4/20

A couple of weeks ago it was the 20th of April. Something which I didn't fully appreciate (or understand) until this year was that the 20th of April is some global stoner celebration. Seems an appropriate time for me to finally pick up this Carry On 7":

This was made for a show that took place on 20th April way back in 2001. 420 fest happened in Boston, MA and also featured American Nightmare, Panic, Bane and some bands called Late Night Revenge. I guess that if the show had taken place a day later, this cover would probably have looked very different.

I could never really seem to justify paying much for this. I mean, the limited 'cover' is just a piece of cut card placed over the top of the regular cover. It barely even qualifies as a cover at all, as it doesn't cover anything.

That said, it is something a bit different. I mean, why not have a straight edge record with a marijuana leaf on the front? That's kinda punk in itself, right? Anyway, I believe that there were 100 of these, numbered inside the leaf. I'll bet these were a total pain in the ass to make too. Nearly as much of a pain in the ass as it was for me to track one down for a price I wanted to pay.

Stand Off

In my last post I talked about being up to date. And here's yet more proof, as if it were needed. This is the debut vinyl release from a band called Stand Off. Not to be confused with the UK band from the early 90s who had a 7" released by Crucial Response Records, this band come from Washington DC. This 7" is actually the band's 2014 demo put to vinyl, and this particular version was a pre-release version sold at Damaged City Fest... back in April 2016.

This was put out by Youngblood Records twelve months ago, and a few months later it got a proper release... although obviously I don't have that, because that would require me to be up to date. Gimme a few months and maybe we'll talk about it.

The funny thing about this is that Damaged City happened again this year a couple of weeks ago, Stand Off played it as their last show. Yup, that's right - just after the band broke up, I managed to get their pre-release 7". Just how late can a dude be to his favourite new band? Stay tuned for more releases from your past to find out...

Record Store Day - Nothing Less

Up to date as ever, last week I obtained this copy of the final Mindset 7", 'Nothing Left', with this Verbal Assault 'Ting Giants' rip off sleeve.

It's a thick, quality cardstock which has been screen printed, and sits on top of one of the regular covers.

This was made for Record Store Day 2016, and sold exclusively at Celebrated Summer Records in Baltimore, MD. There were only 50 made, hand numbered in the bottom right corner of the back cover. I'm really lucky to have this, and super grateful to have been sent it by a friend for nothing.

Tune in at some point in about twelve months' time to see what I picked up for record store day 2017...

Step Aside

There's nothing I love more than buying variants of older records in my collection that I don't own for cheap. Here's a classic example from 2003:

Our Turn were a band from San Francisco, active in the early 00's. The only reason I heard of them was that they had a 7" released by Youngblood Records. I used to order everything that Youngblood released, and at some point when the Our Turn 7" came out Sean told me that he had some copies of their first 7" too. So of course I bought one. It came on black vinyl. A couple of years later Aram sold his collection and I got the gold vinyl copy of the first 7" in a limited sleeve. And now, 13 or so years later I'm picking up the same 7" again, but the 'gold vinyl in regular sleeve' version.

Do I need a third copy of this 7"? Probably not. In fact, I'm not sure I even needed a second copy. But if you offer me these things for cheap, I'm probably gonna bite.

Move Thru Me

As well as the record release for the Search 7", I was also sent this Turnstile record release version for their latest 7" 'Move Thru Me'. I hadn't gotten around to picking this record up at all yet, so it was really cool to end up with this special version as my first and only copy.

The record release element of this package is the white cover, which is just a single piece of cardstock placed on top of the regular cover. What I find interesting about the cover is how bad it is. I mean, look at it... some random doodles in different colours, hand numbered in black marker smack bang in the middle. It's so awful that its kinda cool.

The regular cover for the record is just as bad as the record release cover, if not worse. I mean, why put the song titles on the front? What's wrong with the traditional setup of a picture on the front and the song titles on the back?

This 7" contains four songs, one of which is a cover. But unlike most bands, Turnstile don't bother covering a classic. Instead, they opt for a Give song which featured on their full length from a couple of years ago. Another interesting move.

The main conclusion I draw from all this is that Turnstile simply do not give a fuck about what other bands do or what is normal. They make their own rules, and I have to respect that.

Between The Lines

I vaguely remember the days when I owned every Revelation release, and ordered everything they put out immediately. That kinda came to an end last year, and since then I've just lost interest a little. I think it's just a money thing. The exchange rate, combined with the sheer number of represses they were knocking out, and how far behind I was... well, it meant I would have had to drop literally hundreds of dollars to catch up. And I wasn't overly excited about doing that. So I sit here seriously behind, on both represses and new releases.

One release I certainly was excited for was the debut 7" from SEARCH, a NJ supergroup of sorts, featuring Tim McMahon on vocals with a band comprised of members of loads of other bands (Hands Tied, Floorpunch, Turning Point). However, I didn't order it immediately for various reasons. And then all of a sudden there was an announcement that the limited color (clear) was sold out. Oops! So I jumped on the computer box and managed to find somewhere still selling it. Bang. Done.

I do really like the layout on this one. The artwork and the colour scheme are pretty much everything I am looking for in a record. And the music is also pretty much everything I could want from a straight edge 7" in 2017 too. Pretty much a perfect record, and I'm glad that these guys are still active and being creative.

The irony of the situation is that I jumped on ordering the clear vinyl version, but didn't bother to also pick up a blue one. I'm not sure why I did this. I think it was not wanting to spend an extra few dollars, combined with the fact that there were something like 700 copies made, which I figured would hang around for a while longer. In a cruel twist of fate, however, the blue is now sold out and I didn't manage to get one.

Well, as quickly as fate frowned on me, the postman came along with a package that really cheered me up and made up for it. Some kind soul had been to the show that served as the release show for this 7" and picked up a copy for me. To say I was stoked would be an understatement.

As you can see, the release show sleeve is the same as the regular sleeve, but with all blue changed to red. And witht he addition of a small box in the bottom right corner which contains a number. The only thing that could have been better is that this could have contained a red vinyl record instead of blue. Don't ya think?

Another nice touch is that the inside of the sleeve has been stamped with the date of the show:

And there's an additional insert, being a flyer for the show that this was sold at:

This whole package looks totally great, and I count myself super lucky to have one. But just in case I was getting complacent and feeling 'up to date', Rev went ahead and pressed this record on green vinyl too. And then the band made up another limited sleeve for the Dave Franklin tribute show. So even having these two copies, I'm still more 'behind' than I am 'ahead' with this record, with there being 3 versions I don't own. I guess that's why this thing is called The Endless Quest...

Blue Heaven

Finally picked up some new records. This one is another to add to the Dinosaur Jr 7" collection, the 'Just Like Heaven' 7" on baby blue vinyl. The sleeve has seen better days, but I don't mind that so much. I can't afford the time to sit around and wait for another one to come along with a perfect sleeve. I'm too old.

This is now my 4th version of this record. I have no idea how many there are. Discogs suggests that there's only one other colour I don't have, being purple, although I wouldn't be surprised if there are more colours that Discogs doesn't know about. Time will tell...