitting NERDS to fill up my luggage with cool records.

You can find NERDS here:

Japan, 〒150-0042 Tokyo, Shibuya City, Udagawacho, 11−11, Ryukou Building, 4F

Me visiting the shop in Sep'23

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