Food For Thought

>p?There are so many DIschord bands that I haven't listened to that it's ridiculous. In the current day and age where it is possible to listen to anything you want within seconds of thinking of it, there is no excuse. But I think I'm partly tinted by an experience when I was younger. Back when I was 19 I was given some dude's records to sell, and there were a few Dischord releases in there that I checked out but didn't get along with. At the time I was heavily into Chain of Strength and Earth Crisis 'Firestor', so bands like Nation of Ulysees, Circus Lupus and Gray Matter didn't sound like what I wanted at the time. And over the years I have just got those bands in my head as 'bands I don't like'.

Well, a couple of years ago I was looking for stuff to listen to and decided to give Gray Matter another chance and, wouldn't you know it, I immediately loved it. It sounds slightly dated these days, although I would say that a part of that is probably the recording itself rather than the songs. But once I started ilstening to them I started looking for records, and got two of them fairly recently...

The first one I got is a grey vinyl pressing (which dates back to 2009 I think) of the 'Take It Back' 12". The opening song on here is without doubt one of the strongest opening songs on any Dischord release, and if you have never heard it then you should rectify that right now. Back in 1994 when I had a copy of this record in my hands it was one of the original first press burgundy vinyl copies, which unsurprisingly now sell for a lot more than the one I let go nearly thirty years ago. So I'm happy enough with this grey vinyl repress. Plus, this colour seems more appropriate a colour anyway.

The second record I picked up is the band's first release from 1985, 'Food For Thought'. This one was originally released on a small DC label called R&B Records, with later pressings then put out by Dischord. Again, I picked up a grey(ish) vinyl repress which also dates back to 2009.

This record sounds a little rougher than 'Take It Back', but there's a lot of medlody here. The older I get, the more I love this 80s melodic hardcore sound. It's probably partly nostalgia, as this sound takes me back to old skateboard videos from the end of the 80s where most of the music was rough sounding melodic punk by bands nobody had ever heard of. But clearly I love this sound now a lot more than I did in 1994. And eventually I will get around to checking out more late 80s / early 90s Dischord bands I am sure.

Visitor

A few short weeks ago I was struggling to decide what to listen to, so I set iTunes to 'shuffle'. Quite often it will throw up some interesting stuff that I'm not too familiar with, or potentially something that I had forgotten about. And on that day it delivered something that I hadn't listened to in a long time - a song from the first Onelinedrawing LP 'Visitor'. This came out in 2002 on Jade Tree at a time when I bought pretty much everything that the label released. In 2001 I was really into the band Far and so I was lapping up everything that Jonah did. I loved the New End Original LP that came out in 2001, and so when this record came out I didn't hesitate to pick it up.

Well, when the song came on a few weeks ago I Immediately ended up playing the full record. And then the second record. And suddenly it was back on the daily playlist. So of course I went to discogs and found that the Jade Tree albums were both repressed in 2022 on new colours. But I also found that the original pressings sell for practically nothing. So I decided to pick up this original clear vinyl copy of 'Visitor' mainly because it was cheap.

As I mentioned in my semi recent posts for the Explosion and Trial By Fire LPs, Jade Tree used to commonly press two colours of each release, and here I am 20+ years later buying the second colours of some of these records for no good reason. So this record joins the ranks of Jade Tree releases that I now own two copies of, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

Sliver II

Only last month I finally managed to pick up a copy of Nirvana's 'Sliver' 7" after wanting one for a few years. Except when I finally bought one, I then ended up buying another just because it was there and that's the kind of guy I am.

Well, a month later and there are now two more of the bloody things knocking about in my house.

I spotted this orange copy for sale in the UK and just figured I should grab it. So I did. It's from the same pressing as the yellow one I picked up last month. Apparently there are solid orange copies, and slightly transparent copies which are referred to as 'peach'. I'm not entirely sure which this is, but using the Seaweed 'Measure' 7" as a guide, I think this is probably the peach one.

The next copy I grabbed looks kinda crappy compared to the others. This is the UK pressing on Tupelo Records.

This one comes in a gatefold sleeve, although it's annoying because it opens the wrong way. Rather than open fron right to left, like gatefold LP covers, this one opens from bottom to top. Still, kinda cool that only the UK pressing has the gatefold and the inner photo.

I really, really shouldn't get sucked into collecting this one as there are a LOT of versions out there. But for some reason I just can't help myself. Hopefully at some point I'll manage to find a first press blue vinyl copy. I think that's my main goal for this record now.

Time For A Little Something

So whilst I'm temporarily back on the pop punk train, here's another 7" I picked up recently. This one is by Cringer called 'Time For A Little Something'.

I got into Cringer for the first time at the start of last year during my three month pop punk phase, which ended up coming around roughly 30 years since the band broke up. I wasn't exactly intending to collect their records, but when I saw this being sold by a seller who had something else that I wanted, I figured I would pick it up as the price was very fair.

This 7" was put out in 1991 by a label from Chula Vista called Vinyl Communications. The label put out some great records in the early 90s, and always made limited colour vinyl pressings, often with more than one colour. This red vinyl suits the cover art perfectly, and has an interesting black stain in it. Anyway, there are more Cringer 7"s to collect so I figure this won't be the last Cringer post on here.

Brouhaha

Back at the start of 2022 I took a 3 month journey back into the world of pop punk, and it was a nice reminder of how great some of those bands were (are). It also got me to thinking about some of the records from the early 90s that I used to want but never got around to picking up. A few months later and one of them fell right in front of me when I was pulling that old 'what else has this seller got for sale?' scam on discogs. You know how it works.

The 'Brouhaha' 7" compilation came out in 1991 on a label called Piggly Wiggly Records, best known for releasing this 7" and precisely nothing else. It's never been a particularly hard record to find, although the pink vinyl copies are the limited version and I never really found one for a price I wanted to pay until recently. I also got lucky because this one is in absolutely mint condition.

Back at the end of the 80s & start of the 90s there was probably a new compilation record coming out every other week. This 7" is a great example of how common and cool compilations used to be. On here we have 4 bands of the era who are all interesting in their own way. The record kicks off with Jawbreaker performing 'Caroline' (which I think was exclusive to this record until they released 'Etc' in 2002), and then we get both Cringer and Monsula covering each other's songs, and the fourth band is Nuisance, who are probably less well known but equally as great.

Overall this is a great little 7". Largely pointless in 2023, but cool to have nonetheless.

Downhill Fast

There are lots of records that I don't really think that I collect but for which I have several copies. You know what it's like... you pick up a copy and then you see another cool copy and buy that too, and one and on. And then all of a sudden you have a collection. And then you're left scratching your head and wondering why you have multiple copies of a certain record and where they all came from. And then you want to get even more.

I spotted this Posi Numbers edition of the Drug Test 'Needle In Your Neck' 7" for sale and knew I 'needed' it, because prior to buying this one I only had 6 copies of this 7".

This cover was made for Posi Numbers fest back in 2005. It's hand numberd out of 50 copies on the back cover. There are also copies on yellow vinyl in the same sleeve, but I'm unclear as to whether there are 50 sleeves total with some green vinyl and some yellow vinyl, or whether there are 50 green vinyl copies and 50 yellow vinyl copies. If I had to guess I'd say that there are probably 50 total with this sleeve, and an unknown number of each vinyl colour. But I'm not sure I'll ever know.

I last picked up a couple of Drug Test 7"s at the start of 2021, at which point I celebrated with a collection photo. This time around I couldn't be bothered. Maybe next time...

Freak Out

You can tell you're a record collector when you actively choose to buy a record on a totally impractical and stupid format. And what's the most impractical and stupid format of them all? Yup, it's the album released as a 7" box set. Presumably if you're the kind of person who just hates sitting down or being away from your record player for more than 3 minutes, then this is the format for you. For everyone else, however, this is a total pain in the arse. Yet whenever I have the choice between buying a 12" or a 7" box set, I'm choosing the latter every single time.

So I picked up a Samiam 7" a few weeks ago in a trade, and it got me going back to my old Samiam records, and I was really enjoying them. I used to listen to them a fair bit in the early and mid 90s, but at some point they vanished from my radar. So recently I decided to check out one of their older records that I never heard, 'You Are Freaking Me Out'. With a few plays I was singing along and then went to discogs to see whether there were any copies for sale... and I ended up coming away with this 4 x 7" box set.

'You Are Freaking Me Out' was first released in 1997. This 4 x 7" version came out a year later, and then it was two more years later that a 12" version appeared on the scene. So back in the late 90s your only option was this or a CD. Since then this has been pressed on a whole range of different 12" colours on a few different labels. On discogs there are 43 versions, of which 7 are CDs. Yet of the remaining 36 vinyl versions that exist, I plumped for this one.

Turns out that this is the second pressing. The first press was a black vinyl 4 x 7" box set. I could have bought one of those, but clearly this colour one is way better. Oh yeah, and it's also numbered inside the box out of a massive 2000 copies... which feels slightly unnecessary to me.

So of course, here I am all these years later getting sucked back into listening to Samiam, who look to have at least 4 more albums that I have never heard. Maybe I'll get to another one of them before another 25 years passes by. We shall see...

Post Ejaculation Depression

At some point recently I was scrolling the list of releases on the New Red Archives record label, and I came across the name of a band that I'd heard a friend mention a few months ago. The band was called P.E.D. and their LP, 'Post Ejaculation Depression' was released as New Red Archives catalog number 1 back in 1988. There was a copy for sale in the UK for only £5 still in shrinkwrap, so I figured I'd pick it up.

Considering the age of this record, it is in really great shape. Coincidentally I read a comment on a post this week from somebody saying that you should always take the shrinkwrap off, but I strongly disagree with that. This record feels like it just arrived fresh from the label, and I'm sure that the shrinkwrap is partly to thank.

I tried to find info online about this band, but to no avail. Pretty much the only thing I could find was that they were from New Jersey, and Rob Fish (from 108 / Ressurection / Release) thinks that they were great. Other than that... nothing.

This is a hard record to describe. It's hardcore but kinda goofy in some places, but super catchy in others. It definitely sounds a little dated, but I'm kinda into 80s bands so that's fine. It reminds me of the Ill Repute record that I bought last year. It's great fun. If you fancy checking it out, try the song 'Aye, Aye, Aye" The Pirate Said'.

Razorblade Suitcase

So I bought a bunch of Revelation and Equal Vision Records test presses from some dude earlier this year, and when they arrived it turns out that he had thrown in something extra - an unmarked test press with the standard Rainbo Records labels. I was initially excited, and then immediately disappointed, as I put the matrix into discogs to then find out that it was the second album by Bush, titled 'Razorblade Suitcase'.

This record was released by Interscope Records in November 1996, and wikipedia tells me that it sold 293,000 copies in it's first week in the United States, which saw it debut at number one in the Billboard 200. So yeah, it seems that this record was a pretty frickin' big deal when it first came out.

I had never herd this record before, so can't take a photo of it next to the regular copy, so here's an image I grabbed from the internet of the cover art for this record, which is most notable for featuring neaither a razorblade nor a suitcase.

I was vaguely aware of Bush in the 90s. What I recall was that they were a British band, but they were practically unknown over here, yet somehow they were absolutely huge in the States. Back then I had zero interest in them. But being sent this test press I thought I'd give it a chance.

After a couple of listens, I really started to enjoy this record. It sounds even more like Nirvana than Nirvana do, which at this time in my life I am really into. It's a little longer than I like, but I've been mainly listening to this one during the working day, so length is less of an issue.

I've also been reading a little bit about this band online, and there are a couple of hardcore connections to this. Firstly, that Revelation handled the pressing of this record on behalf of Interscope. One day I'll ask how this arrangement ended up happening. Secondly, the band broke up in 2002 but then reformed in 2010, and the current line up features Chris Traynor, who previously played in Fountainhead and Orange 9mm.

My initial plan was to put this on discogs for a stupidly high price and invite offers to see if anyone was interested. But after listening to this for the past 3 months or so and loving it, I decided to keep it. But if someone wants to offer me a lot of money for it, I could consider letting it go. Maybe.

Dicknail

WHen I finally got around to picking up a Nirvana 'Sliver / Dive' 7" (as per my last post), I started thinking about other older Sub Pop releases. I remember back in the early 90s when the label was blowing up that there were a lot of big bands of the time who had 7"s put out by the label. A lot of them I have, but there are a few that I never really was too fussed about back int he day. But now I feel nostalgic and feel that I want to pick up smoe of the 7"s that I wasn't overly fussed about when I was young.

So the natural next step after the Nirvana 7" was the Hole 7". There are quite a few different colours of this one out there, but I wasn't particularly fussed which version I got. I decided that the solid pink vinyl would be fine, largely because it was being sold by a UK seller.

I do love solid pink vinyl. Definitely up there as one of the best colours of vinyl. ANd it seems like a great match to the text on the front cover, and pretty apt for a band that was three quarters female.

As I am sure everyone knows, the singer of Hole was Courtney Love, who ended up marrying Kurt Cobain. I was never interested in Hole back when this came out as there was zero appealing about them, and I figured that they mainly got coverage just because Kurt Cobain's wife was in the band. As I mentioned, I mainly just wanted this for the Sub Pop collection, but I have to acknowledge that the two songs here are really good. Without a shadow of a doubt I would listen to more Hole. In 2023 this sounds incredible to me. Funny how much difference 30 years makes huh?

Sliver

In all my years of collecting records I have very few regrets. There are a few things over the years that I let go that I wish I hadn't, but if I had to count how many it would probably be less than 10. A few things I sold and then a few years later I bought back. But there's a small handful of things that I wish I'd kept that I still didn't manage to reacquire.

Nirvana is an impossible band to collect, and there is no way I would bother. However, the one record that I would mess with is the 'Sliver / Dive' 7". There are quite a few different coloured vinyl copies, and most of them aren't too expensive, especially when compared to some of the rarer Revelation items that I am stupid enough to try to collect. For a few years I have wanted a copy of this record to replace the one I sold in the early 90s, and recently I spotted one for a good price and made a fast move.

This copy on clear vinyl is a second pressing. It comes in a glued card sleeve rather than a paper fold over version that the first press copies came in. The copy I used to own in 1992 was part of the same pressing, although I used to have a turquoise copy. So this is a fair replacement.

And then of course, whilst shopping around I also then found a clear yellow copy going on eBay for what looked like a great price. This colour is much rarer, although still not one of the real top end rare versions.

There are only 2 songs on this 7", but as far as Nirvana songs go, they are up there for me amongst the best. It came out after the first album 'Bleach' but before 'Nevermind' came out and changed the world. This was also recorded before Dave Grohl joined the band, and before they got picked up by a major label. And as you can see, it's a Sub Pop 7" with the classic label design and large centre hole. And whilst I thought I would have been happy to pick up just one color copy of this 7", all of a sudden I can feel myself wanting to collect more. Because hey, if there's one thing I need in my life it's another record to collect...

This Won't Get Any Fucking Better

At some point earlier this year Rev announced a new record by a band called Planet On A Chain. I hadn't heard of the band before, and thought that it sounded like a weird name for a band, but mentally I am still in the same place that I was at 20 years ago whereby I assume that any new hardcore band signed by Rev must be good, so I was down to check it out. I ordered the LP but don't have it yet, but I listened to it a bunch of times and I have found that the nore I listen to it, the better it gets. There is absolutely no doubt that this band rips.

Well, whilst I wait for the LP to arrive, I managed to satisfy my vinyl needs with a couple of 7"s being sold by a UK distro. The first is titled 'This Won't Get Any FUcking Better' and is, I believe, the demo pressed to wax.

This version I have obtained is part of the second press on 'eco' vinyl. 300 made.

The second is called 'Last Word. Last Act'. On the bandcamp page this is referred to as 'Demo 2' and was recorded in July 2021 and was sold on cassette. Obviously the vinyl format is far superior, although slightly disappointing as this one was pressed at the shitsville pressing plant. Apparently there were 200 pressed on orange.

About a week ago Rev announced that they were putting out another Planet On A Chain LP soon of a record that was released digitally only. So at some point in the future I'm gonna end up with a pretty big pile of POAC records... which is fine by me. After a couple of months of casually listening to this band, I feel that I am now really starting to get it, so it's cool that there is a pile of material to get stuck into.

Kito

I love how sometimes I can just be reminded of bands from the past that I haven't listened to or thought about in a long time and then end up discovering them as if they were new. Case in point, the UK 90s band Kito. They had a 7" released by Armed With Anger Records back in 1994, and even though AWA was a pretty small UK label, it had pretty good distribution. This means that a lot of AWA releases made it overseas, which means a lot of people who have been into hardcore since the 90s have generally heard (or heard of) a lot of the bands on the AWA roster. Well anyway, I was flipping through the used section of a UK record store's website recently, and I found a couple of cheap records that grabbed my interest. One was the Kito LP. Now, I have had the 7" in my colletion for quite some time (I even have 2 test presses of it), but I never ever heard the LP. So I decided to pick it up as it was super cheap

This record was put out by Flat Earth Records in 1998, which was a whopping 4 years after the 7". Even by today's standards where time moves at triple speed, four years would be considered quite a long time between releases, but back then the hardcore world looked very different in 1998 as it did in 1994. I think I was aware of this record coming out at the time, but by then Kito felt like something old to me, and the lack of colour vinyl (or indeed any kind of cover art) meant that there wasn't a lot of appeal in this record. I was probably more interested in chasing Coalesce, Elliott, and Ink & Dagger records at the time.

By the time this came out, a couple of original members had left the band. But listening to this for the first time all these years later, it doesn't sound significantly different to the 7" in my opinion (well, apart from the final song, which sounds like a totally different band). This is some heavy and dirty sounding hardcore that the north of England did so well back then. I think I saw this band play only once, at one of the 1in12 Club weekend festivals, so this record brings to mind the many times that I trekked over to the dark, wet and cold city of Bradford to listen to one or two bands I'd heard and 12 more that I hadn't. Fun times! But anyway, given that I am hearing this for the first time in 2023, I think this holds up pretty well. This is a good listen and well worth the pittance that I paid for it.

Give One More Blood

Back at the start of this year Bane announced that they were coming back to play some shows. The first couple were set to take place in Boston in June, and there were more shows to follow a couple of months later at some big festivals. Then the day before the first of the shows, the band posted a pic of a couple of records that would be for sale - both different colours of a new 'anniversary pressing' of the 'Give Blood' LP (originally released in 2001). Being a longtime collector of Bane records with an almost complete collection, I felt that I needed these records in my life.

Well, fortunately Mike was going to the show and offered to try to pick up a record for me. And then a week or so later he took the trouble to fly it over and hand deliver it at my house.

There were 250 copies of this marble green colour, and also 250 copies on neon pink. I don't know how many sold at the show, but there were a few left adter the event.

I have to say that this seems like a really high quality product. The sleeve is a gatefold thing with a cut out cover, and there's a thick booklet included. I haven't seen inside it as I didn't want to remove the shrinkwrap.

Where the story gets slightly interesting is that a few days later, a whole bunch of other colours were announced. I think that in total there are 9 different colours, with most being allocated to different retailers as 'exclusives'. Not to mention that each copy costs $40 or more. So I decided that I wasn't going to bother trying to collect this. After over 20 years of collecting Bane records, modern collecting has finaly extinguisehed the flame for me. It's a game I no longer want to play. I mean, if they had cost half as much and if I would have been able to buy them all from one source, then I might have considered buying 9 copies of this, but with things the way they are it's a pretty easy decision to exit the game at this point.

Too Many Buttons

The third and final installment in my recent trade, and this one is the same as the previous two posts insofar as it another version of a record I already own.

I haven't listened to Samiam in quite a long time. I initially got into the band in the early 90s and have always liked their early records, but they weren't a band that I kept up with as the years rolled by. I think I lost interest when they moved to a major and their new album was CD only. But recently I've been listening to a lot of music through the daytime whilst working, and I've been enjoying some quieter and more melodic stuff as a result. I mean, it's tough to focus on fill out insurance forms with some youth crew jams blasting out in the background.

So this is a red vinyl repress of the first Samiam 7" on Lookout! Records. I'm not exactly sure of what year this was made, but I do know that it is a later press because it comes in a brown sleeve, and the label's address is Berkeley. The first press copies came in a purple sleeve and have the Laytonville address. I had always thought that the colour vinyl copies were all part of the first press until only a couple of years ago when I spotted this colour vinyl version in the brown sleeve.

The sleeve on this one is made from quite flimsy paper, so it could be from relatively early in the 90s. I have no idea. But I do like having a third copy to sit with the other two that I have had in my collection for many years, and it's kinda cool sometimes to not know any pressing info whatsoever.

Field Days

Continuing from my last post, this record was also acquired in a trade along with the burgundy vinyl ‘Flip Your Wig’ LP. And, along the same kinda theme, this record here also represents the second version of this particular record that I am now adding to my collection.

‘Field Day’ is the third Dag Nasty LP and I think it is fair to say that it is commonly regarded as their worst record. Even though it came out a year after ‘Wig Out At Denkos’ and two years after ‘Can I Say’ it somehow manages to sound more dated than both. Listening to this now, it does have a very 80s sound to it. Like, I can definitely imagine the kids hanging on the boardwalk in 'The Lost Boys' listening to this during the day.

This version I just picked up is the green vinyl pressing on Giant Records, which is the limited version of the US pressing. I have no idea how many were made but it doesn’t pop up as often these days as it used to. Then again, does anything?

To make things slightly confusing, this record was also pressed by We Bite Records in Germany for the European market and the more limited copies of that version were also pressed on green vinyl. Putting the two copies side by side, the two colours are quite different.

I usually feel that the European vinyl colours don’t look as nice, but this is an exception. The lighter shade of green looks a little nicer in my opinion, especially with a lightsource behind it.

I’d say that this is kinda similar to ‘Staring At The Sun’ by Uniform Choice in that probably a lot of fans of the previous record struggled with the newer sound when this came out. But if you have a little patience, there are definitely some great songs on here. It's not a bad record by any means, but it certainly isn't in the same ballpark as the two that came before it.

Flip Your Wigs

It's almost exactly ten years since I wrote on here about picking up a purple vinyl copy of 'Flip Your Wig' by Hüsker Dü. It must be a tradition to pick up a colour vinyl of this record in October of a year which ends in '3'. Well, sadly this isn't quite true as I received this one about two weeks ago (i.e. in September).

This album was originally released in 1985 on black vinyl only, but like a lot of SST releases, it was repressed on colour vinyl around the 1990-92 era. This burgundy vinyl version is one of 3 different coloured versions pressed at that time.

I was offered this record in a trade and was keen to find something to trade for it. I was happily and slowly collecting Hüsker Dü records and building a nice collection until the rest of the world started doing the same, and then suddenly it became super difficult to find anything for sale at a reasonable price. So it's been a while since I have added anything to my Hüsker Dü collection.

So here's this copy next to the purple copy I picked up a decade ago. These dark but clear colours look so much nicer with a lightsource behind them, don't you think? This is actually a photo which I then cropped using some basic technology. Anyway, I'm still looking for a clear pink copy, and no doubt that at this rate I'll be due to pick one up in October 2033.

Trial By Fire

So after rediscovering the Explosion LP (in my last post) I also had a quick scan through the other Jade Tree releases I own to see if there was anything else that I'd forgotten. The answer was a resounding 'yes'. I listened to the Trial By Fire 'Ringing In The Dawn' LP and was instantly annoyed at myself for forgetting how good it is. And once again, a quick look on discogs I found a solid yellow vinyl copy being sold by a UK seller for a crazy low price, so I just bought it.

This record came out back in 2002 and I got it directly from the label. I was sent one of the clear copies, so I was happy to be able to upgrade to this superior solid colour.

Just like the Explosion LP, I now have a solid yellow to go with my clear yellow/orange copy. I think the clear copy was feeling a bit neglected having not been touched for about 20 years, so its probably happy to have a friend to keep it company.

I remember seeing this band live back when they toured this record in September 2002. I have pretty much no memory of anything other than the singer was a big dude with a beard. Musically this is very much in the same ballpark as Paint It Black, Kid Dynamite, etc. So they seemed right at home on Jade Tree. I guess part of the reason that I forgot about this one is that the band seemed to do nothing else after this, which is a shame.