Pillsbury Hardcore

A couple of years ago a new label appeared on the scene called Black Claw Records. Run by a guy who was in a few bands in the 80s & 90s (Pillsbury Hardcore, PHC, End To End, Process), the label was kicking off by pressing a compilation LP of Pillsbury Hardcore songs. The band was around in the mid 80s and I had never heard them before. All I knew was that they had a 7" out that someone I know always talks about. The record was being pressed at a decent pressing plant and on a nice looking pink vinyl, so I decided to grab one.

The record is titled 'Ghosts of Straight Edge Past' and contains 13 songs. Ten of these songs were originally released as two 7"s and the other three were on a compilation. They were all recorded at the same time in the same studio, which is I think the reason they got compiled into this one LP. But this is not a complete discography of everything they ever recorded.

This is like a lot of 80s hardcore records. It sounds very raw and very basic which is what defined hardcore back then. And given the price of the 7"s these days, I think this acts as a good way to own a hard copy of these songs.

I happen to know that the guy who runs the label got some help and advice from Fred (who runs It's Alive Records). As well as advice on how to put together a record, it seems the advice also extended to 'make sure you stuff the sleeve full of extra inserts' because that's exactly what you get here. The replica 7" sleeves are a really nice touch.

Well in theory that should have been the end of this post. But a little under two months after the above record was released, the label announced that they were going to sell a 'mystery record'. Given the Pillsbury Hardcore record looked like a great package from the photos that I had seen on instagram, I was curious. I'm not usually a fan of these type of things where you blind buy something, as usually it turns out to be something you wouldn't have bought if you'd have known what you were going to get. But in this case I figured that the label had made a good start and I'd trust them with a few more dollars. So I ordered the mystery record... which turned out that the mystery record was just another copy of the Pillsbury Hardcore record, but with a limited 'Kill Everyone Now' cover and different labels.

This thing does look pretty cool, and I was quite lucky to get one as they sold out really fast. But I'm not convinced I would have bought it had I known what was going to get.

Overall this is a great way to own a record by an old band. A high quality package for sure. The pink vinyl is long sold out but there are some green and yellow copies available from the label at a good price (link at the top of this post).