V/A 'Run Your Mouth' Test

Picked up a test press of a cool little UK compilation from about three years ago. The 'Run Your Mouth' 7" features three UK bands - Search & Destroy (whose 7" ep I released back when The Endless Quest was a label rather than a stupid blog!), Self Destruct and Brain Dead. All three of these bands were great, and unfortunately all three are now broken up. Anyway, I was stoked to win this on eBay. I know that not many people who played on the record got a test, so I feel pretty lucky to have this one. And I also like the cover - very minimal, but very nicely done:

For anyone unfamiliar with this 7", this is what the original record looks like:

I actually have two spare copies of this record if anyone wants one? Not the test, obviously, but the regular version. If you want one, I'll send you one for nothing. Just say the word. First two people to respond get the records. Can't say fairer than that can I?

Oh yeah, also, I figured I would upload the songs so you can check them out. I figured nobody in the bands would mind. Here ya go:

http://www.mediafire.com/?b2si3gg08onux7b

Integrity 'To Die For' Red

Yet another order that rolled in a few weeks ago... this time from A389 Records. I placed an order for the second press of the Integrity 'To Die For' 10", and then got sucked into the pre-order package that they did for it with a bonus 7" or two.

So the red pressing of 'To Die For' looks nice. Once again, this has some chick from the Manson family on the front. According to Doug, her nickname was 'Red', which fits nicely with the theme for the two different pressings.

And as previously, there are no lyrics, only a pic of the two chicks... although this one isn't as good as the last one as there are no boobs on show. Very disappointing.

I think that if I had to pick either blue or red I would go for blue. The only question is - am I talking about the records or the girls?

The next record out of the box is a 12" by a band called Caulfield. I know nothing about this band. All I know is that I was expecting it to be some kind of emo. I mean, for starters, there was a label called Caulfield Records which released emo stuff like Christie Front Drive in the 90s. But secondly, the record itself has a cardboard jacket, which reminds me of a lot of "those" records in the 90s. I imagine that this would be stocked by Ebullition's distro and given a top review in HeartattaCk zine... except for the fact that it sounds like the soundtrack for hell taking over the earth. I can see why this is on A389 & was part of the Integrity pre-order. I'm not convinced I would have bought it otherwise, but this is great.

What made me chuckle was a piece of writing by Roy Walker. I laughed imagining that it may have been written by THE Roy Walker... haha!

Next up is a 7" by Pale Creation. I never heard of this band before, but goddamnit, I wish I had. This 7" crushes everything I have heard ever before. So heavy & evil, I can't stop playing this. My only complaint is that it isn't long enough. I want a full length after this.

Next up is a 7" split between Pale Creation and Integrity. I think this was the bonus / freebie from this pre-order, but am not sure. I haven't even listened to this yet unfortunately. But it's not very pleasing aesthetically.

And finally, I picked up two more versions of the VValpurgisnacht 7" - the 3rd press on lemon vinyl (which has different labels to the previous pressings - it features the art used on the test press cover), and the regular black vinyl.

I guess I just felt like I needed to own every version of this 7"... but it seems like every time I buy one and think I have a complete collection, they make some more!

Give More, Give Everything, Give Blood

So here it is - the most expensive record that I have ever bought. And it ain't much to look at:

For those of you who haven't guessed yet, this is a test press for Bane's second album, 'Give Blood' on Equal Vision Records.

I could almost say that I now have a complete collection of this one. Although those in the know would be able to look at this next picture and know that I am lying.

Yup, I still need a perfect red/clear 50-50 split. But I'm not exactly going to lose sleep if I never get one. I'd be quite happy to leave things here to be honest.

Trade Winds

So I sold some stuff recently, and as part of dealing with that some dude in Japan emailed me. He wanted to buy, but this then morphed into a trade when he told me he had a few things from my want list. So instead of a sale, a trade went down. I sent him a Lion Of Judah 12" and he sent me these:

First, the Circle Storm 'Character Assassin' 12" on clear. I got this when it came out on white, but never got around to picking up the clear one. Pretty basic error considering this is (kinda) on Revelation:

I'm not sure that people like this record too much. Not sure why though. I think it's great. It's basically a Chain Of Strength record and there are some good songs on here.

Next, I got the "second" Hard Stance 7". I'm not actually sure if this counts as their second 7" to be honest. Conversion Records reissued the original Hard Stance 7" circa '96 and put out these extra songs too.

Not sure what the story is/was with this one. Were these extra, unused songs recorded at the same time as the original 7", or was this from a separate recording session altogether? Anyone know?

I also got sent a couple of Reason To Believe 7"s. The first one is gold vinyl. I already have this, but seeing as it was offered to me I wasn't going to turn it down.

This one has little specks of black throughout to make it a little more interesting:

I also got sent the same 7" on red. I didn't previously have this... although I used to own it about 13 years ago but traded it away.

I've been listening to the Reason To Believe LP a lot recently, and also some Sensefield records. I don't think I could ever tire of either of those bands. So good. I now really badly want this 7" on green #/50. Anyone got one they want to trade or sell me?

Finally, these records came wrapped in a plastic bag from a record shop called 'Vinyl'. The bag is kinda cool. Shame it was taped up though else I would be using this on a daily basis.

Rot In Hell Test Sleeve

Back in November I won a Rot In Hell LP test press on eBay. It came without a sleeve. A week or so later, Dom from A389 (i.e. the dude who released it) sold one on eBay which did have a sleeve. Suddenly mine felt incomplete & inadequate, so I emailed and asked if there was any chance I could get a sleeve for my copy. He said yes, and that he would put it in my next order... which he then forgot to do. So he said he would put it in the next order... which he also then forgot to do. So last week he sent it out separately, and paid $9 to do so. What a guy!

So here it is - the sleeve I have been waiting for since November:

The back is almost bare, except for a little sticker at the top, which is a nice little touch I think:

The sticker is the one that came on the plastic sleeve of the regular version of the record:

So yeah, a nice happy ending. I can now put the record into a sleeve. Hoorah!

Pain Runs Deep 7"

(((As usual, I am WAY behind on this blog. I have pile of records next to me that I have received in the past few weeks that I haven't added to the blog due to having other more interesting shit going on. But all of a sudden the pile of records is annoying me to the point where I feel that I need to move them. So here starts several days of catch-up posts...)))

I got this one weeks ago from my friend Adam Malik. You probably know him, seeing as he seems to know pretty much everyone in the entire world. I never met or spoke to Adam until I moved to (near) London about 4 years ago, but we chatted at a show and I can understand why everyone likes him. Dude is chill. Anyway, he's Polish, but lives in London... but before living in London used to have a band called Pain Runs Deep. They broke up at some point in the past, but have recently been playing out again, and have just released a new 7" called 'Whispered Truths'. I was lucky enough to get given a couple of copies...

There were (I think) 100 copies on colour which has sold out on pre-orders, so unfortunately I just got given a regular black copy. But this is really well put together. The packaging is quality and you can tell that there's been a lot of time & effort into this:

The lyrics are printed on that stuff which is see-through and like tracing paper, or grease-proof paper that you might line your cake tins with. I don't know what this stuff is called. But it looks nice & makes for a nice touch:

There's also a free download card, which is a cool little plastic credit card thingy, which I think is way cooler than the little scraps of paper that most labels give away... although probably more expensive and less environmentally friendly. But hey, you can't have everything in life. Oh yeah, and there's an interesting piece of writing by my mate Chaka from Burn (did I mention that I met him in London a few weeks ago?)

All in all, a nice little 7". And as if that wasn't enough to be given, I also got given a test, which is a really nice gesture:

I much prefer it when, like here, the test comes in a sleeve which contains the same artwork as the regular record. The way I see it, the artwork is an integral part of the release, so I am always a bit confused when people make up art for a record, but then put the test in a dumbass cover with art that has nothing to do with the record, like a character from a TV show or some nonsense. I like tests that use the same key piece of art, but just make the sleeve itself slightly different to the regular one. Here's a good example. This test uses the cover art, but it is printed on a single piece of card, and numbered out of 15 copies. Nice.

I'd never really heard this band before. Kinda weird since I am always keen to listed to my friends' bands. But I guess their only release was a MCD in the 90s, and seeing as CDs suck balls it's perhaps not so surprising that I hadn't heard this after all! But anyway, this 7" was not what I expected. I mean, I was expecting it to be metallic hardcore... which yes, it kinda is, but it's much more complex & structured than some basic chugga mosh type crap. This reminds me of bands from the 90s. No-one in particular, but if I had to be specific then I'd say it would be the mosh factor of Conviction & Despair mixed with the guitar sounds of 108 & Snapcase. Does that make sense? Probably not, since I am prone to talking shite and have literally no clue what I am on about. But if you like any of those bands then there's probably something here for you. You could do worse than check this out & support a cool little DIY label in the process.

To buy one, go here:

http://www.theessence.bigcartel.com/

Bane - The Black Albums

I like to think that I have a pretty good Bane collection. But it hit me recently that, although I have lots of their records on colour vinyl, I don't have anything on black. I then realised that this actually qualifies me as some kind of amateur. So I sought about trying to fix this mistake before the cops kicked my door down and took me to the station. A couple of weeks ago I managed to get both LPs at the same time in a weird trade that took about 5 hours where I got two records and Sam got about twenty.

Album numero uno - 'It All Comes Down To This':

Even though I already own three copies of this, I had no memory of the back cover. It didn't look at all familiar.

Thinking about it though, I probably haven't so much as looked at this thing for about ten years.

And next, the second album, 'Give Blood'. I remember buying about three copies of this album when it came out from EVR. I remember being stoked on getting three colours. Little did I realise back then that the black would become harder to find than the clear several years later when I would come to want the black one.

So now all I need is a perfect 50/50 red/clear split of 'Give Blood', and also tests of both. If i was Tre, I would definitely sell me my tests, or swap them for Descendents records or something like that. Definitely.

Ceremony - Ruined

I traded this one with Willem a couple of weeks ago. Even though I always used to follow Malfunction, because everything they put out was gold, somehow I missed picking this one up when it came out. And then I decided to leave it until I could get the red one since that was the rarest version (excluding all the limited sleeve variations). This is part of the first press on red, which is out of 200 copies. I seriously love the artwork on this thing too.

If you want the definitive pressing info on this 7", I suggest you check out Doug's blog.

I slept on this band for way too long. I even went to two shows over here that they played, and missed them both times. The first time I was too busy talking to people outside. The second time I just got there too late. I hope they come back. I won't miss them again.