The Sandwich EP

Last year I finally got around to picking up Mil-Spec's second LP 'Marathon' LP (only two years after it came out!), and included with my record was a piece of paper informing me that a new Mil-Spec record was coming in October 2025. I figured that at my usual rate, I'd get around to this circa 2027. But somehow I got my ass in gear and ordered a copy before the coloured vinyl option was sold out. I know, I know... I should slow down.

This self-titled record is a 5 song 12" EP and has a slightly strange cover photo of the band and a giant sandwich. I noticed on discogs that the record release show version has a cover which refers to this record as 'The Sandwich EP'. So I can only assume that this is some kind of inside joke.

As seems to be the case more and more these days, this probably could have been a 7". It's about 19 minutes long, but two of the five songs are the same song... one of which lasts three minutes and twenty seconds, the other lasts just under seven minutes. Maybe if they'd have just put one version on then it could have been a 7" and cost half as much. Oh well.

That aside, and even though this is quite a short record, the songs on here are probably their best yet. This sounds a lot more like a 90s britpop record than a hardcore record, but I'm absolutely ok with that. I'd be more than happy if they continued in this direction for the next album.

Also, if anyone is interested, the gold vinyl copies are still available in the Lockin' Out store as I type this.

Even If And Especially When

My interest in Sub Pop Records and SST Records led me to a band that were on both labels - Screaming Trees. This is a band that I have always been aware of, but never really interested in. I always thought that they were at the wussier end of the spectrum, which is kinda true... although at the moment, this is more what I am in the mood for. SO I listened to them online and was really getting into it, and it sent me looking for records, and immediately I found one that seemed like a good buy.

'Even If And Especially When' is the band's second LP, and their first for SST Records. It was released in 1987 as SST 132. One of the reasons that I bought this was that I got the impression that this green vinyl copy might be quite rare. It's a recent repressing, but officially it doesn't seem to exist. All copies I can find for sale online are black vinyl repressings. But this copy was sold with the comment 'Green vinyl! seal opened to check colour'. I know from Black Flag colour pressings that the colour copies don't seem to be marked or sold as colour, and they seem to be part of pressing runs which are mainly black vinyl. So I just figured that this was a rare opportunity to grab a colour vinyl copy for an ok price, as the 90s SST colour vinyl pressings sell for quite a lot these days.

As I seem to be saying quite a lot lately, this is not the usual kind of thing I would go for. Even though Screaming Trees are hailed as one of the early pioneers of the grunge scene, their sound is more like 60s psychadelic rock. There's one song in particular that sounds like The Beatles, who I have never really been interested in. But despite all of this, I've been playing this one a lot lately, and I can absolutely see why they got pretty big and are still held in high regard.

Buffalo Tom

I had never really listened to Buffalo Tom before. Some kid at school used to like them, and at the time I had worked out that anything that he liked, I didn't. Of course, as the years have rolled by I have revised my view on some of that stuff (namely Ride and Ned's Atomic Dustbin), so when I saw Buffalo Tom named in the SST discography, my mind flashed back to the early 90s and I was curious to give them a go with a 2026 frame of mind. They hail from Boston, MA and their sound reminds me a bit of Dinosaur Jr. Within one minute of the first song I listened to, I realised that this was something that I was definitely into, and I was on an instant shopping spree. I was pleasantly surprised to find that their records aren't actually that rare or expensive these days.

I decided to buy a copy of their first, self-titled album. It came out on SST in 1989 as SST 250. There were only ever black vinyl copies pressed.

I alsp found a test press for sale and I couldn't resist grabbing it as the price was pretty low. As with most SST tests, it comes with a single sheet of paper which contains info about the record (band name, record title, song titles). This copy is really faded so is barely legible. It's still cool though. There's something about the gold Rainbo labels...

The band started in 1986 and are still going. They had a few quiet years in the early 00s, but are still going today, and have ten albums to their name. I'm not sure I'm so into this that I want to pick up nine more, but who knows?

3 Way Tie For Last

Thanks to my recent discovery of Das Damen, I'm in a bit of an SST Records phase at the moment. Aside from the bigger, well known bands that everyone is aware of, there is a hell of a lot that SST put out that I have never bothered with. Some of these are even relatively popular bands, but ones that I was never interested in for one reason or another. Recently I sat down and scrolled through a list of everything that SST had released, and I decided to check out Minutemen for the first time. I had never been remotely interested in them in the past, but I can't be sure why I never bothered to check them out. I mean, there aren't enough hours in the day to listen to everything, and a lot of my decisions in the past were based on my own perceptions about a band, sometimes based on their name and sometimes the artwork on their records. Given that I love the fIREHOSE records on SST, it makes little sense that I never gave Minutemen a go, but that's the way it goes.

I checked them out online and I was immediately into it. So of course, I had a look for records, and I immediately felt that I got lucky. I spotted a blue vinyl copy of their fourth LP, '3 Way Tie For Last' for sale on eBay UK and I ended up winning it for less money than a new release would cost. It felt like destiny. Being on colour vinyl, it's obviously a repress from circa 1990, but it is in top condition, in shrink wrap with the 'color vinyl' sticker still attached.

I don't usually like getting into a band and listening to their stuff in non-chronlogical order. But I couldn't not buy this for the price and condition. Of course, after ignoring the band for half my life, I'm immediately way into this. I get the feeling that this is possibly their least popular record, which may be to do with the fact that a bunch of the songs are covers. Mind you, I'm not familiar with any of the originals, so I don't feel too duped.

Obviously I feel like aq fool for never checking this band out in the past, but I definitely intend to try to find more of their records. Given that I would mainly want the color vinyl 90s pressings, this could run for a long time and be quite expensive, but I guess that's half the fun.

13

I was never overly fussed about any of the Voorhees LPs other than the first one. I just always had it in my head that they weren't very good and I didn't need them. But a year or so ago I picked up the third LP ('Crystal Lakes Legacy') and enjoyed it, albeit about 24 years after it came out, so at that point it became evident that I needed the second LP. I finally got a copy recently from within the UK.

After avoiding this for so long, I am cursing myself. Any preconceptions I may have had were completely wrong. This is a seriously good record. The sound vaguely reminds me of the Integrity 2000 LP... but the one on Victory, not the shitty one on that other label.

This record came out in 1999 and was put out by Armed With Anger Records in the UK, and also Six Weeks Records in the US. And even though I picked this up from a seller in the UK, this copy is the US pressing. I now kinda want one of the UK pressing copies, mainly because I helped to finance it. But more on that when I get one of those.

Dreamy

Another installment in my journey into the old Sub Pop catalogue, 'Dreamy' is the fourth full length from Beat Happening, an indie pop trio from Olympia, WA. They were active from 1982 - 1992, and this record came out towards the end of their life, in 1991.

There were a couple of different colours pressed by Sub Pop. This one is turquoise, and the other is grey. I have it on pretty good authority that this colour is a lot rarer than the grey.

This is really different to the usual style that I would listen to. Even by early Sub Pop standards, this one kinda stands out. Some of the songs have a male vocal, and some female. I much prefer the female vocal overall, but the male vocal reminds me of, say, Nick Cave. Generally I would say that this is the kind of music I would expect to be playing in the bar in the Tarantino film 'From Dusk 'Til Dawn'. It's very different to anything that I would usually listen to, but I have become fasconated by it these past couple of weeks.

Just Beautiful Music

Back in 2024 I rediscovered the band Gas Huffer. I used to listen to them in 1992/93 and then a couple of years later sold their records and forgot about them for the best part of three decades. As often happens with bands you move on from, when you rediscover them you realise what a fool you were. Back then I picked up their third and fourth albums, and recently I added the fifth to my collection.

'Just Beautiful Music' was released by Epitaph in 1998. As the photo shows, the cover art on this seems like a slightly odd choice.

As with all other Gas Huffer LPs, this comes with a comic book, which also looks a bit like a birthday card made for a grandma in the 1970s.

This fifth LP continues in very much the same vein as the previous four. I'm very happy to have picked it up because, even though it is on Epitaph, it feels that there weren't too many pressed. I guess in 1998 vinyl sales were generally falling and given that this band wasn't exactly massive, they probably pressed a relatively low number. Well, low for Epitaph anyway.

In addition to this LP, I also snagged another colour of their Sub Pop 7" too, this time on blue.

There is also a brown vinyl version of this 7". And also, I really want the first two LPs back that I used to own at the end of my teens. I guess the moral of the story is 'never sell anything'.

Shmap'n Shmazz

Even though I feel like I bought pretty much every single record that came out in the 90s, I never bothered with Cap'N Jazz until recently. I think it was partly the name. I thought that the name was an abbreviation for 'Cap and Jazz', so I thought it would be some weird artsy nonsense. I was just never interested enough to check them out. But last year they reissued the band's only full length and I was in a record shop in San Diego, and the cover caught my eye and I contemplated buying it, mainly just because I liked the cover. But seven months later I picked up a copy here in the UK.

The original pressing of this record from 1995 came on black vinyl only, but the reissue comes on a few different colours. As fas as I can tell, this red vinyl version (exclusive to Smartpunk) is the rarest, being numbered out of 200 copies on a sticker on the poly sleeve.

The inside of the sleeve is printed. I'm not sure, but it might be lyrics. Whatever it is, it looks kinda cool.

I knew that one of the guys from The Promise Ring was in this band, but it turns out that it was a different dude than I thought. But this definitely sounds like early Promise Ring to me, specifically the first 7" and a bit of the first LP. The early Promise Ring records really feel like Summer records, and this also has that same feel, so hopefully the weather will start to get better soon so I can play this whilst sitting in the sun on the new patio.

Land Of No Toilets

My love of 'Nardcore and It's Alive Records continues with this latest pickup, a repress of the debut release by Ill Repute 7". The 'Oxnard - Land Of No Toilets' 7" was originally released in 1984 by Mystic Records in 1983. There have been a few pressings over the years, but I grabbed the cheapest and easiest to acquire, being this clear vinyl repress from last year.

There were 500 copies on clear vinyl, which are hand numbered. The cover also folds out into a poster type thing:

This is a great example or early, raw US hardcore. There are 8 songs that are done in 8 minutes, and features the 'classic' opener 'Fuck With My Head'.

So I was digging the 7" and, as often happens, it inspired me to go shopping for other Ill Repute records. I already own a couple of LPs, but was stoked to also get a red vinyl copy of 'The 1982 Demos' LP that Mankind Records put out about ten years ago. I got this from the dude who runs the label, so it's a new, unplayed copy which is nice.

There are also copies on blue vinyl, but the red is the more limited colour.

There are 35 songs on here, which seems insane for a single LP. It sounds very similar to the 7", which is no surprise. It also contains the original recording of what is now probably considered their most well known song, 'Clean Cut American Kid', which I just found out features in an episode of 'Stranger Things', which seems kinda crazy.

Nascent

I never really bought CDs because somehow I always knew that they were garbage, but now and again I stooped to having to buy one because I loved the band and there was no vinyl pressed. Over the last few years, I have managed to add some records to the collection that used to be on CD only as the popularity of records these last few years has led to lots of old releases being dug up and pressing them on vinyl for the first time. An example that I picked up recently is the debut release by Joshua. This originally came out as a self-titled CD in 1996, put out by Immigrant Sun Records, and a couple of years ago the label started back up, and in 2024 it pressed the Joshua EP to vinyl for the first time.

As much as I generally dislike swirly vinyl colours, for some reason I think this one looks ok. It might be something to do with the colours being reasonable choices, as they go ok with the artwork.

The original CD (which I could not be bothered to go upstairs and fish out for a picture) came in a brown cardstock wallet, so the LP sleeve is a pretty good homage to that, which I like. It definitely shows that someone tried hard to recreate the original, in a larger size.

I really love the original release. This band put out this CD and then got snapped up by Doghouse Records, where they put out a 7" and an LP. This was back in the era when Doghouse had started putting out records by The Get Up Kids. I can sing the songs from this record word for word. That said, this vinyl version is a bit of a Frankensteain release. Rather than just being released it as was, the vinyl version has been retitled 'Nascent', and some extra songs have been added. There are two songs that were originally on their demo (which absolutely rock - they remind me of Shift or early Quicksand), and then there are two more songs that were originally on a later release. Now, it would make sense if the original 6 songs were on one side and the extra songs on the other side. But instead we get 5 of the original songs on one side, and then the other song from the original release is pushed onto Side B along with the 4 additional songs. So not quite as clean as I would like. But maybe that's just me.

There were only 221 copies pressed, with 100 copies of this colour and then 100 of another colour, and then an additional 21 copies on a different colour which were exclusive to Limited To One Records in NYC. Well worth checking out if you like 90s post hardcore / emo and songs you can sing along to.

Fast Food For Thought

A long time ago I was into The Rollins Band (well, technically I still am), and someone told me about the Wartime 'Fast Food For Thought' EP. I can't remember who it was. But whoever it was told me that it was garbage, and I took their word for it. I had noticed over the years how it always sold for really cheap, and assumed it was because it was shite. But a couple of weeks ago I was buying something from someone, looked to see what else they had for sale, and saw that they had a cheap promo copy of the Wartime EP with press kit. Attracted by the fact that I could buy a record in 2026 for £8, I checked out one song on youtube, and then bought it.

There's a small sticker on the front cover that reads 'Released 22 Oct 1990'. Other than that, however, the record and sleeve are regular versions.

This copy comes with a handwritten (although photocopied) letter from someone at the label, Chrysalis Records) as well as a few bits of paper that tell you who the band are, and some photocopied press cutttings. Stuff like this really dates the record, but in a cool way.

So the funny thing is that whoever told me that this was shite all those years ago was wrong. This absolutely rules. The band is made up of Rollins and Andrew Weiss (who played bass in the Rollins Band), and the bass sounds absolutely huge. There are only five songs on here, although one of them is just introductory noise so doesn't count, and another is a cover (The Grateful Dead). So really there are only three songs on here. But they're really good. I'm slighly annoyed that I took someone's advice and avoided this for so long, although to be fair I probably wouldn't have been into this in the 90s anyway, so in a way they were probably right.

Sinker

Atthe end of last year I picked up three Ignition 12"s, and three months later I'm still playing them regularly. Last week I picked up an almost mint condition copy of their first 7" (and debut release), which I am particularly stoked about.

This copy is a second press, denoted by the red & black labels (the first press had white & black labels).

I don't think I had ever seen one of these in real life before, and I never appreciated that this is a glued pocket sleeve, rather than a folded paper sleeve. This is even more interesting given that it is made of quite thin paper, which no doubt makes it difficult to find copies in such good condition these days.

With this having been released in 1987, It's crazy to think that this record will be 40 years old next year. And also, kinda weird how cheap this can be bought compared to other records of similar age. Not that I'm complaining of course.

Two Years Of Toothache

Last year I picked up a cool record by an old UK band, Jailcell Recipes, which was put out by a newly ressurected First Strike Records. The label was around in the late 80s and early 90s and is probably these days best remembered as the label that put out the UK pressing of the 2nd Chain Of Strength 7". But they also put out a few other releases by bands that are largely forgotten these days. The record they did a couple of years ago was a kind of 'best of' compilation, and it just made me want the original records. So I kept my eyes open and recentlyish picked up a couple of their original releases.

The 'Poulton Road' 7" was released by First Strike Records in 1989. The grey vinyl is a second pressing, and hand numbered out of 1063 copies on the back cover.

This 7" is musically a bit slower than the first LP, but definitely 'hardcore'. As far as I can tell, Poulton Road is located in Wallesey, where the band came from, but I'm not sure of the significance ot this particular street. The insert has them thanking the 'Poulton Road Posse', so maybe they lived there, or skated there. Not sure. If anyone knows for sure, please comment.

I also picked up the second LP, 'Two Years of Toothache', which was also released by First Strike Records, in 1991. This one marks a bit of a change from the previous records, with a slower and more melodic sound. Also, the front cover art was done by none other than Karl Alvarez of The Descendents, which is pretty cool.

I get the sense that this LP did quite well. The CD version was the first CD that the label made and it sold out in a month. I know that the label had quite good distribution too. So it's a bit of a mystery as to why this band wasn't way bigger. On the strength of this LP, they should have been huge.

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

Back in the early 90s I would sometimes spend a day record shopping in London. There were a few record stores dotted around the city, and it would take the best part of a day to travel around to them all. Back then there were about 5 different shops in Camden alone, and these were where I saw and held a lot of Sub Pop Records for the first time, many of which I ended up buying and listening to for the first time only a couple of years ago.

One of the records I used to see a lot back then was a 10" by The Reverend Horton Heat, 'Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em', with a cover that featured a photo of guitarist and vocalist James Heath looking very much like he had just arrived fresh in from the 1950s. The teenage me was confused as to why this would be on the same label as Nirvana, Mudhoney, Tad etc. and I would always think to myself 'who the hell would be interested in that?'. Well, it turns out the answer is me... thirty four years later.

There were three different colours of vinyl for this one, and at this point I was happy to just have any of them. This particular copy is in great condition, with the shrinkwrap still intact and the 'color vinyl' sticker is still there too. Oh yeah, and it's on some kind of swirl vinyl before that was even a thing. Records that looked like this in 1990 were rarely seen.

This is not the kind of thing that I would usually listen to, or would even have thought that I would like, but back in 2024 I picked up a Sub Pop 7" that featured two songs (both of which are on this record, annoyingly) and I really, really liked it. Ok, so it may be psychobilly or rockabilly or whatever, but it's just some damn catchy music. Hey, maybe I'd even like Hifi and the Roadburners these days too?

Live Agression

These last few years I have been picking up as many of the It's Alive Records represses / reissues as I can get my hands on. The label started pressing very limited colour vinyl versions of a lot of it's releases, and also pressing up some old Mystic Records releases too. WHat marks these represses out from the original pressings is that most come packed with extras, usually in the form of stickers, flyers, unused record labels, etc. Some of them have so much extra stuff that it's difficult to get it all into the sleeve. But they are all really well done, and feel like a lot of time, effort, money and thought has gone into them, which is really appreciated.

I picked up another one for the collection via a trade. This one is a live 7" by Agression, with a very long and accurate title. 'Agression – Recorded Live At The Underground Railroad' was recorded live in 1986 at a venue called The Underground Railroad (which is/was in Morgantown, West Virginia), and was originally released by Super Seven Records in the same year. It contains 6 songs, and even though I'm generally not a fan of live records, this one sounds great, and really captures the energy.

As the photos show, this comes in a printed inner sleeve, and is on dark purple vinyl.

This pressing is from 2020. There were only 100 copies, which were all hand numbered out of 100 copies. Oh, and there were also an additional 10 copies which were numbered out of 10 which contain 'left over vinyl' (not sure exactly what this means). This copy is one of the ten (number 4), but given that I have not seen one of the 100 copies, I'm not exactly sure what the difference is. Anyway, a really cool 7" and I'm happy to have another one in this ever growing collection.

Brat Fest

Sometimes you see a record online and your brain instantly shouts 'WANT!' at you. Such was the case when I saw a picture of the test press for the upcoming repress of the Disembodied 'Psalms Of Sheol' 12". It comes in a rip off sleeve of the Charli XCX 'Brat' album, which is pretty iconic in it's own right, and also comes on a matching colour vinyl... which is rare for a test press. It just looked awesome so I decided that I wanted one and then made a move.

This thing looks so good that it even made me want to buy the Charli XCX record. I listened to it, and I wasn't really into it, but there's this part of my brain that thinks it would be good to be able to put the two things side by side in order to appreciate this thing even more.

The repress of this record was announced last week, and features all new artwork. But of course, it doesn't look anywhere as cool as this test press. I love a good rip off cover, and one that comes from outside of the world of hardcore / punk seems somehow even more interesting, as even 'normal' people may appreciate it. Not that they will ever see it of course.

Well anyway, I had for many years also wanted the Mudhoney rip off sleeve for the same record. It was made for Rain Fest in Seattle back in 2010. Watching their set now, the first thing that strikes me is how young the singer looks. Anyway, I love how they made a rip off cover of a Seattle band for a Seattle event. Given that they also made a New Order rip off for the UK show in 2010, it seems that someone here gives some real thought to what they are doing, which I really appreciate.

Interestingly, this rip off cover is technically a rip off of a CD rather than an LP. Mudhoney's first 12" was titled 'Superfuzzbigmuff' (named after two guitar pedals, 'Super Fuzz' and 'Big Muff'), but there was a later CD version titled 'Superfuzzbigmuff plus early singles'. I am sure that this would have been intentional, as ripping off the CD cover & title makes more sense, as this Disembodied release is itself a compilation of early singles. So again, the thought that went into this is fantastic.

Of course, I now find myself in familiar territory. I never intended to collect this release, but now that I have these I feel myself wanting the Bauhaus sleeve version, and the first press test press. And might as well get a regular sleeve version too. Ugh. Why does my brain work this way?

New York Crew

I went to California last Summer and stopped in at RevHQ, and in the big room with the big table there was a pile of 7" boxes containing a new delivery of Judge 'New York Crew' 7"s. All of the boxes were sealed. Now, I was there on the 23rd of June, and there was a packing slip from the pressing plant (Erika) which was dated the 3rd of June. So even if you assume that the boxes were not received at RevHQ for a couple of days, it means that they had been sat there for two to three weeks without being opened, which seems crazy to me. I asked Igby if he had seen them and he told me that no, he had not, but he then proceded to open one box of each colour so I could have a look. So there I was, technically one of the first two people in the world to clap eyes on the colours of this new pressing... and yet somehow, it totally escaped me to ask if I could buy any of them. I think I just assumed that they wouldn't let me buy any until they officially went on sale, so I didn't ask, and left with nothing but photographs on my phone.

What is cool with this pressing is that they reverted back to the original Schism layout. As per my photos, there were three colours of vinyl, which some people think look awful and do not go with the artwork at all. The colours are opaque pink (/1100), opaque purple (Retail Store Exclusive /330), and clear with purple splatter (RevHQ Exclusive /330).

Kinda ironic that I was one of the first people to see and hold these and yet, having only just received these recently, I have ended up being one of the last to actually own them. These finally went up for sale in October 2025, so most other people who are remotely bothered received theirs months ago. Still, at least I didn't miss out completely. The clear with purple splatter is sold out and has traded hands on discogs twice for around $50, so I'm glad I got one from Rev eventually.