Wait

Back in 2014, my favorite band released another album, which sadly was also supposed to be their last one. After having released Don’t Wait Up, the band embarked on a lengthy tour, which was supposed to be their goodbye tour before calling it quits. That was a very happy time for me because I got to travel with my wife, hang out with a ton of friends and see Bane plenty of times. At the same time it was a sad time because I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that in the future and how much I was going to miss screaming along to those songs. 

Fast forward to 2023: Bane announced they were fully back as a band. They’d played one or two shows as a benefit/tribute for their friend and former band member Stu, who sadly passed away a few years ago. I was always doubtful about the band’s breakup being permanent, because the members loved the band and everything that came with it so much, but at the time the decision seemed to be pretty final. Sometime last year the band posted on Instagram that they were going to play a few shows in the US and one festival in the UK. To be honest, I was fairly indifferent to the news because I knew I wasn’t going to see Bane, so I felt no real connection to them being back on stage. Then, sometime earlier this year shows in mainland Europe were announced, three of which were within a 2.5 hour radius of where we live. The possibility of seeing Bane again and plenty of friends checking in to see who was going to which show got me more and more excited. When the tickets went on sale, all of the initial shows sold out in seconds and my wife and I luckily managed to secure tickets for one of the shows. Great. Then more shows were announced, one only 30 minutes from the town we live. Perfect. 

In the end, we managed to see Bane four times on that tour, two shows being back to back nights. Having a job, a kid, and being of a certain age, this bordered on a miracle. Travelling to shows, hanging out with friends you don’t see all that often, and seeing your favorite hardcore band (and going into work with very little sleep) was such a great throwback to a very different life. Maybe it was also the onset of my midlife crisis. Who knows. The first show we got to see Bane was the first real hardcore show (Bane had only played a festival somewhere in Eastern Germany the day prior) and what a show it was. When that first note hit, the whole room erupted. Granted, maybe a little slower than 10 or 15 years ago because the age average was definitely 35+, but still. Singalong, stagedives, moshing without any bullshit - just like a hardcore show should be imho. The setlist was pretty close to prefect, too. The other three times we saw them were fun as well, but that first show was by far my favorite.

Prior to the tour, I’d heard rumours that Don’t Wait Up, the final Bane LP before their break up, was about to be re-released because this year marks the 10 year anniversary of that album, which is crazy to think about in itself. A friend close with the band told me that there was going to be a tour press, too, which made me even more stoked about the shows we were about to attend. The tour press doesn’t have different artwork, which is kind of a bummer, but at least the color scheme works really well with the sleeve. The shows made me realize how much I love this band and to embrace all of the represses. You’ll probably see  more Bane records here eventually.     

2024 Tour Press on Yellow and Purple Halves on End Hits /150

Time Capsules

When Change released Closer Still, the world was still very different. As you can see Change went on tour in Europe in February 2020. They were a brand new band and were just about to release their first LP. I’m a little hazy on the exact release date because the LP was released on two different labels on two continents and two different points of time. Plus, the world shut down soon afterward because of the Covid pandemic, an event which has blurred my already blurry sense of time. If I remember correctly, the tour press was the first variant available and remained so for a couple of months and then the album was properly released by React! and Refuse Records. But feel free to correct me. 

I remember that I really wanted to go to one of the shows, probably the one in Leipzig, but for some reason I couldn’t make it. I didn’t think much of it because it wasn’t the first time I missed out on a show. Little did I know what would happen a few weeks later and how long it would be until I’d go see a band play live. 

Closer Still was exactly what I needed at the time. Melodic hardcore with a modern twist. I really liked the reggae influence too. The lyrics were great too and on top of that, the nod to Wishingwell Records and Uniform Choice was the cherry on top. This album is also the last current record that I actively collect because collecting records has changed so much these last few years. As much as I wanted to have every copy of let’s say the Anxious LP, the first Magnitude LP or any of the Fiddlehead albums, I just couldn’t justify the expense with the myriad of variants from an ever growing number of outlets. So, Closer Still is a marker of many changes for me. I managed to collect most of the variants quite quickly. I think I only miss the second press copies and I’m not sure I want to get those to be honest. The only variant that kept eluding me was the tour press from 2020 until a few weeks ago a copy popped up for sale on Discogs for a fair price.

I didn’t have time to pull out all variants and take a group picture, but I might edit this post at one point.

Tour Press on Green Vinyl on Refuse Records /113

Tour Poster + Back Cover of the LP

The seller also graciously sent me another record with the Change LP, a split 7” by two bands I’d never listened to before. Mine, which I knew only by name, were a hardcore band from Switzerland, while Dawnbreed hailed from the south of Germany. Both bands played sort of screamo hardcore typical for the mid- to late-90s. I like both sides of the split, but I’m not sure how often I will reach to this 7”. I also dig the dystopian artwork and how the cover is part of a big fold-out poster. Also, DIY style patches that come with records need to make a comeback!

A Strong Desire

Desire Line are a relatively new band from the Cologne/Munster in the northwest of Germany. Two of the people in the band played in Tides Denied, an awesome, but now defunct youth crew band, although they switched instruments for this new project. Actually, the record was released on another band mate’s label, too. However, Desire Line sound nothing like youth crew. 

I really liked the demo they released in 2022, you might call it a single because the quality is so good. But to me, the first release of a band with only a few songs is a demo, especially if it is released on cassette. Like I said, I really liked the demo, so when I heard that they were going to release a proper record, I was really looking forward to it and they didn’t disappoint. The music is this awesome mix of indie, shoe gaze and dream pop. 

I only received Life’s Between Us on vinyl maybe three weeks ago, no thanks to the pressing plant, and this record has already spent a lot of time on my records player and I guess this will be the case for the foreseeable future too. Originally it was supposed to come out in March and technically I could have listened to the songs online since then, but waiting for the proper release on vinyl was well worth it. I really like the artwork as well (“Collective Memory” is a sticker, not part of the cover!) and of course they did a great job by picking out pink/magenta as vinyl color, although purple would have matched the artwork even better. But it still looks great together. For me this is a strong contender for record of the year. 

Pre-Order on Pink on Collective Memory /50

The Low End?

Lately, I’ve been listening to the A Tribe Called Quest records I already own, Midnight Merauders and People’s Instinctive Travels a lot. So much that I figured I finally need to pick up their other LPs. I don’t remember exactly why I picked up their first and third LP, but I think I already knew at least one song on each record and that was the criterion for buying. Anyway, I decided to fill that ugly gap between first and third album by buying The Low End Theory. I’ve often read that this record is considered the band’s masterpiece. I probably haven’t listened to this LP enough, especially compared to the other two I own, but right now I wouldn’t pick this above either one of the other two. Having said that, this is still an incredible record. I’m looking forward to diving into the rest of their catalogue. 

Latest Repress (?) on Black on Jive Records

Jazz Ist Anders

If you’re into hardcore and / or punk and you’re of a certain age, there’s almost a 100% guarantee that Die Ärzte (aus Berlin) were a gateway band for you. They’ve been around for more than 40 years by now, which in itself is incredible. Usually people drop off at some point during their catalogue, but I’m still on board. Every album, including the newer ones, has a couple of songs I really like. I’m also a big fan on them re-releasing all of their post-reunion records, which were usually one-time pressings on vinyl and since have become extremely pricey. 

Jazz Ist Anders was originally released in 2007 and I managed to get a copy. Actually, there were two versions: a regular version and an economy version. The economy version, the one I had back then, was (and is) a stripped down version, so the artwork looks cheaper, the cover itself is flimsier and even the lyric sheet doesn’t provide the real lyrics. If you zoom in on the picture, you can see that the lyrics are pure gibberish. You have to be a fan of that kind of humour, which obliviously I am. 

Anyway, like I said, I managed to get a copy of the economy version back then, but a few years later I decided to give this record to the younger brother of my then girlfriend. He’d shown interest in punk in general and in this band in particular, so I gave him the records as a gift. As you might have guessed, my then girlfriend became my ex-girlfriend eventually and I never saw her, her brother or the record again. Oh, well. As the saying goes “time heals all wounds”, or in this case “time fixes every hole in your record collection”.