A Benefit For Big Frank

Last year I went to the Big Frank Harrison memorial show in Orange County. It was a great day for me that I will never forget, but it was also slightly sad to remember the reason that the show was happening in the first place.

Thinking aboutBig Frank and his label, Nemesis Records, and some of the bands he put out reminded me that there was a benefit record put together for Frank a few years ago, in 2018. I felt compelled to pick one up, even though the original point of it has elapsed. There were two different colours of vinyl pressed, but I got lucky and ended up with a test press.

This was put out by Not Like You Records in 2018 and features a bunch of bands selected by Big Frank himself. There are 12 songs / bands on here of varying styles and age. Some I have heard of (Integrity, Himsa, Terror, Nails, Done Dying), and others I haven't heard or have never been interested in (All Pigs Must Die, Electric Frankenstein, Pressure Point, Leviathan, Whiskey Rebels, Take Offense, Disfear). And whilst compilations seem slightly less pointless in the modern era than they used to be in the pre-internet world, this one seems more significant than most, especially with hindsight.

Half Off Is Alive

I've picked up a few releases from It's Alive Records the past few years. Most of the records that I have bought have been recent repressings of older releases, but most are done with so much care and attention that they're much nicer than the original pressings, being packed with extras like flyers, posters and stickers. And as often happens, once I pick up a couple, I start looking around at what else there is, and it then becomes a collection. So recently I was looking around trying to figure out what I was missing, and after picking up a couple more at the end of last year I think I'm getting close to having a full set.

This Half Off 7" was originally released in 1992. Or at least, the first pressing was. This green vinyl version is a second pressing, but I'm not sure how much later it came out after the original pressing.

This record is actually It's Alive Records number 1, and it's a slightly odd one. The A side contains cover songs (with Black Flag's 'Six Pack' and Wire's '12XU'), and the B side contains a couple of Half Off songs recorded live. So all in all, a kind of pointless record, although as is the case with all the records on this label, it sure looks nice.

One thing that's really cool about this 7" is that one of the inserts contains the pressing information for all of their releases. I have 4 colours of their 'Shoot Guns..' 7" and never knew the pressing info until now.

Unanimous Necrophones

It was about three and a half years ago that I started to pick up the Lungfish represses that Dischord started putting out. I'd never listened to the band before, but got sucked in by the cover art of one of the records, and then I got slightly addicted and ended up buying 4 colour vinyl represses of their LPs in 2022 ('Love Is Love', 'Rainbows From Atoms', 'Pass And Stow' and 'Sound In Time'). Then in 2023 I picked up 3 more ('A.C.R. 1999', 'Talking Songs For Walking' and 'Indivisable'). After that things seemed to slow down, with nothing appearing in 2024, and then last year a couple more followed ('Feral Hymns' and also the '10 East' 7").

Well, here we are at the start of 2026 and I've just got around to grabbing the latest two in the series. The first is 'Necrophones', which was released as Dischord 119 back in the year 2000. This is / was their 9th full length, and this white vinyl repress came out at some point last year but I only just got around to buying one.

I'm not sure whether this next one technically came out right at the very end of 2025, oo right at the very start of 2026, but it's definitely 'hot off the press'. This is a nice looking clear green vinyl repress of the 1999 LP 'Unanimous Hour'.

This now meanns that I have 10 Lungfish LPs, which seems insane. And the game still isn't over. By my calculation there are now only two more Lungfish LPs that have not been repressed... the 7th LP 'Artificial Horizon', and the the first LP 'Necklace Of Heads'. I'm going to guess that both will be repressed by the end of the year, so let's see what 2026 has in store...

Banging The Drum

Another day, another Dischord release...

Despite having been a fan of Scream for quite a few years, I never really felt overly interested in their third LP, 'Banging The Drum'. I'm not sure why this is the case. I think somehow I had tis idea that this was widely regarded as their worst LP, although not sure where I would have got this idea from. Also, I think that I previously thought that the cover art, which incorporates a different font for the band name, signalled a change in style, like a lot of hardcore bands went through in the late 80s as some kind of attempt to find wider commercial success. Whatever. The point is that I was never really bothered about this record, but my recent increased interest in Dischord stuff made me disregard all previous thoughts when I noticed a copy of this come up for sale in the UK recently.

What was immediately interesting was that, despite me partly rejecting this previously based on the front cover, a few years later and I look at it and think that it's fantastic. Ok, the band name doesn't look good in this font, but the artwork and the colour used for the band name looks great.

Musically, this (unsurprisingly) sits between 'This Side Up' and 'Fumble'. It's not really significantly different to either, and just marks in step in their evolution. So god only knows where I got my idea from that this record sucked. It's really good. Well, apart from the opening 57 second song 'Banging The Drum' which I find irritating and can't wait to finish. But yeah, this record is great and I am annoyed at myself for ignoring it for so long. Oh well, can't listen to everything I guess.

Nightmares Of The West

Strike Anywhere was a band that I didn't fully appreciate when I first heard them. I picked up their debut LP 'Change Is A Sound' direct from the label when it came out back in 2001. At that point in time, I was a loyal Jade Tree customer, so I just bought records by bands I had never heard of just because of the label they were on. Back then, the Strike Anywhere record didn't grab me too much. You know how it is. Sometimes a record lands in your life at the wrong time. But in recent years this is a band I have really starting to appreciate, so when I saw this copy of their 2020 LP 'Nightmares Of The West' on sale for $10 it was an easy decision to grab it.

When I pulled this record out of the sleeve, I was disappointed at how damn ugly it was. But the price was really good, so I still took it. Turns out that this is the second most limited of the many colours available. And it does kinda go with the artwork (well, until you hold it up to the light, when the black bits actually turn out to be yellow).

I've only got around to listening to this one this week, but it's undoubtedly a good record. I'm not quite sure where this ranks in their catalogue as I haven't got through it all yet. But this is definitely going to get some serious play in the coming weeks.

Pure Chewing Satisfaction

One of the first hardcore punk whatever bands that I got into when I was a 16 year old skateboarder was The Dead Kennedys. As a result I got into other related stuff, especially Lard, the collaboration between Jello Biafra and dudes from Ministry. I absolutely loved the first Lard LP back in 1991/92, but then shelved it a year or so later when straight edge hardcore entered my life.

A year or so ago I found out that there was a second Lard LP, 'Pure Chewing Satisfaction', released in 1997. Maybe I did know about it back when it came out and decided I wasn't interested I downloaded it and, all these years later, enjoyed it. But I was slightly surprised at how much vinyl copies were selling for. I wanted a copy, but not at the price I would have to pay. Fortunetely, and by chance, the record has just received the repress treatment...

This pink vinyl pressing is out of 1000 copies made for record stores. It's nice that they picked a colour that sits so nicely with the artwork.

Interestingly, I have not enjoyed this one as much as I loved their earlier records. But I'm not sure whether that's because this record isn't as good, or whether it's just that my tastes have changed a bit over the last 30 years or so. Or maybe its just that the first album is completely untouchable so nothing could stand up to it. Either way, it's kinda cool that I am back listening to Lard in 2026.

Fist Sized Chunks

I spent a lot of time in 2024 listening to a large number of early Sub Pop 7"s. It was an interesting journey, which got me checking out lots of bands I had never heard before. Some of them I knew that I would check out further in time, one of which was Skin Yard after I enjoyed their 'Start At The Top' 7".

I recently played that 7" again and then went straight to the internet to see whether I could find any more of their records for sale. I ended up picking their third LP from 1990, 'Fist Sized Chunks', for three reasons. Firstly, because it was on colour vinyl, secondly because it was relatively cheap, and thirdly because it was in the UK.

As I mentioned in my last post about this band, they had Jack Endino on guitar, who is somewhat of a legend in the Seattle grunge scene of the late 80s / early 90s, and who has spent most of his life recording & producing other records (including Nirvana's 'Bleach'). This record right here is a very typical grunge sounding record, and sounds a hell of a lot like Soundgarden. Really good stuff and I'm really keen to check out more of their catalogue at some point

Also, just in case you thought the band may be called 'Skinyard', they added this helpful insert:

Return Of The Frog Queen

I'm a fairly patient guy. Back in 2018 I saw that Sub Pop had repressed the first solo LP by Jeremy Enigk on a very pretty purple marble vinyl, and I wanted a copy. Well, time passed by and eventually, seven years later, and I finally ended up with one.

I stumbled onto this on eBay UK. It was a brand new, sealed copy which cost less than half of what most new records cost these days.

Like a lot of people, I was absolutely obsessed by Sunny Day Real Estate in 1994/95, so when their vocalist came out with a solo LP in 1996, I was pretty excited by it. I have vague memories of regularly listening to it late at night, and every time feeling like I had been on an emotional journey. It's a beautiful record, and even though I do try my best (!) to not pick up additional copies of records that I already have, I could not resist this one. Interestingly, the original catalogue number for this one was SP323, but this remastered purple version is SP1208, so I could argue that this is technically a different record, which of course makes it all ok.

Beefeater

Lately I've been getting more interested in earlier Dischord stuff that I haven't really given much of a chance to before, and the next step in my journey is Beefeater, a band active from 1984 to 1986. I once listened to one of their records around the turn of the century, and back then my thoughts were simply 'what the hell is this?'. The band's description on discogs refers to them as a 'punk/post-hardcore band whose music included elements of funk & jazz', which is not a mix usually associated with records that are considered good. And that was firmly my view in the early 2000s. But recently I gave them a chance and I was blown away at how good they are. Next step was to look to see if their records were available to buy for a reasonable price, and the answer was a big 'yes'... so I grabbed two of them.

The debut LP 'Plays For Lovers' was released in 1985 as Dischord 17. I don't really understand the picture on the front cover, but as I am starting to realise, this is a band that basically just did whatever they wanted without worrying what people might think.

The second LP, 'House Burning Down' was released in 1987 as Dichord 23. When you drop the needle, the first thing you hear is some chap talking.

Hi, this is Ian Mackaye of Dischord Records. I'd just like to thank you for choosing this hardcore product.

Then it launches straight into some hardcore funk fusion type song, which on paper sounds terrible, but is actually really good.

I don't usually listen to two records by one band at the same time, but for some reason at the moment I'm finding this band really addictive. I listen to one, it ends, so I put the other one on. Another great example of my tastes changing over time to the point where I almost feel annoyed at myself for dismissing this so quickly 20+ years ago. But hey, at least I'm learning.

Slip Promo

I came across this Quicksand promo 12" recently on discogs. I can't remember why I was looking at this, as I have owned one for probably 30 years or so. But one of the copies for sale caught my eye as it said that it came with a press sheet. Mine didn't have one, so I figured I'd buy this one as it was pretty cheap.

This is a 4 song 12" which served as a promo for 'Slip' back in 1993. This was back in the days when the only way to circulate music was to send physical copies around, although I'm not sure where they would have been sent... radio stations? Record shops? Given it was 1993, and CDs were in full swing, I'm slightly confused as to why they pressed vinyl promos. But anyway, when this arrived it did indeed have the press sheet included.

I took a photo of the sheet so you can click on it and read it:

Witht he gift of hindsight, this seems pretty sloppy to me. Some of it is factually incorrect, but generally it's just interesting to read this for the first time all these years later.

Judged & Jugded

I came across this Burn 7" in a record store in Texas. It looked different to the other copies I have, being on a slightly dark clear red vinyl with a bit of white streaking in it. The same shop also had a copy of the opaque red vinyl in stock, so I was able to compare the two side by side. Given that this one looked different, I decided to buy it.

I initially assumed it was a variant of the opaque red vinyl pressing from 2021. But given that the store sold both new and used records, and the 7" section was a mix of the two, it could also possibly be a variant of the clear red vinyl pressing from 2015. I figured that I would never know. But then I noticed a detail that gave the game away. The clear red copy has the spelling mistake on the label ('Jugded'), whereas the opaque copy has corrected this error. Given that the label on this copy has the correct spelling ('Judged'), this is therefore a variant of the 2021 opaque red vinyl pressing.

The photo shows the 2015 clear red on the left, the 2021 opaque red on the right, and this quirky variant in the middle.

I appreciate that a lot of people will think this stupid, but I love stuff like this.