Grade/Incision

This is a weird release. Originally, there was a split between Grade and Believe, which was released as CD only in 1993. In 1999 there was a reissue, but Believe had been dropped off this release and this other band, Incision, came in as replacement. So one could argue that this is not really a reissue, but more like a new release. It gets weirder though, because Grade was originally founded as Incision, but changed its name to Grade later on. So this is not really a split release either. Like I said, weird.
Honestly, I only knew about Grade before buying this record and I only discovered the whole background story while doing a little research for this entry. I really like the Grade side, but I like the songs on the Incision side a little better. This was a one-time only pressing limited to 500 copies on black vinyl.

Banesanity

There are some collections that border either on pure dedication or near insanity, depending on your point of view. This may be on of those. At Both Ends was a great fanzine in the '00 years. One of the best out there for sure. The final issue came with a double 7". One of bands featured was Bane, so I had to get a copy. To be honest, I got a lot of copies because I ran a little fanzine distro at the time. So I got like a dozen copies from Stephen Fallis directly. When I checked on the records that came with the zine, I noticed they came on a lot of different colours. So I ordered some more, sold most of the doubles (colourwise) and kept the rest. I got something like six or seven different versions by doing that. For a few years I didn't really bother to pick up other versions,  let alone search for them. Then along came Discogs and looking for records became much easier. So I started looking for different variants of this release and I managed to get my hands on a few more. Here's the latest addition: the Bane/Grade 7" comes on clear green vinyl, the Unrestrained/Between Earth And Sky on dark blue with black streaks. If you have any variant I don't have, get at me!

As I wrote in the beginning, this may be one of the more stupid collections I pursue. The reason behind that thought is that nobody knows the pressing info for this release. In the picture you can see that there are a lot of different colours out there. What's more, there are also a lot of transition colours, e.g. the different shades of grey and purple, which always makes it harder to get a detailed pressing info.

I took a close-up picture of the two green ones in the top row. Yup, the one in the middle in the top row is not on black vinyl, it's a really dark green. You can only see that it is actually green if you hold it up against the light.

At Both Ends

At Both Ends was a great fanzine done by Stephen Fallis. He made 10 issues all in all, and documented a good part of the first decade of the 21st century. I haven't read every issue so far, but the ones I could get my hands on were all excellent reads. For the last and final issue(s) Steve really outdid himself. First of all the zine is a double issue, i.e. issue #9 and #10 are combined in one big zine. You can read the zine from the front and the back, which is a neat idea. The quality of the zine, i.e. journalistic approach, layout, paper and so on are much more magazine than fanzine, and Steve definitely has raised the bar for all the zines out there. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it.
As if that weren't enough already, Steve also decided to put out a double 7" along with the zine. You get two songs each by Bane, Grade, Unrestrained and Between Earth And Sky. Can't hardly beat that package. My main interest in the vinyl here obviously were the Bane songs. Non-Negotiable was later featured on their final LP Don't Wait Up, the other one is a re-recorded version of Struck Down By Me, which was originally released on It All Comes Down To This.
No one knows how many different colours are out there. Stephen and Justin from Unrestrained once tried to document all the different colour combinations, but there's no actual record of what is out there. Also, the numbers vary from colour to colour, so some colours are much more common than others.  This Bane 7" comes on clear red vinyl and it is the eighth version I have of this record. I also have dark green, light grey, dark grey, baby blue, purple, dark purple and orange. I know of three or four more colours and I guess there are quite many transition variants in between the light and dark records. Beyond that, I have no idea. Keeps collecting interesting though. If you have anything I don't have, hit me up.

It All Ain't Gold That Glitters

On my seemlingy never-ending quest of collecting Bane records I thought I was one step closer to completion when I came across a Holding This Moment 7" on green vinyl - the last version I needed for my collection. Minus test pressing that is. Oh well, one can dream I guess. Anyway, I contacted the seller and we quickly agreed on a fair price. Fast forward, the record finally arrived on my doorstep some time ago and I eagerly opened the parcel, but only to be disappointed. As it turned out, the dude selling the record "got confused" and mixed up the records he had. I contacted him and he told me that he also had Free To Think, Free To Be on green vinyl, but unfortunately not Holding This Moment and that he had put the wrong colour in the description. To add insult to injury, it even says "Gold" on the plastic sleeve, but since I hadn't asked for pictures, I hadn't seen that before buying it. Stupid, really, but that's how it goes sometimes. So instead of finally getting the last puzzle piece to this particular record, I ended up with another copy on gold. It would have been too much of a hassle to send it back to the States, so I decided to keep it. It's not that bad though since a buddy of mine is still looking for this particular record and we've already worked out a trade.

I don't know if I'm alone with that tick, but whenever I want to buy only one record from a seller or online distro, I can't shake the feeling that buying only one record doesn't justify the shipping cost. I'm aware that this is rather stupid and there's no real logic behind it, but that's just the way it is. So I usually end up scouring lists for (at least) one more record I could buy in addition to the one I originally wanted. Sometimes that's hard, sometimes it's rather easy to find more records. This one was an easy choice. Grade's Triumph & Tragedy holds a special place in my heart. I had heard of this band before, but never really gave it a listen. That changed when I got a mix-tape by my then girlfriend-to-be and now current girlfriend and there was this one song on it that just floored me. Turns out it was Triumph and Tragedy by Grade. So when I finally had the chance to pick up this record on vinyl, I had to get it. 543 copies on gold vinyl exist of this record. 

Catching Up With The 90s

Happy new year, everybody! Let's see what 2014 has to offer. Still got some catching up to do from 2013, though.

This would have probably been a more apt name for this blog since it seems to be what I mainly do: catch up. So many records by so many bands, and so little money to buy all of them and so little time to listen to all of them. It's hard enough to keep up to date with today's music as there seem to be myriads of (new) bands all around. But since I was a little to late to start buying records - sadly not due to young age, but to stupidity - I have to play catch up with the past decades, at least the 80s and 90s that is, too. Luckily there's this shopping paradise for old vinyl called discogs.com. I picked up all of these nice 7"s from the same seller. Money saved is money earned, right?


First goes Grade's s.t. EP, released in 1996 on Wheatfield Records. Not too interesting from a collector's point of view, but that's not what it is always about. This here 7" comes on plain black vinyl. I'm not even sure if there are any other versions out there.

Next up is the s.t. EP by Mouthpiece. Again, no fancy cover or coloured vinyl, just plain black vinyl.
The internet tells me this is the 1994 repress because of the purple labels. Good one.

I also got this early Youngblood release, Rancor's Never Hold Back (= YBR 003), to be precise. Youngblood had some great releases in the late 90s and early 2000s. Lots of catching up to do though. One down, many to go.

I love compilations because it is a cool way to get to know new bands. Or at least it used to be. I know, the easy way to check out new bands nowadays is to use the internet. I also do that I have to admit. There aren't that many compilations being released anymore to begin with, and using the internet is admittedly easier. Plus it doesn't cost anything. I get that. But there is no better feeling than listening to a new record or a song on a compilation by a band you didn't know before and being floored by it, because it's just that good. You rarely get that feeling of "Fuck, this is just awesome!", but if you do, it beats anything. Sitting there in your room, reading the lyric sheet, looking at the sleeve, checking out every small detail. You don't get that same feeling from listening to music on the internet. At least I don't. Here's to more compilations in the future again.

First press of the Growing Stronger Compilation on Teamwork/In My Blood Records (red lettering on the front cover). 

Speaking of good compilations, the last 7" I picked up is a copy of the Rebuilding Compilation on Temperance Records. There are many different versions known of this 7". 100 respectively 200, depending on the source, were pressed on gold vinyl. This here is on black vinyl with yellow/green labels. There are four more versions on black vinyl, all with different labels. I don't think anyone really knows the precise pressing info for the black editions as far as numbers go. If you do, enlighten me. This compilation is really awesome. On different levels that is. Burn. Gorilla Biscuits. Turning Point. No Escape. Need I say more about the music? Thought so. Rebuilding was released as a benefit compilation back in 1990 to collect money for an animal rights organization and to promote the idea of vegetarianism/veganism. The texts and the info flier are informative and educational without being preachy or condescending. I don't know why, but none of the songs deal with animal rights/eating meat. Seems like they could have picked different bands/songs. Or maybe it was part of the non-preachy aspect? But in the end, it doesn't really matter. Good release for a good cause.