Antidote 'No Peace In Our Time' LP

When I heard that there was a full length coming out from Antidote, like most people I was extremely sceptical. I mean, can anyone think of any band that has split up, reformed years later and made new music which has not sucked? Yeah, me neither. It just doesn't happen. But still, I was curious. I mean, the Antidote 7" is one of the all time greats. If there was a 1% chance of a new record being even half as good as the 7", then it was going to be worth investigating. So I downloaded it to check it out and I found myself quite enjoying it. I mean, it doesn't touch the 7", but you know what? It's not half bad. I found myself getting kinda addicted to the first song, with it's catchy 'shut up!' chorus, which would then lead on to me listening to the rest of the record. So I then figured I wanted to buy a vinyl copy. And then before I got around to visiting the Bridge Nine store, I stumbled onto a test press on eBay being sold by Drew Stone himself. I'm such a dipshit that I couldn't resist bidding on it. And wouldn't you know it, I won.

As tests go, this one is fairly interesting. This comes in a plain LP sleeve, but the sleeve has a 12" x 12" target glued to the front. And not only is the front a target, but the target was actually used at a shooting range. It was shot three times with an AK47.

I got number 7 of 20 copies. The labels are stamped, as is usual with B9 tests these days.

The back of the cover is signed by all members of the band. The back also has bullet exit holes.

There's also a photo included which shows the sleeve/target hanging at the shooting range. A pretty cool little extra I think.

I haven't read or heard anyone else's opinion on this record. Anyone else given this a chance? If so, let me know your thoughts. I'm genuinely interested.

America's Hardcore Volume 2

Did someone say Bane? Did someone say Supertouch? Well count me in! This is the new compilation from Triple B Records 'America's Hardcore Volume 2'. I didn't even per-order this or really know about it until someone offered me this little set of four records. But needless to say I bit their arm off (not literally).

There are three colours of this thing. The most limited is purple out of 333. I think this was supposed to be red, white and blue swirl. But I guess when you put red, white and blue into a record making machine this is what comes out. Purple.

There are 16 bands on here. Mainly current or new bands, most of which I have never listened to. Clearly I need to do some catching up though as most bands on here are great. Red vinyl is out of 765.

The third colour is clear blue, which is 'limited' to a huge 1,015 copies. In my mind this is the best looking colour of the lot. This photo also shows the glossy booklet that accompanies the record. Just like comps of old, each band gets a page.

I also picked up a test press. The picture also shows the front of the glossy booklet, although the test just comes in a plain white paper sleeve. There are quite a few of these. 35 in total. No doubt the high number made is so the band members could get copies, but with 16 bands on the record, you know there's no way each person playing on the comp got one.

And to finish, the obligatory 'collection' shot, aka the money shot:

The funniest thing though was that on first play, one song jumped out and I was like 'wow, who's this?'. It was Ringworm. I hadn't even noticed that Ringworm was on this thing. Is it me or do they seem out of place?

There are some really good songs on here and I just know this is going to be a gateway to buying more records for me. But I probably need to haul myself into the 21st century a bit more. Notable mention goes to the Boston Mayhem song (which is some modern day hardcore supergroup) which I thought was awful at first, but which is now pretty much my favourite. Weird how that happens sometimes isn't it?

More Than I've Got

There's something I always liked about the Right Brigade / A Poor Excuse 7", and I always kinda wanted to collect all the different versions. I just never got around to it. I did buy two versions from some dick on eBay last year, but he never sent them and then seemed to vanish from eBay. Seemed a bit weird as he had thousands of positive feedback. Maybe he died? Who knows?

Well I recently spotted this yellow vinyl copy and added it to my collection. I only ever bought one copy of this record when it came out and never really knew which colours were rarer than others, but the Bridge Nine discography tells me that this is the rarest colour and there are only 152 of these.

Perhaps now that this doesn't seem to sell for much I can add the other versions to my white cardboard box. Hmmm. We shall see...

This Is A Cave In

Back in September last year, Hydrahead Records announced that it was going to close down. For a lot of people, me included, it was a shock and a bit of a sad moment. I somehow latched onto the label in it's very early days and I bought everything they released religiously. Well, up to about 2005 or so, and then I lost interest. A lot of the stuff they released these last few years just wasn't grabbing my attention. Plus, with the label growing in popularity, it was impossible to get any of the records. They would sell out at insane speeds. So I lost touch and kinda gave up. But I was still very sad to hear that they felt there was no option but to close their doors and shut up shop.

Well, this announcement seemed to generate a lot of sympathy, love and support from people wanting to help. And given that the label's problems seem to be mainly financial, this meant people buying shit. To help, the label put lots of stuff up for sale. The highlight was a lot containing a test press of every record they had released, which was up for $3,333. I did some quick maths and thought that this was a good deal, so decided to buy it, only to then realise that someone else had already bought it. Ah well. So instead I bought two Cave In tests.

The first is a test for the 'Anomolies Volume One' 12". This comes in a plain white sleeve and is numbered out of 30 copies.

The second is the 'Planets Of Old' 12" that came out about three years ago. This one comes in a sleeve with a robot on the front. Hydrahead must have made up loads of these sleeves and used them for every test press over a four year period or so.

I like how the back cover shows some Hydrahead hippy stuffing test pressings into the robot sleeve. Funny.

OK, so these are pretty low down the chart of cool Cave In 12"s, but I guess that's why they were available. I did stumble across some ebay auctions for Cave In LPs last week, including 'Jupiter'. I emailed the seller to see if we could work out a deal for the lot. By the time I had sent my message, someone else had bought them all. They must have spent about $1500 in one go. Damn.

Give Me Seven Inches

Seems we're all collecting Give records these days. Mike, Doug and I are now potentially all chasing the same stuff. At some point, I'm sure it's gonna get messy. For now though, things seem to be ok. We've each got pretty good collections and are each missing different items.

Just like Mike, I now have 19 pieces of Give vinyl in my collection, although a different 19. The 19th is the limited cover version of the 'I Am Love' 7" on Triple B records.

This now completes my mini-collection of the three 2012 released 7"s with limited covers, each featuring a 'part time' member of the band. This one features Austin Stemper. I think that these 'part time' dudes just fill in for shows or tours when the other members are unable to play out. A pretty cool set up if you ask me.

2012 Wrap Up

Now that 2012 is over, it's time to take a few minutes to reflect. It was a pretty good year for music and a good year for records. So just for fun and posterity, here are my top 5 lists.

(Note - there are a lot of links here. Each record title links to the original post on this blog, whereas the record label name links to the label's site in case you want to buy some records of your own)

Top 5 7"s of 2012

1. NO TOLERANCE 'No Remorse, No Tolerance' (Youngblood Records) - I saw this band play live this year, which really cemented them as one of my favourite bands. This 7" kills everything.

2. GIVE 7" trilogy - ok, so I'm cheating a bit, but the three Give 7"s are on constant rotation for me and it's impossible to pick one over the other two, so I'm choosing all three. Sue me.
'I Am Love' (Triple B Records)
'Flowerhead' (Youngblood Records)
'Petal Pushing' (Painkiller Records)

3. ROT IN HELL 'Termini Terrae' (Dark Empire Records) - just sneaking in at the end of the year, this marks a very welcome return for Rot In Hell with four 'next level' songs.

4. UNHOLY MAJESTY 'S/T' (A389 Records) - a 7" by a newer UK Holy Terror band, this 7" notched up a LOT of plays this year. Apparently there's an LP coming in 2013. Can't wait.

5. POWER TRIP 'S/T' (Lockin' Out Records) - if you'd have told me when I bought this that it would make my top 5, I would have said you were insane. But this one grows on me every time I play it & I'm pretty much playing this daily now, especially in the gym.

Top 5 LPs of 2012

1. GYPSY 'Giant's Despair' (Six Feet Under Records) - I was really looking forward to this LP, and it hit the spot immediately. I've played this loads this year and I show no signs of tiring of it. I only wish it were longer.

2. YOUR FAVORITE TRAINWRECK 'S/T' (Fortunate Son Records) - featuring Popeye from Farside and Jeff from Gameface, this was a slowburn at first but then I got hooked on a couple of songs, and now I know pretty much every word to it. Great record.

3. FIRE & ICE 'Not Of This Earth' (Reaper Records) - I was excited for this LP and it didn't disappoint at all. Great mosh inducing hardcore.

4. BOSTON STRANGLER 'S/T' (Fun With Smack Records) - THE most hyped record of the year (and decade), this did not disappoint at all. Love this.

5. DINOSAUR JR 'I Bet On Sky' (Jagjaguwar Records) - a new Dinosaur Jr album, and as usual it delivered. Great artwork too.

My Top 5 Pickups of 2012

1. The 'Ultimate Test Press Score' - I bought 13 test pressings from one person in one go, including five Revelation tests. This lot was sent in not 1, Not 2, but 3 separate packages.

2. UNITY 7" on blue - the first Wishingwell Records release, a killer record, and a long time want of mine. Done.

3. REASON TO BELIEVE LP Test Press - one of my all time favourite bands and albums, I was stoked to scoop a test press.

4. NO WARNING 'Suffer Survive' LP Test Press - I didn't listen to this album for years, but when I did listen I loved it. And fortunately, someone I knew just happened to be offloading a test press so I jumped all over it.

5. CAVE IN 'Jupiter' LP on clear - I've always loved Cave In, and this is the record of theirs I have played the most. The super rare clear vinyl copy appeared on eBay and I just had to take it.

Well, that pretty much sums up 2012 for me. Big thanks for anyone who continues to read this thing, and bigger thanks to those who comment. It's all about fun and communication, people. Here's to 2013...

Black Flag Colour LP Collection

I don't usually pull out things from my collection to post. This blog has always been an online diary of new things I pick up. But due to just completing my Black Flag color vinyl LP collection, as well as the fact that my girlfriend is sick and it's raining outside (hence I'm bored), I figured I would spend some time taking photos today. So here's the culmination of 6 years of patience and sniping...

First up, 'Damaged'. The purple marble copy has blue labels, which means it is an earlier press (apparently from the late 80s according to Lins). The pink, red & clear purple copies have red labels and are all early 90s pressings.

Next, 'My War'. The red vinyl has no barcode on the back, the blue does. The red is an earlier pressing for sure, but the blue seems harder to come by and sells for more on average.

And now, three copies of 'Slip It In'. The clear, dark red copy is from the early 90s, whereas the green and grey were pressed this year.

Next is 'Loose Nut'. The first blue vinyl copy (which is the early 90s pressing) that I bought on eBay (for about £6) arrived broken. I complained to the seller about poor packaging and got a refund, then I framed it. In 20 years of buying records, this is the only one that's ever arrived broken.

So not long after the broken blue vinyl copy of 'Loose Nut', I found another for about the same price. Then, this year, they repressed it on a million different colour variations. I stupidly bought three of them.

It's a similar deal with 'In My Head'. Until this year there was only one colour version, which is an orangey pink colour. Then this year it got pressed on several colours. I bought two. I like the dark brown as it matches the cover.

Not so great a record, but essential if you want a complete Flag collection, it's the inevitable live record - 'Who's Got The 10½?'. There are two colours of this one - clear pink and clear purple (which looks black here but is definitely purple, I assure you!).

Possibly the most pointless record to own if you have all the others, 'Wasted Again', which is a greatest hits album. I do love the colourful cover on this one, even though it's completely out of step with all the others. There are two colours of this one - gold vinyl and blue vinyl. The blue vinyl copy of this is pretty rare. Not even the ultimate Black Flag discography seems to know about this one. Ironically, this was the first piece of colour Black Flag vinyl I picked up back in 2006 when I decided to start this collection.

And here's a few odds and sods. Each of these (currently) only exists on one colour. 'Family Man' on yellow, 'The First Four Years' on gold, and 'Everything Went Black' on white.

And finally, the money shot. The whole lot in one go. It's a good job I have a king sized bed.

In total, this post must have taken about 3 hours to put together. After all this time and effort I can safely say that I don't want to see another colour vinyl Black Flag LP for quite some time.

Clear Purple Damaged

I'm super stoked on this one. Black Flag 'Damaged' on clear purple vinyl. It's one of those purple records that looks black unless there's a light behind it, as you can see:

Now that I have this, I think I have a complete Black Flag colour vinyl LP collection. Well, almost. Last year they reissued two albums on numerous different colours in one of those pressings where the plant used leftover vinyl, so there are all kinds of different colour mixes out there. Kind of irritating as it makes it impossible to get them all. But ignoring those dumbass 2011 reissues, I think I now have everything that was pressed in the 90s. It's taken me about 6 years to collect these things. In celebration I might get the whole lot out for a group photo. What do you lot think?

Silver Is The Devil

Not one that was really on my want list, but I saw it for what I thought was pretty cheap, so I clicked the button. This is Integrity 'Humanity Is The Devil' 10" with the silver sleeve, on black vinyl.

I didn't realise until this turned up that the pressing info is printed on the back of the thing.

I'm not sure exactly what the crack is with this. There are a few of the 'classic' Victory releases that at some point (late 90s? Early 00s? I struggle to remember) got put up for sale in limited sleeves. The ones I know about for sure are the Deadguy LP and the first Snapcase LP, but I'm pretty sure there were others. I don't know why these came to exist, but I would guess that they were leftover records and Victory wanted to shift them... although this one is numbered out of 1419 copies, so if my theory is true then that would be a lot of left overs.

Termini Terrae

It's been quite some time since I posted a ROT IN HELL record on here. Exactly one year, in fact. To the day. They used to crank out records pretty regularly, but then two members left and things went quiet. I was starting to wonder whether they had reached the end of the road, but fortunately they are back from the dead. What happened? Well, I don't really know the detail, but basically a foreign vocalist was recruited & things didn't seem to work out, so a local lad named Lecky (or 'electricity' if you're in Liverpool) ended up stepping in to fill the void. And there's probably someone else playing bass now too.

Well, as soon as the band was up and running again, there was a recording obligation to fulfill. A 7" for some label called Dark Empire Records. Yes, that's right - Dark Empire. Dwid's label from the early 90s.

I think I got lucky when the pre-orders opened. I must have been online quite soon after they went up, because I got in early enough to get a test press. Not sure who it is on the front. Some dippy tart.

The regular press looks far more badass. There were two colours available for pre-order - blue and white. Both out of 100 copies, and both now sold out.

My white record has a cool bluey purpley splotch on each side.

The cover is a tri-fold affair, and the artwork is pretty damn crucial, as usual.

If anyone was worried that the vocalist leaving would make the band sound very different, then you need worry no more. I imagine that anyone who didn't know the band changed singer wouldn't realise after listening to this. Musically this is also spot on. The intro to side b is fantastic stuff. I was expecting an acoustic song but it quickly upped the pace into a full on aural assault. I just need the mp3s now so I can listen to this some place other than sat on the floor in my spare room.

Blue Are One

Hot on the heels of the Underdog 7" that I picked up a couple of months ago, I now find myself crossing yet another longtime blue vinyl 7" want off the list. This time, it's the Unity 'You Are One' 7". Wishingwell Records number one, no less.

So I guess that right now would probably be a good time to admit that I've never really understood which side of the sleeve is supposed to be the front cover. In my opinion, the side pictured above featuring the photo of the dude sitting under the tree is the front cover. This is based mainly on the logic that it features the name of the record, which as we all know is usually located on the front.

So, if I'm saying that the photo above is the front, then by process of elimination, the next photo must be the back:

The reason that I think that this side is the back is because it contains the song titles in the bottom right corner. I mean, whoever heard of putting the song titles on the front? That would be stupid.

Seems pretty straight forward, right? The front's the front and the back's the back. Well, maybe. But the confusion for me comes from the fact that about 99% of pictures I see of this record show the cartoon, x-d up dude side of the cover. So? Well, to me that just suggests that 99% of people think that side is the front. If they thought the other side was the front then they'd take a picture of the other side. Also, when Indecision Records re-released this back in 1999, they used the cartoon dude side as the front cover, although the got rid of the text box containing the song titles because, as we know, putting the song titles on the front would be stupid.

Anyway, I'd be interested to hear which side you think is the front, if for no other reason than to confirm I am right.

Moving on, I was conscious that the photos above make the blue vinyl look a little darker than it actually is, so I plonked it next to the window so as to show that it really is quite a light blue.

Next we move on to the issue of the insert. And again, there's a mystery to solve. As you may know, this 7" usually comes with one of two inserts. Apart from my black vinyl copy, that is, which comes without either! But in some bizarre twist of fate, this copy comes with two inserts - one of each version.

On the right, the one with the Unity written in a weird font at the top. It features pics of the band on the other side. And at the bottom, the one which has the lyrics condensed into 60% of the paper on one side, and a pic of the band on top of a building on the reverse.

Once again, I have no idea what the deal is. The 'Die Hard' insert seems to more commonly be paired up with the later pressing of the 7" (the one on black vinyl with red labels). But checking popsike, it seems pretty much all versions of the 7" can come with any version of the insert. In theory, the 'Die Hard' insert is for a later pressing and should never come with the first press blue vinyl record. But there are two that do. So god knows.