XClaim! Road Trip

Two weekends ago (yes, I am way behind on this blog right now), I drove to East London to flick through some dude's collection. Most times I would be excited about such a prospect, but this time I wasn't actually that excited... because I knew that said dude had some big items, and I didn't actually want to spend too much money. I've spent quite a lot lately and I need to exercise more self-control.

Anyway, there were two items that I was going there wanting badly. And I was lucky enough to come away with them both - the first SSD & DYS records on X Claim! Records. These are hugely influential and iconic records... but obviously you know that if you're reading this.

I paid a lot of money for these things, but at the same time I paid fair prices. All things considered, I'm happy... although if I'm going to try to acquire the rest of the XClaim! catalogue then I'm going to need to put my dreams of buying a house on hold for a while.

So anyway, at this point, two thirds of the budget I had set myself had been used up. Oops. I then managed to find some more items on which to spend (aka waste) the rest of my money. For example, the 2nd press of the Negative Approach LP. The second press has a purple sleeve, whereas first press is green. I like the purple better though. Green seems much more common... which is because after the second press, the label reverted back to the green sleeve. So although not first press, this one is less commonly seen.

Next, the second 76% Uncertain LP, 'Nothing But Love Songs':

I haven't got around to listening to this one yet (in two weeks... ha!), but I'm hoping it's more like their 1st LP than their 3rd. Although, logic suggests it's likely to be kind of in the middle of the two :o)

I also picked up the tour press of the R'N'R LP:

I get the impression that most people think this is shite, but I really like this LP. This band was supposed to tour the UK a few years ago and the Leeds show was scheduled to take place on new year's day or some stupid ass date like that. Needless to say, the tour didn't happen.

Okay, so now I'm onto the 7"s... and here's a Cursed 7" on white:

I do quite like the first two Cursed albums (haven't heard the third) but this 7" is awful. Christ.

Next, a band that I like a lot but probably shouldn't admit to - Headfirst. This is their Workshed Records 7" on clear (which I also have on purple - yeah, good job I have two of these!):

Here's one that I specifically remember missing out on when it came out - the Insurance Risk 7" on My War Records on white vinyl. I think this came out in about 2002, the white sold out and I decided not to buy it since I figured I would hold out for a white one. I couldn't have known that would take 7 years, damn.

This next one is a particular favourite of mine - The Life's Halt / No Reply 7". This is probably the 7" with THE most different sleeve variations in the known universe. There are 30 different sleeves out there. Yup, that's right - THIRTY! Most are parodies of well known hardcore punk 7"s for which only 23 copies were made. You can see the different covers HERE if you are interested. This one, with the Circle Jerks sleeve, is relatively common, being one of 75 copies made.

Next up is a Youngblood record that I was missing.. the 1st Rancor 7" on green vinyl with green sleeve. My other copy is green vinyl but has the band name printed in red on the sleeve. So yes, another pointless variation to add to the pile:

This next one is interesting - a Stikky 7" on Slap A Ham Records. I used to listen to a lot of East Bay punk stuff years ago, and Stikky were on an early compilation put out by MRR called 'Turn It Around'. Other bands featured on that comp include Operation Ivy and Crimpshrine. Stikky also feature on the classic Lookout! Records comp LP 'The Thing That Ate Floyd'. To me they were just some band on a couple of compilations. I never managed to pick up any of their records until 2009. So like 17 years down the line.

It's kinda funny listening to this stuff now. Bands like this just remind me of being 18 and starting to buy records and learn about bands. It's kinda difficult to listen to stuff like this with fresh ears and decide if I'm into it or not. I guess that's just what it's like to get old huh?

Next, a black vinyl press of the 'Growing Stronger' comp 7". I kinda have a strange desire to try & collect all the colours of this now for some reason... perhaps because I am an idiot.

Finally, I also picked up a couple of records by The Process, which is a band that I have stupidly overlooked for at least a couple of years. I got a 12":

And a split 7" with Iron Lung:

I also picked up a record I had never heard of before - the King Generator 12". This features the guitarist of The Process, some dude from some bands called Anodyne and Tombs (who I know nothing of, sorry) and Dave Witte (drummer from Discordance Axis):

This record is rad. Fast, heavy hardcore. I don't listen to stuff like this too often, but I always like it when I do & think that I should listen to stuff like this more because, let's face it - this is hardcore.

www.myspace.com/kinggenerator

There were 200 of these things on blue vinyl. The B-side has a laser etching of a dog's head:

Shame there's so many dogs going on here. I hate dogs. I hate cats too. In fact, I hate all pets. Someone should write a song about that.