Give More, Give Everything, Give Blood

So, here it is. The most expensive record I have ever purchased and probably will purchase in a long time: the test pressing of the reissue that Triple B did for Bane's Give Blood LP for the album's ten year anniversary. I'd been hunting down one of these for a long time, contacted a lot of people - to no avail -, missed out on one on a few occasions on eBay, but finally was able to score one. Didn't come cheap, but it was well worth it.

I didn't buy the whole set when Triple B released this re-issue a few years back because I was a little strapped for money then. I reasoned that with black being the least rare colour, chances would be good that I might pick up this particular version along the road for a reasonable price. And that's just the way it happened. I stumbled across this black vinyl copy at a distro at one of the shows Bane recently played in order to promote their upcoming LP. Nice coincidence, right? So ironically, the least rare version completes this set for me. Triple B truly did a great job with this re-issue. Embossed cover, new cover art and an awesome booklet with lots of pictures and some bonus texts by the band. Plus, the choice of colours for the vinyl is excellent. You can really see that the label wanted to honour this record and the band with this re-release.

Bane - Give Blood (reissue on Triple B)

Bane - Give Blood - test pressing - toothpaste green - /15
Bane - Give Blood - red/white splatter - /200
Bane - Give Blood - white - /400
Bane - Give Blood - clear red - /400 (Equal Vision exclusive colour)
Bane - Give Blood - black - /1000

No Spiritual Surrender

So, I went a little crazy last month as far as buying records goes. At least for my standards. But dammit, there were so many good records to get for reasonable prices that I figured I might save some money in the long run. Funny how our mind plays these kinds of tricks on us… Now the records are slowly showing up on my doorstep.
I finally got one of my main wants - a first press copy of No Spiritual Surrender by Inside out on blue vinyl. 1000 of these exist but they're not easy to come by. Probably because this is an awesome record. Maybe because it looks so damn good. Most likely because of both points. I love everything about this record and I often wonder what an Inside Out LP would have been like…

Here's a little family picture.

1st press on blue /1000
'Final press' on white /350
Later press on black vinyl /???
2013 press on clear /510 or 550
[Apparently there were  two different pressings on clear vinyl. Don't know which one this is or if there's a difference between the two clear version.]
2013 press on clear red /550

Shall Be Jugded

Sorry, Shall Be Judged of course. My bad. Or actually it's Rev's bad since they made this spelling mistake on the back cover 24 years ago (and never bothered to correct it!). This is one of the best records that Rev has ever put out. I can never decide between this one, No Spiritual Surrender by Inside Out or the two Gorilla Biscuits records. Tough choice if you ask me. Godhead is probably one of the best hardcore songs ever written.
This is also one of the few Rev releases I care about in a true collector's sense, meaning I want all of them! This is a 2nd press copy. Comes with a black&white insert and there's still the Connecticut address on the back cover. I picked this up when I was at a festival recently and some guy had a box of 2nd hand records with him. Not mint condition, but it plays fine and at the price I paid it'd have been stupid to not pick it up.

A Life Less Plagued

This is one of my favourite LPs from the early 2000s by one of my favourite bands from that time. Much better than the 7"s imho. A Life Less Plagued is actually one of the few albums I don't want to skip any songs on. Very rare in my book, cause there's usually at least one song on LPs I don't like.  Back then it helped Bridge 9 getting really big and becoming one of the most important hardcore labels of that era. (For an excessive read on Carry On check Kyle Whitlow's blog). This is the first press on orange /150. I had this record before but traded it years ago to make some progress with one of my collections. I didn't really regret making this trade because I probably wouldn't have got the other record at all. I've never seen another copy of the record I got pop up after that. But I knew right away that I needed this specific LP back in my collection at one point. Took me some time, but sometimes patience is the way to go. The orange vinyl, which this picture sadly does not do justice, looks so sick if you hold in your hands. There are some white swirls in this mix, looks great. Matches the artwork really well, too. This one actually doesn't look quite as nice as the one I had before, if I remember correctly, but it's still a sweet piece of vinyl. Really glad to have this one back.

High scores

A buddy of mine has been selling a couple of his records to finance a few releases of his own (check koepfen.tictail.com). Win-win for everyone, because I was able to pick up these two Highscore LPs. Good fastcore made in Germany from the early 2000s. If you don't know them, make sure you'll give them a listen. They didn't end up on 625 Thrashcore later on without a reason. If you make it on a US label as a European band, you know you got something good going.

The first LP is called New Fuel. It was released in 2000 first on Bushido Records (no connection with the German rapper…) and later on Deranged Records. This is the latter version. Nothing fancy, but I'd wanted to have these LPs for quite some time, so I wasn't particularly picky about the pressing. Plus I could help out a good dude.

I also picked up the second Highscore LP - Unsuspecting Actors In A Bad Soap Opera. This is the Stereodrive Records version. I have no idea about pressing numbers, but honestly, I don't really care about that. Just wanted to have the records.

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. 

Built To Last

So, another big want crossed off of my list. Coloured Sick Of It All vinyl is kind of hard to come by, especially the records that came out on Equal Vision and Fat Wreck. Probably because there are some crazy Fat Wreck collectors out there and also because the numbers pressed on coloured vinyl are usually somewhat low for a band of this caliber. Built To Last comes on this sweet looking blue marble. Only 300 were copies of this exist and they don't pop up too often. So when I recently saw that someone on a messageboard offered this for a fair price, I knew this was the time to finally get it. A lot of people don't like the 'later' SOIA albums, i.e. everything after Scratch The Surface or even after Blood, Sweat And No Tears already, but I can enjoy almost all of their records. Built To Last is no exception here. Good Lookin' Out, Built To Last and Us vs. Them are probably my favourite songs on this LP. Besides, they make great live songs. One more down, many to go.

Roll With The Punches

After passing up on this record for many, many times I pulled the trigger and was finally able to cross this off of my want list. Fun fact, my want list somehow never seems to get shorter, no matter how many records I buy. I wonder why that is... Anyway, Carry On's Roll With The Punches is a great 7". A couple of songs ended up on the LP they released a year later, which is even better than this 7", so you definitely need both of these records. One of my favourite bands from that time. 200 copies on stunningly looking baby blue marbled vinyl.

In addition to the Carry On 7" I bought, the seller threw in this Times Together 7" that came out on Just Another Day records a few years ago. If you read this, thanks again, man. I had never heard of the band, but I really like it. Sounds like a mix between Uniform Choice and H20. Since you can't go with neither of these two bands, you know you're getting something good here.

Gooooooooooooooooooooo!

A buddy of mine posted a picture of his Go! collection on instagram some time ago, which made me listen to the two Go! 7"s I already had. Something I hadn't done in a long time. Too long a time actually. I'd almost forgotten how good they were. Good, powerful hardcore with very outspoken political lyrics. All the 7"s originally came on black vinyl only as far as I know. Luckily, a lot of people seem to have forgotten or simply never cared about this band, so you can pick up their records for rather cheap. Buy them all! Okay, maybe you don't need the live 7" and the Root Canal flexi (!), but you should definitely check out the other ones. Really good NYHC band, which sadly flies under the radar of most people.

Go! - Your Power Means Nothing
Go! - Why Suffer?
Go! - Root Canal
Go! - And The Time Is Now…
Go! - Only Sheep Need A Leader (Live in Utrecht)

More Iron Chic

Another release by my latest new favourite band Iron Chic. This is a split 7" with a band called Pacer. Never heard of the latter and probably won't in the future either. Not really my cup of tea. The Iron Chic songs are good, but not awesome. But of course it'd be a little bit too much to ask to have outstanding hits on every single release. Nevertheless I'm glad I finally have a copy of this. First press on white vinyl out of 400.

All On Black II

Not only did I manage to pick up a whole bunch of 7"s on black vinyl, but with the same order I got three LPs that came all on black vinyl, too. What are the odds, right?

Some time ago I complained about the lack of compilations nowadays. So when I heard that Crucial Response was to release a compilation I knew I had to get it. Crucial Response had some quality releases in the past and from what I read the list of bands on this compilation sounded really promising. I do have mixed feelings about this LP though, now that I actually have it in my hands. There are some really good bands on it, both veteran and current. My favourite songs on here are probably by Snob Value, Sniffing Glue, Skaggs and Become. I'm really bummed that the latter already broke up. I had really enjoyed their demo and was looking forward to more to come. If you're into early, Boston-style hardcore at all, you should definitely check out Skaggs and get the two tapes they have put out so far.
However, my mixed feelings stem from including this band Dogends on the compilation. If anyone out there still thinks it's ok to use words like 'faggot' as an effort to insult someone, you can fuck off. I don't know if this was just 'meant as a joke' or that 'if I knew these guys, I'd know they weren't bad guys and didn't mean it like that' - these being the most common excuses around -, but that doesn't make it any less stupid. I also wish the label had taken more interest in the lyrics their bands have. Somewhat ruins this for me.

I've heard and read a lot of good things about this LP and it ended quite highly on many of the TOP 2013 lists that I saw, so I had to get it and see for myself. And I didn't get disappointed, that's for sure. Rough hardcore played in an early 80's style. X-Claim bands come to mind as a reference, but there's also some hint of early British hardcore in there. What makes this band really special is the fact that it consists of only one band member, Tom Pimlott, who plays all the instruments on the recordings. Talk about your DIY ethics. Will be listening to a lot in the future most likely.
This is the Painkiller version on black vinyl. 'City Streets' also comes on blue and red vinyl, and to make it more interesting for collectors, it was released on two different labels.

This is probably my favourite release of the lot 'All On Black' that I recently got. Left in Ruins' 'Ghost' LP, which is a split release by Per Koro, Epidemic and Ruins Records, is 10 songs of pure rage. One-sided LP, 10 songs in 14 minutes, no fancy gimmicks. Just pure raging hardcore. Plus one of the best covers I've ever heard. Classic rock song goes hardcore. So, so good.

All On Black

After crossing off a couple of old records on my want list, it was time to focus on the current hardcore scene again and so I ordered a couple of records that either sounded interesting or I had heard people I know talk about. By some weird coincidence I managed to pick up only records on black vinyl, which in this day and age is somewhat of a marvel. I don't really care about that, but it's kind of astonishing nonetheless.

Let's start with Caught In A Crowd's second 7" 'The Fight', released by React! Records. Caught In A Crowd play youth crew SXE hardcore, as you have probably already figured out from the band's name and the label. It's good music for what it is, but from the couple of times I listened to the songs, this 7" is nothing that got me overly excited. They're often compared to the likes of Carry On and Count Me Out, which is why I bought the record in the first place, but 'like' does unfortunately not mean 'as good as' in this case. Maybe it'll grow on me though. First press out of 400.

I got to know Kids Insane via a message board I frequently use when someone posted a link to their bandcamp page. The songs got me hooked immediately and I bought their LP soon afterwards. I really liked said first LP and listened to it on a regular basis for a couple of weeks. So when I heard that they were going to put out a new 7", I had to get it. And what can I say, I wasn't disappointed when I listened to it the first time and the many times after that. I'm pretty sure this 7" will rank highly on my 2014 list. I really like the cover, too.
Most common version comes on black vinyl again. There are 317 other 7"s on black, but if you're looking to add some colour to your life, 'Frustrated' also comes on silver and blue vinyl. You can even pick up a test press for cheap as far as I know.

Next up is Sea Of Shit's s.t. 7". Decent power violence, but nothing that really got stuck in my head. Might have to give it a couple more spins, but for now it's 'just OK'.

Many people seem to be fed up with the seemingly endless flow of reissued records, but I'm rather stoked about most of them. I can see the perspective of collector's here, but for me, and many others I guess, it's a good and cheap way to pick up records that wouldn't be affordable otherwise. A good example is this Deep Wound 7", which usually goes for $400+ on eBay. Now I really wanted to have that record - and and still want many other classics as a matter of fact -, but not at that price. Since bootlegs are out of the question, I always have to hope for a reissue of a classic record. Armageddon Records seem to have heard my prayers and even more importantly answered them. The first legitimate reissue of this classic 80's record, at least as far as I know. And again, this is a classic for good reasons. Great guitar, awesome drumming and the pissed off voice of the singer make this 7" really stand out. If you're into early 80's hardcore at all, you need this. On a sidenote, the drummer and the guitarist went on to form this band you might have heard of called Dinosaur Jr. Must have.

Head Over Heels

So, a good friend of mine and I were djing together a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I actually play the records I buy, sometimes even for other people. Now I'm not saying I'm any good at it, but getting to listen to exactly the music you want to listen to for a whole evening and getting free food and drinks on top of that sounds like a good deal to me. Anyway, said buddy put on this one song that immediately got me hooked, so I had to ask him what band this song was by and that's how I fell in love with Iron Chic.
Not only did I fall in love with this band though, but my girlfriend did, too. Now the good thing about having a girlfriend who is into the same music as oneself and thinks about music the same way you do is that you don't have to explain about buying and spending way too much money (only in the eyes of others of course) on records. On the contrary, me and the missus teamed up and got as many Iron Chic releases as possible for now. Sounds like an awesome girlfriend? You're right about that. Since I apparently live under an enormous rock, not all releases were still available, so it looks like I'll have to hit up ebay or discogs at some point in the nearby future. Expect to see more Iron Chic posts soon.
For once I seem to be extremely lucky since the band is going on tour in Europe in a couple of weeks, which I'm really stoked about. Enough time to learn the lyrics to sing along. Shouldn't be too hard considering that Iron Chic is being played 95% of the time in the apartment these days.


Going clockwise:

Spooky Action tape on Bridge 9 records - white - /250
Not Like This LP - European press on YoYo Records - black (180g vinyl) - 3rd press out of ???
(Cosmic) Future 7" on YoYo Records - clear vinyl - 3rd press out of ???
The Constant One LP on Bridge 9 - baby blue vinyl - 2nd press out of 1000
Spooky Action 7" on YoYo Records - clear vinyl - 1st press out of 400

Not too interesting from a collector's point of view. But as I said I had lived under a rock for too long, which means that all the releases have gone through multiple pressings by now, so I'm not even thinking about trying to go down that road...

5 O'Clock Shadows At The Edge Of The Western World

If there was one release in the last couple of months I was really looking forward to, up to the point of sheer excitement, it was the new Dangers 7". The drawback of high expectations is that you imagine the new songs to be so awesome that it's almost impossible for the record to meet said expectations. This is especially true for new material by your favourite bands. As it happens Dangers is one of my personal favourites. Music, lyrics, attitude and live performance, I could go on raving about all of that for hours. I won't though. Let's just say that Dangers - to me - is what a hardcore band should be like. To say I love the band would still be an understatement and the day they're gonna call it quits will be a really sad one for me.
But let's focus on the present. As I already hinted at, I had really high expectations for this 7". It took me some time to get into the record, but after listening to it constantly for the last few weeks it finally made click. The A-Side still sounds a little off to me, mainly because the vocals sound so differently from the earlier releases, but the B-Side is where it's really at. The last song is just so unbelievably good. One of my favourite (Dangers) songs ever.
On a different note, Vitriol Records is one of those labels that always puts great effort into all their releases. I'm really digging the whole package here. Cover, the printed inner jacket, lyric sheet and the colours chosen for the records all work together really well. Great release of a great band by a great label.

I can't really say anything about the individual numbers here, but there are three different colours for this release, which account to a grand total of 2,000. I like the brownish colour the best by a mile. It looks really sick.

It gets better though. If you hold it against the light, the record turns golden with black swirls, which makes it look even better. Try doing that with your CDs or MP3s, ha! One of the best looking records I own.

True Till Death

Hands down, it probably doesn't get any more classic than a Chain Of Strength - True Till Death 7" on green vinyl. Pretty much everything about this record screams classic: the artwork, the music, the lyrics, the colour of the vinyl and last but not least the name itself, which has become the namesake for one of the most prominent SXE catch phrases there is. Now I'm not the biggest Chain Of Strength fan out there, let alone a collector, but this 7" is really great. Simple and plain. Sometimes it doesn't need a lot of words to sing the praises of something. What I love most about this record is the intro to True Till Death. It creates this intense atmosphere that persists throughout the whole song. Great stuff.
Anybody should own one of these in my opinion. Unfortunately there are only 2000 copies on green vinyl. I say 'only', because 2000 copies sounds like a lot, but since this is as classic as classic a record can be they are highly sought after. Really glad I was able to pick up this near mint copy and add it to my collection. Good times.