Home Truths 2

So in my last post I talked about how much I had been enjoying the band The Living Memories, who hail from Baltimore and count Stephen St. Germain (from The First Step) as one of their members. Mike turned me onto them a couple of years ago because it sounded like something that I would like, even though he hated it (although I think we all know that these days, he would love it).

Well anyway, when I got around to asking whetherit might be possible to buy a test press of the second record, I also asked about a test press of the first record too, and ended up doing a deal. Stephen also fished out a spare one of the regular covers to put it in, which was very much appreciated.

This test has hand written labels, which is a nice touch.

So, same as the other record, when I had agreed to buy a test I also figured that it would be kinda stupid to not then buy the other colour vinyl copy. I got a good deal, and I'm glad I picked it up as it looks great. This is one of the 200 copies on 'orange' vinyl (which is clearly yellow):

I pulled out the clear copy that I was donated a couple of years ago to take a pic of the complete collection:

This is so good, and I would advise you give it a minute to check it out. Especially now we're in the summer. If you are into it then it looks like there are still colour copies of this record available from the band / label, although the webstore doesn't allow you to choose which colour you want.

Days Of Morning Light

Are you the kind of person who enjoys listening to The Smiths, The Cure or perhaps Ceremony's 'The L Shaped Man' LP, then you would probably be into The Living Memories. I first stumbled across this band two years ago when Mike posted about their first record 'Home Truths' in such a way that got me interested. He hated it, but I figured it sounded well worth checking out, and true to his description, I loved it. So when they dropped a second record last yaer, I was all over it.

The 'Days of Morning Light EP' came out at the beginning of 2024 and was put out by Living Sounds, which as far as I can tell is the band's own label. It's a pretty limited pressing generally, with only 50 cpies pressed on red vinyl, so I grabbed it right away.

I played this a lot in a short space of time, and then one day decided to email the label to see if they had any spare test presses that they could possibly sell. After a few messages back and forth, we agreed a deal, and then eventually (monthy later), I got the record. I should add that the label sent it right away, but I only just recently got around to collecting it.

I asked if the test came in any kind of sleeve and was told no, so I asked if there were any spare 'regular' sleeves laying about. So it was cool that I got one. Tests with a sleeve are always cooler than those without.

Well, when I decided to buy the test I then decided that it would seem weird to not also by a copy of the other colour. There were 100 copies on yellow vinyl, and for a good price it felt like it would be rude to not grab one.

I'm not entirely convinced that many people have latched onto this band, but if you're into the idea of a US based version of The Smiths in the modern day then this is the band for you. I have played the hell out of this over the past year, and to date I haven't tired of it.

Despite there being only 150 copies of this pressed in total, there are copies still available HERE. If you trust my judgement then you should probably grab one.

Never Enough

A new Turnstile LP just dropped and I was determined to learn from my mistake when the last record came out. When 'Glow On' came out in 2021 I had no idea how big the band had become, and the colour vinyl copies sold out lightning fast. The black vinyl copies also went quickly, meaning that I wasn't able to pick up a copy until almost two years later. So when I heard that there was a new record dropping in 2025, I got my preorder in on the first day, assuming that the colour vinyl would be gone in a couple of hours.

When it came to placing an order, there were 6 colours available to choose from, with no pressing info published. I decided to buy based on what colour would look the least ugly. But that seemed difficult to tell from the mock ups. So in the end I decided to buy two while I had the chance, thinking that I would then sell whichever looked the least attractive and no doubt make a tidy profit in the process because all colours would be long sold out.

The records came in a week ago on the exact release date.

When I ordered, I thought that the green would look the best, but I actually think that the orange one looks far nicer in real life. However, my main dilemma is that according to the pressing info posted on discogs, the orange is the most common colour that there is, being out of 10,000 copies. So as ever, I'm not sure what to do here. Oh, and one thing that I have noticed about different colours of this record that I have seen posted on instagram, is that most colours appear to have some weird square pattern in the vinyl that is visible when held to the light. The green one has it. I'm curious as to what is causing this. Could it be something to do with the machines that this pressing plant are using?

So far I'm enjoying this record, although I'm not convinced it is as good as the last two. There seem to be a few too many slow, trippy tunes that keep the pace down. And even though I know that Turnstile have moved way beyond being just a 'hardcore' band, this could be a step too far away. I'm not sure though. It's probably too early to tell. But without a doubt this is going to be getting a lot of play over the next few weeks and will end up being a big part of my Summer 2025 soundtrack.

Ultramega OK

Last year my most played record was Soundgarden's 1994 'Superunknown' LP, which I finally got into 30 years after its initial release. This then pushed me into listening to more Soundgarden records, and pushing the ones that I don't own further up my wants list. When I saw a colour vinyl copy of their first LP, 'Ultramega OK' on ebay UK, I knew that I wanted to make a play for it. I watched it for a few days and then threw in a last second bid. Initially I thought I might get it for a bargain price, but at the climax I ended up paying more than I thought I would have to. But still, I got an almost perfect copy.

This LP came out back in 1988 on SST Records. Like a lot of the more popular SST releases, this one originally came on black vinyl but then got repressed on colour vinyl in the early 90s. There are three colour vinyl versions out there, and I would have been happy with any of them, as I have never owned a copy of this LP previously.

For a record that is 30+ years old, this copy is in great condition, still in the shrinkwrap and with the 'color vinyl' sticker still attached. I used to hate these stickers back in the 90s because I thought they looked tacky, but over time I have grown to love them, to the point where if a record comes on colour vinyl but does not have the sticker, I'm less interested.

What's also interesitng about this copy is that it has a small insert. It seems generally pretty rare for any SST releases to have come with any kind of insert other than an SST catalog.

I'd never really spent much time with this record previously as I'd always thought it was sub par. But having revisited it recently, I can safely say that I was wrong... just like I was with 'Superunknown'. Oh, what a fool I have been.

Sick Of It All 2000

It was in 2016 that I made it to 1,000 posts on here. Then in 2021 I hit post number 1,500. And then a couple of weeks ago I noticed that I was getting close to post number 2,000. I figured I needed something special to post to mark the occassion.

In the end I have decided to do exactly the same thing that I did when I hit post number 1,000 and just post the latest copies of the first Sick Of It All 7" that I received relatively recently. These are both the two latest pressings from last year.

First up is a clear purple vinyl pressing with a one off special cover. This is a benefit for Lou Koller who was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years back. Rev pressed an undisclosed number of 7"s with this limited cover as a fundraiser for Lou.

I'm not a big fan of the front cover art, but I absolutely love that they changed the bar across the bottom of the back to purple. It looks really cool I think.

At the same time that the purple copies got pressed, they also pressed up 550 copies on clear(ish) orange vinyl. OK, so the colour isn't particularly suited to the cover, but for some reason I think this colour looks great.

These two latest pressings mean that I now have 24 copies of this record. I figured that the only way that I could make this post in any way special to mark my 2000th post would be to lay out the whole lot for a photo. I generally don't like doing this as it takes a lot of time. But obviously I had to do it.

Ok, so some of these records look the same, but in theory each is different. Also, back when I made my 1000th post I had just acquired my 12th copy, and 2000 posts marks 24 copies. What this tells me is that, on average, one in every 83 posts is a copy of this record. Given my post rate, that's roughly one every 8 months, which means I'll be due copy number 25 in January 2026. Let's see if that happens...

Big Rusty Balls

I saw this Ill Repute record for sale on ebay UK and instantly thought 'yep, I'll gladly take that'. I went for most of my life without hearing Ill Repute at all, but back in 2022 I picked up a cool reissue of their first LP 'What Happens Next' and loved it. As soon as I saw this one I figured it looked cool, so I bought it.

Back when this came out, splatter vinyl was rare as hell and very rarely seen. To me, this record looks good, unlike modern splatter vinyl that is pressed by the Czech plant. I can't explain why exactly, but hopefully you agree.

'Big Rusty Balls' is Ill Repute's third LP and was released by Dr. Strange Records back in 1993. At that point in time the band had been going for 12 years.

I was slightly surprised by this record. I suppose a lot of bands change their sound over time, but this one is pretty much a pop punk album. It's quite good fun (which with hindsight is implied by the cover art and the name of the record) but sounds really different to the first LP. And in my view, pop punk is summer music, so for me right now this has come around at the right time, albeit thirty years late.

Jailcell Recipes

Towards the end of last year I started seeing lots of pics of a new Jailcell Recipes record. The band were around at the end of the 80s & start of the 90s and had a few records released by First Strike Records (a label most known for releasing the 2nd Chain Of Strength 7" on a number of colours of vinyl). Back in the early 90s I had a Jailcell Recipes record at some point and ended up letting it go, because it didn't fit with my tastes at the time. But seeing lots of pics of this new record on various different colours of vinyl got me interested, so I gave them a listen, and immediately loved what I heard. So I decided to throw some cash at it. Therer were 5 different colours of vinyl (including black) and I decided to go for the clear as this was exclusively for a store in Japan and so has a bonus obi-strip.

Ok, so technically 'Energy In An Empty Tank Record' is not a new release. It is a kind of 'greatest hits' record. There are 17 songs on here, which is made up of 8 songs from the first LP ('Energy In An Empty Tank World'), 3 songs from the 'Poulton Road' 7", 3 songs from the second LP ('Two Years Of Toothache') and 3 'new' songs that were recorded in 1992 but never previously released.

The packing around this is absolutely top notch, with a poster, lyric sheet and a huge thick booklet.

The booklet is so big and heavy that it barely fits inside the sleeve with the record. It probably also weighs more than the record. The booklet is a great read, with bits written by each member of the band about how and why this record has been made, the history of the band and some rumours which are confirmed or denied. It's really well put together and is a great read.

I also made the decision to buy a test press as the price wasn't too bad. It's not really a proper test press in my opinion as there are 50 copies, but it's still cool as it comes in a different sleeve and is hand numbered on both the sleeve and the record label. The tests also come in various different colour sleeves. Mine is orange but I have also seen green and I think yellow too.

The test also ccomes with aome bonus bits. As well as the giant square booklet, it also has a couple of extra zines - a vegan cookbook and one which is an old interview with the band.

As much as the 18 or 19 year old me didn't enjoy this band, the old me very much does. Somehow in 2025 this band is exactly what I want from a hardcore band, fast and raw. From reading the booklet, it seems that the main point of this record was to improve the sound as the original recording of the first LP was apparently not good. I can't comment as I don't have the original pressing of the first LP, but these songs sound great. Combine the sound quality with the top notch packaging and this is a highly recommended purchase. You can still pick up all versions direct from the label (hosted by Alan's BMX shop).

TV Party 2025

Back in 2020 I completed a collection of Black Flag colour vinyl 7"s, which was a journey that took me 12 years. One of the problems with record collecting these days, however, is that collections may not remain complete because represses and reissues are being churned out at an alarming rate.

So a couple of months ago I got an email from a UK record store containing a list of their latest stock, and I noticed that they had a copy of Black Flag's 'TV Party' 7" listed on yellow vinyl. My first instinct was to look around on the internet to find out more, but there was literally no information about this anywhere. I then thought that perhaps the listing was an error. But I also know that this shop always lists vinyl colours, so there was a strong possibility that it was a new pressing and they were the first place online to have it. So i decided to buy a copy and take a chance. But then I also decided that it would make more sense to buy two copies, thinking that I could potentially gift one to a fellow collector if this turned out to be rare. So I ordered two copies of the yellow vinyl pressing and this is what I received:

As you can see, one copy is definitely yellow, whilst the other is definitely not. It's a dark greenish teal type colour.

Well, then I started chatting to a fellow Black Flag collector and he went into full on chase mode and ordered copies from a record store and also from SST directly. I'm not sure exactly how many copies he ended up with, but in the end he let me know that he had a couple of spares on slightly different colours, and asked if I was interested. Well, of course I was. So this is what I ended up with:

The first copy is a slightly reddish, greyish brown colour, whilst the second is a greenish greyish colour.

What's kinda funny about this is that in the whole of time up to this year, there were only 3 different colour vinyl copies of this record - red and yellow vinyl (from the 90s) and an orange vinyl from 2011. And here I am in 2025 with four additional colours. I'm pretty sure that these are all part of the same pressing, which I would guess is from a 'scrap' or 'random' pressing, but still, there is no denying that these are different colours. No other variants of this pressing have yet surfaced, but it wouldn't surprise me if some did. But without doubt this all feels a bit low key and given the lack of information, how few people have added it to their collection in discogs and the lack of places selling it, this could turn out to be a pretty rare version of this record, so worth grabbing one if you have the chance.

Our Fight

I'm pretty sure that if I go back over this blog for the last five years or so, probably about 25% of the posts are me talking about how I'm trying to avoid buying discographies these days. The next 25% of posts are me banging on about the latest discography that I have bought. So yeah, I'm giving on on buying discographies from now on. But here's a Confront discography that I just bought.

I have the Confront 7" (sadly not a first pressing Dark Empire version) but I never really thought of it as anything particularly special. It was never in my top 20 or anything. I had no intentino of buying this record when I saw it was being released, but when I saw someone post a picture of this blue vinyl version, I wanted one. I mean, it does look nice, right?

The label describes this as a 'full Confront Discography for the first time on vinyl with never before heard tracks'. There are 18 songs on here, including he 7", demo, comp tracks and some live stuff. Overall, good to have some of these songs on vinyl for the first time, and a lot cheaper than trying to buy the 7".

The Trouble We're In

It's no secret that I am a big fan of Revelation Records, and have been for a longass time. But there was a weird period, circa 2002-2006, when the label 'fell off' (as a friend of mine would say). During this period, they almost completely stopped making vinyl, and there are circa 18 CD only releases that were released in this period, by bands such as Christiansen, Since By Man, On The Might Of Princes, The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower, Temper Temper, Gracer, The Twilight Transmission and Call Me Lightning. You are absolutely forgiven if you have never heard of, or heard, any of these bands.

A few years ago I downloaded some of these records and gave them a chance. A couple of them were ok, but for the most part they just seemed like a strange choice for Rev and it really makes me wonder what the hell was going on back then in Huntington Beach for anyone to think that these bands were a good fit for the label.

Anyway, in the last couple of years I picked up a couple of these releases for which the vinyl was licensed and pressed by a different label, and recently I realised that there is another one that I didn't have. So I bought it.

Call Me Lightning was a band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and their debut album 'The Trouble We're In' was released as Rev121 in 2005. And here I am, almost twenty years later, hearing it for the first time.

This vinyl version of the record was released by a label called Forge Again Records which, surprisingly, is still going. There were 300 copies of this record pressed, all of which were on black vinyl. It comes in a fold out sleeve which looks kinda cool when folded out.

There's also a small insert which is smaller than a postcard.

Overall I've been enjoying this one the past month or so. After the first play I was indifferent to it, but without doubt these songs have got into my head. It's hard to describe what this sounds like. It's kinda jangly rock. It's not bad for what it is. But I maintain that it should not have been on Rev.

Kingdom Of Lost Souls

Following on from the last post about the Kiss It Goodbye LP with limited cover, and here's another record which follows the same trend...

'Kingdom Of Lost Souls' was the second LP from Damnation A.D. which was released as Rev71 in 1998. This was a really interesting time for the Rev catalogue, as they had bands from all kinds of different scenes coming out with great records, e.g. Morning Again, Elliott, In My Eyes, The Nerve Agents, Kill Holiday, etc. The Damnation record was heavy as hell and is still one that I revisit on a semi regular basis. The latest pressing is on gold vinyl, with 110 copies in a limited sleeve.

The record itself has blank, stamped labels and, just like the Kiss It Goodbye record, I got number 16. The art on the sleeve was done by some guy called Christopher Robin Duncan, who as far as I can tell seems to be a well respected artist. That said, I have no idea what picture is supposed to be, and I don't find it overly exciting. That said, however, the back cover looks great with the big gold lettering and the gold Rev logo.

I also got one of the copies which comes on the same colour vinyl, but in a regular sleeve and with regular labels. There were 440 copies of this one pressed.

As much as I may like this record, I'm not quite sure why this has again been repressed, as I have never really felt that it was that popular, especially over twenty years later. The last colour vinyl pressing back in 2015 was available for years and, unexpectedly, the limited cover pictured above is still available at RevHQ. I'm sure it won't hang around for too long, but it's definitely surprising as most of these recent limited cover pressings go within a matter of minutes. I'm sure if it would have had a tank on the front it would be long sold out.

Kiss It Goodbye

Revelation Records have cranked out a few limited, numbered covers for some represses of older releases the past couple of years. It's an interesting trend, but one that can be quite stressful, as these things tend to be pretty damn limited, and have a tendency to sell out very quickly. Towards the end of last year, with no warning, a repress of the Kiss It Goodbye LP was announced, with 50 copies coming in a limited cover, and I was lucky enough to be able to get one.

The 50 copies that came in the limited sleeve also came with blank, stamped labels. I got number 16/50.

I also got one of the regular copies, which comes on the same coloour of vinyl but which comes in a regular sleeve with regular labels:

The vinyl looks like a slightly blueish purpleish greyish colour. According to RevHQ this colour is officially known as 'moon rock', which is without doubt one of the stupidest names for a colour of vinyl that I have ever heard. If you hold it up to the light it looks very different, as the next photo shows:

I remember back when this came out just being confused as to why there was another band that sounded a lot like Deadguy that appeared on the scene at the same time as Deadguy. It was only a couple of months ago when I watched a documentary about Deadguy ('Killing Music') which told the band's story. Turns out that Deadguy toured the States and Tim Singer liked Seattle so much that he decided to move there after the tour ended. Guitarist Keith Huckins decided to go with him, pursuading a couple of ex Rorschach bandmates to come along for the ride, at which point they formed Kiss It Goodbye, whilst the remaining member of Deadguy stayed in New Jersey and carried on with a new singer.

Somehow, finally knowing this story makes me appreciate this band and record even more, all of these years later.

Pretty Lush

So I'm still living in a world where I religiously buy everything that Revelation Records put out, like it's 1995 or something. This means that now and again I end up buying something that I would never had listened to otherwise, like the New Found Glory record I got last year. The most recent example of this is this 'Don Fury Sessions' LP by Glassjaw.

There were 1,998 copies of this pressed, all on yellow vinyl, and only available directly from Rev, apparently. Surprisingly for me, it completely sold out pretty damn quick. I guess Glassjaw and records are more popular than I ever knew.

I had previously thought that I had never heard Glassjaw before in my life, but when I played this I immediately felt that the first song sounded familiar. I used to go out with a girl around 2002/3 who was into bands like this, so I'm pretty sure I have heard Glassjaw before via her playing a CD in a car. Kinda crazy how all these years later I still recognise the song.

Anyway, even though I never really had any interest in this band in the past, I can see why they are/were popular. Their sound takes inspiration from a few different bands / sounds, and listening in 2025 it sounds pretty fresh. This record is made up of demo recordings from 1998 when apparently Don Fury was trying to get them signed to his own label (which until receiving this, I had no idea he had) and is in theory a one time pressing. This has been an unexpected and enjoyable record, and without doubt is likely to push me into checking out more by this band, roughly twenty five years after everyone else, which seems to be the kind of pace I move at these days.

Frank

Here's another one that I brought home a year ago and have only recently got around to properly checking out, largely due to the mess that my record room has been in for months...

My last post mentioned my trip to the New Jersey record store (and record label), Sky Valley Records. As well as the Christ discography, I also picked up a 7" by Sunstroke titled 'Frank'.

The 7" is a tribute to Frank 'Skip' Candelori, the singer of Turning Point (and Godspeed, Memorial Day and Twelve Hundred).

This is a two song 7", with one song being an original and the other being a Memorial Day cover. And, quite unusually for a 7", the sleeve is gatefold.

When I went into the shop I figured I would buy a copy of this 7", but somehow I ended up coming away with five. I was struggling to decide which colour I wanted, and in the end Chuck did me a deal for five. What's funny is that when I entered these into my collection on discogs, I realised that there are two other colours that were not offered to me. So now I'm in a weird place where I can't decide whether to buy two more to be 'complete', or to potentially get rid of some. The eternal dilemma.

I also managed to buy a test press. Or rather, two test presses. Chuck explained that each test press came on a different colour of vinyl, and he had two spares. So for some reason I ended up buying both of those too... and also being given a t-shirt that apparently came with each test press.

Slightly annoyingly, the next day Chuck sent me a message to say that he had forgotten to give me the covers for the test press. They should come in a rip off of the 3 LP that Dischord released. Despite a couple of attempts to get in touch with Chuck in recent months to get hold of those test press covers, I haven't had any luck. Hopefully one day I will get them. If so, I will post them up here.

Christ

Here's another one that I brought home a year ago and have only recently got around to properly checking out, largely due to the mess that my record room has been in for months...

This time last year I took a short trip to the States and one day ended up visiting a New Jersey record store called Sky Valley Records, which is owned by a guy called Chuck Miller. Chuck used to run a label in the 90s called Temperance Records, which is probably mainly remembered these days for being the label that released the Turning Point / No Escape split 7" and the 'Rebuilding' 7" compilation (that featured Gorilla Biscuits, Burn, Turning Point and No Escape). Well, a few years ago Chuck started releasing records again, and is now running a small label with the same name as his shop, i.e. Sky Valley Records. I bought a few records from him the day that I was in his store, and even though I mentioned only two posts ago that I was trying to avoid buying discographies, one of my purchases was a discography of a little known band called Christ.

For those of you who have never heard of Christ (which I am guessing is pretty much everyone reading this), they were a band from Philadelphia active around 1996-1998 ish. Members were also in other 90s bands that only a small handful of people in 2025 still give a shit about, such as Prema, Autumn, I Hate You, Genuine & Grip. Temperance put out two CD only releases by Christ in the late 90s, and I bought one of them at the time just because it was on Temperance. The label's press release mentions comparisons to Engine Kid, Black Sabbath, Sunny Day Real Estate and Drive Like Jehu, which almost sounds like they are trying to cover all the bases, but I can absolutely hear elements of all of those bands here.

This 2 x LP forms a discography that compiles the songs from both of their 2 CD EPs that released way back in the 90s (one of which I still have in a crate upstairs, the other I never owned nor heard before) and their demo. I had a vague recollection of the two songs from the CD I have, but I have listened to this a lot more in the past month than I ever listened to the CD I own in the past twenty something years.

One of the songs here is 16 minutes long, which sounds ridiculous, but is without doubt my favourite on here. As I wrote this post, I listened to that song and then when it ended I put it on again. To have a single song that is longer than some hardcore LPs is in itself an achievement.

Anyway, I can see why Chuck wanted to press this discography to vinyl all these years later and hopefully bring Christ to the attention of people who have never heard them before. This truly is an unknown gem from a period when things were starting to splinter into various sub genres and scenes, but I can see that this band could have been popular with many of them. Well worth a few minutes of your time to explore if you're looking for something other than generic hardcore.