Back in 2013 I bought a bunch of Cave In tests. And then some more. The stars came into allignment I guess, and I was able to pick up several of their tests in a very short space of time. I was then left needing only one test press to have a full collection of full length test pressings. So I started the search. But as you'd expect, a search for a test press is never going to be straight forward.
The missing test was their biggest 'hit', 'Antenna'. I describe it as a hit because it was released on (CD) on a major label. Around this time they went on tour with Foo Fighters too. So it was a big deal at the time.
The vinyl was released by Hydrahead back in 2002. Back then I didn't really collect test pressings. Heck, even getting the yellow & orange vinyl version was tough enough.
I had emailed the label about this a couple of times, getting no response either time. I also spoke to Steve Brodsky about this. He was selling some other Cave In records on eBay, so I messaged him asking if he had an Antenna test. I got a reply, but unfortunately no, he didn't have one.
As you can see, this comes in the standard Hydrahead test press sleeve, featuring the hippy that I ended up buying this from on the back.
About two and a half years ago, I randomly got a message one day from someone I follow on instagram, telling me he was going to some dude's house who had some Cave In records for sale. I didn't pay too much attention, just figuring it would be some random fartknocker whose collection was about ten steps behind mine. But the next day he sent me a pic of the 'Antenna' test press. Not only that, but the dude had FOUR copies of it! Turns out he went round to the house of the guy who used to help run Hydrahead! By the time he sent me the pic, he had left the guy's house. But he had got me the guy's phone number so I could get in touch with him to arrange buying one myself...
I tried to get hold of the dude to no avail. Phone call, whatsapp message, facebook, email and also email through discogs. No communications ever got a response. Knowing that he had 4 copies, and I only wanted one, it felt like I was painfully close. Yet I couldn't seal the deal. I couldn't even get close to a deal. I then asked a couple of people I vaguely knew in the LA area if they could go and visit the hippy in the record store he runs. Then eventually a friend in San Francisco got in touch to let me know he was going to the store in LA at the weekend, and asked if there was anything I was looking for. Well, the story ended nicely when it turned out that there was a copy out for sale in the racks in the shop. Being old and remembering life before the internet and obile phones, this was a total technology appreciation moment, as he sent me pics of all the Cave In records for sale and just ask which I wanted. If you'd have told me back when I first heard Cave In that one day I'd have some dude in a record shop in LA sending me 'live' pictures of records for sale and asking which I wanted, my brain probably would have melted.