Printed To The X

Violent Reaction's s.t. 7" is such a ripper. I already had a regular copy, but I always wanted one of those fancy covers that fold out to this gigantic X. Looks so cool. 150 copies on red vinyl with the red X sleeve.

The Records, The People

Once a year I get to take a trip to London thanks to my job. I love this city and that trip is something I always look forward to. Last year the trip was even better than the years before because it coincided with the first ever European Burn show. Not only did I get to see an awesome band, I also got to meet some fellow collectors I'd only known from the Internet before. One of them was Marcus, which you probably know from his blog The Endless Quest. My wife and I got to meet him in person again a few weeks later when we travelled to London for a Bane show. We stayed in touch afterwards and when we got to talking about my next trip to London, he invited me to his home. An invitation I gladly said yes to. I was treated to a nice dinner, we talked about records, and I got to dig through his collection. If you think it's impressive based on his blog and his list on howsyouredge?, I can assure you it's way more impressive in real life. I got to see and hold some real gems. The highlight for me of course was his incredible Bane collection, but there were lots of other awesome records I'll never see again in person. I'm not even thinking about possibly owning some of them.

Prior to the trip we'd worked out a small trade and I got some nice extra goodies from him as well. I have a pretty good Dangers collection if I dare say so myself, and I always thought I was pretty knowledgeable on their discography, but when I was going through Marcus' records, sure enough I found a variant I didn't know existed. Dangers - s.t. on Old Guard - black vinyl with regular sleeve. Always cool to find variants you didn't know existed. Keeps collecting fun.

Thanks again to you and your girlfriend for having me, Marcus. Those were some fun few hours that went by much too quickly.

Cough/Uncool

The second record I bought in London that was supposedly a heavy hitter scored for cheap. Oh well. It would have been cool, but just having this bootleg is okay for me. Obviously I don't have an original to compare this with, so I don't know if this is a good copy or not, but I like the "the Unfits" pun on the label.

The Kids Will Have Their Say

On my most recent trip to London I hit up a few record stores there. I always find them a little disappointing, but I can't resist going to an actual store and flip through the bins. And there's always that tiny speck of hope that I might find something really good. I found two records that triggered my interest, but of course both of them turned out to be bootlegs, but since I'm not sure I want to shell out the big bucks for these records, these boots will have to do for now. SSD's debut LP is such an iconic record. The cover, the album name and so many of the song titles have been recycled again and again for 30+ years. The boot itself is done pretty well. The cover is of good quality and the songs sound pretty good to me. Granted, I don't have a frame of reference, but for me it does the trick.

Have Heart Goes To Posi Numbers

One more special Have Heart cover. This one was made for the Posi Numbers festival 2005. Red vinyl out of 125 copies. All sleeves were numbered on the back flap of the cover. My copy is #22/125. The pressing plant had made an error since the vinyl was supposed to be blue. The mistake was rectified later and the blue vinyl was used with regular sleeves. Again, the lighting is really bad. They yellow is much more vibrant in real life.

Have Heart Goes To Sink With Cali

I don't know if any of the guy in Have Heart are records nerds, but they made damn sure to keep collectors on their toes. There are so many different covers for tours, festivals or no apparent reason at all. This is the special sleeve for Sink With Cali III, which features Scorpion from Mortal Kombat.125 copies, all on black vinyl. Poor lighting job on my part. The cover is much more yellow in reality. Might have to take a new picture.

Heart Flush

I'm not the biggest poker fan in the world, but the reference is kind of fitting as you will see. I don't want to get into the abyss that is collecting Have Heart 7" variants, so I'm not going for all the colours and sleeve variants out there. Getting some different covers though is a different story. I managed to track down quite a few of the Have Heart 7"s I wanted in a short period of time and slowly but steadily they're arriving on my doorstep. A buddy of mine has started to sell off his awesome collection(s) recently and while I was too late for the rarest items in his collection, I managed to get some puzzle pieces. Demo on black vinyl with Summer Tour 2005 cover out of 150 copies.

On a different note (no pun intended), I just love personal notes that come with records/shirts/zines. I like to do the same because it gives a trade/sale a personal touch. Handwritten notes may seem like an anachronism, but so are records and zines, right? It's so much fun going through those notes after a few years and think back to that deal.

G.L.O.S.S.

Just when I finally managed to buy a copy of G.L.O.S.S.' demo 7" and started listening to that band, I learned that they decided to break up. Just my luck. On the plus side, this demo is really, really good. I feel like the hype that has surrounded this band is more than justified. I don't know if this is a mark of high quality, but they were mentioned by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of 10 Great Modern Punk Bands. And Epitaph Records supposedly offered them a $50,000 record deal, which the band turned down. More power to them.
G.L.O.S.S. played great hardcore punk and they actually had something to say. Outcast Stomp is such a rad song. It's great to see a band that focused on queer, transgender and feminist issues get so much positive attention. It's really too bad that the band decided to call it quits so quick, but I can understand that getting (too) big as a band can also take its toll on the members.
I definitely need the other 7". This is the European press on black on Sabotage Records.

Milo Goes To Emergency Room

The Descendents had a few songs left over from their LP recording session, so they decided to put them out on a one-sided 12" record. The b-side features a nice etching. 4,000 copies total, all on black vinyl.

Hyperdescendentium Spazzinate

A few weeks ago everybody's favourite punk rock band released their first new material in more than ten years so the level of anticipation was pretty high. And they sure delivered. I need to listen to more often though because I haven't found any real hit yet, but I feel thoroughly entertained by the LP. Since I got kind of late into the game, I could choose between the different colours available. After reading Marcus'  lengthy post about the new Descendents LP, I decided to get a copy on green/black swirl. It looks like regular black vinyl, but in the right light it changes to this awesome combination of colours. It was also easy to get because this was the exclusive colour for two German mail orders, so I didn't have to pay a whole lot for shipping.

Close up. The green/black swirl looks so awesome in real life.

Start Today

I know that the records covered in the last posts were not the most exciting ones from a collector's point of view, so I thought I'd show a really good one I picked up recently. Every hardcore kid loves Gorilla Biscuits. Every hardcore kid wants coloured Gorilla Biscuits vinyl. I won't pretend I'm any different. So here you are: Gorilla Biscuits' Start Today ze German press on We Bite Records. I've heard the numbers 500 and 200 info floating around on the Internet as pressing info, but nobody seems to know for sure how many there were pressed.

Difficult Loves

Last of the presents. The new Ghostlimb LP was a release I'd been really looking forward to and I didn't get disappointed. Difficult Loves is as good a record as any of their previous releases. First press on black vinyl out of 700.

The Hammer

Another present. With a name like The Hammer you better back it up with your music - which the band does. Hailing from Goteborg, Sweden, The Hammer delivers five blasts in the vein of The Flex or 86 Mentality. Black vinyl out of 329 copies.

Clean X Break

A few weeks ago I visited a good friend of mine I hadn't seen in quite a while and I got some belated birthday presents. Thanks again, buddy. Clean Break are from Portugal and I don't think I've ever listened to a hardcore band from Portugal that didn't play youth crew hardcore. Seems to be a thing in that country. Not outstanding, but good for what it is. Clear yellow out of 324 copies.