Rot In Hell / Wayfarer

Today's update is the new split 7" between Rot In Hell and Wayfarer. Rot In Hell I am sure you have heard of and heard by now (and if not, please see HERE). Wayfarer... well, I hadn't heard anything by them until I got this. And now I am kicking myself. This band is fuck good. I need to hear more.

Anyway, the 7"... there are three colours of vinyl available for all you losers. White, grey, and grey containing dirt. Each one comes in a gatefold sleeve with some beautiful artwork on it of a bird. When I was about 5 years old (i.e. ages ago) a bird flew into our house, flew around the room a bit, and then tried to fly out again... but instead of flying out the open window, it flew into the closed window at full pelt and died instantly. This taught me that birds are stupid... and I'm sure that any man who has had his heart broken by one would readily agree.

The white vinyl is the most limited, being out of 100 copies, all of which come with a booklet that is stapled shut. So if you're a dickhead like me you will never get to read it. However, since I am reliably informed that it contains "a load of old flannel about the end of the world and that" then I don't think that leaving it closed will change my life.

The only minor complaint i have with this is that the black, glossy inner sleeve does not actually fit into the record sleeve. If you are a nerd like me then this will irritate you too most likely. I recommend binning them and replacing them with ones that actually fit.

Receiving this record brought about a couple of realisations. Firstly, that I have hardly bought any new releases in 2010. Secondly, that I have no idea about any current UK bands. I need to change that if there are more bands like this out there. If you know who I should listen to and who I should avoid then please let me know so as to save me wasting time listening to crap. I don't have much spare time at the moment so any help would be appreciated.

Now, go check out Wayfarer and listen to 'Ragnarok' about fifteen times in a row like I did.

http://www.myspace.com/hailwayfarer

Thanks Jav!

I won a cool little 7" recently on ebay for 99 cents - a(nother) copy of the Life's Halt / No Reply split 7". I have about 5 versions of this thing already, although this isn't many when you consider that there are 30 different versions in total (see HERE). There were many different parody covers made, most being out of only 23 copies. I don't have any of them. The one I just got is the 'final' version, which has a sleeve that is basically just a photo of all of the other different sleeves!

The seller turned out to be Jav, who I have dealt with before, and who probably has more Integrity records than I do. So I took the opportunity to pick up a couple of extra items from him at the same time, as it seemed pointless paying 99 cents plus postage for a record. The first item Jav sold me was a Japanese version of the recent Integrity / Pale Creation 7". This is a funny one. There was a limited clear vinyl pressing of this 7" by A389 Records which was done for the bands only. But this Japanese pressing is also on clear vinyl pressed by A389 Records. So not sure what is going on. Did A389 actually press 150 extra clear records for the Japanese dude, or did the Japanese dude order the records direct from the pressing plant, using A389's plates, and select clear vinyl in the process? Perhaps we will never know. But even though the Japanese version contains the exact same vinyl as the US version, it has its own unique sleeve:

I also grabbed a black vinyl version of the 7.17 comp 7" that Jav released. I previously only had a green vinyl copy & a test press (see HERE). The black one has a different colour sleeve:

The final item I got was a cover for the 7.17 test pressing that I got from Dwid a while ago. I got sent one in a sleeve that it turns out was created for some copies that went to Japan. So whilst a nice & limited sleeve, the one I had was not the 'official' test sleeve. But now I do have one. Here it is:

Keelhaul's Triumphant Return To My Stereo

Keelhaul was always a bit of a mysterious band to me. After listening to them for ten years, I still know next to nothing about them. I bought their second release, a 7" on the mighty Hydrahead Records, when it came out, purely because it was on Hydrahead. At the time I bought everything Hydrahead released religiously, but this one grabbed my interest because it was being sold as having someone from Integrity in it. I remember it like it were yesterday... even though it were ten years ago. Anyway, the 7" really impressed me, and so I grabbed the LP that then came out a year or so later. That was a great record too. And so was the next album that followed circa 2003. Then one summer (2004? 2005?) they toured Europe. They played in my home town of Leeds, but that day I had been out skating in the Summer sun and during the late afternoon fell really sick, so I didn't see them play. Then they vanished.

But then last year, five years after they were last heard from, Keelhaul released a new album. And as seems to be the case more and more often these days, I finally got around to picking it up about a year late. What's my excuse? Well, I don't have one. I'm just old and out of touch. (Actually, I remember why I don't buy any Hydrahead releases anymore - the shipping charges are completely insane. I added some Hydrahead records to my cart a few months back then went to check out and found that the shipping costs were more than the records. Bugger that). Still, I spotted this on ebay on purple vinyl for about $21, which I thought was alright for a double LP in 2010.

I've listened to nothing else for the past few days. This just might be their best album to date. So good. Sorry? What was that? You never heard Keelhaul? In that case, I suggest you click HERE for a good introduction.

On a related note... I saw Ringworm play at some godawful all dayer in London back in about 2005. One of the few good bits of the event was when the dude introduced Aaron Dallison (of Ringworm) to the crowd and my brain clicked 'Dude is in Keelhaul' and I cheered. But then I realised that people around me might think I was cheering for Ringworm, which would highlight me as being a fool. So I shut up and left quick smart.

Ink & Dagger 7"

Here's an example of me being quite lucky (again). I was sat at my computer a few weeks ago when an email popped up from Six Feet Under Records. It was probably announcing some new pre-order for something that I didn't really want. But what caught my eye was that it also mentioned that some of the Ink & Dagger 7"s leftover from the recent show in LA were available in the SFU Store. I figured that these would sell out pretty fast, so I clicked the link and bought one immediately. There were only 15 available in the store. They probably went within an hour of the email going out I would guess. So yeah, I was lucky and got one. I think that there were only 55 of these things made, although unfortunately they are not numbered.

This sleeve is nicely made. Screen printed with the lyrics in silver ink.

I saw Ink & Dagger play back with Refused over here in the UK circa 1997/98. I don't remember much about the show to be honest. But the over-riding memory that I do have is disappointment. I remember Ink & Dagger being disappointing because they played mainly newer songs from the album that I didn't have at the time. And Refused were disappointing because they were also playing mainly newer material, from 'The Shape Of Punk To Come', which I had but didn't like (I much preferred their earlier stuff). So the night was a bit of a let down. I do hear that they are coming back to the UK in early 2011 so hopefully that will be much more enjoyable.

Gameface LP Purple

Oh, the wonders of doing a blog. I picked up a green vinyl Gameface record a couple of months ago, and when I posted about it (HERE) I asked if anyone would have a solid purple vinyl copy that they could live without. Well, what do you know, one kind soul got in touch and we arranged a trade. So now I have a seventh copy of this record:

Apparently the person who sent this to me got it direct from the singer, Jeff Caudill, when he was clearing out his garage. Makes me wonder how many other records are out there in band member's or label owner's storage areas just waiting to be cleared out.

This incident also proves that there is no point in taking a photo of a collection unless it's complete. I took a photo of my copies of this record two months ago, and now it's out of date. But I can't be bothered to get them all out and do it again.

Trade!

Good trade with my friend Mark recently. He somehow managed to pick up more copies of the latest Hands Tied 7" than he needed, which suited me fine seeing as (like a fool) I never actually got around to ordering it. This copy is on red vinyl, which is (I think) the less rare of the two colours available. If anyone wants to send a gold vinyl copy my way, feel free!

I don't know much about this 7". I mean, I know that Hands Tied were around in about '96/'97 and released a 7" on Equal Vision. And I know that they have a discography coming out at some point. And I know that they have reformed recently to play some shows. But I am not sure if these are brand new songs, recently written, or whether these songs were previously written but just never released. Anyone wanna fill me in? Well anyway, these two songs are just what you would expect. Straight up, straight edge hardcore. I always preferred Hands Tied to Mouthpiece and this 7" just reinforces that opinion. Good stuff.

The second record I got from Mark is this original pressing of the 'Streetcleaner' LP by Godflesh on Earache Records:

I love bands like Godflesh at this time of year. This feels the perfect soundtrack to coming home in the dark, sitting on a train with nothing but blackness outside, feeling like I'm riding into oblivion. I guess in some ways I am.

VVe Are The End... again

Feels like it is raining Integrity vinyl these days. Every time I think there's a break in the clouds, all of a sudden another downpour comes along. This week brought the second pressing of the 'VVe Are The End' 7" on two colours of vinyl...

Red, of which there are only 75 copies:

And white, of which 425 copies were pressed:

I dare not even count how many Integrity records I own now. But no doubt the answer lies somewhere between 'too many' and 'not enough'.

It's Mudhoney & Sonic Youth, Fuckers!

One of the first bands that I really got into back when I was young was Mudhoney. I bought all most of their records in their peak era, and then a couple of years later when I got into straight edge I decided they were hippy crap and sold everything. Then probably about 6 or 7 years after that I decided that I was an idiot to sell it all and started buying it all back. And then, in the past couple of years when I started trying to identify all the records that I REALLY wanted (as opposed to just the ones I kinda wanted) I realised that there was one Mudhoney record that I had never owned - the split 7" with Sonic Youth. This has always been one of the slightly more expensive Sub Pop 7"s. But the price has stayed pretty static over the years. But now that my income is a little higher, for me it is relatively cheaper, so I finally got around to crossing it off the list.

This was the second release in Sub Pop's original Singles Club, and was released way back in 1988. That's 22 goddamn years ago. According to John Pette's superb Sub Pop Discography, there were 3000 of these in total - 500 on clear, and 2500 on black. Being a colour vinyl nut I had to have a clear one.

This is an interesting record. Both bands cover each other's songs. Mudhoney do 'Halloween' by Sonic Youth, and Sonic Youth perform Mudhoney's slacker anthem 'Touch Me I'm Sick', with Kim Gordon (the MILF of rock, according to some) performing the vocal duties. A true classic. Shame I only just got around to picking one up in 2010. I feel like some kind of amateur.

I also bought a test press of the Fuckers 7" from the same seller. This is my first and only Sub Pop test press. I hadn't listened to this 7" in ages, and it wasn't as good as I remembered. The band was apparently (although I'm not sure it was ever formerly confirmed) the dudes from Seaweed playing garage punk in the style of the Dwarves. They also appeared to like wearing balaclavas and swearing.

Here's a pic of the regular version of the record. Note the aforementioned balaclavas.

Every time I pick up a Sub Pop release it reminds me that there are still loads more of their classic singles I never picked up. I think I need to revise my list and find some more...

Integrity TWFT 2010 Tests

Picked up a couple more versions of the Organized Crime reissue of 'Those Who Fear Tomorrow' recently...

A rejected test press, numbered out of 25 copies:

I think this sleeve is a parody of a Whitehouse record which looks like this:

If you don't know anything about Whitehouse then please go HERE.

I also got a sleeve for the test press that I got a while back before the official version of the record was released (see HERE). So I'm happy that my record finally has a sleeve to sit in:

Oh yeah, and I also got a sleeve from the Integrity / Pale Creation 7" that I got some time ago. The sleeve I got with mine was not the 'official' one, but one that Dwid made up. But I'll keep it anyway because that's how I roll.

Oh yeah, and I also got lucky and got the Kasner sketch edition to complete the collection.

By some fluke of nature, I also got the same number that I did of the Kasner sketch edition of the ICOS 7" (as you can see HERE). Nice pair eh?