Long Way From Lawrence

The Get Up Kids is one of my favorite 90s emo bands and Something To Write Home About is one of my all-time favorite records. I know I often post how I don’t really order directly in the US anymore because of shipping and customs, but every once in a while, there’s just no way around it. When Nico posted about a live record of Something To Write Home About, I knew I needed a copy. Originally, the record was only available at shows, but the band made the leftovers available on their website. It took me a minute to pull the trigger because I’d hoped a copy from a seller in Europe might pop up on Discogs, but when that didn’t happen, my fear of the record selling out kicked in and I ordered a copy straight from the band. It helped that they had some cool merch available as well. 

This record is so good. I love the adaptation of the original artwork and it’s cool to hear the songs of Something To Write Home About played live in the order of the album. The only thing I can criticise is the fact that there are no liner notes or a special booklet. I feel like this could have elevated the record a lot and not going the extra mile feels like a wasted opportunity. 

1st Press on Black on Quality Hill

True Fraud

A couple of weeks ago, my band got to play a cool show with a bunch of awesome German hardcore bands. One of them was True Fraud, one of the myriad of bands coming out of the Cologne/Munster connection. It’s basically one of my favorite German bands of the last 10 years, Tides Denied, only with a different bass player. True Fraud is rougher around the edges though. Good, fast hardcore that’s a lot of fun live. I’m looking forward to a 7” or an LP. 

1st Run on Clear w/ Orange Cover on Collective Memroy

Magical

The last record I picked up at the local store was Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles. I’d been eyeing this record sitting in the store for some time, because it was priced a littler higher than on Discogs, but in the end I decided that a couple of bucks aren’t as important as helping to keep the store afloat. Magical Mystery Tour is actually not a proper album, as I thought for a very long time, it was an EP released originally as a double 7”. This version contains said EP on the A-side and a couple of songs originally released as singles only on the B-side. It’s quite astonishing that it took me so long to buy a copy because four of my top 10 Beatles songs are on this record and since I don’t own any Beatles singles , this is the first time that I own most of these songs on vinyl. Needless to say I’ve been playing this record A LOT since I got it. The cover is so bizarre and so much of the time, but I actually like it. 

Collector’s Conundrum

A little more than 10 years ago, I started buying Fugazi records. My original resolution to buy one Fugazi record a month didn’t really work out at the time, but I did manage to buy all of their releases. I bought the current represses back then, because I wanted to support a label that truly holds a special place in my heart, not to mention the band itself of course. I bought the now classic s.t. Record round about 10 years ago and I bought all of the Fugazi records more or less in chronological order. I messed up my system though, when I bought a first press of In On The Killtaker, but there’s just something about first presses and I usually can’t help myself but to get them. Which brings me to today’s post. While flipping through the bins at my local record store, I found a first press copy of Fugazi’s s.t. debut. It showed the $5 price on the back cover and after checking the matrix, I knew this was an actual first press.  I tried to talk myself out of buying the record, but after about 10 seconds I stopped fooling myself and put it on my pile. 

Buying this record puts me in a conundrum. I now have two first presses of Fugazi records and the collector in me screams that this doesn’t feel right and I now need first press copies of all of the Fugazi records, which is something that hadn’t really been on my mind at all until I got this record. I’ve been thinking about replacing my current copies with those really nice looking colored represses Dischord has done these last few years - and I still want to do that, sort of, because Dischord has been doing such a great job with the colors. But do I really need three copies of Fugazi records? Probably not. So buying this record has possibly kicked of a chain of events in the foreseeable future. Luckily this might end up being one of the cheaper micro collections because Dischord is still selling records at Dischord prices (by 2025 standards). 

1st Press (According to the Matrix) on Black on Dischord

Real Life Record Shopping

Whenever I get the chance to hit up the local record store, I go in there with a feeling of excitement and hopefulness. I always enjoy just flipping through the records, but more often than not I leave empty handed and disappointed. When I last went there a couple of weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to see that in the new arrivals section there were a bunch of very interesting records: Strife first and second LP, Texas Is The Reason, Farside and a bunch of others from that time - all original presses. The one that caught my eye was Reality Filter by Eleven Thirty-Four because that artwork always looked cool to me, albeit very of the time, and you can’t really go wrong with records on New Age released in the early to mid 90s. Reality Filter is a really good record and I’ve really enjoyed listening to it over the last few weeks. I also wish that bands did more cool poster inserts again. There was never a pressing on color for this release, so I’m just fine with black vinyl. 

Now I’m just left wondering who in the area I live in might have sold their collection, or a least part of it, because there scene is rather small here and even fewer people from that scene listen to that kind of hardcore. 

1st Press on Black on New Age /???

Bonds Of Trade-Ship

Trading seems to be a lost art these days. I was never that big of a trader because I rarely had money to buy spare records just to trade and I often had a hard time letting go of  the ones I’d bought for myself. Still, I managed to make a couple of cool trades over the years and got to meet, virtually and in real life, some great people. 

When I ordered the represses of Bane’s Boston, 6.58pm, I asked a couple of friends if they wanted copies too, so we could order together and save on shipping. One of them who was onboard happened to be selling a bunch of records right around the time when the records arrived and instead of him sending me the money, we managed to work out a record for record deal. I’ve long given up on collecting every variant of Have Heart 7”s, but whenever I can get my hands on a special version, e.g. some different cover art, I’ll gladly jump at the opportunity. 

This Insted rip-off sleeve of the What Counts 7” had been on my want list for 10+ years but somehow it always slipped through my fingers whenever one popped up. But finally I managed to close that gap in my collection. I never knew that this variant comes with a regular cover and the rip-off is just an additional sleeve. I really like the rip-off itself, but “bro-ship” is pretty cringe, if it’s not some sort of irony. I mean they once had a shirt that said “Have Heart masturbates after the first date”, so they’re not beneath making fun of themselves. 

3rd Press on Black w/ Bonds of Bro-Ship Cover on Think Fast /150

Turning Point II

The last record I received from Marcus is the repress of the Turning Point 7” on green. Alright, there was also as Taylor Swift record in there, which had sold out too quickly on mainland Europe so I ordered a copy in the UK, but that was for my wife, so it doesn’t really count in regards to my blog. I was actually very surprised when I opened the parcel and saw this record. Marcus and I had talked about this record at one point, but I’d all forgotten about it, so this was a very nice surprise for me. When I picked up a copy of this repress originally, I said that I’d much rather have a copy on green than on orange, so this gives me some closure. I still prefer this color over orange as it has a more classic 80s record look in my opinion.

Thanks again, Marcus, for letting me ship those records to your place and you dragging them to that show so my friend could pick them up. 

Repress on Clear Green on Revelation /517

DIY Spirits Or Die Faster

There was a time about 10 years ago when Spirits was a very important band to me. They played a style of hardcore that I love but which wasn't all that popular in the after 2010 or so. So hearing them was a breath of fresh air for me. Collecting them turned out to be a collector's dream/nightmare, because the band put out a ton of releases in a very short period of time and all of them came out on what felt like a million versions. I managed to build a solid collection, but there are still certain records that I missed out on and haven't been able to track down so far. One of them is the record release version of the Spirit/Die Faster split, to be precise the Die Faster version of the record release, because each band had a different one of course. This was actually the record that kicked off me ordering a bunch of records in the UK and having them shippped to Marcus. 

After getting the record, I was disappointed though because the seller had listed the record incorrectly and this one turned out to be the regular version on red vinyl with the red cover. The record was not that expensive, so I’m not too mad, but it’s still annoying that people list records incorrectly. I’m even more annoyed with myself though for not asking the seller for more info or a picture of the numbering beforehand to make sure. 

1st Press on Red w/ Red Cover on Coin Toss /300

There are four versions of the stamped cover: purple, dark blue, orange and red. Each cover was stamped by hand with a wooden stamp on 7” format. I’m not 100% sure if the stamp was actually carved by hand, but knowing the band member, I’m pretty sure it was. I was lucky enough to be given one of the stamps by the band member who’d made them. Come to think of it, maybe it is the only stamp and this one was used for all of the colors, because there is also some dark color on the edges. Be that as it may, it’s a pretty cool artefact of the band to have and I felt like sharing this along with the record. 

Secret World

The last record I got from the UK distro I purchased the previous three records from is Guilt Is Good by Secret World, a band from Sydney, Australia. I’d never heard of them before but when I was browsing the distro’s webstore, the cover somehow caught my attention. I can’t say why, but it did for some reason. And I didn’t get disappointed. The songs on this 7” are really catchy and I’ve been listening to the record over and over. I’d say, if you like Militarie Gun or Fiddlehead or even Title Fight, this might be for you. As it happens the band just released a full length yesterday, lucky me. 

1st Press on Clear on Sunday Drive / Last Ride /150

Splitting Vinyl

7” records are a dying breed in 2025 and split 7”s are a marginalised group within 7”s. So when a band I like decides to put out a split 7” this day and age, I’m in. I played the Anklebiter demo a lot when it came out. I missed out on the LP they released in 2023 and by the time I learned about it, it had been sold out everywhere. When I was browsing the inventory of the UK distro I’d found the records I wrote about in the two previous post, I came across a split between Anklebiter and Prevention. As mentioned before, I was really into the band’s demo, so ordering the split was a no brainer. I’d never heard of Prevention before, but the fact that there were new Anklebiter songs was enough for me to add a copy to the shopping basket. The Anklebiter side is very good and it left me wanting for more (so I will have to pick up a copy of the LP soon I guess). The Prevention side is fine, but doesn’t grab me the way the Anklebiter side does. All in all, a fun listen 

1st Press on Clear Blue on Sunday Drive /150

Ascending

Another record I’d been really looking forward to was the latest Stand Still release, Steps Ascending. Actually, this came out already in 2024 but I didn’t get around to ordering a copy until I ordered the Anxious LP from a mailorder in the UK and as I detailed in the last post, it took a while until I got those records. 

Stand Still managed to write a really good and diverse record. It’s melodic, it’s heavy, it’s very entertaining. I also like the vinyl color in itself, even though a different color scheme would have made more sense with the cover. But I’m not mad at this combination. 

1st Press on Pink w/ White Splatter on Daze /150

Anxious

2025 seems to be a slow year as far as new releases are concerned, or a least new releases by bands I like. One of the few records I was actually looking forward to was the new Anxious LP. The previous one, Little Green House, was so good. Definitely one of my favorite records of the 2020s. So when I read that Anxious was going to release a new LP, I was very happy. Ordering a copy from the US was a no-go thought and the versions available through the European store weren’t that nice to look at. However, the version exclusively available through Devil Dog mailorder out of the UK looked very good. I shot a message to Marcus to ask him if I could have delivered this record (and a couple of others) to his place and then have one big parcel sent to me eventually. Gentleman that he is, he’d offered that service before, but I just wanted to make sure. Once that was sorted out, I could go on and order the record(s). 

I was in no hurry to get the record(s), even though it meant I wouldn’t be able to listen to the record for a while because certain records I want to listen to on vinyl for the first time. I’m old-fashioned that way. Anyway, an opportunity of saving on shipping arose when a very good friend of mine told me he was going to do merch for Bane again and one of the shows was going to be close to where Marcus lives. I checked with Marcus to see if he was going to be at that show and sure enough he was planning on going. So my friend took some records I had for Marcus and Marcus gave him the records he had for me, which my friend in turn gave me a couple of days later when I caught Bane on the same tour. Good old punk mail still works in 2025. 

So about three weeks ago I could finally listen to Bambi. As much as I liked the predecessor, this album hasn’t grabbed me at all as of now. It sounds too polished. Maybe it’ll grow on me, who knows. I actually hope it’ll grow on me because I really liked all the Anxious material so far. But for now this is a let down for me. I don’t know what to make of the art work either to be honest. The best thing about the record is the vinyl color. That looks amazing. 

1st Press on Clear w/ Glitter on Run For Cover /300 (Devil Dog Exclusive)

Close up of the record. Just beautiful. 

Got Bane?

My timing for deciding to pick up the Toyko CD couldn‘t have been worse, because a day or two later Bane and Equal Vision announced that there was going to be a repress of the city series 7“s compiling all songs on one 12“ record. At least there were only five variants announced, which by today‘s standards is almost moderate. I managed to get my hands on four of them pretty easily, so I decided to combine them into one post, considering I post about Bane records enough already. The two variants in the top row were available directly through Equal Vision and because I bend all of my self-imposed collecting rules for Bane, I ordered directly from the States. The variant on the bottom right is the Rev exclusive version and I was able to get that through a mailorder in Germany directly, probably because Rev does wholesale to Europe are well. The variant on the bottom left was the tour press and I knew there was a limited quantity available during Bane‘s summer tour. I was going to see them at a couple of shows, but only later during the tour, but luckily The Genie came to the rescue once again and sorted me out. Sidenote: the shows were all fun as hell and I got to hang out with old and new friends. At the Berlin show they even played Every Effort Made, which happens to be one of my absolute favourites but is a song that rarely gets played, so I was really stoked on that. 

So now I only need the so-called retail version on white vinyl limited to 500 copies, though I don‘t know what the difference between ‘retail‘ and ‘wholesale‘ would be. Bane always manages to come up with variants that no one seems to know about. I haven‘t seen any copies on white vinyl of the Boston, 6:58pm 12“ anywhere and no one in the band seems to know about this variant either. It‘ll show up at some point, I‘m sure, but until then, I‘m left with these four versions. Which is a shame, because regular white is definitely the best looking version. Oh yeah, and of course I wouldn‘t say no to a test press, but getting one of these is very unlikely, so I‘m not holding my breath.  

White w/ Red, Sky Blue, Yellow and Lime Green Splatter /250
Dark Edge Glow Pink, Red, Black Swirl w/ Pale Blue Splatter / 250
Canary Yellow w/ Black Splatter /500
Teal w/ ORangeSplit w/ Red Splatter /250 (60 sold during the European Tour 2025)
All on Equal Vision 

Your Choiche

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I got to spend a weekend in Berlin without the kiddo. The reason we travelled there was a festival. I really enjoyed the bands I already knew and I got to know a bunch of new bands that had been blanks to me before. One of the perks of the festival was a second hand band shirt and record market. There were a bunch of records that I usually would have bought, but since I’d spent quite a bit on test presses that month, I had to make some hard cuts. 

The one record I did end up buying was the second Uniform Choice LP, Staring Into The Sun, which I got for a really, really good price. The first Uniform Choice LP, Screaming For Change, is one of the all-time great (straight edge) hardcore records. I love that record. Over the years, I‘d hear people talk about the second Uniform Choice LP a bunch and usually it wasn‘t in a positive way. I never really checked it out, just because I didn‘t have a copy and didn‘t feel the urge to actively pursue buying a copy. But when this copy more or less fell into my lap, I thought that now would be a good time to finally give it a chance. After listening to the album a bunch of times, I will say that Staring Into The Sun is nowhere near Screaming For Change, but it‘s not nearly as bad as people always made it sound either. Will I end up listening to Staring Into The Sun as much as I listen to to Screaming For Change? Most definitely not, but I can thoroughly enjoy the songs on here and I‘m glad I picked up a copy. 

1st Press on Black on Giant

All Tests Go!

My friend who sold me the Bane test press I posted about recently also had another interesting test up for sale. And of course there‘s also relation to Bane. All System Go! was a compilation of cover songs released in 1999, which couldn‘t be more of an anachronism in 2025. Then again, this exact facts makes this record such an interesting time capsule. I‘ve owned a regular copy on black forever and I‘ve been thinking about picking up at least one copy on colored vinyl at one point, so I wasn‘t going to pass up the opportunity to acquire a test for this. 

The main reason why I wanted to get this record in the first place was that Bane has a song on this record as well. They cover Chain of Strength‘s Just How Much, so of course I want to get as many copies of this record as possible. 

When I got the record, I was surprised to see it says “All System Go! 2nd Test Press“ written on the label. The only other person I knew who also owns a test is Marcus. So I went to his blog to compare the two tests and lo and behold, his copy doesn‘t have the writing on the label. I messaged him about my observation, but since he was on holiday at the time he couldn‘t access his records. When he was home again, we compared the matrix numbers to see what was going on here.

Between his test, my test and the regular copies we own, there are three different matrix numbers: 

UER 05-A on Marcus‘ test

UER 05-A RE1 on my regular black copy 

UER 05A/OH-01 on my test press

We concluded that there must be at least two pressings of this record. Marcus‘ copy might be a rejected test press, but we won‘t know for sure unless we listened to all of our copies together, which would be a lot of fun for sure, but might be impossible because of logistics. 

2nd Test Press on Underestimated / Open Handed 

No Need To Hurry Up

A couple of weeks ago a good friend of mine offered up some rare records and I managed to get another piece of  the Bane puzzle. This was shortly before the band announced a 12“ repress of all of the songs released across the various city 7“s. So the quest continues.

This is the last record I needed to complete this particular micro collection. #2 out of 20 is also a cool number. I like it when bands or labels simply write on the blank label of the test press what it is. Putting a sticker with the numbering on the sleeve is a little odd though. 

Getting the test warranted breaking out the collection and getting a nice family picture. 

Bane - 11:58 PM Dublin - Test Press #2/20

Bane - 11:58 PM Dublin – orange/white specs (1st press /200)

Bane - 11:58 PM Dublin – orange (1st press /300)

Bane - 11:58 PM Dublin - black (1st press /380)

Bane - 11:58 PM Dublin – black/green (2nd press /250)

Bane - 11:58 PM Dublin – red (2nd press /250)

Bane - 11:58 PM Dublin European Tour Version - black (/120)

Bane - 11:58 PM Dublin European Tour Version - green (/480)

Bane - 11:58 PM Dublin - I‘m with Stu - red (#17/52)

Bane - 11:58 PM Dublin - I‘m with Stu - black/green (#21/57)

Purple Bane

I’m slowly but steadily chipping away at the flood of represses of Bane releases. This translucent purple looks pretty cool at least. 

I’m aware that my posts this year lack diversity as I mostly post about Bane, The Beatles and Bad Brains. But that‘s where my musical heart is currently and to be honest, 2025 has kind of been a slow year for me when it comes to current hardcore music. So far I couldn‘t come up with a top 10 of 2025 releases. But we still got a couple of months to go, so maybe that‘ll change in the second half of the year. 

For now I‘m content with filling gaps. 

Reigning Supremes

The other record I picked up at the record store the other day was a best of by Diana Ross & The Supremes. I need to get more into soul music. I’ve always loved it when songs from that genre were used in 80s and 90s movies, but I never listened to soul music much at home. Time to change that.

Diana Ross & The Supremes werd huge in the 1960s and rightfully though in my opinion. This is a German best of compilation from the late 1960s. Now, I could have picked up another best of album of theirs with more songs for less money, but I didn’t. This cover is much better than the other one and I really like the fact that the label gave the buyers biographical info on the artists. Now, if you look at this through a 2025 lense, this is very cringe - as the younger generation would say - but as a historic document it is certainly very interesting.

Red Album

When I picked up the Beatles box set, I wrote that I fell in love with them when I listened to the red and blue album as a teenager. Well, those weren‘t included in the aforementioned box set, so I knew I had to get them at one point. That point came when I made a quick stop at the local record store. Got it for a really good price too and it felt pretty good to buy a record from an actual store. 

Never Enough

One of the more anticipated albums of 2025 was the new Turnstile LP. I‘m not a big fan of singles being dropped before the actual album release, so I didn‘t listed to any new Turnstile material before ordering a copy. But based on the fact that I liked each of the previous albums, there was no reason not to order Turnstile‘s new record. 

When I first listened to the whole LP, I felt a little lukewarm towards it. My initial verdict was ‘this might be a grower‘ - and I’ve been right with my assessment. I worked the whole day in the garden today and I must have listened to the record for at least 8 hours. Never Enough is a pretty apt title for this album. Time Is Happening is probably my favorite song as of now. It‘s a pretty short and simple song, but the lyrics somehow strike a chord with me. 

I‘ve heard some chatter whether or not this is still a hardcore record or not. My 5 cents: Who cares? It‘s a fantastic record however you want to classify it. There‘s clearly hardcore DNA woven in on Never Enough. Does Turnstile use instruments you wouldn‘t hear on most hardcore records? Absolutely. The songs don‘t sound like AF 1983, but there‘s obviously a ton of Bad Brains worship. Actually, the more I listen to the record, the more I'm reminded of I Against I.

I like the vinyl color itself, but it wasn’t my first choice. I just bought a copy from a German distro to save on shipping/customs. The European Turnstile store had already sold out all the really nice looking copies, so I bought whatever I could get my hands on without having to pay an arm and a leg. The pressing info is kind of all over the place, I didn‘t even find a number for the version I have. There are like 20 versions listed on Discogs already, and the total number of the first press is 35,000+ vinyl copies - and that is despite the fact that for 8 versions no numbers are provided. That‘s crazy for a (hardcore) band this day and age. 

1st Press on Red Dark Wave [Target Exclusive US, HMV + Indies exclusive UK] on Roadrunner /???

Tokyo, Two to Eight

For some reason I felt the urge to add a Bane CD to the collection a couple of weeks ago. I own most of the versions of the different 7“s of the city series, but I still wanted to have the Tokyo, 7:58pm CD. I‘have owned the Curitiba CD since when it came out, but for whatever reason I wanted this version as well. I found a copy for a fraction of what the going rate on Discogs is. 

Hands down, the main reason why I wanted this CD was most likely just the fact that I wanted to own a different version on CD. However, the ulterior motive behind me buying this CD was the possibility of getting the sticker you can see in the top right corner. 

Last year, when we were on holiday my family and I spent a week with friend and fellow Bane collector Dan. As I was going through some of his things, I noticed a Bane sticker I hadn‘t seen before. I sent a picture of the sticker to another friend, who collects hardcore stickers. He hadn‘t seen that sticker either but wanted one badly after seeing it. 

A few weeks ago, I chatted with said friend who collects stickers and he told me he still hadn‘t found one. Now, Dan had mentioned that the sticker might have come with the Tokyo, 7:58pm CD, but he wasn‘t 100% sure. When I was thinking about buying this CD I remembered Dan telling me that detail and given his extraordinary memory when it comes to nerd stuff like this, I thought why not take a shot. I didn‘t get my hopes up though, because what are the odds of a sticker, which is a form of art meant to be put somewhere, still being with a CD that was released more than 15 years ago. Well, lo and behold, when the CD arrived, I opened it and, boom, there was the sticker! So I got the CD I wanted and while I would have liked to keep the sticker for myself, I knew that my friend appreciates stickers much more than I do, so I sent him the sticker for his collection. Win-win. 

Something‘s Gotta Give

Agnostic Front is one of the first hardcore bands I discovered when I stumbled into hardcore. It was not one of their classic records from the 80s, but a song from their 1998 record Something‘s Gotta Give, which was the current record back then.

I was exposed to a lot of hardcore at a club which had alternative music nights every second Friday. Most of my friends wanted to go there because the drinks were cheap and since I didn‘t drink (yes, even before I stumbled across hardcore or knew about straight edge, I didn‘t drink), they always had a driver and I got to enjoy the music playing there. Gotta Go by AF was a staple at the club and as a matter of fact, I loved the song so much back then that I chose the beginning of the song to be played when I was walking to the stage to get the German equivalent of a high school diploma / A levels. It was between this song and Refused‘s New Noise. But since a friend of mine had used that song the year prior, this was a no-go... It‘s so funny to think back on the things that mattered to you when you are 18/19. 

Anyway, I had a little bit of an AF renaissance these last couple of weeks. I read Vinnie Stimga‘s book recently and listened to a bunch of podcasts with him, which made me want to listen to AF again. Both, United Blood and Victim In Pain have stood the test of time, but to be honest, that‘s the extend of my AF collection. They lost me with their follow up records in the 80s. I know that this is sacrilege for many people, but I‘ll never understand why hardcore bands gave to go crossover or even metal. 

Gotta Go alone made me want to finally get a copy of Something‘s Gotta Give. Turns out, this isn‘t as easy as I thought it‘d be, despite the fact that there was a repress just a couple of years ago. But even those go for a pretty penny. Eventually, I managed to find a fairly priced OG copy from a European seller, so I snagged it. 

It’s hard to fathom this is almost a 30 year old record, but then again, it‘s hard to fathom for me that I am as old as I am. I hadn‘t listened to the full album in I don‘t know how many years, but I actually like it. Besides Gotta Go, you get another AF classic, Crucified, but the rest of the record is also quite good. I‘m not sure if I need to check out the rest of their discography, but I certainly can enjoy this record. 

1st Press on Black on Epitaph /???

How Do You Like Them Apples?

So, at the beginning of the year I wrote about a Beatles record I was gifted by a dear friend of mine. In the same post I mentioned that my friend collects a certain kind of Japanese pressing of Beatles records and how nice they look. Well, said friend gifted me another record, Beatles For Sale, which was released in 1965, and this time it was one of those Japanese pressing I‘d mentioned before. Just look at the packaging. It‘s so awesome. Here‘s to another collection. 

Japanese Pressing on Clear Red w/OBI Strip

Inside of the gatefold sleeve. Cool pictures, plenty of Information in Japanese and you get to see the inside of the OBI strip. 

Lyric sheet: The song titles are in English, and they are also listed in Japanese right below, plus you get the actual lyrics to the songs in English. 

Lead Spirit

A couple of weeks ago a very good friend sent me a link to a Bandcamp page. I had actually seen the cover of the 7" he sent me the link to before on the website of a bistro I frequently buy from. Live picture plus band name always trigger my interest. It's not groundbreaking artwork, but 9/10 you know what to expect. I also really liked the purple lettering. I decided to listen to the 7" on Bandcamp, which is something I didn't use to do but with prices skyrocketing I have grown to be more cautious with what I buy.  I was hooked right away. Yeah, it is the umpteenth version of Youth Crew with a modern twist, but as long as it's done well - which it absolutely is here - I am onboard. Like I said, I dig the cover and I really like the insert as well. The only point of criticism is the color scheme of the labels. The maroon doesn't really work with the cover in my opinion. But hey, that's just me knit-picking. 

Of course I would have loved to get my hands on a colored copy, but with prices for a 7" already being in the double digits, I have to compromise and make do with whatever version I can get my hands on. 

 

1st Press on Black on From Within /200

Just Shut Up And Take My Money

So here we are again. Yet another Bane record. Give Blood is widely regarded as Bane‘s best LP and while it is an incredible record, it‘s not my favourite of theirs. But it‘s a very close second.  

This particular record on solid white vinyl, not to be confused with the opaque cream version I bought a couple of months ago. Overall I think the label did a much better job with the color choices for the repress of Give Blood compared to the It All Comes Down To This LP. The white, and for that matter also the opaque cream variant, look really good with the artwork. Just keep it simple and I‘m a happy record collector. 

2024 Repress on White on Equal vision /800

Found

Question: Can one ever have enough Walter Schreifels related records? Answer: No. Found was supposed to be the second Rival Schools album, but it never materialised that way because the label didn‘t hear a single. Well, that pretty much should tell you everything about major labels. Some of them songs were leaked or had been played live, but they weren‘t available on vinyl. That was until 2013, so only about 10 years after the songs were written. Fast forward another 12 years and I finally listened to these songs as well. 

In addition to Rival Schools original songs you also get a nice Buzzcocks cover to end the album. I really like the printed inner sleeve with the United By Fate artwork. That‘s a nice touch. 

3rd Press (2024 Repress) on Half Olive / Half Cream on Run For Cover /700

G.L.O.W.

I know that this isn‘t a huge platform, but if I can promote bands by friends, I will use that opportunity. G.L.O.W. are a new band of old(er) people from the area I live in and some of them I have known for 10+ years and also played with together in bands, so, yes, I‘m  biased very much, but who cares. 

G.L.O.W. play 80s style hardcore punk, with some wave influences. Since I‘ve known both people who are in charge of songwriting from their previous and current bands, I kinda can tell who wrote which song. 

I also went to see their second show a couple of weeks ago, which is where I picked up the demo. The show itself was a lot of fun and I really enjoy the demo. I'm really looking forward to hearing their new material. 

Clear Red Tape Self-Released by the Band /50

Your Life And Nothing Else

The first Faim LP, Hollow Hope, blew me away when I first listened to it back in 2020. All the more is the pity that I slept for almost two years on their follow up record, Your Life And Nothing Else. Great name, great art work, especially in combination with this particular vinyl color. The music is fast and ferocious, but then there are also post-hardcore influences. It‘s an interesting combination that works really well for me. This is not a record to listen every day, I have to be in the mood for music like this. But when I am, this really scratches an itch for me. 

1st Press on Solid Pink on Safe Inside /250

No Need To Hide

I‘m the kind of person who really likes surprises in real life. I also like surprises when it comes to music. However, sometimes I just want to get exactly what I expect. Take the cover of Jusitfy‘s Run and Hide 7“ for instance. It may not be groundbreaking and all that exciting, but you get exactly as advertised. Take the best parts of every wave of youth crew bands and you get the songs on this 7“. Some people might read this as a dig at the band, but I mean that as a compliment. Put on your Nikes and get moshing. 

1st Press on Black on Total Supply / Extinction Burst

A Life‘s Refrain

There‘s a million bands out there that I have no idea about, but one of the current bands that gets me really excited is Speedway from Sweden. That‘s what the folks at Revelation Records must have felt as well because it‘s still very rare that they sign European bands. I‘d been looking forward to the debut LP for a long time and the band delivers on A Life‘s Refrain. I could do without some of the leads on some songs, but that‘s me really nitpicking. This is just a great LP and so much fun to listen to. 

And from a collector‘s point of view, I’m happy to say that there are only five versions of the first press. The red or ‘ruby‘ color works really well with the artwork. Great job all around. 

1st Press on Translucent Ruby on Rev /300 (Retail Exclusive)

Holding On

When I ordered the FC Five CD I took a look at the seller's inventory on Discogs. Like I said, I'm still not 100% over being a vinyl snob so I felt I needed to order at least one vinyl record, too. 

In many respects, I‘m a quite simple guy. Put a guy jumping with a guitar on the front cover of a record and you got my interest. Combine it with a classic looking hardcore font and you got my full attention. I‘ve had the second Holding On LP for a long time, but for some reason I never bothered to check out their other material, even though I really like that album. But here we are and I finally listened to the Hoding On demo 26 years after its release. No frills hardcore just the way I like it. 

1st Press on Clear Blue on Looking Back /???

Reasons Not Self-Imposed Rules

Mainly, this is a vinyl only blog as you may have noticed. Tapes get a pass from me, but I can‘t honestly say when I spent money on a CD the last time. It must have been one of those Bane city 7“s that were also available on CD. But after that, I have no idea. 

Now, in the 2000s, there was a phase during which less vinyl was pressed by record labels. Even hardcore labels followed that trend to some degree, which is why there are certain releases from that era that are CD only. For the longest time I was a real snob about this and didn‘t buy albums or 7“s that weren‘t released on vinyl. Well, that was pretty stupid in hindsight. So after decades of ignoring CDs, here we are. 

FC Five were a band from Japan that existed from 2000 - 2012. I saw them twice in the mid-2000s and both shows were so much fun and really memorable. The first time I saw them was the very first Bane show I went to, which itself was such a huge turning point in my life. For some reason, FC Five weren’t featured on the flyer for the show, but I know they played that night. The second time I saw them was a year later when they were on tour with Ritual, a German hardcore band, and they played a local youth club. I don‘t think I‘ve ever seen a band that had more fun on stage and that‘s true for both times I saw them. They seemed to genuinely enjoy playing hardcore shows on a level I‘ve never seen with any other band before or since. And the band having the time of their lives was so infectious. The music was right up my alley at that time, too. After getting this CD, I listened to their whole discography and their records have stood the test of time for me. 

 

Here’s a shot of everything laid out. The band / label certainly didn‘t hold back when it came to the cover and inlays. The only thing that annoys me is that some of the pictures on the left are turned 90 degrees. Hard to tell because, well, it‘s a CD and not a vinyl record. I guess I‘m not 100% over being a little snobbish when it comes to CDs. 

One cool thing about releases from Asia are OBi strips. I‘m a sucker for those for some reason. They just look cool. 

Having said all of this, if anyone were to put out this record on vinyl, I‘d be all over it. But considering that the 20 year anniversary was already two years ago, I don‘t think this will happen anytime soon. 

Big Kids

A while ago a very good friend of mine tagged me in a post on Facebook in which he‘d posted a bunch of emo bands. One of the bands he‘d chose was Big Kids. He tagged me because I was the one who introduced him to the band. As a matter of fact, I recently turned on one of my bandmates to the band when we were on a long drive a couple of weeks ago. Two people in roughly ten years, not bad, but also not great. I‘ve been a longtime proponent time proponent of the band and Hoop Dreams easily makes my all-time top 5 of emo/indie records, but I feel like I‘m one of only a few people who are really into that record and that’s exactly why I‘ll never get tired of singing its praises. 

After my friend had tagged me, I started looking on Discogs what other versions of Hoop Dreams are out there. Looking turned into putting a pink copy into my shopping basket and after I admitted to myself that I was just kidding myself by pretending not wanting to buy it, I clicked on ‘Place order and buy now‘. There‘s only a few variants out there (good old 2000s…) and all of them are cheap, at least until you factor in shipping from the States ($8.75 for the record turns into $56 total…). So that keeps me from buying more copies right now. However, this great looking pink copy was available from a seller in Europe and for less than 10€ I couldn‘t say no. 

1st Press on Pink Marble on Topshelf /250

Wait… Whut?

When the announcement of a 10 year anniversary was made, I heard talks about a very special, special version. While some of the versions that were part of the anniversary press were cool, others fell rather flat. But I had high hopes for the special version and man, I didn’t get disappointed. 

So, this is what the record looked like when it arrived. This is the only record I own that comes with a safety warning. Of course, I cut out the stickers and now I keep the with the record.

Standard shot of the record and the sleeve. Everything looks pretty cool if you ask me. 

10 Year Anniversary Press on Purple Swirl w/ Confetti on End Hits /100

Having said that, when you hold the record up against the light, it looks incredible. Just look at it. The purple swirl would have been a great color for the record on its own, but the rainbow confetti makes it that much more special. Such a beautiful sight to behold. 

Because the record is so beautiful, here‘s another shot against the light. 

End Hits also included a bonus lyric sheet. They really went all out with the packaging. 

Another cool feature is that you can recharge the light. With a simple battery, you wouldn‘t have been able to turn on the lights up eventually, but with the plug-in charger, you should be able to enjoy the lights much longer. Each record was hand-made, which probably took forever. 

When I talked to Marcus about this record and I told him I‘d send him picture, he suggested that a video would probably make more sense and of course he was right. So here‘s a short video of the whole thing. 

This is by far the most money I‘ve ever spent on a new record. It was 99€ in case you were wondering, but the record itself is such a beauty and the packaging is absolutely incredible. No regrets on my part.

Lessons Learrrrrrrrrrrned

Since I really got into Youth Of Today a couple of years ago, I wanted to get my hands on a Can‘t Close My Eyes 7“ on Positive Force. They just looked like a cool record to own. Unfortunately any press of that record comes with a hefty price tag these days. So I waited patiently until I found a rather cheap copy. Here‘s where the lesson learning starts:

#1 Buying from eBay in the US nowadays sucks. While the price for the record was okay, I almost paid the same amount for shipping, VAT and other fees. So, all in all I just could have bought a more expensive copy in Europe and saved me some heartache and money.

#2 Because I was so happy to finally have found a reasonably priced record, I didn‘t check for all of the details of the auction. Which is why I ended up with a record without a lyric sheet. So not only did I pay too much when all was said and done, I also paid too much for an incomplete record. If anyone has a spare copy of the lyric sheet or could provide a copy, I‘d be most grateful. 

I knew that the sound quality of this record was always describe as poor and I am definitely not an audiophile, but this does sound incredibly thin. I can appreciate the record for what it is - a documentation of a band at a certain time under certain circumstances, but I know I‘m not going to listen to this version that often. 

I know this was a rather negative post, which is kind of ironic, but having said all of these negative things, I‘m still happy to finally own a copy. 

4th Press on Black on Positive Force

The B-side label is just so rad. It deserves a picture of its own. 

Pezcore Forever

As much as I love original pressings, sometimes getting a repress is just much more convenient and of course affordable. Pezcore is the debut LP by Less Than Jake and was first released in 1995. To commemorate the 30-year anniversary, Pezcore was rereleased at the beginning of this year. It comes on nice 180g vinyl. The rerelease comes on a bunch of different colors, but the mock ups were all incredibly ugly splatter vinyl and there‘s no way those could have looked good in real life, so black vinyl was definitely the better choice (sorry, Marcus). 

While this is not my favorite LTJ LP, there are some real tracks on this album. I mean, each of the first five LPs has a bunch of absolute hits in my book. All of them are just a good time. 

Close-up of the hype sticker. I‘m not quite sure what makes this the ‘forever version‘, but that‘s ok.