Disinfect

I first picked a copy of the Green Rage 7" back in about 1994. At the time Earth Crisis were huge, and there were a lot of bands doing the same thing. Green Rage was one. But something about this 7" stood out more to me. It sounded like a raw version of Earth Crisis, and the rawness just made it sound more punk. I still play this 7" and these days will always choose it over an Earth Crisis 7" these days. I have owned a first press copy since pretty much when it came out. But I always knew there were several other versions. I never felt the need to collect them, but when a couple of them appeared on a list of stuff that someone was selling, I figured now was the time to start that collection... approximately 26 years after picking up my first copy.

So first up is this version in a green paper sleeve, where the word 'Disinfect' has been added to the front cover as if it's the title of the record (which it isn't). It comes on black vinyl and has different labels to the first pressing.

Then there's this red paper cover with the word 'vegan' on the front cover, as if it's the title of the record (which it isn't). This one also contains the exact same record on black vinyl as the version above.

I have no idea what order these came out nor how many of each were made. But it felt like what happened was that the label pressed a bunch and then handed the leftovers to Very distribution, who made up a bunch of different sleeves. Or maybe the label just handed everything over to Very and let them press the records? I have no idea if this is what happened or not. I am just speculating. But notice that the back cover of each no longer has the label address, just the name, and mentions that the 7" is now available through Very.

Anyway, there are more versions of this 7" available, so I'll see if I can collect those too I guess seeing as I am now three deep.

More Integrity Represses

There are times when I regret my conscious decision to collect Integrity records. The releases, reissues and represses are almost infinite and there are countless versions of each one. A few years ago I reached a point with it where it felt like I couldn't stop, and now it feels like I am on a train and there is no choice but to ride it until the end of the journey. So when another round of colours for the reissues of their earliest releases was announced a couple of years ago I literally couldn't face spending the money. There were too many to buy all at one go. Plus they were initially only available from one place. So I did what I often do and stalled, thinking that I would spend the money another day. And then a year or so later I panicked because I realised that some of them had sold out. So I then quickly bought the ones that were still available, and then managed to track down the ones that had sold out via distros... for which I then had to pay a higher price. Saving money by buying later rarely works out. I learnt this lesson years ago, yet still I fuck around trying to hold on to my hard earned money for as long as possible. Duh.

Well, these things are not overly exciting. I literally just bought them because they were made. So I'll just quickly run down them in the order that they were released...

First up is the debut full length, 'Those Who Fear Tomorrow' on two colours - orange vinyl (147) and clear red vinyl (190).

Next comes the second album, 'Systems Overload' on green. I don't know how many of these were made. There's also a purple, but despite ordering one of each I got sent two greens by mistake. So I have a spare green if anyone wants one?

Next is 'Humanity Is The Devil' on both baby blue vinyl (220) and white vinyl (342):

There were also two new colours of the 1997 classic 'Seasons In The Size Of Days', being red vinyl (118) and grey vinyl (352).

And finally, the double 'Den Of Iniquity' compilation. Again, two colours of this one, being blue with black swirl (120) and grey (328).

Sadly there were two other pressings from this series that I completely missed - the 'Humanity Is The Devil' remix 12" on clear vinyl, in either a red or a black sleeve. There were only about 70 of each made. No doubt I'll be chasing them for some time, when I could have just bought them. Ah well. There's an unwritten rule that I must have at least 20 Integrity records on my want list at all times. It helps to keep the game interesting.

Clear Of It All

It's crazy to think about the numbers of represses that Revelation have cranked out over the past few years. I'm actually scared to try to count, because it would probably be a much higher number than I'd be happy about. But we've seen multiple colour vinyl pressings of many of the label's older releases, with some being pressed almost too many times to count or remember. But where it all started was the clear vinyl Sick Of It All 7", pressed for Record Store Day 2010.

At the time, the prospect of a clear vinyl SOIA 7" was super exciting. And what made it cool was that the sleeves and inserts were all leftovers from the RevHQ vault rather than newly printed versions. But using up the old covers and inserts meant that there were actually 4 different versions, with each just being a different sleeve and insert combination. At the time I was lucky enough to bag 3 of the 4, but I figured I would never get the other one. I wrote this on here: 'There are only 29 copies of the fourth version that I don't have, so realistically I don't plan on ever seeing one of those.'

Well, almost 11 years later, and I managed to find one.

This version features the old (original) insert in a 'high gloss' cover. The full pressing info for the clear vinyl version is as follows:

7th press : 555 clear vinyl (Record Store Day 2010) These were pressed for Record Store Day 2010 and we used the 45rpm plates from the first pressing's mastering and some old leftover print that we had in the vault. The labels were printed using the original artwork from one of the earlier 45 rpm pressings. Here's the breakdown:
- 293 old fold-over covers with band name in red and old insert
- 150 new glued, non-glossy covers and 1997 insert
- 83 old fold-over covers with band name in black and old insert
- 29 old glued, high-gloss covers and old insert

To mark the occasion, I pulled my other 3 copies out for a photo. I have tried to show the sleeve and insert for each one, so you can have fun and try to work out which is which from the info above. Good luck!

Lost Glories

Many times oevr the years I have been a bad influence on my blogger buddy Mike, forcing him to part with money on stuff he never knew he wanted. But sometimes it cuts the other way too. Over the last few years I noticed him gradually picking up Reach The Sky 7"s across not one, not two, but three posts, and it highlighted to me that I didn't have any of them. I definitely did have some Reach The Sky 7"s at some point in the past, but I must have somehow let them go, even though I have no memory of doing so. Very weird. All I can think is that I traded them away when the band was hot at the end of the 90s during the glory days of the Revelation trade board. I did so many trades on there it was crazy, and had a lot of luck trading newer releases for old.

Anyway, I recently picked up a few 7"s from a friend and decided that now was the time to add some Reach The Sky 7"s back into my household.

I picked up two copies of the first 7" - one on gold, and one on red.

Discogs tells me that there were 500 made of each of these. I don't really trust discogs for pressing info, but it sounds plausible that there are a lot of these.

The one RTS 7" I did already own previous to this spree was the 'Open Roads and Broken Dreams' 7" on green. So it was cool to grab it a friend on blue.

And finally, the 'Everybody's Hero' 7" on Victory. This one is pretty pointless because all of the 4 songs on here subsequently came out on their debut full length after this 7" was released. One of the many reasons that people came to hate Victory I guess.

I genuinely think that this band has aged really well. I've probably listened to Reach The Sky more in the last couple of years than I did during the years they were together. Funny how that happens sometimes. But there are still various colours of these 7"s that I don't own, so I could well be still picking more of these up for years to come.

The Blizzard Of '21

I've probably said this before, but Dead By 23 Records was a record collector's dream and worst nightmare at the same time. The label put out a small number of great records, and also made sure that anyone who was into their releases and also into collecting would have something to do for the rest of their life. I think (may be wrong) that there were 9 releases on the label, and there were multiple different versions of each. My spreadsheet tells me that I have 70 DB23 records in my collection, and this includes 10 different copies of the Frostbite 7".

Actually, sorry, my mistake. I now have 11 copies, as I have just added one more to the collection - a black vinyl copy in the regular sleeve:

I probably could have bought this one many times in the past, but the truth is that I never cared about black vinyl. But these days I fnid myself mellowing and actually wanting to add a few black vinyl copies of things that I have collections of just for the sake of adding more copies into my house. I know, I know... I'm going soft in my old age.

Goddamn, this 7" still holds up too. Possibly in the top 10 of the 00's.

Achtung!

I picked up a few 7"s from a friend a couple of weeks back. Nothing too crazy rare, but a few bits I needed to fill some holes. I thought I'd start off with this rare version of the Suicide File / R'N'R split 7" from 2002. This one comes on black vinyl and is numbered out of 15 copies on the inner dust sleeve.

According to discogs, there were 590 copies of this 7" on black vinyl. But these 15 copies are the 'misprint version', which is simply to do with a spelling error on the back of the sleeve. The title of the second Suicide File song is called 'Achtung! Landmine!', but the first word is incorrectly spelled as 'Acthung'.

Interestingly, I have 2 other copies of this 7" in the regular cover, and my blue & white swirl copy also has the same spelling error. But the white vinyl copy I own is different. Not only has the spelling mistake been corrected, but a second label's logo has been added:

I still listen to The Suicide File pretty regularly. They are genuinely one of the best bands of the post 2000 era in my opinion. I saw them play a couple of times towards the end of their life over here in the UK, but damn it would be good to see them kick it one more time.

If'n

I've posted about the band fIREHOSE on this blog a few times before, and nobody ever seems too interested sadly. The band existed from circa 1986 to 1993 and in that time knocked out 5 full lengths. I never really got into the last two, but the first three on SST Records are all absolutely top notch. They've been in my life for many years, and I never really tire of them. I have all 3 on colour vinyl, and hoped to one day also pick up test pressings of them too. Well, I'm now one step closer to that goal...

The second album is simply titled 'If'n' and was released in 1987. For some reason of other, test pressings of this record are relatively common. There are three copies for sale on discogs right now as I type this. I have looked at these things for sale a few times in recent years, but I have always felt that they are over priced. Well, fortune favours the patient, and eventually a copy showed up on eBay for a much lower price. I watched it and ended up being the only bidder which kinda proved my point that the ones on discogs are over priced. Result!

Like every SST test press I have ever seen, this one just comes in a plain white sleeve. But this one does come with a photocopied version of a lyric sheet, which is a nice little extra.

To end this post, a pic of the test press next to the regular cover. Just because it feels like the right thing to do.

My Statement Of Life

It's been a while since I listened to a Morning Again 7". But recently I got offered a test press of one of their 7"s on Immigrant Sun Records, and I was really stoked about it, even though it's not much to look at.

'My Statement Of Life In A Dying World' was originally released in 1997. I remember buying one directly from the label back when it came out and being pretty excited about it at the time. Generally the late 90s is a bit of a blur to me when I think back, but I do vaguely remember feeling that Morning Again were getting better with every release, and that I was excited for this new record. It came in cool packaging and had interesting artwork, which I have pulled out for this next photo.

I always thought that Morning Again were never quite as big as they should have been. Their lyrics were very political and they were clearly an intelligent band. Maybe they were a little too intelligent to be properly appreciated by the usual fans of the genre they played? Of course, they got signed to Revelation after this 7" and brought out their only full length, but even for a Rev band it felt that they weren't quite as popular as other bands of the time. Maybe it was something to do with coming from Florida? I don't know. But I still have them on a bit of a pedestal to this day.

Locked Inside

In an attempt to keep up with newer stuff, I decided to pick up a new pressing of the Locked Inside 'Your Thoughts. Your Own' 7". I had seen a lot of pictures of the 7" on instagram over the last year or so, on several different colours of vinyl. Eventually it got me curious enough to check out the band, and I was really into it... just after all of the various colours of vinyl had sold out. So when the label advertised a very limited new pressing via instagram, I figured I should grab one... which then turned out to be two.

I had seen these stamped label copies without paying too much attention. The deal was that there were 18 copies up for sale out of (I think) 25 copies made. It went on sale at a specified time, and then only way to get one was to email the label at that time, and then they replied to tell you how much to pay, and you had to pay within an hour. It sounded simple and it worked out for me... only when I got told how much to pay, it seemed quite a lot. But it turned out that it was because the deal was that you got a 'pack' of two 7"s. Both have blank labels, but one is stamped in red ink and the other in blue. So there were 25 sets made, and 18 sets sold out of 25 sets made. So pretty limited like.

I really like this record. Locked Inside is a straight edge hardcore band based in New York City that features Ed Mckirdy (Hands Tied, Search) on vocals, and to me at least he sounds a lot like Dan O'Mahony. So if you're looking for No For An Answer 2021 then this just could be the band for you.

I Am An Impatient Boy

Another week and another colour vinyl repress that I can't resist. And neither can the rest of the world, or so it seems, as this sold out in about a day.

Fugazi's first self-titled release was originally put out back in 1988. And here we are in 2021 and it has been pressed onto colour vinyl for the first time. When I saw it go up for sale I figured that it would be cool to get one, but I wasn't quick enough. And then at the end of last week, a UK shop got a couple of copies in stock, so I grabbed one quicksmart. There's nothing like the likelihood of something not being available tomorrow to make me buy it today. Most of the time I hold off for as long as possible to avoind having to part with my hard earned money.

I have to hand it to Dischord, they at least get the concept of matching vinyl colour to artwork. I genuinely think that is a big part of the appeal for a lot of the people buying these recent represses.

Anyway, I recently watched the Fugazi film 'Instrument'. I'd neevr seen it before, and it was quite interesting. I think what hit me most was how 'punk' they were in the early days. I only ever saw them once, in (I think) 1994, and they seemed like a huge and musically talented band back then. But damn, I bet they would have been so much better live around the time of this record.

Lycanthrope

Back at the end of 2016 I picked up a bunch of TAD records. I had been a fan of the band in the early 90s, and then sold all records I had of theirs when I got into straight edge hardcore as stupidly thought I didn't like TAD anymore. Well, when I got back into collecing the band's records 4 or so years ago, I then started looking for any and all other TAD records that I didn't have. It turned out that I had missed 2 full lengths in the early to mid 90s, which I have now managed to pick up, but the most surprising discovery was that there had been a TAD 7" released on the Pushead Fanclub label way back in 1992. I had no clue, and quite how I had managed to miss this information in the prior 24 years I do not know (although I guess it was probably bacause Pushead releases were never exactly easy to get, and I stopped looking for TAD records probably a year or so after this came out anyway). Still, I was surprised that I had never so much as heard of it, but after learning of its existence it went straight onto the want list.

Since discovernig that it existed, I have seen a few of these pop up for sale in the last 4 years or so, but the asking price seems to vary quite a lot, and even though I wanted one, I wasn't quite ready to pay $300. So I did what I always do, and just sat and waited, and eventually one popped up for sale on discogs for a really good price. The price was so good that I was a little sceptical, so got the seller to send me some photos, but they came through and the record looked to be in great condition, so I pulled the trigger. And when it arrived I was pretty happy as it did indeed to be in great shape.

The record itself comes on yellow vinyl, and the sleeve has a wraparound vellum cover which glows in the dark. As with all Pushead releases, it looks great. There are 2 songs on this 7", both of which were released on the band's third LP 'Inhaler'.

I got number 112/160. And even though I am really happy to get one of these, it also makes me want more, because it turns out that there are other versions, and it turns out that mine is the most common. There are different sleeve variations, and also copies on orange vinyl. Wish me luck!

I Wanna Kill Your Boyfriend

There's a title of a Curl Up And Die record which is, I think, some kind of famous quote: 'we may be through with the past but the past ain't through with us'. Which is exactly how I feel about my record collecting at times. I think I'm done with something and then it comes back into my life and takes me back to a distant past, which I always romanticise even though life pretty much sucked at the time no doubt.

So I was on eBay a couple of weeks ago and somehow ended up finding some UK seller who had a whole bunch of Dwarves records. The Dwarves were a band that i got into back in about 1992 and I stuck with them for a few years, but eventually got bored as (like a lot of bands) they got old and boring. But I stil get tempted to buy some of their records just for the fun of the covers, most of which have boobs on. Sadly, today's record does not feature boobs, but I picked it up because its one of their records from their heyday.

This is a two song 7" from 1992 on a label called 'Sympathy For The Record Industry' called (as you can see) 'I wanna kill your boyfriend'. One memory I have of this songs is around 20 years ago when I was seeng this girl who actually had a boyfriend. One day I just put this song on to see her reaction. She laughed. But sadly didn't leave her boyfriend for me.

Anyway, I have a copy of this 7" that I probably bought in either 1992 or 1993, which is on clear pink vinyl. So when I saw this copy on a nice solid pink vinyl going for cheap I couldn't resist grabbing it, as pink really is the best vinyl colour in my opinion.

I don't think I even knew that this came on different colours of vinyl to be honest. But this seems to be one of the band's least expensive records to buy, and there are a few different colours out there, so I feel a strong tempation to pick up more. And just when I thought I had all the Dwarves records I would ever need...