Self Fulfilling Prophecy

Somehow it was three years ago that I picked up a record by a California hardcore band called Power Alone from Indecision Records HQ and it single handedly pulled me out of a three month pop punk phase that I had been in. Man, I loved (and still love) that record so much. Heavy and political, it strongly ticks the boxes of what a hardcore punk record should be.

Well anyway, I got excited a couple of months ago when a test press appeared for sale on discogs, especially as the price was not ridiculous. The only problem was that the listing mentioned a couple of creases on the cover, so I messaged the seller to ask for photos. The front cover was fine, but the back cover had two creases which were slightly offputting. This is the photo I was sent:

Well, I was torn on what to do. I wanted the record, the price was ok, but the creases... I figured that they would irritate me for the rest of my life. But then I came up with an idea to turn the situation around. I got in touch with the vocalist of the band, Eva, and asked if I could have the record sent to her so that she could do some custom art to hide the creases. She was initially worried that she might make the cover look even uglier, but I assured her that having a personalised version that was different to the other copies would make mine superior... to me at least. So she agreed to do it, and it then tured out that the seller was someone she knew, so I didn't even have to pay for postage. And then a few weeks later, I ended up picking up the record from her when I was in California last month.

As the photo shows, the creases have been really well hidden, and I am stoked as hell to have a test press of this record, and one with such unique artwork.

Face The Nation

I've had a break from this thing for over a month because I went on holiday and then have been too tired or busy to do anything since i got home three weeks ago. It's been tough getting over the jet lag and having to jump back into real life. But I finally feel that I am pretty much back to normal, so it's time to get stuck into my huge backlog of records that I had bought before my holiday and those that I picked up whilst away.

So I went to California and the main reason for booking the trip was to go to the Big Frank Harrison memorial show in Orange County on 22 June. I wanted to see Farside play, but there were also lots of other cool bands on the bill too, some of which were really old and hadn't played together in decades. It promised to be, and was, a great show and a day I will always remember.

One of the older bands that I was very keen to see was Carry Nation, a band fronted by Dan O'Mahony and which was also composed of Big Frank Harrison, Gavin Oglesby (No For An Answer) amd Steve Larson (Insted). A true 80s California supergroup. Their total output was a four song 7" back in 1989. They broke up in 1990 and played a reunion show in 2009, and the show last month was their first since.

In order to try to generate some additional money, as the proceeds of the show were set to go to Frank's daughter, Carry Nation repressed their 7" with revised artwork and on orange vinyl. And of course, if a band is going to repress a 7" on a new vinyl colour and with new artwork I was going to be first in line to buy it.

I have to say, but this is a very fitting tribute to Big Frank, with pictures of the man himself on each label and on the back cover. I always liked this record, as I am a fan of everything that Dan O has done, so it's cool to pick up this revised version.

Well, as another nice surprise, Carry Nation also pressed a new 7" that was also sold at the show. Now, admittedly these are not new songs. This 7" features a five song live set from 1989 recorded at the Country CLub in Reseda, CA. One of these songs was released years ago on a compilation 7" ('No Control At The Country Club' which was released by Big Frank's label, Nemesis Records). Well, now you can hear the full 5 song set on one handy 7".

This was a rare occasion that I actually put a record on the record player, as I couldn't find any digital version of this online. I have to say, the sound quality is very good, and it very much does remind me of listening to old live compilations back in the early 90s. It's also cool because this record contains an extra song that was not on their 'Face The Nation' 7", 'Thinking Of You'.

Overall I think these two records are a nice tribute to Big Frank, and it was also nice to see how much the band seemed to enjoy playing again, and putting some new energy into an old project. It seems doubtful that they will play again, so I am glad to have been there to see it, and very happy to have these records as a momento of the show.