Happy End

Today's post is about the third band (besides Internal Affairs & Right Brigade) where I try to get every record variation that is out there - Bitter End.
One record that I've been after for a while now, is the most recent version of their awesome "climate of fear" LP:


The "clear pilsner beer vinyl with silkscreened/cutout acetate covers sold at United Blood Fest 2009" out of only 54 copies.
This is really awesome. It's not just a silkscreened cover. They cut out a square and covered it with a transparent layer that is silkscreened/printed as well. This is supposed to look like a TV screen with white noise (at least that's what I think). Through the white noise, you can either see the record or the picture that is glued to the inside of the sleeve.


Six Feet Under (or Bitter End themselves) did a very good job with this one. I can't think of a similar special sleeve like this. And I really like how the TV idea fits to the amazing intro of the record with all those TV and radio samples. Well done!!
Okay, maybe one bad side note:
There are 5 different inside images amongst the 54 records....
I don't think that I need all of them... or do I?
In germany we say: "Irgendwo hört's dann aber auch auf..." :o)

The next one that I picked up is the "mind in chains" 7" repress on orange vinyl out of 500:


I didn't even know that Malfunction/Deathwish made a second press. I was surfing around at record trade posts on the Bridge 9 board and at howsyouredge, where I saw that various dudes had this variation. I was totally wondering and couldn't understand how I never heard of this one. After a little research, I found out that it was still available at the Deathwish E-store. Lucky me.
So that's two more records to add here:

Heroes from the past

Unlike all the other trendy kids (yeah, those kids you see at shows for a few months/years before they disappear, following the next trend) who started with the current "cool" bands, my musical life has been more of a progression.
A slow progression from metal to punk to hardcore (and maybe back at the moment.. with some side trips to recent and 70s rock stuff, but that's another story :o).
If you ask me about the band that brought me from punk to hardcore, I guess I have to say:


I loved them from the first tunes I heard and still do. I think they once played here with H2O, who opened the door for NYHC for me. I believe that I even saw them with Sick of it all, who later toured with Ensign... and so on.
As I was listening to one of their records, being sad that they split up, it came to my mind that Fat Wreck released their last show on vinyl. I knew I had to get it:


And this record blows my mind. Nice gatefold, handnumbered (#266 out of 1100) two different colours of vinyl (old school colours by the way, not that swirl or splatter bullshit that once was interesting, but nowadays comes with almost EVERY record), an awesome maybe 100 page booklet with thousands of pictures and HITS HITS HITS. I put the needle on the record and couldn't believe what I heard. I usually don't like live records, but this one almost made me destroy my room, moshing and dancing and singing along. There is not a single song where you think: "oh yeah, they have this song and they have to play it, because it is their last show, but I don't like it" NO, every song you think: "oh yeah, they have this song and they have to play it, because it is their last show and now I wanna smash my chair against the wall and want to scream the lyrics out loud!!!!". Awesome!!! It is such a pleasure to listen to this selection of songs in a row. I hope they make a DVD out of this. The sound is perfect. Not too clear, not too raw. Everything on this release is simply awesome. Now go get it, before it is sold out (by the way, for the first time I ordered something from Fat Wreck directly. I ordered the new Paint it Black 7" as well. It rules, but today's topic is "Heroes from the past". :o).


Although I really like Good Riddance, my favourite band back in the days was:


yes, NOFX.
A few weeks ago, Epitaph announced some coloured vinyl represses of classic records.
Unfortunately, I was too late (like so many times before). My favourite records were gone.
I only managed to pick up two releases. NOFX - Animal liberation on yellow vinyl out of 300 and:


Bad Religion - How could hell be any worse on red vinyl out of 300.
Both records rule. Actually I never owned this Bad Religion record. A while ago, I tried to pick it up on ebay, but was always outbid. So this was a nice way to pick it up.
I have "Animal Liberation" on CD for years now, but to be honest, I hardly listened to it. So this was also a nice occasion to give it a try again.
And man, there are some awesome songs on this....
Last words for today: "Beer Bong"......

Nerd Brigade

So this one is interesting: I call my Right Brigade collection almost complete (minus two tests).
But the other day, I found a pressing of their s/t 7" on ebay advertised as clear red vinyl. I was very curious, because I never heard of such a pressing. So I clicked the button and it was mine.


After examining this record for several hours, I came to the conclusion that this isn't a different pressing than the well-known pink ones. I am not that familiar with record pressing processes, but I guess you get the pink vinyl by mixing red and white. So I believe that this bad boy is one of the early birds when the white has been thrown into the machine. Look at this picture (pink on top, red below):


you can clearly see a difference. But still, if you look closer, you can see a few white streaks in the red vinyl. And below, you can see that it really is transparent compared to the pink one:


Yeah, this is what I think about this one. Must be the same principle like the Gorilla Biscuits 7", where there are various yellow colorways and even a few white ones. If anyone else has another idea about this record, feel free to tell me.

two steps closer

After receiving an empty box that should have contained my Iron Age 12" pre-order and without even getting a reply from the guy who put out the record, I thought this would be a fucked up week (regarding records).
Well, today this week came to a good end. Two (filled) packages, two times Internal Affairs!

The first one:


A Test Press for the IA/Allegiance split. A very early release. Rivalry Records wasn't even called Rivalry, but just Rival Records when this came out. Bidding at ebay, I was afraid that I have to compete not only against IA collectors, but against Allegiance collectors as well. It turned out that there was no need to worry. I got this record for way less than I expected (Two days earlier, somebody outbid me on the s/t 12" Test Press...).


Impossible to see it in my stupid picture, but mine is #15 out of 20.
I think it's weird that this isn't the rarest version, as somewhere are rootbeer variations out there. Still have to pick up one of those....

The other grab was the following:


The Dalek 12" on clear vinyl out of 100, as far as I know.
When this record came out, I wanted to order all four versions. So I put them in my shopping cart and noticed that the Triumvir store wanted around 120,- $ including shipping to germany....
I mean 60,- $ for shipping four records, are you kidding me? Keep them!
I was angry and didn't want to collect Internal Affairs anymore. A few days later, the records where sold out and I knew that I needed them... In the end, this would probably cost more than 120,- $. Stupid me. After picking up two colors from Deathwish and Grave Mistake Records and the black one for cheap from a spanish record store through ebay, I still needed the clear one. Turned out this wasn't easy. One day, I was posting stupid things in a record collector thread on the Bridge 9 board and got a PM that someone had a copy and wanted to get rid of it. As I had been looking so long without finding one, I instantly made an offer (which might have been a bit too high) and we had a deal. So now, 8 days later I finally have all four of them:

Kurzarbeit again

Another Monday, another day off from work, another record shopping tour at the "Schanze".
This time I spent too much money, but here we go:

The very special limited edition of Turbonegro's "Scandinavian leather" LP. If you ask me, this is their best work after the reunion. Take this one and forget everything they recorded after that. It comes in a nice leather sleeve, a double gatefold like I never saw before, it contains a one-sided bonus 12" with an unreleased track (which pretty much sucks, by the way) and is limited to 2000 pieces.


Mine is #1972. When this came out, I held it in my hands and wanted it so badly, but it was too expensive for me. Well, it was worth the wait, as it was way cheaper today!
Another nice feature: There are various pictures of all band members and by using a "key hole" on the back of the double gatefold, you can show your favourite Turbonegro member:


The next one comes in an awesome package as well:


The new Franz Ferdinand. I am sorry, but they are easily one of my favourite non-hardcore bands. Their third record is slightly different from their previous efforts, and it takes some rotations to get used to it, but still it is awesome! I am so looking forward to their Hamburg show in November. I have seen them so many times and everytime it was absolutely amazing.
The record itself comes in the heaviest gatefold ever.


Not your average gatefold sleeve, but very very heavy carton - awesome!

Last, but not least, I picked up the following:


Led Zeppelin - II.
I already have the CD, but wanted to upgrade to the vinyl sooner or later.
When I saw this nice spanish version on red vinyl, I had to get it.
I think I like this one more than their first record. "Whole lotta love" is one of the best openers ever.

Sooooo, let's see what next Monday brings... :o)

Internal Affairs Demo again

My buddy Dan is into collecting demo tapes for a while now.
At the moment, this is not really my business. Sometimes at shows I would pick one up. Of course, I need the tapes of bands that I am specialized in, but that's it. So make sure not to send me all your demo tapes, send them to Dan -> Danny's Tradelist. :o)
As I dig Internal Affairs, I couldn't refuse an offer on the Bridge 9 board, where someone wanted to get rid of IA's demo tape. A few mails and incredibly 5 days later (for the distance Kansas City -> Germany) I finally held it in my hands:


This is #82 of 100. After completing the 7" repress a few days ago, I finally have the original demo as well. Let's see what's up next. :o)

Iron Boots - Easy green TEST PRESS

Like i said before, sometimes good things happen. So one day I stumbled across the following record:


A test press of Iron Boots' latest and last effort, the easy green 7". I wasn't searching for it, I wasn't waiting for it, I didn't expect it, but suddenly it was there and I had to get it.
Do you want to know, what's the best part?


This is number 1 out of 24. For some stupid reason, when it comes to numbered records, I prefer the lowest number, as it feels more exclusive or something like that. Maybe it's just record nerd stupidity... Is this the trigger to collect anything from Iron Boots? I don't know, yet...
The record itself is awesome, like the other two 7"s. Close your eyes and it's Warzone. It's a shame that they never released that full length that was announced a few times. On the other hand, who knows.. Maybe it's better this way.