Mike Park's The Bruce Lee Band Returns with Politically-charged Song "Division In The Heartland" from New Album/EP (Asian Man Records)
The Bruce Lee Band is a long-standing Ska/Punk band from the mind of Asian Man Records' founder and former Skankin' Pickle sax player Mike "Bruce Lee" Park. Since his time spent with Skankin' Pickle between about 1989-97, Park has spent time playing with The Chinkees, KEMURI, Kitty Kat Fan Club, Maguma Taishi, Ogikubo Station, and one-off Shaken 69. The Bruce Lee Band's various iterations through the years have all primarily featured Mike Park, along with various bands acting as his backing band, including Less Than Jake, RX Bandits, and Death Rosenstock. Thus, the most recent line-up of The Bruce Lee Band consists of Mike Park, along with Jeff Rosenstock, Dan Potthast & Kevin "The Guch" Higuchi. In 2019, The Bruce Lee Band returned with their first proper release since 2014's Everything Will Be Alright, My Friend, a 12-inch/digital EP entitled Rental!! Eviction!!
For Asian Man Records' release, Rental!! Eviction!! was exclusively packaged along with The Bruce Lee Band's long out-of-print 2014 EP, Community Support Group, as one cohesive compilation-style LP. Last night, The Bruce Lee Band returned unexpectedly with a brand new politically-motivated song called "Division In The Heartland." It comes along with the announcement of what appears to be a new Bruce Lee Band album (or EP?) of the same name, Division In The Heartland, to be released on Asian Man Records this May. "When writing the songs for the new Bruce Lee Band album, I was dealing with anxiety, anger, stress, sadness, [and] hopelessness (still am.) And, now, after being in the fetal position of sadness this past week, I, again, turn to music to bring me out of this rut. These songs were like therapy for me. A chance to yell and play music with friends during a pandemic was more healing than one could ever imagine," Mike Park shared within an emotionally-driven Facebook post last night.
"I'm not sorry for being political. But I want healing and unity. Will that ever happen in my lifetime? With all my heart, I hope so. The new record is called DIVISION IN THE HEARTLAND. The album will be out on May 28th. For now, here's the title track, "Division In The Heartland." All proceeds go to: STOPAAPIHATE.ORG," Park continued. Listen to Mike Park, give it a listen on Bandcamp or your streaming service of choice and if you feel so motivated, donate to Stop AAPI Hate. It's a great addition to The Bruce Lee Band's ever-evolving discography and if that isn't a great cause to donate to, we don't know what is! Mike Park & Jeff Rosenstock, along with Sean Bonnette and drummer Kevin Higuchi, collaborated on a children's song entitled "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ." The Bruce Lee Band's Division In The Heartland is out Friday, May 28, 2021 on Asian Man Records.