Work Ethic

To conclude my series of posts covering the stuff I picked up from Blackout! Records is this Deadguy 12". Just like the other two Blackout! releases, this is another reissue, but unlike the last two posts (Redemption 87 and Killing Time), these songs very much WERE previously released on vinyl, but as two separate 7"s. This 12" simply combines two 7"s onto one handy bigger disc. I have both original 7"s and usually wouldn't bother with stuff like this, but on this occassion I have to admit that I was fully sucked in by the colour of the vinyl itself, which I saw a picture of and thought just looked beautiful.

The Blackout! store describes this colour as 'blue swirl', but the hype sticker on the shrink wrap refers to it as 'blue swirl swirl' vinyl, which made me chuckle.

I can only assume that maybe it's because there seems to be a law these days that all vinyl colours must be described by no less than three words, so they must have added the extra 'swirl' to avoid being fined by the vinyl police.

There were also 4 other colours (pink, yellow, red, maroon) for which there are 200 copies of each. None of them seem as visually pleasing when compared to the front cover art, although no doubt the maroon probably goes quite well with the back cover.

Listening to these songs in 2024, I am still floored by how powerful Deadguy is. These 7"s were released thirty years ago, back in 1994, and even though I was around back then I struggle to remember what people's thoughts were. I remember everyone seemed to like them, and clearly they were 'big' enough to get signed by Victory, but compared to everything else that was about at the time they must have sounded absolutely gigantic.

The Method

So when I was in the Blackout! Records store picking up the Redemption 87 LP, I did the usual and looked around to see what else was available. I then spotted the third Killing Time LP, 'The Method', which was another record that had previously only been released by Blackout! in the late 90s on CD only. To be honest, I'm not even sure that I knew that this even existed at all until I decided to buy it, but something about it caught my attention so I added it to the cart.

This copy is pressed on 'solid rust' vinyl. It's not the rarest colour made, but I chose it because it seemed a reasonable match to the cover art.

I'm not gonna pretend like I'm the biggest Killing Time fan out there. I mean, I didn't even know this record existed until I ordered it. But I'm gonna say it, this is a great record. I played it today and then when it finished I put it back on again immediately, which is super rare for me. Overall I really like that I can still find new and interesting music over 25 years after it was released. Better late than never right?

All Guns Poolside!

At some point a year and a half ago or so, Blackout! Records pressed up the second Redemption 87 album on vinyl for the first time ever. 'All Guns Poolside' was originally released in 1998 as a CD only release, and even though I loved the first album when it came out two years previous, I never picked up the second one. I'm trying to think back in time twenty six years or so to understand why this was the case, but all I can up with is that I didn't buy CDs, and there were always more than enough vinyl releases for me to try to keep up with. So me picking this up all these years later is actually the first time that I have ever heard it.

I was so disappointed when this came out because the colour vinyl options were ugly as hell. Most colours were neon green or neon pink or a mix of the two, or a splatter neon colour. In the end I opted to go for pink as it seemed to be the least ugly of all the options, even though this is the most common colour.

In addition to the coloured vinyl options being disappointing, the record itself is also a bit of a let down. Side A is ok, with 7 'new' (in 1998) songs. And then the flipside has 7 songs that I would describe as a strange choice. There are 4 cover songs and the rest are the band's original 3 song demo tagged on the end. So overall a bit of a Frankenstein record. I'm not really sure why they didn't just release the 7 new songs and leave it there, but for me this doesn't feel like an album, and I will probably never ever listen to the second side ever again. But still, cool that they finally upgraded this from CD after all this time.

Manic Revision

Big Laugh from Milwaukee are one of the current 'live' Rev bands, making their debut last year with a 7" called 'Manic Revision'. Originally released by a label called 11PM Records back in 2020, there were 600 copies made across three separate pressings that all sold out. The band are young and play music that just sounds like good hardcore, but I'm not sure I can come up with a decent comparison. Definitely worth checking out.

Once Rev picked up this band they decided to reissue the 7". In total Rev pressed 1,000 copies spread across three colours of vinyl. The most limited version is the black vinyl. This colour was exclusive to Rev for mailorder and is out of 200 copies. Interestingly, despite being the most limited colour, this is still available, proving that all people want these days is colour vinyl.

There were also 500 copies on orange vinyl which are now sold out. My copy is shown below on the left. I had some help here and managed to also get some weird one off variant, shown here on the right:

And finally, bizarrely the third colour is referred to as 'blue and red marble', for which there are 300 copies. In actual fact, this is basically grey vinyl. But these days it seems that vinyl colours are not permitted to be described using one word, so 'blue and red marble' it is. Again, I had some help and managed to get some copies on different shades of 'blue and red marble'.

There are also some red vinyl copies that were mainly sold by the band on tour, but I am unclear as to whether red copies were specifically ordered, or whether they are just a variant of the orange. The whole pressing is a bit of a mess really, but kinda fun to try to collect.

The Storm 3

Even though Rveelation have been repressing their catalogue like crazy the past ten years or so, this is one that I never thought I would see.

Judge released 'The Storm' 7" in 1990 as a two song 7" and 3 song CD. Of all of the early Rev 7"s, this one always felt like the most pointless to me, containing only 2 songs, one of which was a rerecording of a previously unreleased song. So it was surprising to see that this one got the repress treatment in 2024.

As much as I detest splatter vinyl, the yellow and black splatter version of this one somehow looks ok. I've seen a few and there looks to be a good amount of variation in the colour. Some have a lot of yellow, some a lot of black. And this colour seems to disguise the stupid small labels.

There were three colours of this one, and of course I grabbed all three colours. The yellow with black splatter is the Rev mailorder colour and is out of 343 copies. It's also apparently now sold out. Red is out of 1,131 copies and is the most comoon version, and the brown is the retail store exclusive out of 332.

Surely it is now only a matter of time until the 'New York Crew' 7" gets a repress. We shall see...

Neon Zebra

Another of the early(ish) Sub Pop releases is this 7" by Japanese band Shonen Knife. This was released as part of the Sub Pop singles club in April 1991, and according to the pressing info there were a whopping 5,000 copies.

Shonen Knife are an all girl band from Japan who have been going consistently since 1981 or so. Some bigger bands like Nirvana were apparently fans, which probably helped them gain a lot of overseas fans and keep going for 40 years.

Compared to what I would usually listen to, this 7" is nuts. At first I thought it was terrible, but as with a lot of things, once you approach it with a more open mind it starts to make more sense. It's basically just a lot of fun. I figured I'd link you to this video so you can check it out yourself. This journey through the Sub Pop catalog is really opening me up to all kinds of stuff, and I will definitely look further into this band.

Gold Toilet

This year has been all about old Sub Pop releases for ne so far, and another one that recently picked up is this 2023 gold vinyl repress of Mudhoney's 'Touch Me I'm Sick' 7". I wasn't planning on grabbing one of these, but when a friend mentioned that it looked cool I looked into it and I thought that it looked nice so I decided I wanted one.

This 7" was originally released in 1988, so this gold vinyl pressing was made in 2023 for the 35th anniversary. There was also a UK pressing on orange vinyl, but it was clearly pressed at a different plant as it has small labels and looks cheap, so I have no interest in it.

This is pretty much THE most anthemic grunge song of all time, and if you don't own a copy then I would suggest that this is a pretty cool and reasonably priced version to pick up. It's also a nice reminder that I still don't own a first press copy, which has been on my want list pretty much forever. Maybe one day...

Normal Carpet Ride

One of the things I love about the old Sub Pop 7"s is that there were lots of releases by bands from other labels. The old Singles Club used to be put out 7"s by bigger, more established bands, and it is these releases that I have always been more interested in than the records by Sub Pop bands.

This 7" by Rocket From The Crypt was released as Sub Pop 154 in July 1992, and definitely fits into the 'bigger, more established bands' category. I've wanted for one of these for a few years, and even though it has never been particularly hard to get, I just haven't previously got around to going after one.

There were nearly 3,000 copies of this record, with all copies being on blue vinyl.

For some reason I've never been particularly interested in Rocket From The Crypt. I think it's partly because many years ago I went to some dude's house who had a lot of RFTC records, and even back then, some of them were quite rare and expensive. So I always had it in my head that they weren't worth trying to get into. But listening to this 7" and I think I could really get into them. This record is very addictive. I've been playing it this past week and it gets better every time, to the point where I played it today and as soon as it finished I put it on again. 2024 seems like a ridiculous time to start getting interested in this band for the first time, but at this point it seems pretty much unavoidable.

Bi-Furious

One of the records I spent most time listening to last year was the self titled LP by a band called Downer. Deep in my collection I had a 7" by this band that came out on Ammunition Records in 1994. I bought it from a UK distro back when it came out and I had very little memory of it. So when I saw Black Claw Records announce that they were going to reissue the band's second album on vinyl for the first time, it got me interested as I was at least familiar with the band name. I listened to the band online and was into what I heard within about twenty seconds. So I decided to order a copy.

This record was originally released by Roadrunner Records back in 2001. Probably due to the fact that this came out in an age when the internet was fairly new and basic, there isn't too much you can find about Downer online. The Discogs page contains one sentence, which is 'Alternative Metal/Post-Hardcore band from Orange County, California'. By clicking links I managed to figure out that the vocalist was previously in Headfirst, and the guitarist was in Mission Impossible, both of which had records put out by Workshed Records. But I don't get the impression that this band was particularly huge back when this record came out. My guess is that they were semi popular with people who lived in Southern California due to their links with the hardcore scene.

This version is referred to as 'Clear to opalescent clear'. There were 50 copies made. It also comes with a bunch of inserts and stickers. No doubt Black Claw Records have been influenced by fellow Californian label It's Alive Records when it comes to stuffing a record full of extra bits and bobs.

I'm not sure exactly what kind of music this would be categorised as. It sounds kinda halfway between post hardcore and nu metal. I probably wouldn't have been overly excited by this back when it came out if I had heard it, but somehow in 2024 it sounds kinda fresh and interesting and I absolutely want to hear more by this band.

Real Food At Last

I've posted here about the band Understand a couple of times. They were a UK band that came out of the straight edge hardcore scene and existed from 1992-1998. In that time they supported all of the big US bands that came over here, played a few shows in the States, had a 7" released by Equal Vision Records, and an album that came out on a major label. Over time they kinda moved away from the hardcore scene by nature of their decision to sign to a major (the 90s was a weird time), but musically they were absolutely great. They sounded like some of the mid 90s 'post hardcore' bands (Quicksand, Fugazi, Shift are all ballpark comparisons) and I definitely felt at the time that they had a lot more musical talent and songwriting ability than most other UK 'hardcore' bands. Basically they looked and sounded like a US band but lived in the UK, and as a result I think they never quite reached the level of popularity on either side of the Atlantic that they should have. The band came to an end in 1998 and by that time I'm not sure too many people really noticed. They definitely faded away, rather than burnt out.

Well, last year a US label (Rise Records) ended up releasing the 'lost' second album, 'Real Food At Last', which had been recorded following the band being dropped by EastWest back in 1996 or so. The songs sat gathering dust for years as apparently the band weren't happy with how the recordings sounded. Then during the covid period, they decided to spend some time converting the recordings to digital and mixing them. This culminated with Rise agreeing to put it out on vinyl.

This was pressed on 3 colours of vinyl, and I decided to buy only one. This is the 'white and black galaxy' and is limited to 150 copies. The mockup image on the Rise website looks terrible, but thankfully in real life it just looks a bit like a grey marble colour.

I can't imagine too many people (especially those who buy records) are still interested in this band all these years later. But without doubt they have a small following. I used to live in the town they came from and saw them quite a few times, so there is a certain nostaliga factor for me. But these songs still sound great today, and not at all dated. If you didn't know that these songs are over 25 years old, you wouldn't guess, which I suppose is a kind of proof that Understand were well ahead of their time.

Tip Of The Iceberg

Following on from my last post about the New Found Glory LP that Rev released last year, I found myself really enjoying one of their earlier albums, and acknowledging that I did actually enjoy their particular brand of American High School pop punk. So when Bridge Nine posted on instagram about some New Found Glory 7"s with limited sleeves paying homage to old Revelation straight edge bands, I couldn't really say no.

These things are not exactly 'rip off' or parody covers. More, they are just covers made in the style of a couple of classics. I'm going to assume that if you're reasing this then you don't need me to mention which records.

I'm assuming that there were some leftover records that had been sat around for a few years, and someone came up with the idea of making some sleeves to shift them. And the plan seemed to work. Each of these sleeves were numbered out of 200 copies, and the whole lot sold out within a couple of hours. This was the kinda thing where I felt slightly suckered, but they are kinda cool. Other than in the world of hardcore, what other music scene would people want to a buy a record just because it has been made to look like a completely different record?

Make The Most Of It

Back at the start of last year Revelation put out a New Found Glory LP. I was puzzled. This was a band that I had avoided for over twenty years based mainly on the name, and Rev were about to put out their new record. Inside I was disappointed. Yet at the same time I knew that New Found Glory records are pretty damn popular and can sell for a lot of money. So I figured it would make sense to buy now and think about it later.

In the meantime, I thought I would check out what New Found Glory actually sound like, so I downloaded one of their older records ('Sticks And Stones' from 2002) and I ended up playing the shit out of it. Unbelieavble.

This ended up being pressed on a number of different colours, and I think I managed to get one of each. The rarest colour was the 'transluscent violet' which was exclusive to RevHQ. It sold out in about two minutes.

There were 5 other colours, and I ended up with one of each. Seems kinda crazy, but hey... that's the way I roll when it comes to Rev releases. Gotta keep the collection as complete as possible.

In the photo are 300 Translucent Violet (300), Translucent Yellow (3,000), red (tour press), Translucent Green (300), Clear (500) and turquoise (2nd press / 2,500).

Even better than the records are the stickers on the shrinkwrap. I love how each different colour record has a different colour sticker. That's a really cool detail.

It turns out that this isn't really a new New Found Glory record. I mean, it IS, but it's not new songs. It's an acoustic 'greatest hits' record if you will. And even though I'm now a fan of one NFG record, these acoustic versions of the songs on that record are nowhere near as good as the originals. Still, this is a bit of a fundraiser, with some of the proceeds going to a Cancer related charity, so I shouldn't be too hard on it.

Lazy Cowgirls

So far 2024 has been the year of the Sub Pop 7", as I made a goal of collecting as many of the first 200 releases as possible. This one is another record by a band I had never heard (or heard of) before, The Lazy Cowgirls.

This 7" was released in September 1989 as Sub Pop 43. There were 2,000 copies pressed, with half on clear vinyl and half on black. No prizes for guessing which version I wanted.

I love that a record like this just wouldn't get released today. It contains two songs, one on each side. We get 'Loretta' on Side A, and 'Hybrid Moments' (a Misfits cover) on Side B. In total the songs run for just over one and a half minutes each. I love how short records look, especially when pressed on colour vinyl. As you can see from the photos, there is a lot of dead wax in the centre, which looks kinda cool, right?

It seems The Lazy Cowgirls were an LA band active from 1983 to 2004. Given that I only really have one and a half minutes to assess them, I'm not really sure what they're like. There's not really enough here to get me too excited, but this is a damn cool little 7", partly for the novelty factor of a 3 minute record with the classic Sub Pop layout and labels.

Trading My Life

The third and final in my series of Liars Academy 12"s, and this one is somewhat of a 'frankenstein' record,being made up of two different releases joined together.

'Trading My Life' was a four song CD EP originally released by Equal Vision in 2002. I actualy bought this CD when it came out. Seems kinda weird to think that I actually paid money for CDs back then. What a fool.

The flipside of this record is the band's original five song demo from the year 2000. I'd never heard these songs before as I've never really been a demo kinda guy.

As with the other Liars Academy records, there are a few different colours of this one. This one is the 'peach yellow swirl' out of 100 copies. I was tempted by the 'coke clear' version as it seemed to match the front cover much better, but it was slightly more common being out of 150 copies, so in the end I picked based on scarcity.

As witht he other two LPs, I also managed to get a test press of this record direct from the label whcih was in the same style numbered and signed sleeve.

It's nice to have the set of all three tests, especially given that they come in matching covers. But I also realised that I also own test presses of both other Liars Academy test pressings. So I actually have a complete set of all Liars Academy test pressings, which is kinda cool. Not that any of you have ever heard them.

Demons

Following on from yesterday's post about the third Liars Academy LP, today I'm posting their second LP which I bought at the same time. This record, 'Demons', was originally released in 2004 by Equal Vision as a CD only release. Back then a lot of the bigger, more established labels seemed to think that vinyl was dead and opted for CD as the only format for new releases, so there are still a bunch of records from that era by bands that I like that I have never heard. This was one of them.

This record has been put to vinyl by a label called Steadfast Records, on a few different colours of vinyl. This one is 'clear with black smoke' and is out of 100 copies.

I was also able to grab a test press from the label which, like the test press for 'Ghosts', comes in a hand numbered sleeve signed by the band. Number 11 of 20.

For a fan of this band, this is another good record with some top singalong moments. And even though this is by definition more 'classic' Liars Academy, I think I actually prefer the newer / reunion record as it is a bit more 'rock' than this one. But still, I'm happy that this has finally come out on vinyl, else I may never have heard it.

Ghosts

Another of my favourite releases from last year for which I have just picked up the vinyl is the third full length album by Baltimore band Liars Academy, titled 'Ghosts'. I have been listenind to this band since their first album dropped on Equal Vision Records back in 2001, and prior to this it had been nineteen years since they last released anything. So I was intrigued to check this out when it came out at the beginning of last year.

This was put out by a label I was not previously familiar with, Steadfast Records, and they have also reissued a couple of other Liars Academy records on vinyl for the first time (more on those later). There were 150 copies of this one on clear blue vinyl, which I think goes quite nicely with the cover art.

I was also stoked to be able to pick up a test press from the label's store. It comes in a numbered sleeve and is signed by the band members.

Discogs categorises this band as indie rock / post hardcore, which is vaguely accurate. I originally gave them a chance because a couple of the dudes in the band used to be in a band called Cross My Heart who I used to love in years gone by, but I imagine that probably isn't a useful reference point to most people reading this. Anyway, the point is that Liars Academy play music that is melodic and you can sing along to, and this is a really good record. Unfortnately, however, just like the Drain LP from last year, this record also features a pointless and irritating cover song which is included as the second to last song. It's a cover of 'Changes' by Black Sabbath, which is a song I feel that I could happily never hear again in my whole life (and yes, that includes the Sabbath version). So I have to skip this sone every time I listen to this re ord, which midly irritates me. Being a bit more positive for a second though, the song 'Without a Warning' is probably the best song I heard last year, which more than makes up for the cover song issue.

Glowing Spazz

Back in 2016 there was a new Descendents album released, and at the time it seemed like a big deal. 'Hypercaffium Spazzinate' was the first studio album that they had released in 12 years, and I was keen to try to collect every version of it. I initially picked up 5 copies and then a year later got another two copies. At the end of that post, which is nearly 7 years old, I wrote this:

I'm still missing the glow in the dark vinyl copy of this record, which is annoying as hell. But at 7 copies already, I'm not losing sleep over it. It'll come one day.

Well, that 'one day' has finally arrived, and I have picked up a glow in the dark copy.

According to the info on discogs, this is one of the three most limited colours, being out of 500 copies. I tried to get a photo of it actually glowing in the dark, and this was the best that I could do:

So one thing that is interesting abotu this is that, little did I realise it at the time, but back when this LP came out in 2016, things in the record collecting world were changing. With hindsight, this was one of the first records to have lots of different colours of vinyl, with each one being available from a different vendor, meaning that anyone who was stupid enough to try to collect all copies would have to place multiple orders and pay multiple postage costs. In recent years I have decided that this practice is shitty, and I refuse the collect records that are sold in this way. So, in accordance with my current policy, I am going to keep this copy and sell all of my other copies.

If anyone wants to buy any one of the other 7 copies that I have, get in touch.

Last Rights

A few months ago I came across a red vinyl repress of the Last Rights 7" on eBay. The seller had multiple copies for sale. The Taang! webstore didn't seem to mention anything about a red vinyl press. I was concerned that this was like the green vinyl Negative Approach 7" and it had sold out super fast and would then only be available for 3 times as much. So I just bought it.

I've wanted a Last Rights 7" for years and never quite got around to it. At this point I'm not confident I'll ever get one. So a cheap colour vinyl reissue is absolutely fine for now.

Interestingly, there is a discogs entry for this which says that there are 200 copies. The listing was set up by Taang! Records ten months ago, so the info must be legit. But it just seems odd that I haven't seen a single person post a picture of this record. Somehow it has flown completely under the radar. Only 4 people in the discogs world have it, one of which is me and another is Mike. Only ten people want it, and no copies have sold on there. A very strange situation indeed. Is it that nobody cares at all? Or does nobody know this even exists?

Purple Approach

When I picked up a green vinyl copy of the Nagative Approach 7" a little over year or so ago, I said '...if they repress it again I will be right at the front of the queue'. This was beacuse I had initially decided that I didn't need a green vinyl repress in my life when it went up for order, but then when I saw everyone posting pictures I regretted it, and had to chasea copy on discogs for three times the price. So when I saw a purple vinyl copy go up for sale recently, I wasn't going to make the same mistake.

I love attention to detail, so I like that they changed the colour of the ink on the labels to match the vinyl.

Apparently there are 1,000 copies of this colour, which is the same as the green vinyl. But interestingly, there doesn't seem to have been anywhere near the same level of interest in this version. It's still readily available and the price on disocgs is roughly half of the price of the green version.I guess people prefer green to purple. Prince would certainly not be impressed.