THE (RE)LAUNCH OF ENDLESS QUEST RECORDS

Once upon a time, before I did this stupid blog, The Endless Quest was a record label.

Back in 2006 I released a 7" by UK band SEARCH AND DESTROY, and in 2007 I put out an LP by Boston, MA band 27. After that I spoke to three other people about future projects, which all eventually turned to nothing. Out of boredom I started writing this crap instead and other areas of life got busy. But I always hoped that I would one day be able to release another record. And now here we are in 2011 and I'm finally ready to have another go.

Almost a year ago a friend of mine (fellow blog nerd Doug) mentioned that he was in a band and sent me some demo recordings. I didn't expect much for some reason, but I gave the songs a listen and was blown away. The sound coming out of my speakers seemed to combine elements of various bands that I liked, and I found myself listening to the songs a lot. It then occurred to me that this would be the perfect opportunity to re-start Endless Quest Records. So I asked about releasing the demo on vinyl and the best part of a year later here we are.

The result of all of this is that I am now taking pre-orders for the debut recording by HOPE DEFEATED.

In January of 2010, five friends who had grown up in and around the Calgary hardcore scene realised that they were feeling let down by the monotony of "adult life". The anger they had felt growing up still burned bright, brought on by the daily frustrations of careers, families and domestic bullshit. They needed a release, and Hope Defeated was formed. A few months later the band hit the studio to deliver a message to themselves and the outside world.

The '2010 Demo' 7" contains four songs that bring together the best elements of mid 90s and early 00s hardcore. These guys have lived through both eras and come out fighting with a fresh sound that is difficult to pigeonhole. Throw the vocal rage of Striking Distance & 108 over the chugging groove of bands like Snapcase & Burn, mix in a strong straight edge influence, and wave goodbye to your dreams that everything is going to be ok.

"I never meant for anyone to ever care. This is mine on my own the badge I wear"

PRESSING INFO
- 50 'blog nerds' edition (Red vinyl, hand numbered with stamped labels in a very special sleeve, specifically intended for readers of my & Doug's blog)
- 100 White vinyl
- 155 Black vinyl

Please note - this is not being announced anywhere else yet because I want to give the people who have supported my & Doug's blogs the first opportunity to get the special version. Once the 50 blog nerd copies are gone, I will start selling this elsewhere.

To order, go to my online store:

ENDLESS QUEST RECORDS ONLINE STORE

Oh yeah, also I thought I would run a TEST PRESS CONTEST - anyone who orders three copies or more will be entered into a draw to win a test press (which comes in a hand made cover of 15 copies).

I'm expecting that pre-orders will start shipping the first week in September.

Also, please note that I still have a few copies of my previous releases available, which I have listed for sale at a reduced price. Please take a chance and check 'em out.

Labels / distros / stores - please get in touch if you would be interested in helping distribute this record.

Time Is Now / 25

Bargains on eBay seem increasingly rare these days. But sometimes you can pick one up as a result of a seller making some basic listing errors.

Let's just say, for example, that you were selling a marble red vinyl copy of the late 90s straight edge compilation 'The Time Is Now' 7". You'd probably be pretty keen to mention somewhere in the auction that this particular version is numbered out of only 25 copies, right? I mean, completely failing to mention this at all would be a pretty basic error, don't you think? It could only be worse if you also somehow also failed to take a photo of the numbered dust sleeve which clearly shows the #/25 written in thick marker pen. I mean, you'd be completely missing the main selling point of the record. Pretty much the only other mistake you could make would be to not show the vinyl at all in main listing photo and instead opt to show only the (crappy) photocopied sleeve. Thinking about it, I reckon that if you made these mistakes then you're really not going to do a very good job of making the record seem as attractive as it really is, and you're probably going to lose a lot of potential bids. On the positive side, however, you're pretty damn likely to make someone's day as you leave the door wide open for a person who knows exactly what this thing is to win it for a really low price. Someone like, for example, me.

I guess this whole disaster could only be worse if you then saw someone else sell their copy of the same record about two weeks later for about three times as much just because they took an extra photo and mentioned that there are only 25 of these things out there.

Outface 'Friendly Green' LP Pink Marble

Here's another one for the Crisis (technically part of Revelation) Records collection - a weird pinky marble type colour variant of the OUTFACE 'Friendly Green' LP. I've owned this album for many years (not even sure when I first picked it up - probably about 1994) and never seen it on this colour before. My longstanding copy is on clear red vinyl. Once again, it makes me wonder how many variants of records are out there that I do not even know about.

This band featured some dude called Derrick Green on vocals who took over the shouting duties from Max Cavalera when he left Sepultura. On guitar was a dude called Charlie who later went on to play in CIV.

I never really liked this album much. It always sounded kinda confused to me, like the band didn't know what they wanted to sound like. There are moments of hardcore, reggae, ska and funk. The vocals came off sounding like a weird mix of Bad Brains, Into Another and Faith No More. I guess it always sounded too eclectic to make an impression on a young me and I filed it away and forgot about it.

After seeing this record for sale on eBay, I recently went back and checked it out again. Funnily enough, I've been enjoying this the past couple of weeks. It has a nice chilled out vibe which makes it perfect for my bike rides home from work in the sunny evenings. Sixteen years later, I finally get it.

Tarpit 'Checkmate' Test

Back at work after a week off and there was only one piece of mail sat waiting for me... this test press of the Tarpit 'Checkmate EP' on Collapse Records.

A few short years ago someone sent me a 7" by this band. I never asked for it, I just got it thrown in with some other record I bought. I loved it & went on to pick up more of their records, including their LP, which I freakin' love. However, this is one band that I know nothing about. Literally nothing. Were people into them? What happened to them? I'm intrigued. Maybe if Bob could give me some info, that would be great.