Nerve Agents Deluxe

I finally getting around to picking up on the Nerve Agents reissues that Rev put out last year (2025). I had these in my hands at Rev when I was there last Summer, but I didn't really have room for them in my case, so I paid and left them to be sent later... which has ended up being ten months.

All three Nerve Agents 12" records have been reissued as 'Deluxe Editions'. To differentiate them from earlier pressings, these versions come with obi strips and large booklets The booklets look like this:

that contain photos and 'testimonies' by various scenesters who were around at the time. The booklets are of varying length. The one that accompanies the first record is the thinest, and feels like the poor relation of the three. The 'Days Of The White Owl' booklet one is thicker than the other two, and it definitely feels like this seems to be recognised as their best record, which I find interesting as for me it is the worst of the three.

The obi strips are nice additions, and I like that all three have one. It helps identify them as a separate little collection.

The first, self-titled 12" EP was originally put out by Rev in 1998. The younger version of me immediately loved the artwork. The older version of me still does. For some reason, this is the only one of the three reissues that came with a limited sleeve, numbered out of 131 copies.

This same clear vinyl version also comes in a regular cover, and given that they sold out relatively quickly there was then a second pressing on purple (both pictured below in the collection shot).

'Days Of The White Owl' was the second release and first proper full length, released in the year 2000. This reissue adds an extra song on to the end of Side A that was originally on some compilation that I'd never heard of before. It came on two different colours of vinyl, and has also been upgraded to a gatefold sleeve.

'The Butterfly Collection' was the third 12" and the second full length, and was originally released by Hellcat Records in 2001. I remember at the time being slightly surprised that they had jumped ship from Rev, but I guess this was because unbeknown to me at the time they had crossed some boundaries a bit and become popular with a lot of people outside of Rev's usual sphere. The original vinyl copies came out in an era when vinyl was at a pretty low point, so there was only one pressing (well, technically two - a US pressing, and a EUro pressing) with all copies being on black vinyl. So it's kinda cool to finally get see this one pressed on colour.

There were three colours of this one, which means that all in all I ended up with seven records. Here's a picture of the lot all together:

Shown in the photo are (top row to bottom):

'S/T' - Clear w/ ltd. cover /131, Clear w/ regular cover /419, Opaque Purple /550
'Days Of The White Owl' - Pink & Purple Marble /300, Green Marble /700
'The Butterfly Collection' - Grey Marble /300, Red Marble /512, Blue Marble /900

2026 Goals

The Rev posts continue this week following on from me receiving a delivery from RevHQ last week...

Today's post is a couple of recent pressings of the CIV 'Set Your Goals' LP. The last pressing of this one was in 2018, so it was no real surprise when a blue marble vinyl pressing appeared towards the end of last year (2025). When this went up for sale I thought to myself 'I'll pick up one of those at some point', and then a couple of weeks later I checked RevHQ and it was sold out. So I pushed this up the priority list and looked around to see if I snap one up from one somewhere else. Everywhere I looked it was sold out, and the less rational part of my brain started to mildly panic. I kicked myself for being so casual about buying a copy. I mean, in years gone by, the thought of ignoring a Rev colour vinyl pressing and thinking I could get one later would have been ridiculous, so given the state of record collecting in 2026 I'm not ure why I thought I could sit back. Lesson learned. Anyway, after a bit of searching I found a UK store with it for sale, and thinking that this seemed to be in high demand, I decided to buy two copies.

My plan was to keep one and then hold one for trade, but when the two copies arrived they turned out to be completely different colours, with one being light blue and the other being very dark blue. It reminded me of the Quicksand 7". So I then bought another, thinking that there could be a lot of interesting variation in the pressing, which is something I always love to see.

So that's how I ended up with three copies, which are all quite different. Technically these are all part of the 2025 blue marble vinyl press (of 544 copies).

After I had the blue ones, Rev then announced a burgundy pressing (presumably a colour decided on in order to match the artwork). And whilst I think that this colour is definitely a good match to the artwork, it's also kinda boring.

The burgundy is a 2026 press (out of 1100 copies). I think these are going to be around a lot longer than the blue.

Texas Is Still The Reason

I remember that when the debut release by Texas Is The Reason came out in 1995, there was some kind of press article or promo sheet that said something like 'but only three of them are Misfits fans'. It's funny how these little things stick in your mind. Well, last year marked thirty(!) years since their debut 7" came out, so (unsurprisingly) Rev took the opportunity to mark the event with a new pressing of it. That said, with the way things are in 2026, the 7" got updated to a 12", and an extra song got added. This four song 12" version is apparently the first in a series of three 'TX30' special edition TITR 12"s.

Slightly annoying to me is that the extra song got added after the first song, not after the third. So it got added into the middle of the record, rather than being tagged on the end.

Pressing information is:
Gold Nugget (RevHQ Exclusive /300)
Opaque Green (/800)
Bone And Gold Galaxy (Retail Store Exclusive /400)
Turquoise Marble (Banquet UK / Polyvinyl US / 500)

If anyone wants a copy of the turquoise (aka blue) one, I have a spare. Hit me up if you are interested.

Well, also there has been another repress of their LP. Ever since 2013 or so, the only vinyl copies pressed of any TITR records have been a 2x12" discography (although interestingly this was never really marketed as a 'discography'). Well, Rev have now gone back to pressing this as a single LP, the same as when it was originally released in 1996. This pressing is on orange marble vinyl (/550), and is already sold out at Rev.

Apparently this LP is also going to be repressed as a 'TX30' version this year, with the same style obi-strip, and then there is also going to be another 12" of some sorts in the same series. And whilst I probably don't need any more TITR 12"s on my shelf, I like the idea of a collection within a collection.

Youth Crew 2026

Not too much to say about these. But here are some recent-ish Youth Of Today pressings from Rev. It's funny, but I still don't think of myself as actively collecting Youth Of Today records, but I now have more YOT records than I do Cave In records... and Cave In was always a band that I was very much actively collecting. I guess this is just an indication of how many times Rev have repressed these records. I don't doubt that there's still many more to come, as these records are classics and always in demand.

'Can't Close My Eyes' on 'saefom green' vinyl (2025 press /541).

'Break Down The Walls' on orange (2025 press /330):

'Break Down The Walls' on lime green (2025 press /333):

'Disengage' on blue (2025 press /1038):

And finally, not exactly Youth Of Today, but close enough that this seems to be the most appropriate post for it. Ray & Porcell on blue (2025 press /550):

I'm not sure that anybody really saw a repress of the Ray & Porcell 7" coming, as it hasn't been pressed since the 1990s. Does anyone really want this in 2026? I'm sceptical. But kinda cool to see Rev still pressing 7"s, as not many others are anymore.

More Rev 7"s

Following my last post with some of the more recent Rev represses, here are some recent 7" pressings. This first photo shows three of the 'classics', each repressed in a similar way to an earlier pressing.

Shown are Sick Of It All on green marble (2026 press /550), Bold on pink (2024 press /330), Inside Out on turquoise with sleeve without border (2024 press /???).

The next photo shows these photos with the previous similar pressings of each:

Sick Of It All was pressed on clear green back in 2021. Bold was originally pressed on orange in 1989, but a few copies came out pink. No danger that these could be confused, as the photo shows. And Inside Out was pressed on turquoise in 2023, but the sleeve had the usual sleeve with the border. I own the original CD of the Inside Out, and there's no border on the sleeve, and I always thought it looked better. So it's cool to see the 7" with an altered sleeve with no border.

I also picked up the latest two pressings of the Title Fight 'Spring Songs' 7":

Pictured are yellow (2025 press /1100) and green marble (2026 press /???).

I also picked up a couple of other 7"s too, but I thought I'd save those for the next post...

More Rev LPs

I got a few records from Rev this week. A big portion of it was some of the recentish represses. You know how it is - they continue to make 'em, and I continue to buy 'em. I've long given up thinking about this now. I just do it. But there are definitely some of these that still excite me. The Judge LP especialy looks fantastic.

Shown in the pic are (from the top left, moving right and then down):

Chain of Strength 'The One Thing That Still Holds True' - Purple (2026 press /???)
Elliott 'False Cathedrals' - Brown (2025 press, /544)
Elliott 'Song In The Air' - Green (2025 press /546)
Into Another 'Ignaurus' - Orange (2025 press /500)
Gorilla Biscuits 'Start Today' - Pink (2025 press /1621)
Judge 'Bringin' It Down - Clear w/ Purple & Yellow Smoke (2025 press /555)
Sense Field 'Building' - Grey (2025 press /535)
Shai Hulud 'That Within Blood Ill Tempered' - Pink (2025 press /550)
Warzone 'DFTSDFTS' - Gold (2025 press /455)
Warzone 'DFTSDFTS' - White w/ blue & red splatter (2026 press /505)

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.