Modern Medicine

I know practically nothing about the band School Drugs. I saw their name in the past and thuoght it was a stupid name so avoided listening to them. But a couple of months ago when I visited Indecision Records HQ and picked up half of the label's output from the last four years, I picked up the band's first full length, and a few weeks later I have really gotten into this one. With hidsight it seems that I managed to just about grab a copy before the first pressing copies sold out, as a second pressing is now available.

The record is called 'Modern Medicine' and was initially pressed on two different splatter vinyl colours. The rare colour was sold out, but that was ok with me as I think the more common one looked a little bit more acceptable. This colour is out of 500 copies and kinda suits the artwork.

This thing sounds like several different styles all at once, but generally sounds like 80s hardcore punk. There are two songs that really do sound a lot like Black Flag for a few seconds, but don't let that put you off if Flag ain't your thing. This band really do manage to mix up the styles here, but not in a disjointed way. It's super hard for me to describe what this is like, but what I can say is that when I first played it I thought it was a little all over the place, and then after a few plays I found it worming it's way onto my daily play list, because it's interesting, fun, intense and melodic. There ten songs on here and it's all done and dusted in about eighteen minutes, and everytime I'm really getting into it I realise it's almost over.

This was originally released at the back end of 2019, so this record is now almost three years old (although obviously a couple of those years were lost to Covid so don't really count). There's also a 7" that came out last year on Indecision that I failed to pick up (but now need to), but I'm already looking forward to more from this band. I hope there's a new one coming soon because these 18 minutes are just not enough to keep me going.

Focus

A good few years ago I used to be happy with one copy of each record. At some point that changed and then all hell broke loose with me trying to collect every version of every rec=rd. And now I've moved on to a new game whereby I'm happy to try to collect multiple copies of the same version of some records. I mainly grabbed these two blue vinyl copies of the Soul Control / I Rise split 7" because they were super cheap. I already own one copy, but this pressing is really cool looking because the labels were all hand drawn, so I figured it would be cool to pickup a couple of extras. I know that all the labels were different and unique, so I figured it would be fun to grab some extras to try to find the most interesting labels.

The first copy is cool and takes a pretty simple approach, with the band names on each side.

The second copy is a bit more artistic. One side has a pumpkin face, whereas the other is some kind of weird space scene with a bunch of stars and something that kinda looks like a big piece of fruit.

So I was really stoked to get these for like $3 each, especially in the current climate. But as seems to frequently be the case lately, there was something still not quite right. These were numbered on the inner sleeve out of 100 copies. The copy I got years ago is numbered, and one of these two is also numbered. But one of them is not numbered. The non numbered one also has a slightly different paper sleeve. So I can only assume that someone swapped out the numbered sleeve at some point. It may have been damaged, or they might have just picked up the wrong sleeve by mistake, but whatever happened it means that one of these is incomplete, and no doubt it will bug me forever more.

Call On My Brothers

Last night I got off my lazy arse and headed into central London to watch Ignite play. As is often the case with bands playing in London, I spent most of the day trying to decide whether I could be bothered to go or not. In the end I went, and I am glad I did, because they were really good live. No shock there really. Although I am still trying to make up my mind on the new singer. Anyway, it had me listening to their entire discography today, and it reminded me that I still hadn't put up these Ignite records that I got recently.

Last year Revelation Records had some kind of daytime event in their parking lot with records and shirts for sale, pizza being made, Popeye from Farside singing live, and a load of other labels selling stuff. And it was announced that there would be a limited sleeve version of the 'Call On My Brothers' LP available. I panicked a little thinking that I would have no chance of getting one, but then managed to find someone who was willing to help me out. This is a limited sleeve numbered out of 36 copies.

I was pretty happy to have got one of these, and I'm pretty sure that it will be a tough find for years to come. But the funny thing is that I had already picked up a clear vinyl repress when it came out a few months before, which I also only recently received.

Given I'd picked these up, I realised that I had missed a pressing back in 2016 or so. There was a blue vinyl pressing which all of a sudden I felt I needed to complete the collection. Thankfully there was one lurking on discogs for a not bad price.

Given I had these copies out to taken photos, I decided to pull the others out, partly because I couldn't remember what colours I even owned.

Pictured here are only the Rev pressings. I also have the original pressing on Conversion, but figured that it would kinda ruin the nice layout by trying to add another one in there.

I distinctly remember getting slightly annoyed at the number of these when they were pressed because they made 4 colours in a very short space of time. But looking at them now, I think they look kinda cool.

Not This Time

There are some records that have been on my wants list forever. I think this is partly because I use my wants list as a reminder of everything that I don't have that I would ideally like to own, rather than a list of things that I badly want to own. I am sure that a lot of the things on my want list I could go out and buy tomorrow if I wasn't too bothered about how much money I was going to spend. But for me part of the fun is always waiting to get a record for a reasonable price as well as finding the thing in the first place. So basically, some things just sit on the wants list for years and years.

I honestly have no idea when I added the Follow Through 'Not This Time' 7" to my want list. But I figure it has been there for at least twenty years. But in this case, the reason I never managed to cross it off was that I never saw a copy for sale. Despite there being a couple of copies for sale on discogs right now as I type this, this thing just never seemed to come up for sale. And especially because I only wanted a gold vinyl copy.

This band was a pre-cursor to Right Brigade, with Jesse Standhard and Ian Flemming in the band. It was released by Standhard Records way back in 1996, a year or so before their full length was put out. I got the album back when it came out, although for some reason I can't recall where from. WHat I do remember, however, is that I was really into that record at the time, so no doubt that whenever I found out that they also had a 7" out I would have added it to me wants list.

It was pretty satisfying to finally find a copy of this for a fair price, although when I received it I was a little disappointed as it has no insert. Also, aside from the collectibility, this doesn't sound too great in 2022. There are a couple of songs on here that are also on the LP, but these versions sound weaker than the album versions. It's probably because the LP was recorded by Brian McTernan who probably knew what he was doing, whereas this 7" was probably recorded directly onto a portable cassette recorded in someone's basement. OK, so the recording quality isn't great but still, this is a great little straight edge 7" EP.

Two Plus Two Is Five

One of last year's new releases that I actually obtained in the year was the 'You Knew I Was Poison' LP by Fall Silent. I picked up two different colour copies, but at the time there was one that I missed - the red vinyl version, which was the more common colour made. I felt that I needed to find one sooner ratehr than later before it sold out and was only available from idiots on discogs for $200.

The red vinyl was part of the first pressing. There were 300 or so copies made for indeoendent stores. And of course, no sooner did I buy one of these than a second press came out on white vinyl.

There were 330 of white copies made, and I was impressed about the colour choice as it goes well with the artwork, as well as the first press colours.

So I already had two copies and here are two more. So two plus two is... five, right? I mean, that's one of the song titles on here, so clearly it must be true. And to prove it, here's the evidence:

Forgive/Forget

I'd never heard of the band Forgive/Forget until last year. In fact, I doubt that many people had. The band existed for a brief period of time back in 1998, recorded some songs that were never released, and disbanded. I guess nobody would have known about this if it weren't for a small label, GGT Records, having put the songs out on a 7" last year.

The band was made of 3 dudes from some pretty big bands; Sammy Siegler (who was in Rival Schools at the time), Brian Mcternan (who I think was in Battery and also Miltown at that time) and a guy named Josh English (who was in a band called Six Going On Seven). I think I read that the band never really went anywhere because the members were busy with their other bands. But fortunately they did find time to record some songs which have survived, and a couple of years ago someone dusted them off and put them up digitally somewhere... and then it was decided to put them out on a proper format. There were 500 copies made in total on three different colours of vinyl, and of course I got sucked into buying all three.

This colour here is, as far as I can work out, the one that is referred to as 'blue/white mix' and is out of 150 copies.

The other colours are clear blue (200) and red (150). They all come in the same sleeve.

The label also sold some test pressings, but they were long gone before I had even heard of this record sadly.

If anything, this record reminds me of the band Six Going On Seven, but I guess that's because the two bands have the same vocalist, and he has a pretty distinct voice. Fortunately I am a big fan of that band. But I can see how the vocal may put other people off a little, as it sounds more towards the 'emo' spectrum than 'hardcore'. Still, a nice little 7" if you like this kind of thing. I just wish there were more as these three songs roll by pretty quickly..

Scrap

I'm not sure there are many things as exciting in life as finding a rare record that you want for sale on eBay at a low price. I suppose that finding a record you've wanted for a long time in a record shop would probably be more satisfying, but given I rarely leave the house these days I can't really relate to that. Anyway, I was pretty stoked to see a test press for the Farside 'Scrap' LP pop up on eBay, and as soon as I saw it I knew I was going to make a play for it. The price didn't seem to be going crazy as some eBay auctions can, so I watched and waited and I ended up winning it for what I consider to be a really great price. I'm guessing that the fact that it wasn't on Revelation really helped keep the price down, as some people literally only collect Rev records, meaning that records by Rev bands on other labels never seem to sell for as much.

This one is pretty standard 90s test press, coming in only a plain white paper sleeve. I asked the seller where he got it from, and it turns out that he was given it by Farside's bass player, Brian Chu. Apparently Brian released the LP. This came out on a label called Comida Records, which never released anything else. Kinda makes sense now I guess. It's also interesting that the paper sleeve has the title as 'Demos' LP. I'm guessing that at the point the test presses came back, they hadn't decided to call the record 'Scrap' yet. As is customary on here, I took a pic of the test press with the regular record cover:

This LP is a real hidden gem. It contains demos and a couple of early unreleased songs by the band from their pre Rev days. Before the band's first 7" was released, Zack De La Rocha was in the band for a bit on guitar, and there's a picture of him in the booklet that comes with the regular version of this LP.

After picking up the test press of 'Rochambeau' a couple of months ago, my Farside collection is coming along nicely. And as if this wasn't enough, there's still one more installment in the series to come. Stay tuned...

Integrity x Nothing

The latest Integrity release (or possibly the second to latest) is a split 7" with the band Nothing. This is one of those split 7"s where the two bands cover each other's songs. Integrity do a Nothing song titled 'The Rites Of Love And Death' and Nothing do the Integrity song 'Those Who Fear Tomorrow'. It came out last year on Relapse, with the label taking pre-orders and (apparently) pressing the exact number that were ordered. Rather than the modern thing of eighty four different colours of vinyl with each one available from a different retailer, there was only one colour of this one - pink.

I have no idea how many of these were made in the end, but judging from the number of copies for sale on discogs, I think it was probably more than enough for everyone who may have wanted one.

Oh yeah, and even though all copies were on pink vinyl, it almost goes without saying that there were 100 copies on clear too... because Relapse press 100 copies of every release on clear vinyl. The clear vinyl copies are never sold to the public, but are instead given to the band and friends. But some copies always surface for sale at some point.

As usual with Integ, Dwid had a few test presses for sale with hand made covers, but for some reason these seemed to sell out quicker than usual. I was pretty bummed that I missed out as I have (I think) at least one test press for every Integrity record of the later (post 2006) era. Thankfully, Dom still had a couple left, so I was able to grab one from him instead. It came with this nice looking alternate sleeve, and is numbered out of 10 copies.

I've never listened to Nothing prior to receiving this record, but I'm instantly really into what they are doing. They play a weird and unique sound which blends a range of 90s styles, but the most common term seems to be shoegaze. I did not expect to be into them, but I get this vibe that they could easily become my next favourite band. Also, the Integrity song (which is, as mentioned, a Nothing cover) is fantastic too. So for once it seems that the flipside of an Integrity split is worth having.

Only The Diehard Remain

Last year there were a lot of Revelation represses that I couldn't say no to, one of which was a green vinyl pressing of the Battery 'For The Rejected By The Rejected' 12". I picked it up figuring that I didn't want to miss out, and to keep the Rev collection as complete as possible.

So the funny thing is that after I grabbed this I realised that I never actually got around to picking up any of the other colour vinyl versions of this record. It came out a year or so after I made the decision to quit buying so many Rev represses. But I've always been a fan of Battery and I had two different black vinyl copies of this one, so it makes no sense that I held off on buying a colour copy. I did actually try to buy a blue vinyl copy back in 2017 from the band when i saw them play, but the records got packed away at the end of the night and I missed the opportunity. Well anyway, I decided to pick up the other three colour vinyl copies that I had missed - white, orange and blue.

It seems nuts that this came out 5 years ago. I guess a lot happened since then, not least of all Battery not playing because Brian formed a new band, Be Well, who could teach Battery a thing or two about putting out multiple copies of records.

More Innocent Lovers

I've posted many times about the band 27, and I've had a longstanding obsession with them. I once released the vinyl version of one of their albums... but that's a different story. Anyway, they had a 7" reelased by Mind Over Matter Records in 2018, and there were quite a few different colour versions made. I picked up a couple when it came out and added another a year or so later on a trip to the States when I met up with one of the members of the band. And now I have managed to add two more copies to the collection. The first is the test press, which comes in a beatiful sleeve that it unique to the test press:

Back when this came out in 2018, there was a limited version which was just for people who joined some kind of subscription thing, which gave them access to limited pressings of the label's releases. There was a subscription version of this 7" which came with an obi strip and which was numbered out of only 56 copies. I didn't subscribe so couldn't get one until someone listed one for sale on discogs, which dor one was not $100 like pretty much everything else for sale on there.

This now brings my collection to 5 copies, which I figure is the most I can reasonably expect to own. They look kinda good together.

There are another 5 different colours aside from these shown here, but there is only one that I may have a chance at. There are two colours for which there is only one copy of each, a clear red vinyl for which only 3 copies exist, another colour out of 8 copies, and one which is out of 18 copies. I may potentially have a chance at the last one, but the other 4 are no chance. So this collection probably ends right here.

Kid Dynamite

Squirrel Bait is one of those bands that I remember about every couple of years, listen to their records a lot for a couple of weeks, then move on and forget about them again. If you're unfamiliar with them, there isn't actually much to know. The band was from Louisville, Kentucky and was active from 1983 to 1987 and played a great melodic sound that, to me, is not far from Dag Nasty or Hüsker Dü. They only released a couple of records, one of which I bought around the turn of the century and the other I picked up in 2014. And now I finally managed to pick up the other colour vinyl version of the 'Skag Heaven' LP.

This was released by Homestead Records in 1986, and there were two colour vinyl versions (red and green) and, as is the case with a lot of older records, no pressing info is really known. WHich was a good excuse to get them both. I mean, I didn't want to chance not owning the rarer one. You know how it is.

You're Gone

Mudhoney was one of the first bands that I really heavily got into. My early fascination with colour vinyl records was in part due to the colour Sub Pop records that had become relatively well known at the time, and were relatively commonplace in the many record stores in Camden that I used to visit, and I started trying to collect color vinyl Mudhoney records. I've said this before, but a couple of years later I got into straight edge hardcore and decided that Mudhoney was hippy shite, so I sold all the records. And then a few more years later I realised that I had made a mistake and started trying to collect them all again. And I'm still going... although I am only interested in their early releases. So here's one I never had before, a copy of the 'You're Gone' 7" on purple vinyl.

I used to have this on pink vinyl when I was young, and picked one of those up to replace the copy I sold many years ago. And for the longest time I thought that pink was the only colour that existed. But then at some point I discovered John Pette's Sub Pop discography and discovered for the first time that there were other, rarer colours of this record. Numbers are unknown, but purple is definitely rarer than pink.

There is also a green vinyl version, which is much rarer (and more expensive if it ever appears). I'm still hoping to find one at some point. But for now, I'm stoked as hell on this purple one.

Sick Of Sick Of It All

Some records just keep on coming. They sell out, get pressed on another colour, sell out, get pressed on another colour... and on and on. Some people are sick of it and have thrown in the towel. Whereas people like me are still enjoying it and stupidly handing over our money at every opportunity. So here are the last two versions of the Sick Of It All debut release that I just acquired.

The clear green vinyl was pressed last year in 2021. There were 550 copies of this one.

Once the green one sold out comes the latest pressing which is on vioet vinyl. I have no idea how many of these exist. But I'm pretty sure that they will eventually sell out and then it's anyone guess as to what colour will come next.

As well as these two 'new' colours, I also went backwards and picked up another version of an 'old' pressing of this record. It was back in 2016 that the gold vinyl pressing for Conne Island's 25th aniversary. It was super sought after when it came out, but what made it kinda lame was that there were 5 different 'versions' (and I use that word in the loosest sense of the word), each denoted via a stamp on the inner paper sleeve. There were 100 each with batman, robin & catwoman stamps, and then the final 30 copies had no stamp at all. It was one of these unstamped copies that I got hold of - number 325/330.

I actually have zero intention of tring to collect the different stamped versions of this record, but I figured an unstamped one was a nice one to have because it is the rarest. Oh yeah, and because it looks the best. The stamps are pretty lame in my opinion.

I think this now takes the SOIA 7" to the top of the list of records that I have most copies of. But no doubt this game isn't finished yet.

Pink Fuel / Phleg Camp

As a general rule, I don't like discogs. I think it has done more harm than good, all things considered. But one thing that it does have going for it is its ability to unearth records that you didn't know exist before. Somewhere around 6 years ago now, I became aware via discogs that the Fuel / Phleg Camp split 7" existed on colour vinyl. I'd had this record in my collection for probably 20 years or more and never heard of or seen a colour copy before. Back when I made this discovery in 2016 or so, it was still possible to buy records on discogs for a reasonable price, and I managed to get a white vinyl copy, although sadly it got lost in the mail. So I was pretty stoked to finally be able to replace it, albeit with a pink one instead.

Having not known for over two decades that this existed on colour vinyl, it then turns out that there are multiple colours out there. According to discogs, there are copies on white, pink, blue, red and purple. After owning a black one for so many years, I'd have been happy with any colour at all. But the pink is rad. I don't own many releases from Allied Records, but I do not associate them with colour vinyl at all. I think all of their releases that I could name are all on black vinyl only, which makes this one that little bit cooler.

For those who don't know these bands, Fuel were from San Francisco. I always liked them. They had a 7" out on Lookout! Records and their LP was put out by some label or other, but then reissued by Ebullition. At times they kinda remind me of Avail, and other times they sound a little like Fugazi. They were definitely the main draw on this split 7" and reasonably big back when this came out in 1990. The band on the flipside, Phleg Camp, I know very little about. Their songs on here are good, and kinda remind me of some band or other from a Lookout! Records comp from way back, although I can't think who. I never bothered exploring anything else that they put out. I checked their discogs page and it seems that they put out a few 7"s which can be picked up these days for loose change. I find myself getting nostalgic for records from this era this year, but it's kinda cool that these things aren't super expensive, so I'll probably pick up additional colours of this one if the chance presents itself. Fingers crossed.

Only Echoes

So a little over year ago I got a postcard style flyer in a parcel of records. You know the sort - glossy, two sided postcards used to advertise other records that you haven't bought in the hopes of making you spend even more of your hard earned money. Most of the time these things end up in the recycling, but something about this one caught my eye. It was the artwork. Not the usual 'in your face' type picture of a band or some awful bright coloured lettering. This one was a tree and a cross. So I read the description and it referenced Mineral and Sunny Day Real Estate. The words and the art were enought to peak my interest, so I checked the band out online, and really liked what I heard. I bought the record pretty quickly, but it has taken a long time to get to me. The record is called 'Only Echoes' and is by a band from somewhere in MA called Sinking.

I haven't really listened to stuff like this for a long time, but something about this release just spoke to me and seemed interesting. It sounds good, it looks good, and it has hardcore connections - one of the members is in Maniac (with records on New Age Records & Triple B). I jumped in and grabbed the clear vinyl, which is out of 100 copies, and looks great.

This was released by a label called Patient Zero Records, who I'd only heard of in recent months after they reissued the first Four Walls Falling 7". Turns out that they've put out over 50 records by bands I have never heard of, which is quite some feat given it only started in 2018.

Well anyway, when I decided to buy this record there was an opportunity to pick up a test press. The price was ok, and given that I had played the record a lot and really liked it, I figured I was going to go the whole hog. It also helped that it came packaged in a sleeve with some artwork. It's also numbered out of 25.

I spent a lot of time listening to this one in the early months of 2021, and it also got some heavy play on my December trip to California, so I'm really stoked to finally have records

It also now turns out that they have just released another 12" EP for which there are less than 200 copies total, with 25 copies coming in a nice Rival Schools rip off cover that are long gone. Damnit. I get a record I am stoked on and then it leads to getting bummed out that I missed another.

Anyway, it looks like all versions of 'Only Echoes' are still available from the label, which I am surprised about. But this could work in your favour if you're interested.