Red Up!

At some point last year I decided to give the band Redbait a shot. I kept seeing pictures of them being posted by New Age Records, and I was intrigued as the band is fronted by 2 women. Not exactly a common set up for bands to have female singers, let alone 2 of them, so I was interested enough to check them out. I watched a couple of videos and also downloaded the demo, and I was quite into it. So when New Age put the 7" up for pre-order, I decided to place an order.

I ordered two different copies. First up, the limited 77 pressing, which comes on pink vinyl.

The pressing info states that there are 400 copies on pink, although I'm unclear as to whether 77 of the 400 form the 77 pressing, or whether there are 400 pink plus the extra 77. But whichever, I also ordered the other, more limited colour of vinyl - green. Or at least, I thought I did. But when the parcel came, I realised that I had accidentally also ordered the regular pink vinyl copy.

So then I had to place another order with the label for something else, so I grabbed a green copy.

Well, in theory the story should end there really. But then, in late January one night, i was online when Redbait put up a limited version of the 7" for sale on their bandcamp page. I don't think it was made for a special occasion or anything, but there were only 30 copies available, so I figured I'd grab one. It proved a sensible decision, as they sold out within a few minutes, and there seemed to be a lot of comments from people who were annoyed that they had missed out.

This version is called the 'Red Up!' version, and comes with an extra front cover and then postcards, stickers and a badge / pin. A definite A+ for effort here.

The records are numbered on the paper inner sleeve.

So that's how I ended up with 3 different pink vinyl copies of the same record after initially intending to buy just one.

Redbait are a pretty interesting band for sure. They hail from St. Louis, Missouri and describe themselves as 'Midwestern proletarian crust'. They're also very much focused on politics as much as the music. To quote their website:

Redbait did not come from a music scene, but instead from the ranks of St Louis activists and organizers. The common musical influences from punk, metal, and hardcore may be front and center, but it is at the combined consciousness of community building, advocacy, and workers’ rights that one will find the heart of the group.

Kinda funny how I got sick of overly political bands in the 90s, but in the current day and age it adds a certain level of appeal.