I Against We

If you‘ve been following this blog on a regular basis, you know that the number one golden rule of collecting for me is that if a record is related to Bane, I need to get it. I‘ve owned a copy of this 7“ compilation forever and I the last time I listened to it was probably right around the time I got it. But since there are different versions, I‘ve still always kept my eyes open. At this rate, I might get the other versions that are out there about 10 years into my retirement. If I ever get them, because they‘re super rate and probably sit in someone‘s collection who doesn‘t realize that, not that they‘re worth much, or they rot in a $1 bin somewhere. 

Anyway, the most interesting aspect of getting this copy is the fact that it differs so much from the version I already owned. I mean, who changes the title of a comp from one pressing to the other? And why? And why only on the cover, but not on the labels? The cover is completely different, too, so someone clearly put in time and effort to make those changes. Who knows…

I know it’s a long shot, but if anyone has a copy with the blue cover and/or blue vinyl, or even a stamped version, I’m definitely interested.

Smash Hits

Despite the fact that this version was available exclusively from a mailorder in Europe, I initially missed out on it. Copies became available on the second hand market pretty soon after, but I definitively wasn’t willing to pay the kind of money asked for those copies. Patience did pay off eventually when I found an affordable copy in the UK and thanks to Marcus, I managed to finish this micro collection (= 6th press of Bane’e Don’t Wait Up on End Hits) after two years. I only realized this while writing this post, so there’s no family picture I’m afraid. 

6th Press on Blue & Yellow Smash on End Hits (‘Devil Dog Exclusive’ /100)

Here’s a picture of the B-side because it looks much nicer than the A-side in my opinion. 

More Blood

One more record for the ever-growing Bane collection thanks to the myriad of represse. I‘ve posted about the regular white w/ red cross version of the latest Give Blood repress not too long ago. A little bit longer ago, well 2.5 years ago, I posted about the special version of the Give Blood repress with the special sleeve that was released through Tiger Records. Well, apparently there was some left over vinyl or some left over sleeves or both, and et voila, you’ve got a third version just like that. 

This record is a little annoying, because the spokes don’t align with the red cross on the label. On the flip side, it’s interesting what different variants of this might be out there: different alignment, maybe only three or even five spokes? Who knows. 

White w/ Red Cross on Equal Vision aka ‘Tiger Records‘ Version /70

This Is Boston

This is the final piece of the repress of Bane’s Boston, 6:58pm. Originally it had been released as a 7” on Triple B, but Equal Vision repressed it last year as a 12”. The other versions were fairly easy to obtain, but this one proved to be very difficult to track down. For the longest time my circle of Bane collectors wasn’t even sure whether or not this version actually existed. It had been announced but no copies popped up anywhere, which was very weird because this the ‘retail version’. But then a friend of mine in Australia picked up a copy, thus confirming it was actually real.

Repress on White (‘Retail Version’) on Equal Vision /500

Here’s a nice family picture, minus the test press, which will be damn-near impossible to track down. Let’s play a game of ‘spot the nice version’, shall we…? 

Blood

In 2023 Bane’s classic album Give Blood was repressed by Equal Vision. I’ve picked up a few copies since then, but I still have a long way to go to catch up with all the variants. Initially, I’d been weary to pick up all colors because there were just so many, but the one I’d wanted from the beginning was the white/red cross one because it looked pretty cool in the pictures. The only problem, this particular variant never really popped up in Europe. Luckily, it was Marcus to the rescue and I was finally able to get one. Actually, Marcus helped me out big time with getting a bunch of records I’m going to post about soon and also the DTN record I talked about in my last post. A big thank you!

This variant is even sicker in person. The colors are chosen well, and not only is the pattern itself cool, but I also love how the red cross pattern of the vinyl aligns pretty much perfectly with the axes of the red cross on the label. 

2023 Repress on White/Red Cross on Equal Vision /500

Bane & Bane

Just when I thought I was making some good progress with all those Bane represses, a new round of represses of It All Comes Down To This was announced, four variants in total. The two I got so far look pretty good, although I feel like the Candy Cane variant might have been a better choice for Give Blood. But it also works with this record I guess. 

2026 Repress on Red & White Candy Cane on Equal Vision /500

The glitter variant looks pretty awesome truth be told. I’m just confused about the ‘natural’ part in the label’s description. I don’t know what makes this glitter acutally ‘natural’, but I don’t know what ‘unnatural’ glitter would be either. 

2026 Repress on Natural Glitter on Equal Vision /300

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 

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. 

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. 

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.

It All Comes Down

Getting the repress of It All Comes Down To This hasn’t been this hard. Pricey, yes, but not really hard. The only variant that was hard to get was the band variant, which was to be sold in increments of 100 each at shows on the east coast and west coast respectively. Since I wasn’t going to attend any of these shows, chances of getting a copy were slim. 

A couple of weeks ago, the band posted on Instagram that not all of the copies had sold at those shows and that the remaining records would be made available through the Equal Vision web store. Now, while I am happy that this made it much easier and cheaper to get this variant, it’s kind of sad that a band like Bane didn’t manage to sell 200 copies of a record on two legs of a US tour. Bands made tour or even festival pressings in similar or higher quantities and sold through them easily. Not anymore apparently. I get it, money's an issue for many people and especially records have become really expensive, but bands of the calibre of Bane not being able to sell through tour presses is not a great sign. Now enough of another old guy ranting about the good old times. 

The mock up on Instagram of the aforementioned band variant looked pretty great and it was easily the variant I was most excited about. So when I received my actual copy, I was really bummed out. I included a picture of the mock up for reference, so you can judge for yourself, but I mean, come on. The difference is easily a thousand miles wide, right?

Anyway, that's one more Bane record taken care of. 

2024 Repress on Green and Violet Eclipse (Band Variant) on Equal Vision /200
 

Source: @banecentral on Instagram

Bane Bane Bane

As glowing as my post about the reissue of Bane‘s debut LP It All Comes Down To This was, this post couldn‘t be any more matter of fact. This is also 100% proof that record collectors are sometimes just stupid because I don‘t like a single color variant posted here to be honest. Ok, the maroon with pink splatter is alright, but it‘s not a beauty. However, to keep the collection as complete as possible, I bought them anyway. I had to. Right? Right???

Speaking of complete collections, until the repress I did have a complete collection, including a test press. I‘m now missing two regular versions of the repress plus a test press for the repress. Now, I don‘t know for sure if Equal Vision made new test presses for this repress, but I‘m fairly certain they had to make new tests after 25 years. So I went from having a complete collection back to probably never having a complete collection ever again because the label is known to be very stingy when it comes to making test presses available. Such are the woes of record collecting. 

1st Press on Maroon w/Pink Splatter on Equal Vision /500

1st Press on Clear w/ Green and Red Splatter on Equal Vision /500

1st Press on Yellow w/ Black Splatter on Equal Vision /300 (Rev Exclusive)

It All Comes Down To Represses

After not jumping on the repress wagon right away with the Give Blood represses, I decided not to repeat the same mistake when I saw that It All Comes Down To This was about to repressed. I‘ve known for a long time that the band was really unhappy with the way their debut album sounded. I never got that because I don‘t have an ear for that to be honest (ask any of my bandmates) and I don’t care if songs were recorded on a second-hand four-track in a basement in an abandoned building in New York in 1983 as long as they‘re good songs. As a matter of fact, if a record doesn‘t sound all that great that can actually add to the charm of a record for me. 

Anyway, I listened to an episode of  podcast with Aaron Dalbec of Bane and Brian McTernan of Battery/Be Well/Salad Day Studios, who did all the recordings for Bane except for It All Comes Down To This. However, he was in charge of remixing and remastering this LP and both of them were really excited when talking about the finished product, which in turn made me really excited.

Like I said before, I really don‘t have an ear for what‘s a good or bad production, but goddamn, Brian McTernan did an excellent job with this remix. It‘s like a completely different record! This version does sound so much better compared to the original, it‘s hard to fathom. If you want to get all the details about the process of remixing the record, you should really listen to the Where It Went episode, it‘s a really interesting listen. 

I picked up this version first because it‘s the best looking one by a mile. Can‘t go wrong with (clear) pink vinyl. The cover was also tweaked a little bit and it looks as fantastic as the record sounds. The gold and red foil or whatever that is in combination with the metallic colors used for the sleeve are great details. The only thing I‘m not a fan of is that the labels were redone as well. I actually like the ones on the OG pressing better. Still, I‘m really, really stoked on this repress. 

2024 Repress on Clear Pink on Equal Vision (Newbury Exclusive /300)

I have a framed promo poster for the original release of It All Comes Down To This hanging in my office, so this felt like a good time to take it off the wall for a picture. As you can see the picture on the promo poster is the same as the one used on the inner sleeve of the record. 

Give More

So after caving on the Don’t Wait Up represses, I decided to go full in and started looking for copies of the Give Blood represses Equal Vision did last year. Now I’ll be slowly chipping away at those missing copies, probably just in time for the newly announced repress of It All Comes Down To This. I think Poison Idea got it wrong. Record collectors aren’t pretentious assholes, they are gigantic idiots. 

2023 Repress on Opaque Cream (“Newbury Exclusive”) on Equal Vision /300

Just Don’t

The post with the three more copies of Bane’s Don’t Wait Up the other day were just the tip of the iceberg that is the madness of collecting. 

While on holiday, End Hits Records and Bane announced that there would be a 10-year anniversary reissue of Don’t Wait Up. Of course that meant a bunch of different versions. Initially I only bought the last two records shown in this post because they were the most limited ones. But after suffering from not-buyer’s remorse the day after, I bought the remaining versions too. Well, technically this isn’t 100% true because by that time the version only available in the UK was already sold out. Since I didn’t want to give my money to flippers on Discogs, I still don’t have a copy. But luckily prices have come down already a little bit. Hopefully this trend continues and I can cross of that version soon as well. 

I really, really hope that this trend of splatter in all variations will end soon and we will be able to look back on this era of vinyl and say ‘Phew, what were we thinking? Let’s not do that again.’ But for now I’m stuck in splatter hell. Obviously no one forced me to buy these records, so I'm can't really complain too much. 

2024 Repress (= 6th Press) on Clear w/ Blue Blob and Yellow Splatter on End Hits Records /125

This version actually looks pretty cool. Love me a nice pinwheel record, especially with a nice color scheme. 

2024 Repress (= 6th Press) on Dewdrop / Midnight Blue Pinwheel on End Hits Records /200

 

The record itself is not that nice to look at, but the silk-screen cover is really sick. 

2024 Repress (= 6th Press) on Midnight blue w/ White/Yellow Splatter on End Hits Records /111

On the back of the cover, the record is numbered out of 111 copies. Nice touch. More bands / labels need to do this kind of thing again. 

Last, but not least, I also managed to pick up a test press for this repress. End Hits tends to do a lot of test presses, which some people frown upon. I don’t really care. If selling test presses helps to keep a label afloat, I’m all for it. 

Test Press for the 2024 Repress (= 6th Press) on End Hits Records /43

Don’t (Wait Up)

For quite a while, I told myself that I wasn’t going to get sucked into buying even more represses of records I already have a lot of copies of. But after seeing Bane a bunch of times and seeing the repress copies of our gracious host Daniel, I said “Fuck it. It’s Bane.” Luckily, this happened around Labor Day in the US and Equal Vision offered a discount over that weekend. Since the records weren’t that expensive to begin with, I actually got Bane records in 2024 for less than $20. Well, at least before shipping, but still. 

Musically, there’s not much to say. The last Bane LP is now considered a classic in itself, which makes me feel old as hell. This repress came out last year and was a Revelation Records exclusive color. Kinda weird this comes on baby blue instead of yellow, because the latter has been the go-to color for Rev exclusives these last few years. I’m not really complaining though because baby blue works much better than yellow. 

2023 Repress (= 3rd Press) on Baby Blue on Revelation Records /???

The most current represses are not that pretty, but a collector’s gotta do what a collector’s gotta do. 

2023 Repress (= 4th Press) on Custard w/ Blue on Equal Vision (/500)

This version looks much better than the other one, because at least the colors go with the artwork, at least to some degree. But it’s still not a good looking version. 

2024 Repress (= 4th Press) on Purple and Black/White Splatter on Equal Vision /500

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

How Much Is Enough?

 

A few months ago, Bane announced on their social media accounts that they were getting the band back together. I know some people still make a fuss about reunions, especially if the final tour/show was announced with a big ado, but I don't really care. Bands come, bands go, people change their opinion for whatever reason. If the members of a band decide to get back together because they miss what meant so much to them at one point in their life and it makes them happy, who are others to judge them? No one's force to attend reunions, so why bother if you claim you don't care? 

Around the same time, Bane announced that was going to be a repress of Give Blood. Kind of like a 20 year anniversary reissue, only two years late, but kind of keeping in tune with how the band handles anniversaries, haha. As it goes nowadays, a record release or a re-release means at least half dozen variants, and in this case, nine different variants were announced all at once. The hardcore kid in me applauds band and label for keeping the record in print, and I get why they do so many variants from an economical point of view. However, the record collector in me was not thrilled at all. Nine variants, each $40+, means a large financial commitment. And that is before shipping (from different sources of course) and customs fees. I didn't pull the trigger back then and so far I have not been able to talk myself into buying all of the variants successfully. 

I decided to pick up the variant that one that looked the best and the one that was the most special and skip the rest for now. Obviously, that means a huge hole in my Bane collection, which up until this reissue looked pretty good - and yes, this kind of gnaws at me. Collectors, right?

First of all, the reissue is done really, really well and you definitely get a high quality product. Die cut gatefold sleeve, big booklet within the gatefold sleeve and good quality vinyl. Neither label nor band skimped on this reissue. So you definitely get your money's worth. 

I'm really glad label and band didn't go full 2023 when it came to choosing the vinyl colors. Keeping it classy with this colorway in particular, which is why I chose this one. 

Coke Bottle Clear on Equal Vision /300 (Brooklyn Vegan / Revolver Exclusive)

I also got the Tiger Records exclusive variant. Tiger Records is a record store run by James Siboni, who played bass in Bane when the band dissolved. This is really a beauty. Four way gatefold which folds out into a giant red cross on the one side and shows an incredible live picture of Bane when you flip the whole thing over. You also get the reproduction of a set list circa 2001, a full lyric sheet, a promo shot from the Give Blood era and three cool band pictures. Just beautiful and a real labor of love. 

Fold out red cross with all the extra goodies. I can see those pictures framed on a wall in the future. 

White/Orange /1000 (Tiger Records Exclusive)

Flip side with an incredible live shot by Matt Miller. I wasn't that much excited about reunion shows, but by now I'm really looking forward to seeing Bane live again.

Overall, I'm very happy with the two reissues that I got, but there's still that tiny man inside my head telling me that I definitely need the other variants as well. 

Don't Wait Up, What?

I really like doing trades, but at the same time I'm also pretty terrible at it, because I usually have a hard time giving up records from my collection and I don't really have doubles of cool shit that might be considered trade bait. In this case however, it was pretty easy even though I had to give up another Bane test press. But getting a shot at this particular test press was simply too tempting. I agreed with the other party to not disclose any real details on the trade or which number I got (I blacked out the number as you can see in the picture) for personal reasons. I'm fine with that.

My collection of Don't Wait Up is now complete and it would have been a good opportunity to take a nice updated family picture, but I have to admit that I was just too lazy to lay out the whole collection.