Anger Battery Tests

Just over a week ago I got home from work and pretty much straight away received a facebook message from James of Times Together letting me know that Anger Battery Records had put some test pressings up for sale in their online store. Fortunately I was at home with a good connection, and I had some money in my paypal account, so I clicked through and made a couple of purchases right away.

The first item was a test press of the second Times Together 7". This has a fantastic cover which is a rip of the Uniform Choice 'Region Of Ice' 7". If I had a copy of that 7" I'd pull it out and take a photo of the two side by side, but unfortunately I don't. Anyway, as you can see, this is number 6 of 12.

So as usual, when I found myself in the online store I had a look around to see what else was on offer. I bought a couple of Iron Curtain 7" tests, but a little later I got a refund because one of them had somehow already sold out, even though I'd added it to my cart, checked out & paid. Ah well. Still, that was only one of them. The other one I did get. This is a test for the second 7", 'Year Of The Wolf'. There were actually two tests of this one for sale - one on black vinyl, and one on yellow vinyl. I got the yellow one, which is number 2 out of 6 copies.

It's not too often you see colour vinyl tests, but this one looks really good. A nice bright yellow. Love it.

Violent Reaction

As usual, I'm slightly behind with new releases. But on this occasion, it was due to this record being in high demand and sold out that meant I couldn't seem to get my hands on one. This is the debut 7" by a UK 'band' called Violent Reaction. This used to be a one man project, but I believe there's now a band put together so they can play live.

There was a lot of hype around this band in the past few months. I'd say that this band and record was like the UK version of The Boston Strangler. Mark went to the record release show back in August and reported that the 7"s were all sold out before the first band had played. I tried to get one but failed. I also read with interest that Sean ranked this as his stand out favourite release of 2012. Just like the Boston Strangler LP, it seemed everyone was invited to the party but me.

In typical style, I've finally got my ticket six months after everyone else. I think this version with the brown paper cover and regular white paper dust sleeve is a second press. There are no colour vinyl copies though, and I'm not overly fussed on what colour paper I have. So this is ok for me. Getting any copy at all feels like an achievement.

I've had the mp3s for a while so am familiar with the songs. This is straight edge hardcore, but not your typical youthcrew type sound. More of a raw X-Claim style sound, but with catchy parts. I don't know. Maybe it's just the hype thing, but this very much reminds me of the Boston Strangler LP. Hardcore punk at it's finest. If you haven't heard this yet, then sort yourself out. Trust me.

I actually managed to miss this band play live back in September. They toured with No Tolerance and Give. I went to the London show and somehow got the running order wrong. There were about 6 bands playing, and I was convinced that some band or other were playing second, so sat upstairs chatting. I then went downstairs to watch Violent Reaction only to find I'd just missed them. Gutted. I guess they must have impressed someone though as their LP is scheduled to be released this year by the mighty Painkiller Records. I'll make sure I don't miss that one for sure.

Descendents 'Merican 7"

It's been quite a while since I picked up any Descendents vinyl. There are only two colour LPs that I need now but unfortunately they seem pretty hard to find. On the positive side though, there are a few 7"s out there, none of which I have.

Or rather, I didn't have any. Now I have two. Here are two versions of the 'Merican 7" on Fat Wreck. This was originally released in 2004, which was before I was even a Descendents fan. The first colour vinyl pressing of this was on red vinyl, which I think was pressed back when this was first released in 2004. The copies I have just picked up, however, are (I think) re-pressings done a couple of years ago. They're more limited than the first press on red though just to keep things interesting.

The first copy is on clear dark blue vinyl. Blue is out of 218 copies.

Mine has a big dirty black smear in it.

The second copy is out of 233 on white vinyl.

Just to make it annoying, some of the blue vinyl copies are on a different colour, being a solid baby blue vinyl. I actually have no idea if this is some kind of transition colour (between blue and white) or a separate pressing. But they're definitely harder to find. Plus there are nearly as many first press red copies as there are blue and white copies put together, yet somehow the red seems to come up less often. But whatever the pressing info, I'm sure that the pesky Fat Wreck collectors aren't going to make this collection an easy for me to complete.

Supersoul 1999 Comp Test

It seems that all I buy these days are test pressings. Sometimes I wonder if it would actually be possible to acquire a test press for every single record that I own. Given that I own the entire Revelation catalogue, probably not. Still, it's always a buzz picking up a test press, and this one here is no exception. This is a test press for a compilation called 'The Rebirth Of Hardcore 1999', released by Supersoul Records, a label that was owned by Ray Cappo. I guess this was his last attempt at staying in touch with modern bands. Anyway, I picked this up a couple of weeks ago. This is one of those tests that I was surprised to win for such a low bid. Was nobody else watching or did nobody else care? I like to think the former, as this finished on $16. What a steal.

I haven't listened to this in a long time, but it holds up well. It has some great bands, such as Ten Yard Fight, In My Eyes, Better Than A Thousand, Battery, Atari, Rain On The Parade, Fastbreak, Saves The Day, Shelter, and more. Oh, and it also has Good Clean Fun on it for some reason. Nevermind. The sleeve is a big fold out poster, and this one has seen better days. It's pretty tatty. But then again, for $16 I can't complain.

It's cool that the label is numbered. This is number 6 of 8... although the 8 looks like it is written over a 7. Looks like they numbered them out of 7 and then realised that there was one still sat on the turntable and actually there were 8, so they had to go back and modify the numbering. Dipshittery at it's finest.

Also funny that someone couldn't spell 'compilation'. How on earth did they not spot that given there were only four words on that sticker? So all in all, a good record but one hell of a sloppy label.

Youngblood Test Covers

Today's post is not about records. It's about covers, sleeves or jackets (depending on which word you like to use). Back in November 2012 I picked up some Youngblood tests, none of which came in sleeves. But now, three months later, Sean sent me the sleeves. And as you would expect, they're all top quality.

First up I'm posting my favourite. The No Tolerance 7". This one has a foldover card sleeve which has the same artwork as the regular version of the record, except for the fact that this one is printed in gold ink. Also, the inner paper sleeve is red paper and has 'Youngblood Records test press' stamped on it. As you can see, it looks great.

The next one is a sleeve for the Give 'Flowerhead' 7". This one comes printed on thin orange paper. It looks cool, and is a great twist on the Youngblood logo, although I am slightly concerned that it's just photocopied and therefore at risk of damage over time. On the positive side though, unlike the No Tolerance, this one is numbered, which is always a nice touch.

And finally, the Police And Thieves 'Fracturing' 12" cover, which is made from a nice thick card. This one is pretty much identical to the release show sleeve, but printed on green rather than white card.

At some point I hope to get a cover for the Face Reality test too. Tests with covers are so much nicer than those without.

No Tolerance BSE Gold 39/88

Sometimes seeing is believing. That was definitely the case for me with No Tolerance. I'd had the demo on my ipod for a while and played it a lot, but when I got he Youngblood 7" I really started to pay attention. And then I saw them play live and pretty much decided they were the best band in the world. So it was pretty important that I get the demo 7" on gold... which I finally received this week. This obviously gives a nod to the Floorpunch 7", being on gold vinyl numbered out of 88 copies.

Overall I would say that the Youngblood 7" is the better record, but this is clearly the one everyone wants (well, aside from tests of course). Since this is the first copy of this that I own, now I need a black copy. Anyone wanna help me out?

'New York City Hardcore - The Way It Is' GREEN TEST

I've not been able to post much lately. I did this grown up thing and bought a new kitchen, and over the past week I've been living in a building site, with half of my posessions crammed into one room. Taking photos of records was just not possible.

So, now the kitchen is done, I'm back on the scene, and to start February off with a bang, here's one of my most recent pick ups, which instantly becomes THE most important record in my collection. This is a green vinyl test press of Revelation's classic 'New York City Hardcore - The Way It Is' compilation LP.

For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a test press for the second pressing of this LP. Here's the pressing info as listed on the Revelation discography:

Test press : 8 black vinyl

1st press+: black vinyl, Blue/green split labels, large lyric booklet, and trade list flyer.

Test press : 10 green vinyl. Most of these had real labels put on them and slipped into mail-order for a few lucky kids.

I've had two brushes with this thing in the past. The first time was back in 2002. A friend from the States was on tour with Bane in the UK and he told me he was looking to sell his copy of this. He wanted $400 back then. I remember really badly wanting the record, but $400 back then was like fifty grand today, or so it seemed. Bear in mind, I had bought a Supertouch LP test press back then for $50, which seemed like a lot of money, so stepping up to $400 was a whole new level, and one that I was not ready for. So I passed.

The second time was about two and a half years ago. Dave Mandel was selling his copy. I emailed an offer but was told that someone else had offered more. So I upped my offer, only to be told that the other person upped theirs too. So I threw in the towel. I was beaten. However, all good things come to those who wait, and it turns out that this copy I've just picked up is the same one that Dave Mandel sold.

To say that this is my holy grail would be a slight under statement. I figured I would never own this, but after recently arranging to buy a new kitchen, I was already prepared to see my savings drain from my bank account. So when I saw someone offering one of these for sale on the message boards, I figured that waving goodbye to even more of my savings wouldn't really matter too much. Plus I decided that I was sick of seeing someone else buy these whenever they (rarely) came up for sale, with me left thinking that I couldn't afford one and would never own one. So I paid up. More money than I have ever paid for a record by a long, long way. But I still think that I got a pretty good deal when a few days later I saw a Floorpunch on gold go for over $1,500 on eBay.

Anyway, enough talk. Here are some more pics. the green vinyl looks kinda solid in the above pics, but it's kinda see through, especially when held up to the light. See for yourself...

So there we are. The most important and most expensive record I own. Yet, funnily enough, I have to admit that I'm actually more stoked on my new kitchen. Who'd have thought eh?

Antidote 'No Peace In Our Time' LP

When I heard that there was a full length coming out from Antidote, like most people I was extremely sceptical. I mean, can anyone think of any band that has split up, reformed years later and made new music which has not sucked? Yeah, me neither. It just doesn't happen. But still, I was curious. I mean, the Antidote 7" is one of the all time greats. If there was a 1% chance of a new record being even half as good as the 7", then it was going to be worth investigating. So I downloaded it to check it out and I found myself quite enjoying it. I mean, it doesn't touch the 7", but you know what? It's not half bad. I found myself getting kinda addicted to the first song, with it's catchy 'shut up!' chorus, which would then lead on to me listening to the rest of the record. So I then figured I wanted to buy a vinyl copy. And then before I got around to visiting the Bridge Nine store, I stumbled onto a test press on eBay being sold by Drew Stone himself. I'm such a dipshit that I couldn't resist bidding on it. And wouldn't you know it, I won.

As tests go, this one is fairly interesting. This comes in a plain LP sleeve, but the sleeve has a 12" x 12" target glued to the front. And not only is the front a target, but the target was actually used at a shooting range. It was shot three times with an AK47.

I got number 7 of 20 copies. The labels are stamped, as is usual with B9 tests these days.

The back of the cover is signed by all members of the band. The back also has bullet exit holes.

There's also a photo included which shows the sleeve/target hanging at the shooting range. A pretty cool little extra I think.

I haven't read or heard anyone else's opinion on this record. Anyone else given this a chance? If so, let me know your thoughts. I'm genuinely interested.

America's Hardcore Volume 2

Did someone say Bane? Did someone say Supertouch? Well count me in! This is the new compilation from Triple B Records 'America's Hardcore Volume 2'. I didn't even per-order this or really know about it until someone offered me this little set of four records. But needless to say I bit their arm off (not literally).

There are three colours of this thing. The most limited is purple out of 333. I think this was supposed to be red, white and blue swirl. But I guess when you put red, white and blue into a record making machine this is what comes out. Purple.

There are 16 bands on here. Mainly current or new bands, most of which I have never listened to. Clearly I need to do some catching up though as most bands on here are great. Red vinyl is out of 765.

The third colour is clear blue, which is 'limited' to a huge 1,015 copies. In my mind this is the best looking colour of the lot. This photo also shows the glossy booklet that accompanies the record. Just like comps of old, each band gets a page.

I also picked up a test press. The picture also shows the front of the glossy booklet, although the test just comes in a plain white paper sleeve. There are quite a few of these. 35 in total. No doubt the high number made is so the band members could get copies, but with 16 bands on the record, you know there's no way each person playing on the comp got one.

And to finish, the obligatory 'collection' shot, aka the money shot:

The funniest thing though was that on first play, one song jumped out and I was like 'wow, who's this?'. It was Ringworm. I hadn't even noticed that Ringworm was on this thing. Is it me or do they seem out of place?

There are some really good songs on here and I just know this is going to be a gateway to buying more records for me. But I probably need to haul myself into the 21st century a bit more. Notable mention goes to the Boston Mayhem song (which is some modern day hardcore supergroup) which I thought was awful at first, but which is now pretty much my favourite. Weird how that happens sometimes isn't it?

More Than I've Got

There's something I always liked about the Right Brigade / A Poor Excuse 7", and I always kinda wanted to collect all the different versions. I just never got around to it. I did buy two versions from some dick on eBay last year, but he never sent them and then seemed to vanish from eBay. Seemed a bit weird as he had thousands of positive feedback. Maybe he died? Who knows?

Well I recently spotted this yellow vinyl copy and added it to my collection. I only ever bought one copy of this record when it came out and never really knew which colours were rarer than others, but the Bridge Nine discography tells me that this is the rarest colour and there are only 152 of these.

Perhaps now that this doesn't seem to sell for much I can add the other versions to my white cardboard box. Hmmm. We shall see...

This Is A Cave In

Back in September last year, Hydrahead Records announced that it was going to close down. For a lot of people, me included, it was a shock and a bit of a sad moment. I somehow latched onto the label in it's very early days and I bought everything they released religiously. Well, up to about 2005 or so, and then I lost interest. A lot of the stuff they released these last few years just wasn't grabbing my attention. Plus, with the label growing in popularity, it was impossible to get any of the records. They would sell out at insane speeds. So I lost touch and kinda gave up. But I was still very sad to hear that they felt there was no option but to close their doors and shut up shop.

Well, this announcement seemed to generate a lot of sympathy, love and support from people wanting to help. And given that the label's problems seem to be mainly financial, this meant people buying shit. To help, the label put lots of stuff up for sale. The highlight was a lot containing a test press of every record they had released, which was up for $3,333. I did some quick maths and thought that this was a good deal, so decided to buy it, only to then realise that someone else had already bought it. Ah well. So instead I bought two Cave In tests.

The first is a test for the 'Anomolies Volume One' 12". This comes in a plain white sleeve and is numbered out of 30 copies.

The second is the 'Planets Of Old' 12" that came out about three years ago. This one comes in a sleeve with a robot on the front. Hydrahead must have made up loads of these sleeves and used them for every test press over a four year period or so.

I like how the back cover shows some Hydrahead hippy stuffing test pressings into the robot sleeve. Funny.

OK, so these are pretty low down the chart of cool Cave In 12"s, but I guess that's why they were available. I did stumble across some ebay auctions for Cave In LPs last week, including 'Jupiter'. I emailed the seller to see if we could work out a deal for the lot. By the time I had sent my message, someone else had bought them all. They must have spent about $1500 in one go. Damn.

Give Me Seven Inches

Seems we're all collecting Give records these days. Mike, Doug and I are now potentially all chasing the same stuff. At some point, I'm sure it's gonna get messy. For now though, things seem to be ok. We've each got pretty good collections and are each missing different items.

Just like Mike, I now have 19 pieces of Give vinyl in my collection, although a different 19. The 19th is the limited cover version of the 'I Am Love' 7" on Triple B records.

This now completes my mini-collection of the three 2012 released 7"s with limited covers, each featuring a 'part time' member of the band. This one features Austin Stemper. I think that these 'part time' dudes just fill in for shows or tours when the other members are unable to play out. A pretty cool set up if you ask me.