Get Up Kids Sup Pop 7"

My wants list and my approach to collecting is admittedly kinda weird at times. On the one hand, I have things on my want list that I want BADLY, that I would pay a lot of money for and which I would probably kill for if I really had to. I probably even devote a little time to trying to find these things by doing internet searches and maybe now and again trying to push a trade with someone. I would guess that this is how most people attack their own wants list. I mean, at the end of the day, if you want something, you do something to try to get it. You don't just sit there on your arse all day looking out of the window and hoping that by some fluke the thing you want will just drop out of the sky and land at your feet.

That said, however, I also have loads of things on my want list that would probably fit more aptly into a 'would be nice to own, but I'm almost indifferent about, and to be honest I'm not so bothered that I am ever going to put a lot of effort into finding. Basically, I'm happy to wait as long as it takes for one to fall into my hands at a decent price' list. But that's quite a mouthful. And again, if I'm honest, then probably 90% of my wants list falls into this latter category. Yes, it's true, the vast majority of the things on my want list I am not actually that bothered about getting. They're just on my list as a reminder that they exist and in case somebody will one day offer me as many free records as I can name. Oh, and because after 19 years, I don't know how to do much else other than buy records, and I need a list to remind me what to look for on ebay.

OK, so today's entry is a great example of me buying a record that I probably couldn't give less of a shit about.

The record in question is a 7" by the late 90s emo rock band, The Get Up Kids. This was released by Sub Pop as one of their monthly singles club releases back in 1999. On the back of the sleeve it says 'Edition of 1300' but it is well known that only 100 of these things came on clear vinyl. The clear version of this thing has regularly sold for over $100 for years. I always had it on my want list, but that was from when it came out, I put it on my list just because I figured it would be nice to have one, and because back then I probably quite liked this kinda crap and because it's a rare Sub Pop 7", and I always liked Sub Pop as a label... although into the mid 90s they started putting out some total rubbish and I had to acknowledge that they had totally fallen off.

Anyway, I was stoked to get this thing because it has been on my want list since it came out nearly 12 years ago. But at the same time, when I took it out of the cardboard mailer, as much as I thought it looked cool, I kinda realised that I didn't want it for the band or the music. I just wanted it because it was kinda elusive and (as Bod would say) "a nice one to have". But funnily enough, it did make me think to myself "why the hell am I still buying Get Up Kids records in 2011?". And I'm still struggling to find an answer.

Roses Never Fade LP Test & Yellow

One of my favourite albums of recent times is the Roses Never Fade LP that came out on A389 Records at the start of this year. The band features Dwid and a dude or two from Pale Creation playing acoustic, creepy folk type music. It's quite different and very good. I would advise anyone to check this out as it is the perfect late night listen. Even more perfect for those of you who may live in a log cabin in the middle of a forest where the temperature never rises above freezing.

I was lucky enough to obtain a test press of this album recently. Unlike most tests, this one comes on colour vinyl. It's kinda purpley grey. I think technically this is probably the 'scrap' vinyl that United sell cheaper than black vinyl. The colour is just various leftovers all chucked in together. Mine also came in a sleeve hand-made by Dwid:

I also picked up a copy of the album on yellow vinyl too. This is the more limited colour (aka the band colour) out of 100 copies. I think the vinyl colour was a good choice. It goes well with the cover art.

Black Flag colour 7"s

Two more entries into the Black Flag colour vinyl collection. One old, one new. Let's start with the old one...

'Louie Louie' 7" on red. No idea how old this one might be. My guess would be 1990-92. Somewhere round there. I got this on ebay uk for dead cheap.

The second is the 'Six Pack' 7" on white/grey/clear. The colour is somewhere between grey and white, but it's also slightly see thru. I got this one from RevHQ when I ordered some other bits and pieces recently, so it must be a brand new repress.

I still badly need a copy of the 'In My Head' LP on colour if anyone has one to give up, or if anyone knows anyone who might give one up. Get in touch.

OFF! ctwbwra 7" Wine

This 7" is by Off! and has no title... although is referred to in old speak by the titles of the songs it contains - 'Compared to what b/w Rotten Apple'. The two songs here clock in at less than three minutes in total.

I'm not sure if this was a Record Store Day release or not. I can't even be bothered to research it. All I know is that there are three colours and I only got one because the others seemed to sell out before I even knew that this record existed at all. Ah well. That's how the cookie crumbles sometimes I guess. Anyway, this copy is (I think) third pressing. I believe this colour is called 'wine'. Even though I don't drink wine and I know nothing about it, I'm pretty sure that wine isn't actually this colour... well, unless it has some engine oil mixed in with it maybe.

I'm loving this band right now. I really hope that they come to the UK at some point. I'd love to see their live show.

Youth Of Today CCME 12" on Yellow!

Anyone expecting this post to be about the latest Revelation Records reissue is going to be disappointed, because this post is about something else entirely - the dodgy European Pressing on We Bite Records, which I coincidentally won on eBay a couple of weeks before anyone even knew that another Revelation pressing was on the way. I decided to hold off posting the recent Rev pressing just to annoy Lins87... although no doubt he's probably too busy getting drunk and sleeping with 6 girls in one evening to care. We've seen 'Geordie Shore'. We know what life's like up there in Newcastle.

Anyway, I was never bothered about these bright yellow euro pressings of the YOT records before. I always thought that they looked awful and cheap. But something recently made me want to pick them up. I guess that when I got that Wishingwell LP a couple of months back it just reminded me that I should have more Youth Of Today records in my life. Even if they are on godawful bright colours.

I always thought that these things were on a solid yellow colour. But this one turns out to be kinda clear (as you can see) which I think somehow makes it look slightly less offensive:

Finally... I'm not entirely sure if this is supposed to be funny or not, but one of the names on the thanks list did make me chuckle...

Integrity Flexi Test Press

Yesterday I posted about the Integrity flexi disc. Today I'm back on the same subject with the fifth version of this record - the test press.

Yep, every record needs a test press, and flexi discs are no exception. The test for the Integrity flexi is a plain blue flexi which is only distinct from the other blue version by the fact that it has blank 'labels'.

It also comes in a sleeve. The sleeves for the regular flexis are card, but the sleeve for the test is a 'two bit' affair, consisting of a piece of clear acetate on top of a piece of blue card. It's also numbered out of 7 copies.

As stupid as it sounds, the biggest dilemma in my life when I received this was whether I should store it in the black bag with the other versions, or keep it elsewhere. I thought about this long and hard for all of two minutes before concluding that no, putting it in the bag would not be the correct thing to do. So instead I chucked it on the floor with the rest of the stuff I have bought in the last 6 months. At some point in the near future I hope to find a spare couple of hours to tidy up, so that I can walk around my spare room without stepping on records... although I seem to recall saying the same thing about 6 months ago and here I still am getting slowly buried in plastic & cardboard.

Integrity Black Bag Set

Organized Crime records recently had some fun pressing up a flexi disc version of an old Integrity demo, which was originally recorded and released (presumably on cassette) waaaaay back in 1989. There was a black flexi in a black sleeve made for the A389 show in Baltimore, which I believe sold out very quickly. There were then clear vinyl and red vinyl versions sold online. And then a blue flexi somehow got out there too. So four versions were made. I managed to get two of them from the label's online store, but I never got around to posting them on here because life has been too hectic for the past couple of months and I am just behind. But in a way that's a good thing, because a post about two flexi discs would have been dull compared to this.

Recently I heard that there was a super limited set of the flexis packaged in a bag. I figured it would be impossible to get one. On this occasion, however, I was more than happy to be proven wrong. This thing is really cool and I am very lucky to have one. So here we go...

The cloth bag, with the skull logo on the front:

Inside there is one of each of the four flexi discs. I got bag number 13, so all four records contained within are number 13s.

It's interesting how each version is slightly different to the others. First up is the black one. This is the one that was sold at the A389 jamboree. Black vinyl in a black sleeve, numbered out of 65.

This one also came with instructions on how to play and care for your flexi disc. Very caring of the label to include this I thought!

(Click the image to enlarge & read)

Crazy to think that some kids might have never seen or owned a flexi disc before. I guess I must just be old to have bought these things when they were common 20+ years ago.

Clear is the most common version, numbered out of 150:

Red, like the black, is also numbered out of 65:

And finally, blue vinyl. This is the rarest version, being numbered out of 45. This one also has a different centre 'label' as you can see:

Oh yeah, and to add some weight, the bag also includes a plexiglass square with the skull logo on it. This looks really cool. It also helps add some stiffness to the bag so that the flexis won't just flop over or get bent.

So there you go. The Integrity black bag set. Making flexi discs acceptable in 2011.

(((Oh yeah, finally... I have one spare red and one spare clear. If you want them, get in touch. I will sell or trade to anyone who may be interested)))

Chain Of Strength 2nd 7" w/ Blue Mindpower Sleeve

I picked up another Chain of Strength 7" variant I didn't have a couple of weeks ago. Today seems like a fitting day to post this up, seeing as videos have been surfacing all day from the Mouthpiece / Youth Of Today show that took place yesterday in Pamona, CA (in case you haven't seen it, head on over to Double Cross and watch Curtis from Chain Of Strength join Mouthpiece on stage to cover 'True Til Death').

So today's record is the second Chain Of Strength 7", 'What Holds Us Apart'. Most straight edge collectors know the crack with this 7". There are at least 200 different versions of this 7" in total. If you want a comprehensive run down, you can either read Dobek's blog, or if you want something a bit cooler (sorry Dobek!) then watch a video of Kevin Finn talking you through 15 different versions, including all tests, over at Larry Ransom's site (a great little video if you haven't seen it before you should definitely check it out).

My latest addition is one of apparently one of 200 copies on Mindpower Records with a blue sleeve.

Now, here's the messed up thing... tucked inside the blue sleeve was a regular Foundation sleeve from the first press. Not just the sleeve, but also the huge poster insert. What's weird is that, as far as I am aware, there isn't supposed to be a first press sleeve and insert inside the third press blue Mindpower sleeve. The vinyl is definitely the later pressing record that goes with the Mindpower sleeve, because it has the black labels with silver text. So how did the first press sleeve & insert end up getting packaged with this third press sleeve and vinyl? Does anyone else out there have this strange concoction?

Also, whilst I am on the subject, I checked my yellow sleeve Mindpower 7" to find that it somehow has the first press vinyl inside, i.e. it's a first press record in a third press sleeve (check my second ever blog post to see that photo HERE). So between the two copies, what the hell do I have? A pair of hotch potch versions, or so it seems. Almost like someone who had three different versions of the record dropped all the different bits (records, sleeves & inserts) into a heap and then randomly re-assembled them without really caring what went with what. Nightmare.

fIREHOSE promo 7"

There were a couple of Descendents promo 7"s on eBay a few weeks back. They went for $51 and $48 respectively. I watched them but in the end I didn't bid. But I did check the seller's other items and find another similar item that I liked the look of. In the end I won it for $7. I was beyond stoked.

The record is by a band called fIREHOSE (yup, that's how you write their name. Small 'f' and the rest in capitals). I won't go into much detail about the band, as you can read about them by using the link above if you are remotely interested. They came to my attention circa 1990 when I saw a skateboard video called 'Streets On Fire'. The final section of that video went to Natas Kaupas, who blew everyone's mind back then by spinning on a fire hydrant and boardsliding the roll bar in the back of a pickup truck. His section also had a great soundtrack - a song called 'Brave Captain' by an as then unknown band called fIREHOSE. A year or so later and a friend of mine managed to get his hands on a vinyl copy of the band's LP, and I was stoked to tape the first song onto a yellow Sony cassette, which I then played every day for god knows how long. It was one of those songs that makes a big impact on your life. You know how it is.

Nearly twenty years later I have just bought a 7" of that song. SST Records, catalog number PSST 079. The 'P' stands for 'Promo' (the real SST 079 was the band's first album, 'Ragin' Full On' which I scored a test press of back in September 2008). This 7" is a promotional record never intended for sale. I can only guess it went out to record stores and radio stations. Oh what a different world it was back then when labels had to send out free records in order to get their music heard. Promotion must have cost a small fortune!

This 7" isn't much to look at, but that's not really the point. It's a nice momento of an interesting time in my life. I guess that's what a lot of records are really. But goddamnit, this is also a great song. I haven't tired of this tune in twenty years and I seriously think I could play it every single day and never tire of it.

And for the old bastards amongst you, here's the video part it first featured in. Enjoy...

Record Store Day Part 2 - BURN

I did my Record Store Day post a couple of weeks back & mentioned in there that I was missing the pale yellow variant of the BURN 7". To my pleasant surprise, my old friend who I have never met, Brian Murphy, came to the rescue, not only telling me that he had a spare, but that he would send it to me for nothing. A few days later and here it is:

Of the three Revelation RSD releases that came on differing colour variants, this one is the most obvious. Here are my two different colour variants next to each other:

Interestingly, the Revelation Records text file discography has now been updated, and it seems that they either have no record of, or fail to recognise, the RSD colour variations. Kinda weird given the fuss these days over the pale yellow GB 7". Ah well... just because the labels doesn't acknowledge them doesn't mean they don't exist. Or does it?

This next photo nicely pulls together the two themes of the is post - Burn & Brian Murphy. Something I kept from the first day I ever met Dalbec & co. It's been safely tucked away in a box for ten and a half years.

Gotta say, I'm suddenly curious - was there ever a shirt made with this design? I really hope so.

A couple of old B9 7"s

Picked up a couple of old Bridge Nine releases on ebay recently through random events.

Firstly, The Hope Conspiracy 'File03' 7". Bridge Nine number 14. This one is an interesting one for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because the regular pressing was a two song 7" with an etched b-side, yet this one is the ultra rare double sided 7" with two extra songs. Only one hundred of these suckers out there, as the text on the poly bag suggests:

The other thing that makes this interesting is how it is numbered. Well, I guess the label must have lost their stamps and not been able to find any in any local stores, because these were numbered with a date stamper. So, record number 1 was 'Jan 01', and so on and so forth. Although, as you may have worked out, date stampers only number up to 31, so number 32 would have been 'Feb 01'. Which means that number 100 of 100 would have been 'Apr 10'. Seems a bit shit to me, but never mind.

I got pretty lucky with this one. Tre sold his a few weeks back and it ended on $57. I didn't bid because I was hoping to score it for less at some point. Then literally a couple of weeks later some other dude listed one, I watched it, and then ended up winning for $6.50. I think this usually goes for around the $50 mark, so I'm pretty happy to have scored a bargain.

I saw The Hope Conspiracy a couple of times back circa 2001/2. One time I asked the singer if anyone had ever mistaken him for David Arquette. He said he got it all the time. Sheep was also there and asked me who David Arquette was. Christ.

The second 7" is the Tenfold 'Now Is Our Time' 7". Bridge Nine number 2. This came out in 1997. I've had a blue one for years, but this clear vinyl copy is the rarest version, being numbered out of 100.

As you can see, this one is numbered using a proper stamper. I wonder what happened to the stamper in the years that followed so that it wasn't around when the label wanted to stamp the Hope Con 7"s?

Tenfold was a band that had Neal & Luke from In My Eyes in before they were in In My Eyes. They had another 7" on Stand Hard Records that I still never got around to picking up for some reason. Ah well. It's only been 14 years. I'm sure I'll get around to it one day.

A Staining Impression

One of my favourite 90s bands without a doubt, but one which seems to get little attention or love from other miserable old bastards.. Eleven Thirty Four. This band had 7"s on New Age, Ammunition, and Livewire, as well as a full length on New Age and a frickin' awesome song on the Indecision Records compilation LP. Dudes were previously in a band called Function, who had a 7" on Revelation's sister label Crisis Records. I always loved both bands, and I firmly believe that their output has stood the test of time and regularly listen to their catalog. So I was stoked to find a test press for one of their 7"s up for sale in the Mankind Records online store. I didn't need to think about this one for so much as a second. Bought. Stoked.

Seemed like a good excuse to get the other two copies out of the box and snap a family portrait:

I also grabbed a 7" by a band called Generations. I don't know anything about this band whatsoever, but the cover sold it to me... bass guitar with Insted & In My Eyes stickers, x'd up hand and an X Swatch. This came out in 2006, and the main reason I grabbed it was because it was on sale for $2. It's pretty generic straight edge to be honest, but a sound I've always been a sucker for, and the nice cover and layouts make it feel like a quality release... even if I am five years too late! (No change there then)

If anyone wants to chime in & tell me anything interesting about either band then that would be cool...