New Age Catch Up

Another set of records that I picked up earlier in the year but never got around to putting up here. Today's post features a bunch of 7"s from New Age Records that I think I picked up in about April. At the time I'd pretty much given up on New Age, as I had missed out on a few of the limited 77 pressings, and it just felt as if I was so far behind that it would be impossible to catch up. But then the label posted that they had put a few extra 77 pressings up in their webstore, so I grabbed them and checked out fast.

The first 7" I was really stoked on, as I had heard great things about it and been listening to it for a couple of months. The Debut release from Restraining Order. I remember seeing a stack of these on a shelf at RevHQ when I visited last year, but the limited pressing was long sold out. So it was cool to grab one for 'new release' price.

I also grabbed a purple vinyl copy too. Purple was the more common color from the first press, but it looks great I think.

Next up, the 77 pressing for the debut 7" by The Dividing Line, 'Turn My Back On The World'.

The Dividing Line are a straight edge band from somewhere in New Jersey, and they vaguely remind me of Floorpunch, as both bands have a larger gentleman on vocal duty. They also apparently play weddings.

I've been really enjoying this 7" lately, and I hope the band release more music in the new year.

Next up, the Drug Control 'Clean Slate' 7". I picked up the 77 pressing, and also the red vinyl copy. Not sure why I picked up two of these but only one Dividing Line 7", but hey.

I liked this record way more than their first 7".

Once I had picked up the above three 77 pressings, I figured I was back in the New Age game and also picked up two other releases that I had completely missed out on. First up, the Cutting Through 'Empathy' 7" on gold vinyl / 200.

I had really enjoyed the previous 12" that New Age put out, although I wasn't as into this 7". Not sure why. It just didn't seem to stand out for any reason.

And finally, the Decline 'Own Your Words' 7" on gold /300.

This one really rips, and if I had actually picked it up when it came out then I'm sure it would have made my best of the year list.

Overall it's good to see a label that was huge when I was first getting into this stuff still going, and signing up some great young straight edge bands. Far better than relying on the releases from the past. And since this post New Age have put out some more cool records too, which I hope to get my hands on and feature next year at some point.

More Rev Tests

So now that the year is almost over, I'm racing to wrap up posting some stuff that I have procrastinated over posting, mainly due to difficulties in getting good photos.

Today's post features three more test pressings that I picked up back in about September. These records don't have much in common other than that they were released by Revelation Records. I'll put them up in the order that they released...

Rev 82. By A Thread 'The Last Of The Daydreams' LP. This was released in 1999. The band was from Vancouver and featured a couple of members of the mighty Strain. I could probably say this about a lot of Rev releases, but this one is so damn under rated that it's crazy.

Rev 101. Right Brigade LP. This came out in 2001. A lot of people think this LP is garbage compared to the band's 7", but I like it. It came out at a time when I needed a vicious record like this, and I've always had a soft spot for it.

Rev 149. The Rival Mob 'Mob Justice' LP. Somehow it has been nearly 7 years since this came out, in 2013. I actually picked this as my release of the year for 2013, and it would definitely make it into the 'best of the decade' list too if I were to make one.

US Trip, December 2019, Part 4 - 27

Back in 2007 when I was trying my best to start a record label, I managed to get the band 27 to let me put their latest full length onto vinyl. There was no other plan to press it, and I wanted a vinyl copy enough to get it made myself. So I put the album out, and I was reasonably happy with how it went. Despite never actually breaking up, the band haven't been too active over the last 12 years, and I pretty much lost touch with them over the years, to the point that the last time I went to Boston in 2018 I had completely forgotten that they were based there else I would have made an attempt to drop by and catch up.

Anyway, on the last day in Miami, and the day before we were due to fly back to Boston, 27 posted on instagram that they had a few records left for sale. I checked out what they had and there was a couple of 7"s that I was missing. So I shot them a message and asked if I could pick them up the next day in Boston. They said it was ok, and we agreed that I would drop by the shop that they run in Cambridge.

Well, I missed our meeting time due to accidentally leaving my bag on a bus at the airport, so by the time we got to the shop there was a little under an hour left, which is not a lot of time to catch up on 12 years. But still, we had a good chat, got shown around the business, saw the space where the band practice and record, and I picked up a couple of records. All in all it was great to catch up with Ayal and I was sad that time ran out and we had to leave.

So I picked up two 7"s. The first is a 3 way split 7" featuring 27, a grindcore band called Total Fucking Destruction, and a band called Gardenbox from Greece. I'm not sure how this record came to be as the musical styles are very varied, but I was mainly in it for the 27 song. The packaging on this thing is pretty sick.

In total there are 333 copies of this record, all on white vinyl. But the first copy I got has blue labels, of which there are very few copies. I'm not sure of the exact number, but around 10 or 12 I think.

The majority of the copies have silver labels to match the sleeve, and I got one of those too.

The second (or rather third) 7" I picked up is a 2 song affair that was released in early 2018. I actually picked up 3 copies at the time, but due to logistics I still don't have them in my possession yet. Hopefully I'll get them in 2020!

This 7" is the first record that features the newest, 4th member of the band, Adam McGrath (of Cave In fame). There are a few different versions of this 7", and this copy is one of the 60 Frosted Clear w/ Dark Blue Splatter.

This was the end of the haul from my latest US trip. Now I need to finish up a couple of other posts before the year ends...

US Trip, December 2019, Part 3 - Test Press Pickup

Just before I was due to head out to the States, I managed to complete negotiation on a bunch of test pressings with the owner of a couple of old 90s labels (Conversion Records and Network Sound Records). I had heard that the owner of the labels, Dennis, was looking to sell some records, so I got in touch on the off chance that he may have some test pressings left over. Turns out he did, and a long negotiation process ensued, and in the end a deal was agreed just before my trip. So I thought it would be good to see if I could potentially get the records shipped across the country so that I could pick them up whilst on my vacation. Timing was quite tight, but good fortune was on my side and the records reached me in great shape, thanks to a little help from a couple of friends.

So here's a photo that shows exactly what I received... 10 test pressings from the 90s, all of which came in plain white paper sleeves.

But rather than wrap up this post in one photo, I thought I would make it a little more interesting by digging out the regular copies of the records from my collection so that I could take a pic of the test press next to the 'proper' sleeves. So, in alphabetical order...

1. Ashes 'Hiding Place' 12" on Network Sound. Pretty much THE best ever band to utilise the female vocals. I've always been a huge fan of this band and this record.

2. Battery 'Until The End' LP on Conversion. Quite possibly Battery's best record, I remember being confused and disappointed when this was released that there was no limited colour vinyl option. So having this test is the next best thing.

3. Die Hard 'Looking Out For #1' LP on Conversion. This was probably one of the first 50 LPs in my collection. I had already heard Integrity and somewhere, somehow I heard that this band sounded similar... which is probably unsurprising as this band contains half of the original Integ lineup.

4. Gameface 'Beach Chair' 7" on Network Sound. I've always loved Gameface and recently managed to acquire a few of their tests, so I was stoked to add another one to the collection. Never thought I'd find this one for sure.

5. Gameface 'Good' LP on Network Sound. Same comment as above. Although I do have to add that I made a post two months ago about the test press for the reissue of this record that I picked up, and I said in that post 'I figure I have pretty much zero chance of ever getting a test press of the original first pressing of this LP'. It's funny how things work out sometimes I guess.

6. Ignite 'Call On My Brothers' LP on Conversion. My god this got some play back in 1996. I practically lived this record for a few months back then. Definitely one of the best CA hardcore records ever in my opinion.

7. Man Will Surrender 'Instrument' 12" on Conversion. I originally picked this record up in a physical store in London when it came out. I had no idea what it was, but it came out at a time when I was just getting into this stuff, and I recognised the label name from a couple of other records I had, and I took a chance on it and never looked back. I don't think many other people did the same, as I have barely ever met or talked with anyone over the years who seems to be into this band. They played 'post hardcore' and featured one of the guitarists from Chain of Strength. I just might be their number one fan at this point.

8. Man Will Surrender 'Castrato' 7" on Conversion. Same comment as above. This 7" featured a song that ended up on their full length which, disappointingly, came out on CD only. I still live in hope that it may one day make it to vinyl, although it seems improbable as it would most likely only sell one copy.

9. March 'Turn' LP on Network Sound. This is probably the least known of all the records in this post. March was a band that featured Jeff from Gameface on vocals and Dennis from Outspoken (and owner of Conversion & Network Sound) on drums.

10. Outspoken 'Survival' 7" on Conversion. This one is on red vinyl and for YEARS I wasn't actually sure if this existed of not. I'd say that this is the jewel of the lot, although it's a tough call with so many great records in one batch. But damn, this is an amazing record and such a great item to own.

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot... I also picked up a grey vinyl Face Value 'Coming Of Age' 7". There were, I believe, only 100 of these and it is HARD to find. I picked one up about three years ago but sadly it was in a box that went missing in the post. So it's good to finally tick this one off the list.

Overall, not a bad bunch of records. A good end to the year.

US Trip, December 2019, Part 2 - Armageddon Shop

On the evening of the second day in Boston, we made a trek up to Harvard Square to visit the Armageddon Shop. Last time I was there in Summer 2018 it had yielded a couple of nice finds, although I barely scraped the surface of the 7" boxes. In other stores I found that the 7" boxes were where the real gems could be found, so I was keen to make sure I went through the 7"s this time around.

We arrived at the shop at 7pm, giving us an hour to go through whatever they had in stock. There were a lot of 7" boxes, and I just got straight on with it. Again, I was trying to not buy too many things, and only ended up walking out with only two.

First up, a Victory Singles Club purple vinyl pressing of the Even Score 7". I have this on red, which I actually got sent by Victory when I joined the Singles Club myself back in about 1997. It's a nicely packaged item and it was cheap, so I couldn't find an reason to pass it up.

The second 7" I picked up was the debut 7" by the band Union. This was a band from Buffalo in the mid 90s. I love their second 7" on Ferret, and never heard their debut release before, and for a couple of bucks I figured it was worth grabbing.

Check out the photos on the insert. You'd be pushed to find something that looked more 90s.

The funny thing was that there were so many boxes of 7"s that I got bored halfway through, and my arm started to ache. But Anna pushed me to carry on and finish. But once I did finally finish flipping through the boxes, there was only 5 minutes left until the shop was due to close. I was hopeful that there may have been another Robot Whales test press lurking in the 12" bins, but if there was then I only had 5 minutes to find it.

I started flipping through the LPs but it was clear I didn't have time to look through even a quarter of what was there. So instead I scracthed my head and tried to think of recentish releases that they may have had. I thought of about 4 and managed to find only one.

Big Cheese are a UK band for which there is quite a bit of hype. This 12" is their demo and 7" on one handy 12" format, and is on Painkiller Records. The orange vinyl actually sold out pretty quick, so I was happy to find one at 'new release' price. The band's upcoming full length will be on Triple B, and no doubt that will propel them to the next level.

So that was that. I'd hit up Boston and managed to restrain myself and only bought 5 records. In some ways, a successful mission.

US Trip, December 2019, Part 1 - Newbury Comics

A couple of weeks ago I found myself in Boston again. We were there for a day and a half before flying on to Miami for some winter sun. Boston was so damn cold it was crazy, but we made the best of it and spent most of the time walking around and seeing stuff that we hadn't seen last year.

One thing I saw this year that I had missed previously was two different Newbury Comics shops. Last year it had been disappointing, but after having not been in a record shop for months I was still keen to go in and flip through the bins to see if I could find anything interesting.

This first record I almost didn't buy because I wasn't sure I really needed a second, reissue copy. But I checked on discogs and it was selling for twice the retail price. So I figured it was actually sensible to buy it. Jawbox 'For Your Own Special Sweetheart' LP on a Newbury Comics exclusive silver vinyl. 300 copies of this one exist.

The second record was already on my want list. The second full length from The Path Of Resistance, 'Can't Stop The Truth'. This one came out in 2006, about ten years after their first full length, and was originally released on CD only. This year Victory pressed it onto vinyl for the first time.

This version is a Newbury Comics exclusive colour of 'Purple, White, and Black Starburst Vinyl'. There are only 100 of these, and I think the colour looks great.

As is often the case, when expectations are low they are easily exceeded, and I found Newbury Comics to be a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. A few things that caught my eye, and at one point I had 5 or 6 LPs in my hand but somehow I managed to exercise some self-control and put them all back save for these two. On previous trips to the States I have got myself carried away and bought way more than I should have, which gave me a transportation issue, so I was keen to keep the baggage amount low on this trip.

When In Rome

So I went to Rome a couple of weeks ago. I'd never been before, and was really looking forward to it. I like walking around cities without too much planning. We had a hotel that was pretty central, and we walked everywhere. The first day we did 27,000 steps, and the rest of the days were similar. Unfortunately, however, it rained every day except for one. Good job I took my umbrella with me.

Anyway, this was one holiday where I didn't even think about records. I think that before I went I made the assumption that Rome would not have record shops, and I didn't even look at the internet to check if I was right or not. In fact, records did not even enter my head once on the trip. Yet still I ended up coming home with a pretty cool little 7"...

After the first day, I posted some pics of Rome on instagram and Paolo got in touch to ask if I wanted to meet up. I'd made a trade with him a few years ago, and I follow him on instagram as he has some pretty amazing records in his collection. I knew he was italian, but I didn't remember that he lived in Rome. He's not someone I know too well, but I'm always up for meeting new people, especially fellow record nerds. So we arranged to meet one evening, and of course it rained. I thought it would be apt to post up this pic as we are both under my umbrella. It really sums up my trip.

Well, being the nice guy he is, he also brought along a record for me as a gift! This was a record that he helped to release, and he knew that I was missing this particular version, which he had a spare copy of. I was (and still am) really touched by this amazing act of kindness from a 'stranger'.

So the record in question is a split 7", featuring the band Damage Done (from California) and Day Of The Dead (from Portugal). I won't go into much detail about this, because it has been written about in far more detail than I ever could on Kyle's Blog. But suffice to say that this is a pretty cool little version of this record - the mailorder version in a limited sleeve.

I always like when limited sleeves sit on the top of the regular sleeve. Sometimes a limited sleeve is just a photocopied thing that looks great but has no information (lyrics, credits etc). So doing it this way means that you get the benefit of both.

The regular sleeve of this one is pretty cool. It has an extra fold and flap, underneath which it is numbered.

I find it kind of interesting that I got mailorder copy #9/50, yet the regular sleeve is number 59. I wonder if the mailorder copies were numbers 51-100, or whether there was no real order to the regular sleeves that got paired with the mailorder sleeves?

My Damage Done collection is now coming along nicely. I'll post a pic of it at some point when I have more time.

When I started collecting records (many years ago) it felt like there weren't many like minded people about. It was essentially a bedroom hobby. But over the years I have met so many nice people as a result of doing this. Anyone who thinks that record collecting is not a social hobby is clearly doing it wrong. This post is another great example of the social side of the international brotherhood of record nerds. Thank you kindly, Paolo. Hopefully we will get to meet again some day...

This Test This Year

I managed to pick up another Rev test recently. Like a lot of Rev releases, this one has a special place in my heart. Rev 97 - The Movielife 'This Time Next Year' LP. This one came out at the end of the year 2000. I bought it immediately as I had previously enjoyed the 7" that Initial Records (RIP) had put out. And I definitely remember being excited for this coming out as I have always enjoyed songs you can really sing along to.

This record really helped me in mid 2001 though, when I went through a tough break up with someone. Back then I was with this chick that I seriously thought that I would marry. But it didn't work out and she left me unexpectedly. There were two records that helped me through the toughest time, and this was one of them. So I have always loved it for helping me get through. Incidentally, I saw her for the first time in years in 2012 and it turned out I'd had a lucky escape as she had developed a huge arse.

Well, this marks the seventh copy of this record I own, and because I have a bit of time on my hands at the moment, I figured I would bust them all out for a snap.

The end.

Integrity / Psywarfare Reboot

The end of the year is fast approaching and I still have a few records that I have picked up this year that I haven't featured on here. Better do some work...

Today's item is a split 12" featuring Integrity and Psywarfare. A long time ago (in the late 90s) there was an Integrity / Psywarfare split 7" on Victory. Twenty something years later and we get the same artists doing another split release, this time as a 12". I think this record was pressed for a small run of shows in January, with a few leftovers being sold to lucky fools after the shows were over.

I managed to score a test press in a cover hand drawn by Dwid:

But then I also picked up a second test press, but this one comes in a Misfits '3 Hits From Hell' rip off sleeve that I think was made by Dom:

As for the regular pressing of this one, there were three colours of vinyl pressed, each being out of only 100 copies.

First up is blue with black splatter:

This colour goes pretty well with the Psywarfare side of the sleeve, which is blue.

The next version is the orange / black merge vinyl. This one goes better with the Integrity side of the sleeve:

The final copy is the flourescent green with a yellow blob version. This one doesn't really go well with anything, except maybe my collection of yellow highlighter pens.

I don't REALLY have a collection of yellow highlighter pens. Come on, what do you take me for here - some kind of nerd?