Just As Strong

It was three years ago that Stick Together dropped their 'Surviving The Times' 7", which itself was two years after their debut 7". It would seem fair to say, therefore, that these dudes are not exactly fast workers. This may be due to the fact that the dudes in this band have other stuff going on, such as some band called Title Fight for example. Anyway, here we are in 2015 and they have just released their debut LP on Triple B Records.

Triple B put this out on three colours of vinyl - clear, blue and black. I decided to pick up only one, as I'm starting to get annoyed with myself for always buying all available colours of all new releases. So I simply picked the most limited, which was clear (out of 200).

I've enjoyed this LP a lot recently. Just like the last 7", this has been a bit of a slow burner. It doesn't hit straight away, and it isn't exactly HARDcore, but it has subtle hooks which sink in and start tugging a little more with each listen. This is a really good record, but I really hope we don't have to wait 2-3 years for the next one.

Nobody's Fool

Sometimes I don't set out to collect different copies of a record, but it just kinda happens. Such is the case with the Clear 7". I was initially happy with just one copy (on clear) which I picked up for cheap. But then I picked up another copy for cheap, and then another... which left me with only one other colour to find. So of course, I kept my eyes open, and eventually one popped up.

The pink (which, incidentally, is the best colour for any record, not just this one) was the more limited colour of the second pressing. There were only 100, so it took a little time for one to surface. But when it did, it was pretty cheap.

This meant that I suddenly had a complete colour vinyl collection of this 7". I took a photo, but then realised that I had put them in a random order like some kind of idiot.

Shown in the wrong order are; 1st Press on Clear (300), 1st Press on Clear Blue (600), 2nd Press on Pink (100), 2nd Press on Clear Yellow (400). Not shown at all are the This Is Hardcore 2012 press and the test press. But given that this is already three steps further than I planned coming originally, let's not rule them out from making an appearance in the future...

History Repeats

The passing of time never ceases to amaze me. It's already 3.5 years since the Fire & Ice 'Not Of This Earth' LP dropped. Back then I was still posting photos on here with a white background and working in Hammersmith. Seems like a lifetime ago in one sense, but when I listen to this record it feels like it only came out a couple of months back. Christ. Time is moving fast these days.

Anyway, three and a half years after this came out I picked up a test press of it on eBay. It was being sold by the label. I didn't win the auction, but I got some kind of second chance offer, so it worked out ok in the end. In fact, this is the exact same way that a fellow Fire & Ice enthusiast acquired his copy back in the year that this was released.

As you can see, this has one of the most awesome covers of all time. I kinda thought that it was a shame that someone had spent hours drawing this amazing picture, for it to then be used on the cover of a record for which only 15 copies exist. But then I realised that the artwork wasn't created for this record at all. It was the theatrical release poster for a 1983 animated movie which is also named 'Fire And Ice'. So there you go.

Omens

I would doubt that there was anyone as excited as me when it was announced that there would be a new Into Another record coming out. Initially, however, it seemed that there wasn't going to be a vinyl version, as the only options available for pre-order were an itunes download or a CD. So I sat it out and crossed my fingers, and then after a few weeks a vinyl option appeared for pre-order via RevHQ. There were two options available... black vinyl and purple vinyl, so I ordered one of each.

Well, just before they started shipping I was sent an email from Rev which read as follows:

Due to a pressing plant error, no copies of the Into Another "Omens" 12" were pressed on black vinyl. However, 25 copies were pressed on a special blue/lilac color that we are offering to people who ordered the black.We do not have black vinyl, so you can choose either a refund, or a copy of the special blue/lilac vinyl that is limited to 25 copies. Please let me know what you prefer as soon as you can, as these are now ready to ship.

Seems kinda funny to me that I was given the option of either a super limited version or a refund. I mean, seriously, is anyone in this situation going to ask for a refund?

After a couple of weeks everyone else had received their records, and pictures were popping up all over instagram. Even people in Europe had theirs, yet mine still hadn't shown up. At this point it's probably worth clarifying that mine were being shipped to my friend who lives in California, and Rev orders usually get to his house within two days. So it was looking a little sketchy. Also, there appeared to be quite a bit of variation in colour on instagram. So I started to panic. It felt like my records had gone missing. So I did what anyone who had been waiting 20 years for a new Into Another record would do - I ordered three more copies.

A few days later, my friend emailed me. Both packages turned up, which meant that I had 5 copies of the record. He sent me the following photo:

When I saw the photo I was stoked, because it showed that I had got lucky and bagged three different colours. I naturally assumed that the one in the middle was the limited blue/lilac copy limited to 25. But that was not the case. The real story of what is what is much more interesting... if you give a shit about these things that is. So here is the account of what happened...

At the point my friend ordered the second batch (of three records), he emailed Rev to tell them that he didn't receive the first order, despite the order status being marked as 'SHIPPED'. Also, he usually gets a 'shipping confirmation' email containing a tracking number. Rev then replied to say that they would re-send the original package. My friend emailed back again to say that he wanted to make sure that he could still get one of the 25 blue/lilac copies, and Rev replied to say ok. Sounds good, right?

Well, the first package to arrive contained two records. So in theory this was the original order, containing one purple copy and one of the 25 blue/lilac copies. When he opened the package, one record was opened, the other was sealed. He assumed that the open copy was the blue/lilac copy. However, when he then opened the sealed copy, he found it to be on the exact same colour. These two copies are the ones on the left in the above photo. Then, the second package containing three records turned up. All three copies were sealed. When he opened it he fuond the two light purple copies (the two on the right hand side of the above photo) AND the blueish looking copy in the centre of the photo. So one of the two dark purple copies on the left is apparently one of the 'limited to 25' copies, whereas the two copies on the right and the one in the centre and all just regular purple copies. So here's the thing - if there are only 25 copies on a blue/lilac colour, then how come only one of these copies was open and the rest sealed? Does that mean that Rev only opened a few, yet somehow knew there were only 25 of one particular shade? Or does it mean that they looked at all of them, then sealed them up, but somehow mixed up some copies? Or does it mean that there are all kinds of colour variations and Rev don't actually have a clue? Well, on the evidence of my two packages, I'm voting for the latter.

Anyway, that's the story. Here are my photos of these things. Firstly, the light purple. This is the one on the right of my friend's photo:

Next, the dark purple. This is the one on the left of my friend's photo. The one which is, in theory, one of the 25 blue/lilac copies.

And finally the blueish copy, the central copy in my friend's photo.

And a photo which shows all three copies together.

Remember, the top two copies are purple. The limited to 25 blue/lilac copy is the one on the bottom, which looks pretty much grey here. It's not really this grey in real life, but photographing these three together and getting them to look like they do in front of my eyes is like mission impossible.

That aside, how good is this record? Well, I'll simply say that this sounds almost exactly like it could have come out twenty years ago right after 'Seemless'. Which is about the biggest compliment possible I would say. I just hope that this isn't a one off, and they carry on going for a while longer. I feel they have a few more songs in them yet...

When People Grow, People Go

One of the most anticipated new releases of this year for me was the new Blacklisted LP. Ever since the demo, this band has continued to grow and expand and do something different. For me, it's what keeps things interesting. There's nothing more dull than a band that cranks out the same record time after time. So when a new Blacklisted record drops, chances are it'll be interesting. And this one doesn't disappoint.

On this record they've taken a couple of steps back away from the sound on 'No One Deserves To Be Here More Than Me' back towards a slightly heavier and more aggressive sound. And even though I really enjoyed the last full length (unlike most people it would seem) I'm really happy with the way that this record turned out.

There are some really good songs on here and I've listened to it a lot the last couple of months. This came out on three quite suitable colours of vinyl which all went quite well with the cover, but this blue & pink mix was the special band colour, which probably looks a bit ridiculous. I would have preferred to have bagged the clear & white vinyl copies, which look really cool, but they sold out way too quick for a slowcoach like me, so this will have to do.

Ten More

Last time I did one of these Rev repress posts, I got a comment from a reader, and responded with my own comment. I figured I would post those two comments here before the photos of my latest batch...

Each month i tell myself that i will limit my rev repress purchases, yet i dont. did i need another gameface on color? nope. still bought it though. i figured that i have come this far, might as well keep going.

I agree with you, in terms of coming this far. I see it kinda like a storm. I've made it this far so I might as well just ride it out and then assess the damage. But I like to think that, like a storm, it won't go on forever.

As you can see, if this is a storm, I'm still slap bang in the middle of it.

Hey Cuz

Here's another weird Sub Pop record from my distant past. This is the Afghan Whigs 'Sister Brother / Hey Cuz' 7" on green vinyl. I didn't even really know it existed on green until this year. It intrigued me enuogh to buy it, even though I already have a red vinyl copy.

Many years ago, when I first started buying records, I picked up this 7" from a local store on purple vinyl. A few years later I sold or traded it away. A few years later still, I decided I wanted another and realised how rare the purple one was, as the only copies I ever seemed to see were red. So when I saw this green for sale, I knew it was pretty rare, and for that reason decided to buy it.

I find green vinyl to be by far the most difficult colour to photograph. It never seems to look right. I took another photo of this one to show that, whilst it is a solid vinyl, it is also slightly see-thru. You can see the dudes through it in this photo:

What's kinda funny now is remembering when I originally bought this record in 1992 that I thought the dudes on the cover looked old... especially the dude on the far right. Mainly because he has a beard. And even though 23 have passed and I have gotten much older, somehow this dude still looks old to me.

A Triple Let Down

So before the BURN show a couple of weeks ago, I spent some time in London. I went to three places - two for food, and one for records. When I visited All Ages Records in Camden, I was presented with a small collection of used 7"s from 'behind the counter'. The pile contained a pretty good collection of Let Down 7"s, a couple of which I didn't have. The funny thing was that I wasn't entirely sure whether I already owned a couple of them or not. I had to check my own collection on HYE using my phone to figure out which I had and which I 'needed'. As it turns out, my initial instinct was right, and the green vinyl copy in the red sleeve was one that I was missing, so I grabbed it.

If you've never seen one of these 7"s before then you're missing out. This was the last release on Dead By 23 Records, and most of them have tri-fold covers which look really cool, like this one for example:

I also picked up this weird variant that I hadn't seen before, which comes in an I HATE YOU 'Seven Inches of Hate' rip off cover.

The cool thing about this cover is that the Let Down 7" only has 4 songs on it. The first four songs listed on the back cover are the Let Down songs, whereas the last three are the last three I Hate You songs.

The third 7" I picked up is the 'final press' of the other 7" that came out on Six Feet Under Records. This one is stamped and hand numbered on the labels, although the cover is nowhere near as nice as the first 7". In fact, it kinda sucks.

I took the opportunity to pull out all of my copies of the first 7" to take a group photo. I do have ten of the things after all. Seems like an appropriate way to wrap up this post...

Take Control

When I went to see BURN a couple of weeks ago, I picked up a couple of 7"s from the dude who does Control Records. He had a small stall with stuff for sale, and I honed in on two of his releases, one old and one new.

First up, the new. FADE is a three piece band from the UK. I mainly bought this record because I was in the mood to try something new, and I figured it would be cool to grab the limited pre-order, blue vinyl version of the 7" while I had the chance. I'd never heard the band and had no idea what they may sound like. But I'm glad I took a chance, because this record is great.

To me, the cover looks like this could be a release from 1993. And wouldn't you know it, the record just so happens to sound like it could have come out in the early to mid 90s too.

This band sounds totally like some of the rock bands of the mid 90s that hardcore dudes did. The first song sounds to me like Man Will Surrender. The second song sounds like Godspeed. It's pretty great stuff, partly because nobody does this kind of thing anymore. In the modern era, hardcore dudes doing non hardcore is not common. Anyway, there are two original songs here and a Memorial Day cover (Memorial Day was a band that Skip from Turning Point did after Godspeed, at the end of 90s), and this record is damn good. Check it out.

The other 7" I picked up is the red vinyl pre-order version of the Beware 7". I completely missed every version of this record when it came out, and managed to grab a green vinyl copy last year, so it was cool to grab a European red vinyl pressing too.

As you can see, I got a pretty cool number. And my copy was the one on display on the table, so it was the last copy sold.

Another Step Closer

It wasn't long ago that I only really had a couple of Harvest records, and then the last year or so I have picked up a few, to the point where it feels like my collection is respectable. This latest pickup is the grey vinyl pressing of the 'One Step Closer Than The Last' 7", which came out on Trustkill Records back in 1998.

I bought the orange vinyl one back when this came out. Kinda funny to be picking up another version all these years later.

As you can see from the picture, this grey version was limited to 100 copies, with a blank b-side label which has been hand numbered using a big black marker. I have an Endeavor LP which was released by Trustkill which looks the same - grey vinyl with a white label, numbered using a black marker. And there's also a pressing of the Harvest LP on the same configuration. At this rate I should probably be picking one up circa 2035.

I'll Still Be Here

At the end of 2013 Done Dying appeared on the scene. With two 7"s released almost simultaneously on two separate labels, there seemed to be a lot of attention on them. And rightly so. With Dan O'Mahoney on vocals with Mike Hartsfield on guitar, the band promised a lot, and (in my opinion at least) delivered. Good stuff. Well, earlier this year the band got around to recording their debut full length, 'We Dream Or We Die'. It was released by the newly revived Workshed Records on two colours of vinyl, blue and grey, limited to 250 copies each.

Earlier in the year, before the album was out, the label sold off the test pressings. I was pretty quick on the draw to make sure I got one, especially as I had missed the tests of the Irish Voodoo 7" when they were sold a couple of years back.

The test looks pretty good in a handmade sleeve with handwritten labels. Mine is numbered 11/20.

I've been listening to this a lot the last couple of weeks. I'm not sure if I like it as much as the two 7"s yet, but I'm sure I'll figure that out eventually. But it's certainly a good record and anyone who likes the trademark Dan O growl is gonna enjoy it. Dude has never done wrong in my book.

Weak Ass Game

Last year the Jaguarz 'Jungle Jamz' demo was issued on vinyl. It originally came out on cassette back in 2003, when Lockin' Out was the big thing. The band had an awesome song on the 'Sweet Vision' compilation 7" which made me want to hear more, although admittedly not enough to spend money on a tape. So it was cool to see this finally get put on to a proper format. However, by the time I realised it was out, it was sold out and I was slightly bummed, especially after seeing Chris's cool little collection.

Well, one day I saw a weird variant for sale on eBay, watched it and won with one bid. I didn't really know what it was, just that it looked different to any other version I had seen and it looked kinda cool. So I bid and won it for $4.25. When it arrived it had a very faint number on the label, being 24/25. It comes in a photocopied cover with the band name and record title coloured in with highlighter pens.

I think I read somewhere that this was a special tribute to the Warzone 'aborted' press, where the band logo was coloured in with an orange highlighter. The label made 25 of these and slipped them into orders randomly. Kinda cool if you ask me.

The record is numbered although the ink is barely visible. It was tough to even get it to show up in a photo.

I really like this record and would like to pick up the colour versions too at some point. But for now this seems like a pretty good place to start. Oh yeah, and after listening to this quite a bit I do think that it has aged well. It doesn't sound old at all, not to me anyway. One of the best bands of that early 00's era.

BURN

Exactly one week ago I was present at this historic event:

BURN were always a special band to me. Back when I was 17 I heard BURN for the first time on a tape that some dude brought to a party. I was blown away. It was like nothing I had ever heard before. I immediately sought out the 7" from a record store. A year or so later I met a dude who told me that he had it on pink vinyl, and I became obsessed with trying to get a pink one for myself. This was before the internet existed, so it was tough, and it actually took me about three and a half years to get one. At the time it was by far my most wanted record, and finding it felt like I had achieved all of my record collecting dreams. Who could have known that I would experience that same feeling many times more in the following years as there would always be another most wanted record to aim for?

Anyway, last weekend BURN played in London. It was the first time that they had ever played in the UK (or Europe for that matter), so it was a special event, and there was a special record to mark the occasion - the classic, self-titled 7" on purple vinyl:

Ok, so Revelation have repressed a few (ahem!) of their classic releases in the last couple of years, so I guess a lot of people won't be too fussed about yet another. But this one was made especially for the London show, and sold out on the night, meaning that anyone who wasn't there is probably quite keen to get their hand on one of these things. This was also hand numbered inside the sleeve, making it a little more special, and a nice souvenir of the show for those who went. I scored a pretty cool number...

Sixty nine, dude!

I filmed the first song of the set on my phone. It didn't come out too great due to the lights, but I uploaded it anyway. Enjoy...