This release gets called a lot of things. Sometimes it's S/T, sometimes it's Demo, sometimes it's 2008. To me, it's just about as complete as it is going to get and I love this release pretty hard. Probably the most aggressive of Touche Amore's material, and has a great capacity to get weird with collectors. We'll start from the 1st Press and work our way up I guess? Some have some stories to tell, some others probably do not. But that's okay. Let's begin.
Oh, and before you get any funny ideas; it's another long one.
Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 1st Press - Clear /100
First things first. You can tell a 1st Press aside from any further pressings by one thing: the T and A labels. The labels change after this pressing, so there's a big giveaway. Another thing is the sleeve, but this gets a bit more complicated and we'll get to that later.
Back Cover // B-Side
I'm not sure who the face is on the back cover. Some people assume it is Fred Phelps, but I'm not too sure. I do like the large T and A labels here though. This copy has some light black streaks running through it (just about the A in this photo). I picked this up on eBay and was probably the most I have paid for a copy of this particular release. I have only bought one other variant since this, and we'll get on that a little later.
Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 1st Press - Red /300
This copy I picked up from a UK seller, and after a little bit of negotiation this turned out to be my first 1st press copy of this 7''. In retrospect I got a pretty good deal on this one.
Back Cover // B-Side
On all vinyl versions of this release, 'Huckleberry' and 'Hipsterectomy' are only available as a digital bonus. Due to the time constraints of a 7'' (at a guess), these two tracks were omitted. Six songs on a 7'' is plenty though, and these extra songs still get a lot of play for me digitally too.
Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 1st Press - White /600
This copy was sold to me by a mate when grabbing a few TA things in one go.
Back Cover // B-Side
This particular copy is really clean for a White record, normally there is a bunch of bleed of other colours. Particularly when you think that this was done back in the day when No Sleep were a smaller label than they are today.
Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 1st Press - White /600 (West Coast Tour Variant - 3/24 Seattle - /5)
Long story short. These were from the first Touche Amore tour, and these covers were made up by Nick Steinhardt. The covers together form a silk-screened map of the West Coast, covering the tour route. There were 5 on sale each night, 4 on White and 1 on Red vinyl. One date was cancelled and the band kept those. The old guitarist sold a copy of this date, and so only one copy of that date is in circulation. I have only one copy of this variant, and I'm happy with that but I would definitely nab another if it came up at the right price. This particular date just falls into a solid part of the map. Nick provided me with a bunch of information on this release, and I'm incredibly thankful for that.
Back Cover // B-Side
This particular copy has a bunch of bleed in it, up close it's a black/ brown swirl that's quite noticeable on this side. If you needed a reason to keep both White variants, there you go (well, I'd keep them anyway...)
As the cover changes up a little after this press (well, nearly. You'll get it) I thought I'd go through the 1st press cover.
Designed by Nick Steinhardt. I'd like to see the full cover image, and I tried getting some mock ups of this and the TA/LD covers (there are hand made constructed prototypes of both covers I think, I offered up money for unused prototypes, but I think they're staying where they belong for now). Another thing about this particular sleeve is the paper sleeve as opposed to card. I'm sure it's paper as it's so thin. Not a bad thing, it gives it a more DIY feel to it which is what every demo should have I reckon!
Back cover
I think the gaps in the track-listing are to represent where the other tracks fall into the original running order. The barcode stays the same throughout all the pressings. At the bottom of the sleeve are various No Sleep identifiers (web address, logo etc.).
The sleeve opens up with a left spine, and as opposed to an insert all information is printed along the inside of the sleeve. The 1st panel is taken up by lyrics.
This panel contains the lyrics to Honest Sleep. After that is thanks, band personnel, recording credits, layout and photography credits.
The band has changed up a little from here. Jeremy Zsupnik was originally on drums, and was replaced by Elliot Babin who is still in the band today. Tyson White also used to play guitar (I am assuming it's this dude who sold the West Coast demo), and Nick Steinhardt originally played bass. Since then Tyler Kirby moved in on bass, Nick now plays guitar alongside Clayton. Jeremy has been on vocals the whole time. No swoop fringe from Thriller followed though. Ryan Aylsworth handled all band photos here, and I think he also worked on the Is Survived By photography. It goes to show how far this band carries a friendship right?
The 1st Press also came in an oversized poly-sleeve with a little information sticker attached.
The download code also changes between pressings. It's going to be a long haul either way, so why not add an extra photo or two?
Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 2010 Box Set Press - Clear - 175/200
This is a bit of a funny one. This press uses 1st press jackets, yet has A/B labels that indicate a 2nd pressing. Therefore, it seems perfect to pop it here between the two. This variant, much like the 1st press clear has a black streak kicking through it too.
Front Cover // B-Side
Would you look at that, I've been an idiot and not turned the cover over before photographing it. It's not too big a deal I guess, giving that it's been photographed a few times already.
Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 2nd Press - Coke Bottle Blue /245
This kicks off the 2nd press. There's always a little bit of confusion between this variant and the 2nd press clear. On to that a bit later though.
Back Cover // B-Side
I bought this and another 2nd press copy of the demo from a buddy named Dan along with two copies of TTBOADH. Those were the first TA items I bought from him, and from there I bought a bunch more, funny how things work out I guess.
Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 2nd Press - Clear /310
See where the confusion lies? This could pass for Clear or Coke Bottle Blue on a good day. Thankfully this came with a sticker saying 'Clear' on the sleeve to save confusion.
Back Cover // B-Side
I believe this was the other copy bought from Dan actually.
Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 2nd Press - Clear Gold /500
This copy has very faint traces of black running through it, but they're barely noticeable.
Back Cover // B-Side
Cheap eBay dig if I remember rightly? I could be wrong, and I guess it's not too important either way at this point, it took a long time to pull all of this together so a few details are blurry by now.
Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - Sound And Fury Press - Clear - 56/75
These were put together for Sound and Fury, along with the Make Do and Mend // La Dispute splits in 2010. This and the La Dispute split came in this Arigato sleeve with a screened cover. I've already covered LD, so on to this one. The vinyl itself is from the Clear /310 2nd Press. I know I bought this from someone who had a double of the S+F press, who that person was escapes me though! As you've already seen the B-Side of this variant, and the back of the sleeve is just a fold I thought it best to not photograph it. This copy also came with a regular sleeve tucked in the poly-sleeve too.
As the sleeve changed up a little again, let's have a quick look at that.
The colour scheme is darkened a little, although the layout stays pretty identical. Another thing to notice is that the sleeve is a little thicker from this pressing onward.
Back cover.
As you can see, aside from the colour scheme not much changes. The same goes for the inside of the sleeve. I'm not adding them in here for now, but if you want to see them just shoot comment and I'll pop them in.
Stickered sleeve and added download card.
The new sticker notes this copy as a second pressing, and acknowledges the bonus tracks available on the download.
The download card is printed up especially for this press, and on the other side is the code. Both the sticker and download card were removed for the final press of this record.
Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 3rd Press - Black /1000
This copy was advertised as the 'Final Press' by No Sleep, and so far they have kept their word on that. All on black, and this went up for pre-order at the same time as the La Dispute split 2nd Press. If you look back through my posts there's a bit of a story on that. This copy was bought direct from the label, and was my first copy of this 7''.
Back Cover // B-Side
No stickered sleeve or download card. However, the centre labels and jackets remain the same as the 2nd press.
Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 3rd Press - Black - 3/35 (Subscription Cover)
This was bought from Chris at No Sleep directly. You can see here on the sleeve that it was indicated as the final pressing. I have bought some stuff from Chris privately a few times, and he's always been a great guy about it. This cover is on a strange corrugated card and looks really cool. The vinyl was from the 3rd press /1000 and I kept both copies (despite the sub cover coming with a regular sleeve too). I can make an excuse as to why I kept both, but the simple fact of the matter is I just really wanted to.
Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - Test Press (Re-Press) - Black /4
Also bought privately from Chris at No Sleep.
This is my final vinyl copy for now. I don't have a 1st Press test, and you can tell the difference by:
- The test presses from the 1st press come with blank (hand-written) centre labels. The re-press test comes with Erika labels.
- The 1st Press test comes with a regular sleeve and a photocopies 'test press' sleeve that is numbered out of 20. The re-press test only comes in a dust sleeve.
Finally
The demo CD's and Cassette.
For all the information on these, and the West Coast demo (it's also featured) please read an older entry here:
http://23rotations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/missing-pieces.html
Here I go through pressing numbers, take you through the sleeves and all that fun stuff you love. Plus, there is the whole 'how complete is complete' argument in this post. I'm still having that argument, but I'll save the repetition.
This is a pretty complete collection I'd say. A small piece of me will always long for those other West Coast Tour covers and 1st Press test though. I'll never quit this band.
Again, this has been a long read so thank you for sticking with me on this one. This will be my last post before Christmas so have a good one! I'll try and get a few more posts in before 2015 hits.
Cheers!
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