Gameface Tests

I'm a big fan of Gameface. Always have been. I picked up their debut 7" and LP pretty early on in my hardcore 'career' as they were on labels that I latched quickly as purveyors of interesting tunes. I have several memories attached to their records and shows over the years. For example, I saw the band play in Summer 1996 in a small venue (The Duchess of York in Leeds) that was half empty; When their second LP ('Three To Get Ready') came out, I traded some UK hardcore 7"s with some dude at the label for a limited colour pressing and he threw in a test press for free. And I remember how excited I was to see them play in 1999 (or possibly 2000) when they toured their first LP on Revelation 'Every Last Time'. I really loved that record. It was a total time and place thing. You know how it is. Sometimes a record comes along and connects with you in a certain way, whereas maybe at a different time it wouldn't have. But 'Every Last Time' was a perfect record for me when it was released, and as such it will always hold a special place in my heart. So I was pretty happy to pick up a test press recently.

This copy came in a regular sleeve, which makes it better for storage purposes.

Only a year or so after 'Every Last Time' was released, the band released a follow up LP on Rev called 'Always On'. I enjoyed this record, but it certainly didn't hit me in quite the same way that 'Every Last Time' did. I guess that's the whole 'time and place' thing. I also saw the band tour this record, and even though it was only a year and a half later, the crowd was completely different. Was a very weird time. But anyway, I also picked up a test of this LP at the same time from the same seller, which was a pretty cool double grab.

This one didn't come in any kind of sleeve, but I had a spare stashed as Rev would sometimes pack leftover sleeves into orders that I would hoard.

God Fodder

Back when I was about 15 or 16, a bunch of my friends at school were into the current indie bands of the day, absolutely none of which interested me in any way. However, as time has marched on, I have ended up listening to some of these bands and I have learnt to enjoy many of them on some level. For one reason or another, about a year ago something made me check out Neds Atomic Dustbin, a UK band that that made quite an impression in the States back in the day. I downloaded their debut LP 'God Fodder' and was surprised at how many of the songs I already knew, mainly from hearing my friends listening to them back in 1991/92. The memory is an amazing thing at times.

I ended up finding myself going back to this record quite regularly when I wanted something that wasn't hardcore, and eventually I realised that I fancied buying a copy. Of course, back when I was young this record would have been available in every record shop in the country, but many years later when I finally want one it has become hard to find and relatively pricey. And then a reissue appeared on colour vinyl. But I had decided that I wanted an original. So I waited.

Eventually a copy appeared on ebay Uk. For whatever reason, this one copy didn't seem to increase in price too much. Sometimes some copies of sought after records seem to get missed by other people for some reason, and it felt like this was happening here. So I added it to the watch list and ended up winning it for less than a third of what this record usually sells for. Bargain.

This copy arrived with a couple of seam splits in the inner sleeve, but for the price I paid I wasn't overly fussed.

It wouldn't surprise me if regular readers of this weren't familiar with the band. But if anyone is remotely curious and wonders what they sound like then I thought I'd link in a video on youtube of 'Grey Cell Green'. If you're not into it then that's absolutely fine, but you have to admit - they don't make bands like this these days.

Rev 23

Another day, another Revelation test press. And this is one of the most controversial releases in the label's catalogue - the infamous Rev 23.

For those of you who don't know the catalogue numbers off by heart, this is the Ray & Porcell 7". Otherwise known as the Ray & Porcell & the drum machine 7". It's always been seen as somewhat of a joke release due solely to the use of a drum machine rather than a human drummer, which did always seem to me to be a weird choice. That said, I read an article about the story behind this release on NO ECHO some time ago, and it then made a lot more sense. Porcell wrote the music and wanted to do something different, so the drum machine was a conscious choice. Apparently he recorded it himself and wasn't even looking to release it, but Jordan at Revelation really liked it and talked him around. The most surprising bit for me was discovering there was originally supposed to be a girl singing, but she couldn't make it so Ray stepped in to help.

Anyway, my feelings on this record are probably the same as most people's, in that I think the songs are pretty good, although I wish they'd been recorded with real drums. That said, however, I can't imagine this being received entirely seriously even if it had.

This test press comes only in a plain white paper sleeve, but I did my usual and took a pic with the regular cover to make this post look a little more interesting.

One Great Test

So a couple of months ago I picked up a Dag Nasty test press and wrote this:

It's not too often the opportunity arises to pick up a Revelation Records test press... when a chance arises to pick one up, it's tough to say no.

Little could I have know that the near future would bring more opportunities that I could not say no to. But it did, and I couldn't. So here is the first example of my recent good luck - a test pressing of the Burn 'Last Great Sea' 7":

It's actually very rare for a Rev test press to come in anything other than a plain white paper sleeve. But this one has a custom made sleeve which is basically a photocopy of the regular cover art, but with a bunch of small stars added. It looks pretty rad.

At one point in time a few years ago this would probably have been highly desirable and I'm sure that it would have sold for a lot of money. I'm not sure that would still be the case as the band's reformation and LP that was released a couple of years ago ('Do Or Die') seems to have soiled their past and their reputation, for some people at least. I guess that's the risk you take when deciding to reform after a long time. You either play the same old songs and milk it for the money, or you write new songs. Both approaches can backfire. But for me, I respect a band more for coming back and trying something new. And I genuinely think that Burn did a good job. But I see that a lot of people think it was a bad mistake. So I would guess that demand for their records, and the values, have subsequently reduced. Not that this really matters. Either way though, this 7" is still mindblowingly good. I remember how stoked I was to hear this when it came out back in 2002, and I'm still almost as stoked every time I play it all these years later.

So of course, after picking up the test press it seemed only fitting that I pick up the latest colour vinyl repress of it too. I almost lose track of how many colours of this there are these days, but I know for sure I didn't have this as I gave up on the Rev represses a couple of years ago (ahem).

Normally I'd pull out all my copies of a 7" and take a group shot for fun, but I seriously don't have time for that right now. Sorry kids. But you'll have seen the set on instagram before I'm sure.