Blackandje

Blackandje started in Kemang, South Jakarta, in 2010, as a small shop selling official merch for metal, hardcore, and punk bands, from Indonesia and abroad. Bootleg tees were everywhere back then, and bands saw almost nothing from their own designs. We took the harder road: official only. Not because it paid better, but because it was the only honest way to back the musicians we listened to every day.

The shop later moved to Cijantung, East Jakarta, and slowly changed shape. From selling other bands' merch, we started putting out music ourselves. The first Blackandje Records releases came from Noxa, Deadsquad, and Bvrtan. Down For Life, Rajasinga, Darksovls, Vlaar, and other bands we believe in followed, on CD, tape, and vinyl.

Heavy music is not meant to stay on a shelf. In February 2019 we brought Sabbat and Metalucifer from Japan to Jakarta, and a few months later the first Blackandje Fest took over GOR Bulungan. The fest went quiet during the pandemic, came back to Bulungan in 2023, and brought Full of Hell a year later. Now there is also Blackandje Showcase, small gigs in Blok M for bands just getting started.

When every stage shut down in 2020, we kept releasing. Fraud, Down For Life, Inlander, and Viscral all came out that year. A scene does not take a holiday just because the venues are locked.

Today Blackandje is a label, a store, a stage, a zine, and a merch production. The rules are the same as they were in Kemang: official or nothing, physical releases are worth keeping, and every band we work with gets treated like one of our favourites. Because they are.

The rest, we'll tell you in front of the stage.