Abrasion

Trying to keep up with Indecision Records isn't easy these days. It took the label about 25 years to reach 100 releases, and in the 7 years or so since, there have been another 80 or so. That's basically a new release every month for seven years which is, as I said, a lot to try to keep up with. I have by no means kept up with everything, but there are a few things that I have devoted some time to.

Last year there was a 12" EP put out by a band called Abrasion. They hail from California and feature the singer of Dare on vocals. I was interested enough to check them out, and on that particular day I was definitely in the mood for some heavy metallic hardcore, because when I heard it I was all in after about ten seconds and clicking away to buy a copy.

'Born To Be Betrayed' came out a couple of years ago and is a 5 song 12". It was pressed on both purple vinyl and 'red' vinyl. I opted for the red as I figured it would go best with the cover art, althouh when it turned up it turned out to be orange. But hey, who cares right?

As I was adding it to my cart I couldn't help but notice that there was also a 7", so I grabbed one of those too. As used to be the case in yers gone by, the band started out in 2020 by releasing a 7" EP, imaginatively titled 'Demonstration'.

There were 3 different colours of this one, but (again) I went for the one that I thought went best with the artwork. And I have to say it, but this blue marble colour looks reallu, really nice. I guess that's what happens when you use a proper pressing plant.

I'm not sure that this band seems particularly well known, especialy outside of California. But if you're into the heavier end of hardcore (ballpark Disembodied Throwdown) then this could be right up your alley.

Think I Care

Until now I had never really been overly interested in the band Think I Care. I'm not exactly sure why, but I guess it's simply that nothing ever really drew me to them. But as often happens, sometimes I get my head turned by a nice looking record. Not long after I picked up the spray painted cover version of the first Annihilation Time LP, I also stumbled onto a spray painted cover version of the first Think I Care LP on the same label (Dead Alive Records). It was pretty cheap, so I figured I'd pick it up to add to the set.

Just like the Anihilation Time LP, there were only 50 of these made, and the colour of the spray painted bits varies. Most of the copies I have seen use a single colour of paint (like the blue one on discogs), so I feel pretty stoked to have one that someone decided to take a little more time on.

This originally came out back in 2003, so I have successfully managed to ignore this band for over twenty years now. After listening to them for the first time, it's exactly the kind of thing I would have liked back in the 00s, so it seems crazy that I ignored it. Interestingly, this record was recently reissued by Triple B (on various colours of splatter vinyl) so I'm not sure if the band has got back together or whether this is now so influential or sought after that there needs to be 1,000 more copies in the world. But it seems that maybe I managed to snag this at just the right time.

An East Coast Split 7" 4 Round Slugfest!!!

Some of the things on my want list have been there for YEARS. I have always used my want list as a way of keeping track of what I want as I have always been after hundreds of records at any one time. I think a lot of people make up a small want list and then proactively chase the things on it as best they can. But I've always been patient and just picked things up as and when they appear, depending on price and whatever I might be most excited by at any time. But anyway, the point is that some things have been on my want list for a long time.

Back when Blood For Blood appeared on the scene in the late 90s, I was really into them. I loved the first couple of albums and the 7" on Victory. And at that point in time, I added the first 7" on clear vinyl and the split 7" with Hudson Falcons to my want list. And until recently, both records were still there, over twenty years later.

This thing came up for sale on discogs and I figured that the time was finally right to cross it from the list. And then as I was checking it out, it occurred to me that I don't think I had ever even seen it before. The clear vinyl was I believe limited to 100 copies, and it has continued to remain tough to find ever since it came out in 1999. The discogs numbers show that 29 people have it, and 158 people want it. There have been 6 copies sold on discogs, the earliest of which was in 2012. So on average one of these chaanges hands every 2 years.

The Blood For Blood side sounds as you would expect. The Hudson Falcons side sounds like not really my thing. But that's often how it is with these rarer items - it's not just about the music. And even though I haven't really thought much about Blood For Blood in the last couple of decades, I'm still really stoked to finally find one of these after all these years.

Can't Stop The Youth

A few years ago I realised that, whilst I would say that I don't feel that I 'collect' Youth Of Today records, I have managed to amass a lot of Youth Of Today records. I guess this is partly because I collect Revelation records and they just carry on pumping out the YOT represses, and I keep buying them. And here are yet more examples of

Well, one YOT record I have wanted for quite a few years is a first press, first mix copy of 'We're Not In This Alone'. I've never really chased one, but at some point in recent months one came up for sale so I figured the time was right to pick it up.

I also managed to plug one of the holes I was missing in my Rev colour vinyl collection. Back in 2015 'WNITA' was pressed on a solid red vinyl, and at the time I was starting to get irritated with the number of represses that Rev were cranking out so I ignored it. But in time I tried to pick up all of the records I had missed during the 2015/16 period, and the solid red WNITA eluded me. It just didn't seem to come up for sale. But then finally one appeared and I grabbed it quick.

Then earlier this year Rev repressed 'WNITA' yet again on two new, horrible looking colours. The rarer colour is 'red and white merge' (out of 330) and the common colour is 'custard' (out of 1,400). Both are pressed at a suck ass plant and feel cheap.

According to my spreadsheet, I now own 15 copies of 'WNITA', which seems crazy, especially as I am sure that there are probably still more that I don't have.

And to end this post, I also picked up the newest pressing of 'Break Down The Walls', which is on pink vinyl. I'm not sure how many of these were made. I don't think Rev published the number for some reason.

The spreadsheet shows that this is my 18th copy of this record, which seems nuts. And yes, there are definitely more copies of this record that I don't own, most notably the red vinyl Wishingwell press, which it feels like will elude me forever.

My total Youth Of Today count is now 70, which is pretty ridiculous for a band who only have 6 official releases (three LPs and three 7"s). And no doubt there will be more to come in the future.

Lubricated Goat

Here's another couple of old Sub Pop 7"s that I've picked up this year, and they are both by a band with one of the greatest names of all time - Lubricated Goat.

Anyway, the first of the band's two 7"s on Sub Pop was released as SP65 in April 1990, and was the 18th release in the Sub Pop singles club. There were 3500 copies made, with 2000 on gold and the rest on black. I kinda wanted this record for years mainly because I like the weird cover art.

The second 7" came out three years later in February 1993 as SP193. I'm not sure how many were pressed,but they were all on red vinyl and it's pretty easy and cheap to obtain. As you can see, the front cover art isn't anywhere near as cool as the first 7".

I know next to nothing about this band. I read some stuff online and the main thing I picked up is that they were from Australia, and caused quite a controversy when they appeared on TV nude in 1988. Other than that, I have a memory from remember picking up the Tumor Circus LP back when it came out in 1992 and it had a hype sticker on the front mentioning that the band featured some dude named Charlie Tolnay from Lubrictaed Goat. At the time I remember thinking that Lubricated Goat was a great band name, so it's kinda interesting that I finally got around to listening to them over 30 years later.

Annihilation Tests

On 10 December last year I was in a car driving back to Florida from Key West. It's a long drive on one road, so it's a pretty easy one, but it takes ages because the road is one lane in each direction and the speed limit is 40mph for huge chunks of it. Anyway, Anna was driving on the way back and I was scrolling crap on my phone, and I got lucky, because I saw a post by Fred Hammer that had literally just been posted about 5 minutes before. He was selling a set of all three different test pressings for the first Annihilation Time LP, and the price seemed pretty reasonable. So I shot a DM and said I'd love to get them, and he replied almost immediately to tell me they were mine. It was probably all wrapped up witrhin 15 minutes of him making the post. And once I had paid he took the post down. So I would imagine that not many people even saw the post at all.

I asked if he had anything else, and I was pretty happy to find out that he had a spare copy of the first Annihilation Time LP in a spray painted sleeve. I've had one of these on my want list for years, but never found one in good condition at a good price. I believe that there were only 50 of these, and they were made with different colours of paint. Most I have seen had orange paint on the front, but I really like the blue paint on this copy that I ended up with.

The first press of this record came out on Dead Alive Records in 2002. Up to this point I have never owned a first press copy before. I was always holding out for one of these spray painted cover copies, or one of the rare grey vinyl copies. So it's nice to finally get one of them.

Well anyway, as mentioned, I also got a test press of the first pressing. It isn't much to look at, being a black record with white labels in a white paper sleeve. The way test presses should be I guess.

The second test press is a test of the reissue that Fred put out himself circa 2020 on It's Alive Records. This one was pressed at RTI and comes in a rad sleeve which has a sticker on the front and a spray painted graphic on the back. As you can see, it is numbered out of 10 copies.

And finally, the third test press is for the repress on Indecision Records. After Fred put it out on his own label and sold out of a pressing, he gave it to Dave at Indecision and asked him to keep it in print. This one was pressed at Erika Records and also comes in a spray painted cover.

I'm pretty stoked to have 3 different test pressings of this record, and also of the 4 records I bought, 3 feature spray painted covers, which I didn't really propery take in until writing this post. The only annoying thing is that I now feel like I want one of the clear vinyl Indecision copies which I wasn't remotely interested in previously. #neversatisfied

Vandal X

Another step into the world of old Sub Pop 7"s, this one is a two song 7" by Unsane. This is not a band I know much about at all, but I do know that they have a pretty big following and these days are considered quite influential. This 7" was released in September 1990 as Sub Pop 76, and was the 23rd installment in the singles club.

Unsane were a 'noise rock' trio who have been going since the end of the 80s, and they are still going today. Their catalog has releases by some of the biggest and most well known independent labels, including Matador, Amphetamine Reptile, Relapse, Alternative Tentacles and Southern Lord, so it's understandable that they are so popular. Their wikipedia tells me that they used to be part of some noise rock scene in NYC in the early 90s, and that they used to regularly play shows with Helmet, which makes total sense on hearing these songs, as Helmet is probably the closest comparison I can draw.

Anyway, on the strength of these songs I am definitely down to check out more by this band. I just need to figure out which is the best record to start with. Feel free to chip in with any suggestions.

Save Your Breath

After staying with Dave from Indecision Reocrds a couple of years ago, I made more of an effort to keep up with the label. It had dropped off of my radar for a few years, but I realised that Dave was still very active and trying his best to carry on putting out new records by new bands. One of his releases from last year that I picked up was a 12" titled 'Save Your Breath' by a band called In Time.

There are only 5 songs on this 12", and it runs for a total of about 8 minutes. Without a shadow of a doubt, this could have been a 7", but that's not really how things work in the 2020s I guess. So we get a 12" with the same 5 songs pressed on both sides. The records were pressed on 'eco mix' vinyl, so there is a lot of variation in the colour, from pink to purple to brown.

Anyway, In Time are a band from Venture County, CA and I mainly decided to grab this one based on the cover art. The hooded mosher character and black & white artwork just brings to mind old style straight edge hardcore. I'm not actually sure if this band is straight edge or not, but it kinda sounds like that type of sound, with typical sxe lyrics. If I was looking for a reference, then I'd say that this reminds me of Floorpunch.

Overall a cool record, but really would have felt better if this was a 7" not a 12" as it really is very short.

This Is All We Ever Get

I havent bought many new releases this year so far, but here's one that I have been listening to this past couple of weeks and I'm loving it. The band is called Spaced and the record is titled 'This Is All We Ever Get'. This is not a band I really knew anything about. I just bought it because it was a Rev release, so of course I bought all the different versions available.

The first copy I picked up was this 'coral' vinyl copy which was an exclusive to Generation Records in NYC and some UK distro called Devil Dog Records. I grabbed the Devil Dog version as it was easiest, which came with a fairly pointless obi strip.

I saw 'pointless' as it only seems to exist as an advert for Devil Dog Records distro. It has nothing else to do with the record really. In total there were 311 copies on this colour, of which Devil Dog ended up with 150 copies, and they are numbered on the back of the obi strip.

The other colours seem more suited to the artwork of the record. The blue is the retail exclusive (313 copies), violet is the Rev exclusive (309 copies), and green is the common colour (1064 copies).

I didn't even bother to listen to this band before I committed to buy 4 copies of it, which I guess a lot of people would find ridiculous. But I have no regrets, as this is a really great hardcore record. I think that this is without doubt the best release from a current Rev band. To me, this blows away Planet On A CHain and Big Laugh. The second song 'Big Picture' (of which one line of the lyrics is 'This Is All We Ever Get', which is where the record gets its title) is a stand out banger for me, but the whole record is really good. And with the eight songs being done in 16 minutes, and a couple of days ago as soon as it finished I put it back on again immediately, which is something thst I never ever do. It seems that they also have an earlier record, so clearly I am now going to have to track that down too.

More Slivers

Towards the end of last year I finally picked up a copy of the Nirvana 'Sliver / Dive' 7" that I had wanted for years. I used to have a copy in the early 90s and sold it, and have regretted that for quite some time. Anyway, obtaining a copy last year then led to a mini obsession, and I found myself checking eBay for additional copies for sale almost daily. In my opinion, eBay is better than discogs for records by big bands as there were large numbers of copies pressed and lots that would have made their way to the UK. Generally there are plenty of copies of this record on eBay at all times, but the main challenge is to find one for a fair price.

Well anyway, I got pretty lucky a couple of months back when I spotted a blue vinyl copy for auction sat a good price. I watched it for a few days and then (as always) bid in the last few seconds, and to my surprise I won it for a lot less than I expected. I managed to win this for around £28, whereas it will usually sell on discogs for £150-200. I'm not really sure why this was the case. Perhaps this was because it ended on a Sunday evening, or perhaps it was because the listing put people off in some way, but I was very happy with the result regardless.

This is a slightly weird version, as it appears to be a first press blue vinyl copy in second press sleeve. But it is a legit variation. There are a few of them out there.

In addition to the above copy, I also got outbid on a couple of more recent pressings which somehow sold for higher prices, and they also sold on eBay for more than they usually sell for on discogs. I can only think this is because they are more recent US pressings, and no doubt fewer of these made it over the pond. So the more recent colour pressings sell for more in the UK than they would do in the States. As soon as I was outbid, I realised that I needed to buy them from the States to avoid significantly overpaying. So that's what I did.

First up is a Newbury Comics exclusive from 2015. This blue/pink split vinyl is out of 1,000 copies.

Next is another Newbury Comics exclusive that was released in 2018. There were 500 copies of this blue / clear split vinyl.

And another Newbury Comics exclusive from 2018 also out of 500 copies, this one is the clear / pink split vinyl.

And finally, I also grabbed this more recent 'silver' (aka grey) vinyl pressing. This one is limited to 1,000 copies and was exclusive to a record store in Portland, Oregon called Jackpot Records.

This is such an addictive record to try to collect as there are a lot of colours out there, and some very subtle differences between some of them. Attention to detail is a must. But kinda funny that prior to October last year I did not own a single copy of this record, and then thanks to some time searching and a bit of luck, I now find myself with 10 copies. Here's a nice square photo showing the 9 Sub Pop copies I have acquired (the 10th copy I have is a crappy UK pressing with different labels so I opted to leave it out for aesthetic reasons).

I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, but there are still at least another 6 colours that I can go after, although from this point forward it will in theory become a much slower and more expensive game, and is likely to roll on for years to come. But hey, that's what this game is about, right?

The Second Stage Turbine Blade

Coheed And Cambria is a band I know absolutely nothing about. Their debut relesase, 'The Second Stage Turbine Blade' was released by Equal Vision Records in 2002, and for me absolutely represents the end of the 'old' Equal Vision. Up to that point, EVR had released hardcore records by the likes of Bane, Floorpunch, Sick Of It All, American Nightmare, Converge, Saves The Day... the list goes on. I used to buy everything they put out whether I had heard of it or not as they rarely put a foot wrong. So when they released the debut Coheed record on CD only in 2002, I blindly bought it... and immediately thought 'what the hell is this?'. It was not like anything that the label had put out previously, but I gave it some time because I had shelled out my hard earned money for it and, as is often the case, I started to quite enjoy it.

And here we are in 2024 and, 22 years after its initial release, 'The Second Stage Turbine Blade' has been pressed onto 'transparent black vinyl' to mark the 20th anniversary of this record. Quite why we are getting a 20th anniversary pressing after 22 years I am unsure, but hey. And come to think of it, who the hell decided on 'transparent black' as a colour of vinyl?

Anyway, I saw this for sale at a UK distro and figured I would grab one whole they are still available for new release price. Having looked on discogs, it seems that most vinyl records by this band end up selling for pretty hefty prices. So I kinda figured this to be one of those 'now or never' moments to finally add this to my collection on the superior format.

I would definitely describe myself as a casual listener of this band. Discogs tells me that they have to date released ten studio albums, of which I have heard only four, the latest of which came out in 2007. But all these years later and I still find this band to be a bit of a mystery, in the respect that I have no idea quite why they seem to be so popular, nor what kind of people like them. Please chip in and tell me if you've ever listened and what your thoughts are.

Bent Stroke

I'm not doing too well for new releases so far in 2024. I was about to type that this record is one of the few that I have picked up, when I just became aware that this actually came out last year. Damn.

This is a split 7" by both Sunstroke and Bent Blue which came out as a split release by both War Records and New Morality Zine. I saw this one at a UK distro and figured it would be worth picking up. I haven't bought a Sunstroke record for 4 years, but back then I did listen to them a lot. Their DCesque sound is really refreshing to hear in the 2020s, although slighlty disappoiting as it contains only one new song. The other is a cover.

Well anyway, I ordered another record from a different UK distro and then noticed that they also had this 7" for sale, but on a different colour of vinyl. So I figured why not?

The other band on here, Bent Blue, I haven't really given them a chance to this point, partly due to the fact that their records look visually disinteresting. I saw them play live a couple of years ago and wasn't overly excited by them. But a couple of my friends really enjoy them so I'm sure there is something there. Again, they have two songs on here and one is a cover, so it's probably not the best platform from which to judge them. But I do like what I hear on here and it makes me want to explore them more.

Both of these colours are limited to 150 copies each. I like how they match to the artwork, and I also like how they were clearly pressed at a US plant, which seems increasingly rare these days.

Still Screaming

It feels like no matter ho many copies of 'Screaming For Change' I own, there are still more copies that I am looking for. Even though I was only really interested in the colour vinyl copies on Wishingwell, at some point I realised that the first press sleeve was different, so I decided that I wanted one of those too. The main issue for anyone trying to find a first press copy, however, is that it came with both a poster and a sticker, and finding a copy for sale with both of those things is extrememly difficult. I figure that when this came out most people were young punks who immediately put the poster on the wall or slapped the sticker on a skateboard, and they then got separated from the record and probably ended up in the trash. But as far as I am concerned, knowing that the record is supposed to have a poster and sticker, I was never going to buy a copy without either one, no matter how cheap. So I played the waiting game... for years. And then, a few months ago I came across a copy on eBay with a reasonable buy it now price, and the description said that the poster and sticker were included. I took a moment to clarify with the seller, and then once I was happy, I bought it. The seller turned out to be in Orange County and was the original owner, so that's also a nice touch.

The poster is pretty damn huge. This next photo shows it laid out to the right of the record and cover. I also laid the (white) sticker on top of the poster, so that the right half of this picture is pretty rare.

So that's pretty much that. What I have done for the rest of this post is to lay out the sleeve and insert next to a second press equivalent so you can see the differences. In all photos, the 1st press is on the left and 2nd press on the right.

What's fascinating about the front cover is that the first and second press copies are actually different pictures. Both are hand drawn by Gavin Oglesby, but they are different versions of the same picture. I remember that this first came to light on the internet in the 00s on Double Cross, and if I didn't remember reading about it then I'm not sure that I would have ever noticed. But if you look closely, you can see some subtle differences. Turns out that the first press picture was drawn onto leather and then photographed, but they didn't think it looked quite right, so when it came to do the second press, Gavin drewn it again on illustration board.

I ignored the Southern Lord reissue of this record a few years ago, and I still have no intention of going back on that decision. I'm only interested in Wishingwell editions of this record. And even though this is my 10th copy of this record, there is still one more that I am looking for - the grey vinyl version. I've missed a couple over the years but I'm sure that one will come eventually.