Sick Of Talk

Back in the 90s and early 2000's I used to live by the philosophy that I should buy everything as soon as it was released whilst the opportunity was there. This was based on the logic that if I then didn't like it further down the line then I could sell it, but if I missed buying it then I would either have to wait a long time to find one or pay a much higher price. At some point my philosophy changed to 'avoid spending money if you can' and I ended delaying on ordering some things and as a result I ended up missing many records over the years. I really need to learn and go back to the way I used to operate. Anyway, last year the Negative Approach 7" got repressed on clear green vinyl and I decided not to order one. There were 1000 copies pressed and I figured it would be easy to get, but nope, it sold out in an instant and discogs pricing kicked in and I was pissed at both myself and the game once again. Will I never learn?

Well, for some reason the prices on this one haven't carried on climbing. It's probably due to supply. There are always a few for sale, probably due to people buying them to try to make a quick buck, and then realising there isn't as much demand as they hoped. So the people who truly want to cash out have been forced to lower their prices. Ok, so I still had to pay discogs prices for this thing, but at the same time I paid the lowest price paid yet paid for one of these, so that's some consolation I guess.

I don't own an original of this one, and at this rate probably never will, as the price has reached a level over what I want to pay. So I think this is a pretty good consolation prize. The vinyl actually looks good and seems like an apt colour, especially given the Exorcist cover. And yes, if they repress it again I will be right at the front of the queue.

Anti Complicity Anthem

In a few ways, 2022 has been a bit of a weird year. In terms of live shows, this year I only went to see 3 live shows... 2 of which were Ignite. I saw them play a release show for their latest LP in California back in April, and then I saw them play in London on their Euro tour in August. What was also interesting was that their new LP came out back in March or April, but Revelation then released a 2 song 7" about 4 months later which I think was originally supposed to function as a promo for that LP, but which came out too late and therefore served no real purpose. Well, not strictly true, as one of the two songs is not on the LP. But given 7" sales these days are not what they used to be, this thing felt a little bit unneccesary. Still, that didn't stop me wanting to collect it, especially seeing as there were several different colours to collect. Like the fool I am, I wanted them all.

The most common colour is a solid green. I like it. It's a nice colour and is probably my favourite of them all. This one was available from RevHQ and probably some stores or distros.

The labels on this are interesting. White label one side, black the other. They look ok from a short distance, but close up they look bad as the ink has bled terribly. You have to look at them close up to see what I mean. But goddamn it, if I were running the show I would have made them repress the lot. The quality is terrible.

So as I mentioned, there were several colours of this one made, and not many of each pressed. Unlike some Rev releases from the past, I had a sense of urgency in getting these because I figured that some of the colours would sell out quick. As I write this, I think it is only really the clear vinyl copies that sold out. The rest are probably still obtainable.

As is the way with modern collecting, there were 6 different colours made, with each being given to a different retailer. A total pain in the ass for anyone to collect, especially as the sellers were spread across the world. Here's the breakdown:

400 opaque green vinyl
100 opaque blue vinyl (Programme Skate & Sound exclusive)
100 coke bottle clear vinyl... although 9 came out pink (Ignite exclusive).
150 gold vinyl (Coretex exclusive)
100 clear red vinyl (Impericon exclusive)
150 grey vinyl (Kingsroad / On Ink exclusive)

Also, due to where this one was pressed, there seem to have been a few interesting quirky copies that have surfaced. A small number of the clear copies came out pink (presumably they were pressed after the red copies) and were kept by the band. I have seen a couple of quirky blue copies (including one on discogs). And I was lucky enough to get a red one with a lot of black mixed in, which looks pretty cool.

I'm not sure how sought after this record one will be in years to come, but I figured best grab all of them now while I could. But the fact that they didn't sell out quick suggests that probably not too many are too bothered. Still, I think they look cool as a set and am happy I saw the band on tour to get the clear one. And good luck to anyone trying to complete this set.

What Happens Next?

Anyone who reads this thing regularly may have noticed that I have picked up a few classic Nardcore records this year that were repressed by It's Alive Records. And here is another one. Ill Repute are regarded as pretty much the first Nardcore band, and their first LP 'What Happens Next' has achieved classic status. Originally released back in 1984 on Mystic Records, this has been repressed a couple of times over the years, but this year's repress on It's Alive is the first time that the recorc has been pressed on colour vinyl.

As with all It's Alive releases, this one came sealed with a sticker, but I managed to get in without damaging the sticker in any way.

The record comes on clear vinyl, and there were 150 made. According to discogs, there were only 90 copies that were sold. If that is true, I'm not sure what happened to the other 60.

The numbering is on a small insert. I got a nice low number too.

And as usual with all It's Alive releases, this one is stuffed full of extras... posters, stickers, labels, flyers etc. You can see the record in the bottom right of this next photo. It looks small compared to the mass of paper stuffed inside this record.

I'd never heard this band before, and it's a lot of fun. The songs are short and fast. 11 songs done in 16 minutes. I guess it's difficult to understand how things were back in 1984, but this probably sounded revolutionary back then. I can see why another band named themselves after this record. Anyway, this is well worth checking out if you haven't heard it before.

How Flowers Grow

It was pretty much exactly a year ago that the Scowl 'How Flowers Grow' LP came out. I remember because at the start of December I visited RevHQ and I saw a few copies sat in bins ready to be mailed out to people who had pre-ordered. Sadly at that point it was already completely sold out. At the time I was so desperate to get a copy that, for a couple of seconds, I thought about stealing one of the copies laying around at Rev. But no, I didn't, and figured I would find one for sale somewhere... which I turned out to be completely wrong about. The first press of 500 sold out in an instant and it was impossible to get a copy. And then eventually, seven months later or so, a second pressing of 1100 copies went up for order... and pretty much sold out in a day or two. Crazy doesn't even start to describe it.

Well, I managed to get one of the second press copies. This yellow vinyl version was the most common colour of the second presss, out of 600 copies. I would have bought the pink copy if it were stil available (which it wasn't), and I could have bought the 'Pearlescent Copper Swirl' (300 copies) but I swerved it because it sounded like it would look like shit, being a swirl and all (although having seen it, it actually looks ok).

It's cool to finally get a copy of this, although now I'm sitting down to type this I realised that it didn't quite have the lastability I thought it would. I listened to it quite a bit last December, but I got a little tired of it quite quickly, and then it fell off of my playlist. I think I just suffered from Scowl overload this year. It felt like they did a lot of tours and played a lot of shows and were constantly showing in my instagram feed, to the point where I just got used to flicking past them. But damn, it really is a great record, no doubt about it.

For Dancing And Listening

Back in the early 90s, one of the first bands I got into was Snuff. They got together in the late 80s and then broke up in 1991, only a year or so after I got into them. My musical tastes changed a lot over the 1992-94 era, so when the singer formed a new band in 1994, I wasn't really interested. I had moved on. That band had a comedy name, which was another reason I ignored them. The band was called Guns 'N' Wankers and they released three 7"s at the same time on a relatively small UK label. I didn't buy them, although one of my friends did. But the bad didn't last too long because around the same time Snuff reformed, and got picked up by Fat Wreck Chords and started to do pretty well.

Well, some of the Guns 'N' Wankers songs got pressed as a 12" by Fat Wreck Chords at around the same time. And then a few years later that 12" got repressed as a 10" for some stupid reason. And then all of those songs got repressed as a 12" in 2019 by a UK label. I guess there are a lot of people out there who still love those songs and don't want to have to deal with 7"s.

Anyway, my friends recently gave me the first press copy of the Fat Wreck 12" from 1994. I had no idea he had this one in his tiny collection, but after getting reacquainted with Snuff earlier this year, I found myself interested.

This is another example of time making all the difference. Back in 1994 when these songs were originally released, I was not interested in this sound at all. I was sick of it and wanted something harder. These days I have a lot of hard sounding music in my collection and often crave something more melodic. Due mainly to the Duncan's distinct vocals, this sounds just like a Snuff record, so I've been loving this one lately, and I feel like a fool for ignoring this for twenty eight bloody years.

About Time

Ending the year in a similar way to how I started it, by listening to some pop punk from the early 90s. Last month I visited another friend of mine who I grew up with, and he ended up giving me a few records, mainly stuff from the early 90s that I wasn't into then but am kinda interested in now, partly due to nostalgia. Back in the early 90s I liked the first two Pennywise albums, but after seeing the band play live in (probably) the summer of 1994, I decided I was no longer interested. Back at that time, pop punk was getting popular and the Pennywise show I went to was in a larger venue than I usually visited, and was full of morons. So that was it. I never really listened to Pennywise again. So here I am in late 2022 listening to their third album for the first time.

'About Time' was released in 1995. I vaguely remember it coming out, because I made a conscious decision to ignore it. Back then my taste was mainly for straight edge hardcore and Pennywise was old hat. But listening to this now, I find it kinda catchy. Time heals all wounds I guess.

This copy I have inherited is a first press copy from 1995 on black vinyl. It seems that this has been repressed on a few different colours over the years, which no doubt look cool, but I'm happy with this one for the price I paid.

I just checked discogs and it seems that Pennywise have put out something like 12 albums. Even though this one has been a fun listen these past three weeks or so, I'm not sure I really want to venture any further... although I would if anyone wanted to give them to me, haha.

Rat Beat

Back in 2018, Bridge Nine released a 7" by a new band called Beach Rats. A new band made up of old dudes and a 7" with a cover that looked like a tattoo, I had zero interest in checking them out. Well, fast forward four years and they released a full length titled 'Rat Beat' and for some reason I fancied checking it out... and pretty much instantly I loved it. I guess it's not surprising given who is in the band that it would be catchy, but it's kinda funny that originally I dismissed this. The band features Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Bad Religion), Ari Katz (singer of Lifetime) and two dudes from The Bouncing Souls.

This was released by Epitaph and probably because it's a smaller band on the label, it 'only' came on four colours of vinyl. I wasn't too excited by the colours available in Europe, so I went after clear, which is one of the two US colours. As ever, clear looks great.

This really is a very catchy record. There are 12 songs and they are all done in 22 minutes, which in my mind is the perfect length for a record. The songs are short and fast but also have melody and audible lyrics that you can sing along to. It's a really fun record. But given the members are all in other bands, I'm curious as to how much they will play out live.

Anyway, this of course now means that I will now need to track down that 7" that I chose to ignore four years ago like a fool.

Your Neighbours Are Failures

Another contender for record of the year that I finally got my hands on is the debut full length from Bitter Branches. The band features Tim Singer on vocals (No Escape, Deadguy, Kiss It Goodbye) and some other older dudes. They released a 12" EP a couple of years ago that I enjoyed, but this record feels like a step forward. I downloaded this one earlier this year and I have played this one a LOT. I may have played this one more than any other new released this year. When it came to buying a physical copy I was put off by the colour vinyl options available, as they seemed to be splatters or swirls and on colours not really matching the artwork. So in the end I just went with one that came with a limited, numbered cover... even though it comes on a splatter colour.

Interestingly, I am pretty sure that this one was not actually pressed at the plant that I hate. There's something about this that looks a little different, and the vinyl feels less like cheap plastic. So my guess is that it was actually pressed somewhere else.

Well anyway, at some point in recent weeks the band posted a pic on instagram of a white vinyl copy of the record, which looked like the most suitable colour of all. So I figured I would get one so that I had a 'regular' copy as well.

At this moment I think I am the only person who has the white one. I got it from the drummer, who I bought some things from on discogs. He told me that the white vinyl hadn't been made available yet, but he had a few and could sell me one. Score.

And on top of the two LPs, I picked up the pink vinyl version of the 7". When these initially came out the band sold a super low number at a show, and consequently everyone was under the impression that only 18 copies existed. But it turned out that there were just 18 sold initially, out of 200 pressed. They just got held back from sale for a few weeks, for no real reason. Anyway, I was happy to get this because we all know that pink is the best colour for records.

Dreamkiller

It's been over 5 years since I bought the debut LP from Sumerlands, a 'traditional metal' band featuring DFJ from every hardcore band ever. It's not really the usual kind of stuff I would listen to, but back then I was way into Magic Circle and Stone Dagger (both of which were metal bands featuring both DFJ and Brendan from The Rival Mob). Sumerlands was less of an instant hit for me than most of their other bands, but I ended up getting really into it and bought the record. So when I heard that a second LP was being released in 2022, I was intrigued. Would I still be interested?

Well, yes is the answer. I downloaded it first and gave it a few listens, and as was the case back in 2017, I started to play it daily. On this record they have a new singer, which is Brendan Radigan, whose vocals are great in Magic Circle. So this one probably grabbed me even more than the first album... which meant I wanted to buy a copy.

Just like the first one, this one came out on Relapse Records. There were about 8 different colours made, most of which were splatters that sounded ugly as hell. But without even seeing which colour options were available, I knew which one I wanted - the clear vinyl. As thheir website says, there are 100 copies on clear which are 'Not available to the public - Friends of band and label only'.

Definitely another contender for record of the year, which I am going to have to start properly thinking about pretty soon it seems. Goddamnit.

Heavy Pendulum

I was surprised when a new Cave In album was announced this year. It had felt to me that the last album (from 2019), 'Final Transmission', was going to be the end of the band. I mean, the name suggested it. They had lost bass player Caleb Scofield a year before, and were clerly finding life hard with him gone. Instead, it seems like they found Nate Newton and asked Caleb's family whether they would be ok for the band to carry on... and so when 'Heavy Pendulum' came out earlier this year and I was pretty damn excited for it.

Straight away I was into the front cover art for this record. The space theme continues with this one, even though the name doesn't seem to quite fit.

So I have to say right off the bat that this record has ended my Cave In collecting days. Up to this record, and for the past 25 years or so, I have collected every colour vinyl copy of every Cave In record that was made. But this record made me stop. Why? Well, because the first press consisted of circa 10,000 copies pressed on to 14 different colours of vinyl. But as is the case in the current era of collecting, the 14 different copies were spread across different retailers, with several places getting an 'exclusive' colour for their store. And even if I was stupid enough to consider trying to collect all copies, I would also have to fork out for 10 lots of shipping. So I decided I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on this one. Instead I decided that I wanted to own just one copy, and it had to be the clear vinyl version. For every Relapse Records release, clear is the most limited colour (out of 100 copies) and it's the only version that is the only one that you can't actually buy as it is made for friends and family of the label and band. So yeah... mission successful.

I have to say that I have really enjoyed this record this year. I downloaded it before getting the vinyl and I played it a lot through the backend of summer, and this is definitely one of my favourite records of the year. Heck, it may even be THE record of the year. I guess I'll figure that out in the next three weeks or so.

Boycott Pink

Everyone knows that pink is the best colour of vinyl, right? And not just pink, but especially solid pink. I mean, clear pink is kinda meh (like most clear colours, other than clear) but a solid pink is unbeatable. So on that basis I figured I would pick up the latest repress of Government Issue 'Boycott Stabb Complete Session' LP. Dischord have been cranking out some colour vinyl represses of late, and some of them have proved too tempting to resist. And even thought I have never really been a Government Issue fan, I figured I would give the band another go... mainly because of the pink vinyl.

The original 'Boycott Stabb' EP contains 11 songs, but this version contains 20. Side A plays the original 'Boycott Stabb' songs and Side B features the previously unreleased session outtakes.

I once owned a Government Issue 7" many years ago that I wasn't overly impressed with and consequently sold. I'm not sure that this record is doing much to help me appreicate them either. As expected from a record that originally came out in 1983, this sounds pretty basic and raw. Maybe this is a little too punk for me in 2022, or maybe I just need to spend a little more time with it.

Neglect & Obey

Back at the end of 2020 there was a pre-order laucnhed for a new 7" by Encounter. The band were active int he early 90s and released a great 7" on Redemption Records back in 1991. After that they appeared on a couple of split 7"s, but that was it. Back in the early 90s when I was discovering straight edge hardcore and similar, the Encounter 7" was pretty new, and I loved it. So when a new 7" was announced almost 30 years later, I was definitely in. So I did what everyone else did and place a pre-order... and then waited. And waited. And so much time went by that it started to feel like a rip off. Before the pre-order, the band's instagram was relatively active, and then after the pre-order there was just nothing for months. There was even a post saying that records were going out, and then nothing for weeks. But despite the farce of the pre-order process, when the record actually surfaced, it did look great.

I'm not sure how many were pressed on clear and how many on black, but the clear copies do look great. They are pressed on the kind of clear that looks like glass. Beautiful.

Also, the band sent out test presses randomly in orders, and I ended up with one. However, I am pretty confident that this one was not particularly random and was also actually intended for me at all. So for now I feel that I am temporarily looking after this one.

As much as this thing looks and sounds great, it is ever so slightly disappointing to me. Without wanting to be too down on it, this contains two songs which are actually old but previously unreleased songs. Well, except for the fact that the songs have been floating around digitally for years. But hey, I'm nitpicking. It's great to have these songs, and this record ia a thing of beauty. It's also nice to see Watermark Records temporarily ressurected for this release to. All in all, a 90s hardcore kid's dream come true.

Survival Instinct

Somehow I completely missed out on the Morning Again 7" that came out on Revelation back in 2018. Or rather, I intenionally let it pass me by because the limited colour version sold out super fast, which I was surprised about at the time. I figured that one of the more limited colour copies would come up for sale on eBay or discogs soon enough, but it seems that it took a lot longer than I thought that it would because I ended up with it this year, which is somehow now 4 years later. Madness.

I used to like Morning Again back in the late 90s. They played metallic hardcore but had socially and politically aware lyrics, which in my mind helped them stand out. It was no real surprise to me back then when they got signed to Rev (this was when Rev was probably the biggest label and the one every band dreamed of being signed by), and it seemed like validation that they were doing the right thing. But then it also felt that the band just faded away. So it was then equally surprising when they reformed twenty years later or so to release a new EP.

Red vinyl is the more limited colour of this one with 315 copies, whereas grey vinyl was out of 835 copies.

'Survival Instinct' was released as a 4 song 7" or a 5 song digital release. I remember being sceptical when it came out as most bands that release new music many years after they broke up fail to recapture their old glory. But this record comes out hard right from the start, and sounds fresh and current. This to me sounds like a band who took a short break and carried on, rather than a band who got back together after 30 years and tried hard to copy what they were doing before.

After enjoying this 7" I then realised I had somehow missed a red vinyl repress of their LP on Rev, so I had to put that straight and pick one up. There were 518 copies of this one, pressed in 2018. I'm not convinced that red was the best colour choice, but it is what it is at this point.

Postcard CV

At the start of the year I was up to my neck in pop punk that I used to listen to in the early 90s, and finally got into a band called Senseless Things that my friends used to listen to circa 1991-3 ish. I was never interested, but this year gave one of their records a chance and really liked it. At the end of that post I wrote this:

I've also been listening to their other releases online as a result of being into this one, so I may have to try to track those down at some point.

Last week I drove an hour to meet an old friend for lunch, and then ended up at his place looking through his old records, and then ended up being given a small pile. One of them was the first Senseless Things album, 'Postcard CV'.

This was originally released by a label called Way Cool Records back in 1989. I'm not sure exactly when my friends picked up on this band, but I would guess 1990 or possibly 1991. Either way, this is now old stuff, and it took me 30 years to realise that they were actually onto something good back then after all.

I'm stoked to have been given this by my friend as he was THE biggest Senseless Things fan back then. It means a lot to me to be able to now call his copy a part of my collection. What I need now is the third LP, although interestingly none of my friends seem to have had that one. I think they bailed on the band at that point. So I may have to go out and buy my own copy rather than just get given one out of someone's collection.

Hogan's Heroes

It's interesting how time changes things. Somewhere around 28 or 29 years ago a friend of mine bought an LP by a band called Hogan's Heroes in a used record shop. I don't think I ever got to hear it, but what I do remember is that a few weeks later he took it back and traded it in for something else, telling me 'it was shit'. So that was the basis of my opinion on Hogan's Heroes for the best part of three decades.

I was in a used record shop a couple of months ago and I came across the 2nd Hogan's Heroes LP at a very cheap price on colour vinyl, so I figured I would rescue it from the store. You know how it is sometimes, you just fancy buying something.

Hogan's Heroes were a band back from the early 80s to the early 90s and were from New Jersey. That's pretty much all I know about them. I kinda realised that I never ever seen anyone post ay pictures of their records, nor do I ever remember anyone I know ever mention them in any capacity. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that they were never really that popular. For what it's worth, I think this record is alright. It's not great, but it's also not bad. I'd definitely pick up another of their LPs if I saw it... well, as long as it was pretty cheap.

In Vain

Even though I have been trying to minimise the number of reissues I was buying for quite a few years, there are still exceptions that crop up regularly. When It's Alive Records announced a colour vinyl repress of the Visual Discrimination 'In Vain' EP, I found myself instantly ordering a copy.

'In Vain' was originally released by Nemesis Records back in 1990. Back when I was first getting into buying hardcore records, Nemesis was a label that I latched on to fairly early on, and the Visual Discrimination 12"s were amongsth the first few releases that I bought. OK, they weren't the greateest band in the world, but they hold a place in my heart and I get nostalgic about their records when I see them. And even though Nemesis pressed lots of records on colour vinyl (and a few of their records on multiple colours), 'In Vain' was only ever pressed on black. So I figured that a colour vinyl copy on a differnt label would still be kinda cool.

As usual, this one came in a mylar sleeve sealed with stickers. I managed to open it without any damage to the stickers. SHame I didn't figure this technique a couple of years ago when I bought the first of these It's Alive releases.

The record is on a nice blue marble colour vinyl. I mean, I'd probably have chosen white, clear or grey, but it still looks good.

The paper inner sleeve is printed and hand numbered, and the b-side label is also hand written. It's a great touch to remind you at all times that this was made DIY style by a one man operation. Also, one thing that is interesting about this one is that the back cover of this pressing is completely different to the original version. I should really have taken a pic of the two side by side, but nevermind.

As with every It's Alive release of the last couple of years, this one is absolutely stuffed full of stickers, posters, inserts etc. The 'value for money' box is well and truly ticked.

If you haven't heard this record then it's worth checking out. An old (almost) forgotten CA hardcore gem, and I think it has aged pretty well.

Shook Ones

A couple of years ago (which was somehow four years!) there was a new Shook Ones album released by Revelation. The band had previously been quiet for 9 years and this was a comeback record. Having just read my post on that record, I do remember really liking it at the time, although I have probably only really listened to it about twice since. Well, given that the band were firmly back on the scene, Rev then decided to repress their first two albums, which were previously released by different labels a long time in the past.

The band's first album 'Sixteen' was originally released back in 2005 by Endwell Records (a label which existed from about 2001-07). I actually remember buying the tour version of this one somewhere around 2006. And 16 years later I am adding two more copies of 'Sixteen' to my collection. Who'd have thought?

There were two colours of this one, neither pressed in particularly large numbers. There were 164 on orange and 540 on purple.

The 3rd album is called 'The Unquotable A.M.H.' (and I have no idea what the title means) and was originally released back in 2009 by a label called Paper + Plastick, a label which it seems was owned by the drummer of Less Than Jake. Interestingly, the band's 2nd album was put out by Rev back in 2006, so I'm guessing this move to a new label was an attempt to get more attention. So it seems kinda funny that it ended up being given a reissue on Rev thirteen years after it's initial release. Despite owning the band's other albums, this one had completely passed me by and I had no idea it even existed until this repress was announced. Crazy how that happens sometimes huh?

.

This one was pressed on two colours too. There were 160 on peach vinyl and 703 on salmon vinyl. I'm not entirely sure which colour is which, as one of mine is distinctly pink, which to me is neither peach nor salmon.

The thing that I have probably said about Shook Ones before is that they are one of those bands who get better with each release. So if I were to rank their records in order of preference, it runs backwards from the latest to the first. So Rev represseing this was the kick I needed to finally listen to the their third album for the first time after all these years. I may even look at picking up an original pressing out of curiosity if I can find a cheap one, although it's probably not necessary.