NEW RELEASE: 'We Must Bleed' by Marco Philopat - The Cult Italian Punk Novel Published for the First Time in English by BARELY HUMAN

Some good news for the book heads: Barely Human is publishing the first English-language version of Marco Philopat's cult Italian punk novel, 'We Must Bleed' (Costretti a sanguinare), back from the printers and ready to ship! I'll write more about how this project came to be in a blog post soon, but long story short: it's wild what can come out of an email in shoddy Italian to a cult Milanese author asking if anyone ever translated a book you can't read (the answer was, "yes, but we've lost the digital file and need someone who could be bothered digitising the thing.") With a big thanks to the book's translator, "Mucky" Papo (Pierpaolo Rosso) for his work on the manuscript (both 25 years ago when originally translated, and in getting the work over the line), as well as good friend Giacomo Stefanini who helped mediate mine and Marco's language barrier when I was in Milan. 

You can purchase the book now for the low price of AUD$25 (pay no more than Australian national minimum wage) from the online shop, as well as an accompanying bootleg mixtape I'm putting together featuring every Italian punk, proto-punk, new wave and hardcore band mentioned in the book (in order of appearance) here. The first 25 sales will come with a free 'We Must Bleed' pin (with thanks to Lauren Eiko of BBR Records and Lord Saturn Tapes for showing me the ropes on the badge maker). As always, feel free to click through the web store for ease of purchase, but email me separately to organise a purchase off-platform and we can arrange some kind of package deal, better shipping rates, etc over time. Read more about this must-read novel below! << GET IT HERE >> 

 

 

Written by Marco Philopat

Translated by "Mucky" Papo (Pierpaolo Russo)

Illustration by Prof. Bad Trip (Gianluca Lerici)

Design and Typesetting by Max Easton

204 pages
A5 Paperback
ISBN 978-1-7636214-1-1

RRP $24.95 (pay no more than National Australian minimum wage)

Wholesale: AUD$16.50 (or $15 for orders of ten or more)

SHIPPING NOW!

+++ For more information, wholesale, distro or press inquiries please contact BARELY HUMAN at max@barelyhuman.info +++

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Originally published in Italian in 1997 by ShaKe Edizioni, 'We Must Bleed' is Marco Philopat's cult punk novel charting his personal history as one of Milan's first punks. A work of auto-fiction set from 1977-1984, 'We Must Bleed' outlines the evolution of Italy's experience with punk and hardcore -- from a spectacular phenomenon stoked by the UK music industry, to the focal point of one of the most militant punk subcultures in the world. Featuring a unique style developed over his time as a zine writer (without pauses, and with hyphens in place of standard punctuation), Philopat gives insight into the heartbeat of Milan's punk movement. Its members leaflet and storm gigs by The Clash, Bauhaus and Black Flag for their association with music promoters; lead hitchhiking excursions to London to meet the anarchopunk group Crass; join an occupation of the US military base in Comiso; and in a squatted warehouse on via Corregio, they open Virus: one of the most infamous punk squats in Europe, and home to hardcore bands like Wretched. As both historical document and propulsive narrative, Philopat's 'We Must Bleed' is not just an overlooked example of underground writing from 1990s Italy, but a must read for anyone with the most marginal of curiosities in punk as a form of music and subculture.

Translated from the first edition by zine writer "Mucky" Papo (Pierpaolo Russo) in the early 2000s, a lost digital file delayed release of the translation until a visit to the offices of Philopat's Milan publishing house Agenzia X in mid-2026. On that trip, a paper copy was uncovered, painstakingly digitised and is printing soon through Barely Human. Copies ship from Sydney, Australia now!

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About Marco Philopat

Marco Philopat (b. 1962) is a publisher, writer and key figure of Italian underground music and publishing. He fronted two Milanese punk bands (HCN and Alternativita), was a co-founder of the Virus squat, and founded two publishing houses: ShaKe Edizioni and Agenzia X. He is the author of several books including 'Costretti a sanguinare', 'La banda Bellini', 'Lumi di punk,' 'Roma k.o', 'Rumble bee' and 'I pirati dei Navigli'.