One Up on Blue

Once again proving I am at least 5 years out of date, here's a blue vinyl 7" by One Up. I really liked this band. When I had been out of touch with hardcore for a couple of years I got given a CD called 'Locked & Loaded' which had a few current bands on (this was circa 2003/4 I think), and I loved the One Up song. I then tracked down their 7"s. And I'm still picking up variations today when I spot them for cheap. They had a couple of 7"s on Bottled Up Records, so you know there are a lot of variants out there! This was their third and final 7", released by Broken Glass Records, and it features a Texas Is The Reason cover on the flipside. It's actually a really great cover, and I think it's kinda cool that a dirty hardcore band like this would choose to play a cover of a band that is very different to their own sound. Keeps things interesting and really makes this 7" worth owning.

I think blue vinyl was the more limited colour of this 7". There were also some on green vinyl... and I actually have a spare copy that I have put up in my store if anyone is interested.

Trade - Records for Food

Catching up on this blog and I'm throwing up here three UK hardcore 7"s that I got from a friend about three months ago. I just haven't got around to putting up here until now. Mainly because I am lazy.

First here is the first (I think) 7" by BRAIN DEAD. I saw this band play once when they were a pretty new band. I forget who they were playing with, but it was a show at the Fenton in Leeds. Anyway, I didn't hear the name of the band when the singer said "Hi, we're Brain Dead". What I heard was "Hi, we're GRIND EGG". I was disappointed when I found out the band's real name. I think my name was better.

This version is the record release version, with a really interesting cover. This is just a single sheet of paper that sits on top of the regular cover.

Next up is the second 7" by Brain Dead. I already have this on green vinyl. But this version is the release show version with a limited sleeve. I love the dark green limited cover. Looks great.

And finally, a UK hardcore compilation 7" that came out in about 2006. This one features three bands - Brain Dead (again), Self Destruct, and Search And Destroy (whose 7" I released, and that you can still buy HERE if you want). I bought a test press of this comp a while ago, but this version here is the pre-order version, in a limited orange sleeve. This one is numbered out of 30. I bought this from the label when it came out but wasn't quick enough to get one of the first 30, so I'm stoked to have picked one up in the end.

Finally... I arranged to buy these things from a friend of mine, but in the end we met up for lunch to do the deal, so I ended up part buying and part trading for food.

Records and burgers in the sun. Life doesn't get much better.

Bold RevHQ Order

I finally got around to ordering the latest piece of Revelation vinyl a couple of weeks ago, the BOLD discography. In all honesty Bold are probably my least favourite classic Rev band. The LP I can listen to, but the 7" these days I find awful. I can't listen to it. But obviously a new piece of Rev vinyl on the scene I'm down. This discography is pressed as a double LP. When I first took the vinyl out of the sleeve I thought I had been sent a black vinyl copy, but it turns out that the red vinyl record I was holding is just super dark unless you put it to the light. Good to see that the vinyl colours are closely matched to the cover art, which is always a nice touch.

As usual, when I placed the order I thought that it would be a waste for someone to pack me up one record and mail it all the way from California. So I had a browse around the RevHQ online store and found a few other bits to pad out the mailer. First up was the latest Revelation re-pressing - a red vinyl copy of the second Shai Hulud LP. I bought the clear vinyl first pressing of this when it came out in 2003 and I'm not even sure I have ever listened to it.

I also picked up the recent vinyl pressing of the Harkonen 'Shake Harder Boy' LP. This one came out in 2002 on Hydrahead, which was at a point in time when vinyl was not so popular, so it was only issued on CD. Thankfully someone has seen sense to correct this mistake nine years later, which is a good thing as this is a great album.

I also noticed that Rev had a couple of the recent Black Flag 7" colour vinyl reissues in stock. There were 4 of 7"s repressed on colour recently, and the addition of these two means I now only have one left to get.

I also took the opportunity to pick up a copy of the Converge / Drop Dead Split 7" that came out a while ago. There are an almost infinite number of variations of this one. I'm just happy with the one - a very dark green with black streaks through it.

And finally, another recent Dischord reissue on colour wax. This time it's the Egg Hunt 7". One of the weirdest but also coolest covers of all time. Anyone know the story behind the picture on the front cover?

Number-rology

Back in February 2010 I received an awesome batch of Youngblood Records releases, which included the (as was) brand new Lion Of Judah 7" called 'Number-rology'. I got two versions and I wrote on this blog "I think there was also a tour press of this record, which looks like a test press, with blank labels and no sleeve. I'd really like one of those too. Can anyone help me out?". Well, no fucker did help me out, so I had to find one myself... which evidently took over a year and a half. I recently picked one up on eBay, that showed up this week. As I suggested, this thing looks very much like a test press, with blank labels and coming only in a (stamped) paper dust sleeve. It's not much to look at.

Around the same time, I also received my latest direct Youngblood order, which included a copy of the second pressing of this record on clear vinyl of 350 copies. It comes with a proper sleeve and an ultra cool lyric sheet printed on the back of a mask. It looks a lot nicer than the tour press.

If you like the look of this clear vinyl copy then I have a couple of them for sale in the Endless Quest online store. Go on - treat yourself.

36 Inches of Sacred Love

Back in March of this year, I was lucky enough to pick up the super limited tour pressing of the latest Youngblood Records release, the SACRED LOVE 'Dividing Lines' 12" EP. And now, 7 months later, the regular versions have turned up on my doorstep. I can't be bothered to review what this sounds like as I have done that before for you to read, but suffice to say this is a great record & I am stoked to have these copies.

First, the limited red vinyl version. There are 201 of these bad boys:

I also got one of the black vinyl copies in the regular sleeve, of which there are 265 copies:

And finally, after something like 13 years of ordering from Youngblood, I have finally cracked the code and made it on to Level 2. Here's the test press (number 16 of 25):

Unbelievably though, after all this there's still another version out there that I don't have. How irritating!

Finally, I thought it worth mentioning that I have a couple of copies of this in the Endless Quest online store (Probably not worth ordering if you are in the States as it will be cheaper to get it from Youngblood direct, but if you're in the UK or Europe then get it from me & save a few bones on postage)

Get Your Goat Test

Back in 1994 I was living in Leeds in the north of England (where Henry Rollins used to live for a while) and there was a popular punk rock venue called The Duchess Of York, which was a pub slap bang in the middle of the city. This was a 200 capacity venue that lots of big bands played on their way to superstardom, such as Nirvana, and Oasis. In my first year I saw Rancid, Green Day and Jawbreaker. Back then I had little money and didn't know what the hell was up, but I remember making a conscious decision to go down there regularly and watch bands that I wasn't familiar with because it was better than sitting around at home. To be fair, I saw some right shite, but the best gig I saw from a band I was unfamiliar with was when I saw Shudder To Think. They were so tight and so damn different to anything else i had heard at that time that I was sold right away. The next day I was in town buying their record, and not long after that I was trying to track down their previous records. As I listed to their music now in 2011 it seems even more obvious that they were a band that was literally years ahead of their time. The world wasn't ready. Not that it matters. I was ready, and I don't care about the rest of the world.

So recently I stumbled across a test press of their fourth album 'Get Your Goat'. It was cheap and I couldn't resist a sneaky bid. This was also one of those tests that also served as a promotional copy, so it comes with some extras like a poster, promotional photo, and some press sheets. A nice little package.

I'm sure that a lot of people reading my blog won't have heard this band. They were on Dischord and then got signed to a major, where they released what is regarded as their best record, 'Pony Express Record'. It still sounds fresh and different 17 years after it came out. I still dig it. Guitarist Nathan Larson (who used to play in Swiz before Shudder To Think) went on to write music for films, and also married the chick who used to sing in The Cardigans. Drummer Adam Wade also drummed in Jawbox.

If you never heard this band then here's your chance. Check this video out. And remember, when I saw them play live I had never heard them and had no clue about what they sounded like. Put yourself in that situation. Imagine you have walked for twenty minutes into town to check out a band on the strength of the fact that they were on the same label as Minor Threat and Fugazi. Then st back & enjoy. You may be disgusted, but the 19 year old me loved it.

If you've never heard this band until now please comment to let me know what you think.

We Stick Together!

Never let it be said that I do not keep up to date... even if it takes me like a year or so to get there. Ha! I started seeing a lot of pictures of this 7" around a while back & it seemed there was some hype around this band. Then again, it seems any current straight edge band seems to get hyped. Perhaps that's because there aren't actually that many sxe bands about anymore, as long as you don't include these novelty / joke bands that go around waving guns or utilising five singers with varying degrees of throaty barking vocals. Yes, I'm talking about proper youth crew type straight edge bands which it seems to me are becoming increasingly rare. Or maybe it's just that I'm just way out of touch. I wouldn't rule that out. Anyway, Stick Together are the exactly the kind of sxe band I like, and I was lucky enough to end up with Mike's spare copy on white vinyl, which seems to be the rarest colour out of 100 copies.

Yup, it's always good to listen to this kind of sound played by a current band. Makes me feel young. Well, ish.

Capital 'Givers Takers' LP

After reading Nick's post and realising that this album was available, I decided to order it for myself. I've been trying to save money and not buy multiple copies of things lately, but without pressing info I couldn't decide which color to buy, so like a fool I picked up both.

'Givers Takers' is the third album by Capital. I'm not gonna say that this is my favourite band or anything, but whenever I listen to them I really enjoy them. They mix up a lot of good elements, and the lyrics are always really interesting.I guess they are a band I want to like a lot more than I actually do. Anyway, after saying that, I have been playing this album quite a lot. I guess its a good length for my bike ride to work. I've probably listened to this one more than their previous albums. I'm into it. I especially like the joke phone call that plays after the second song, and the song that follows it. You should check it out. And if you want to listen to this album without actually forking out money, you can download it for free. The band are giving the whole record away as a free download on their bandcamp page. How's that for hardcore?

Black Seaweed Tragedy

I placed my first ever order with No Idea Records recently to pick up a couple of 7"s that Juan had drawn my attention to a while back on the They Still Press Vinyl blog.

The first is the recent Seaweed 7". I guess No Idea convinced them to reform and record a couple of new tunes. The songs themselves are ok. More like the last couple of Seaweed records than the first couple. It's Seaweed though. The record itself is on green vinyl and in a nice die cut sleeve. Not sure why it has a train on the front, but hey, I'm not knocking it. Looks great.

The other record I wanted to pick up was the debut 7" by Black God. Made up of dudes who have been in Black Cross, Black (aka Young) Widows, By The Grace of God and Endpoint. Black God has Rob Pennington on vocals but the songs are short blasts, and damn good they are too.

I also added the second Cheap Tragedies 7" for good luck. You know how it is... you can't just buy two records. This one comes third in more than one sense.