fIREHOSE promo 7"

There were a couple of Descendents promo 7"s on eBay a few weeks back. They went for $51 and $48 respectively. I watched them but in the end I didn't bid. But I did check the seller's other items and find another similar item that I liked the look of. In the end I won it for $7. I was beyond stoked.

The record is by a band called fIREHOSE (yup, that's how you write their name. Small 'f' and the rest in capitals). I won't go into much detail about the band, as you can read about them by using the link above if you are remotely interested. They came to my attention circa 1990 when I saw a skateboard video called 'Streets On Fire'. The final section of that video went to Natas Kaupas, who blew everyone's mind back then by spinning on a fire hydrant and boardsliding the roll bar in the back of a pickup truck. His section also had a great soundtrack - a song called 'Brave Captain' by an as then unknown band called fIREHOSE. A year or so later and a friend of mine managed to get his hands on a vinyl copy of the band's LP, and I was stoked to tape the first song onto a yellow Sony cassette, which I then played every day for god knows how long. It was one of those songs that makes a big impact on your life. You know how it is.

Nearly twenty years later I have just bought a 7" of that song. SST Records, catalog number PSST 079. The 'P' stands for 'Promo' (the real SST 079 was the band's first album, 'Ragin' Full On' which I scored a test press of back in September 2008). This 7" is a promotional record never intended for sale. I can only guess it went out to record stores and radio stations. Oh what a different world it was back then when labels had to send out free records in order to get their music heard. Promotion must have cost a small fortune!

This 7" isn't much to look at, but that's not really the point. It's a nice momento of an interesting time in my life. I guess that's what a lot of records are really. But goddamnit, this is also a great song. I haven't tired of this tune in twenty years and I seriously think I could play it every single day and never tire of it.

And for the old bastards amongst you, here's the video part it first featured in. Enjoy...