Rocky Votolato Tests

I used to be a big big fan of Rocky Votolato. For those of you unaware, Rocky is a dude from Seattle who used to be in a band called Waxwing. He was also an 'actor' (in the loosest possible sense of the word) in the film 'The Edge Of Quarrel' (I've never actually seen this film, by the way). Anyway, after Waxwing disbanded, Rocky started writing and performing songs solo. And back at the turn of the century, I was WAY into this dude. I remember getting a text one day back in 2003 or so from a friend whilst I was studying in the library, telling me that Rocky was playing that night in Sheffield. I packed my shit into my bag and left the library immediately, and headed off to pick up my friend as suddenly driving to Sheffield was the only thing that mattered. And at that point in life I probably would have driven to the North Pole if I'd heard he was playing there too. Such was my love of what this dude was doing at that point in time.

Well, these days I'm less excited by this style of music. But when I got chance to buy a bunch of Rocky test pressings from Second Nature Records, I took it. I managed to get a test of almost all of the albums. Each comes in the same style 'sleeve', which is basically a folded piece of card. So here goes...

01. The first, self-titled LP. This was released in 1999, although back then it was CD only. The vinyl followed a few years later. I'm not sure when exactly, but I would guess at least 2005.

02. The second LP, 'Burning My Travels Clean'. This one came out in 2001.

03. The third LP, 'Suicide Medicine'. This one was originally released by a German label called Hometown Caravan in 2005, and was then re-pressed by Second Nature a few years later. This is a test of the Second Nature version.

04. The fifth LP, 'The Brag And Cuss', released by Second Nature in 2007 (as you may have realised, I didn't manage to get a test of the fourth LP).

05. The sixth LP, 'True Devotion'. This came out on Second Nature in 2010. I don't own a regular version of this LP.

06. The seventh LP, 'Television Of Saints'. I also don't own a regular version of this one either.

07. And finally, a test of a 7" called 'Ends Like This', which came out in 2007. I don't own a regular version of this one either.

The sad thing about all of these tests is the condition. They were sent to me in PVC sleeves, without the records being stored in paper dust sleeves. The records themselves had become stuck to the PVC sleeves, which meant that when I took the records out, they look completely fucked. The artwork on the card strip things had also stuck to the PVC, and some got torn or ripped as a result. It just goes to show how bad a choice PVC is for storing your records. Here's a picture of one of the records that shows what I mean. The weird patchy surface is just how it looks, it is not a trick of the light.

Awful isn't it? And each one of them is like this. Ugh.

Grapefruit

I've said it before, but I've always been a fan of Saves The Day, since their first LP came out back in the late 90s. Sure, they have changed their sound a bit over the years, but no matter whether the dude sings through his mouth or his nose, the songs have always been super catchy. So when I was in the Equal Vision store buying copies of the Bane LP, I noticed that there was a new(ish) Saves The Day LP for sale and figured I'd grab it. This is the band's 8th LP, and is self-titled... although also seems to get referred to as 'the grapefruit album'. Not sure why.

When I grabbed the LP there was some kind of deal to add a 7" as well. I don't remember what the deal was, but it seemed to make sense at the time. And I thought that the 7" and LP kinda looked cool together.

Having said that I have always been a fan of Saves The Day, I have really struggled with this new sound. The last records were a little more downbeat, but with this one they have developed a sickly sweet sound with the most ridiculously nasally vocals I have ever heard. I'm going to need convincing to buy another one after this, that's for sure.

Nothing But A Nightmare

Another day and another new Rev release... although technically this one isn't a new release. This Soul Search 'Nothing But A Nightmare' 7" was originally released by Back To Back Records in 2013. And for some reason, Rev decided to reissue it at the end of last year.

There were two colours of this one pressed, and both are differing shades of grey. How dull. We have a light grey, our of 550 copies:

And a dark grey, out of 1100 copies.

And here's the two together.

I'm actually really into this. I had never been interested in Soul Search previously, but obviously decided to check them out as a result of the Rev connection. And what do you know, it's good stuff. Of their three 7" releases, it seems to me that each one is better than the last. And given that this is the third, it's the best of the three.

Now, anyone out there got any Soul Search 7"s they wanna sell? These are the only two I have, but I'd be into trying to amass the rest if anyone is interested in letting theirs go. Email me.

UKHC Represses

When I picked up the Rival Mob 12" from Quality Control HQ, I looked around the store to find a few 7"s that I thought were worthy of my time and money.

First up was the Arms Race 7". I picked up a black vinyl UK pressing of this one back in January as the blue vinyl was sold out. But this was the repressed by the mighty Painkiller Records for fools in the States, and it comes in two different formats. The first 150 copies come on red vinyl, and in a matching red sleeve.

And the regular version is black vinyl, but in a green sleeve:

There were also a couple of Violent Reaction represses available, both on red vinyl. The first 7", out of 250 copies:

And also the 'Dead End EP', out of a significantly higher 400 copies:

I don't even feel like I have many Violent Reaction records, yet I saw someone's collection photo on instagram and I had most of 'em.

Off To Bed

Only a couple of months ago I posted up three more copies of Bane's 'Don't Wait Up' LP, and mentioned at the end that I had just seen a green one on instagram. So of course I had to buy it. When you're this deep into something, you just have to see it through to the end.

This marks 13 copies of this LP that I have invested in. Thirfuckingteen! Now I know what it must feel like to collect Converge or Have Heart LPs.

No Forgivance

A few years ago I traded away my Statement 7". I think it was on grey vinyl, although It may have been red. To be honest I struggle to remember now. But it always sat in the back of my mind that I needed to replace it at some point. Finally I have gotten around to it, although this copy is on blue vinyl.

I was struggling to remember when I traded my previous copy away. But then I thought that maybe I don't need to remember. Maybe my blog will tell me... and it did! I traded it away in August 2008 for an Engine Kid test press. Has it really been 7 years? Jesus...

Give Stuff

It seems to me that a few people have given up collecting Give records. And who can blame them? It seems there are more every other week, to the point where it's starting to get annoying. Well, unless you're me of course, in which case it's still a bit of good fun.

The first record of this post is the Revelation released 'Sonic Bloom' 12". Despite still really enjoying Give, this feels like the most pointless of all their releases. It has five songs, of which two were on the 'Electric Flower Circus' LP, which came out first. So really this is a 12" for three songs. Or in my case, three 12"s for three songs... which doesn't seem to represent good value for money.

I also managed to find a yellow vinyl copy of the 'Live' 7", which I missed at pre-order stage because people actually cared about Give records back then.

And finally, it's the second press of the Euro pressing of the 'Electric Flower Circus' LP on purple vinyl. I think this marks the fourth copy of this LP that I have bought, and there are another couple on the way.

If anyone is interested, I have a couple of spare Give records. I have the above purple copy of the LP, a first press Euro pressing copy on green, and also a red vinyl copy of the live 7". Get at me if you want any of these things.

Hardcore For Hardcore

When Six Feet Under Records released The Rival Mob's 'Hardcore For Hardcore' 7" back in 2010, I missed out. Or maybe I just didn't fancy it. I don't remember exactly. But I don't own a single copy of the SFU release, and there are something like 8 or 9 versions. It's a total disaster.

So I guess it was for people like me that Quality Control HQ decided to repress this thing in 2015. I was sat there, minding my own business on a Saturday afternoon, when Mark sent me a message to let me know that this thing was available for pre-order. Roughly 5 minutes later I had placed an order. I knew there was no time to waste and it would go fast. I was right. The 100 purple vinyl copies disappeared in a flash.

You may have noticed that this 7" is now actually a 12". It also features two extra songs, one of which is a Crippled Youth cover.

So a couple of weeks after this arrived I went to a record fair in London somewhere, and the label that released it had a stall. There were a couple of the release show copies of this thing for sale, so I bagged one. It's on the same purple vinyl, but comes in a special sleeve which is pretty much an inverse Straight Ahead 12". There were 200 copies in total on purple vinyl, of which 100 came in this special sleeve and the other 100 came in the regular sleeve.

Even though this thing is on a quite dark, solid purple vinyl, it looks a lot more interesting when held to the light. It then becomes a kind of pink with black swirl type thing.

Overall this is a pretty cool release for a UK based label to have put out, and I feel pretty lucky to have got hold of both copies.

InteRgrity Stuff

No matter how many Integrity records I pick up, there are always more that I miss and more that get pressed and repressed. It's an endless quest in itself just trying to keep up with everything that this band puts out on vinyl. Here are a few bits that I picked up in the last couple of months...

Here's my third copy of the split with Mayday.

Continuing the white vinyl theme, here's the Indie Recordings pressing of the 'Black Heksen Rise' 7". This white vinyl copy was out of 200 copies.

Next are the A389 Records second press copies of the 'Seasons Of The VVitch' 7" - one each on turquoise, purple and red vinyl.

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And here's one that I missed on colour completely when it came out - the 'Kingdom Of Heaven' 7". This one is the band exclusive pressing on 'purple' (which looks a lot more like dark red to me) vinyl.

And finally, a test press of last year's Record Store Day split 7" with Vegas, 'Love Me, I'm Bedazzled'.

Notice how the pressing plant have inserted an extra letter 'R' into the band name.

Despite picking these up there are still LOADS of Integrity records I do not own. This is one chase that will literally never end, mark my words.