Missing pieces

So recently I managed to bag a job lot of Touche Amore stuff I was missing. What I paid for essentially completes my collection aside from tests. I mean, there's always other stuff to find. However, the items took a while to arrive, and resulted in a Paypal claim. Long story short, the items came after 3 weeks of waiting and then opening a dispute. Then the items weren't sent until after the dispute was opened. It was a bit of a shitty experience. But they turned up, and the claim is cancelled. Anyway, on to what I got. 

These are all different versions of the Demo or S/T release as it is also known. Some of the oldest and rarest Touche Amore items, let's get into it. 

The first item I'm going to talk about is the Demo cassette. This was released under the label name Destroy Religion. I believe Clayton Stevens (TA guitarist) worked under this name with a friend. This is Destroy Religion #1. Maybe the label name and the Black Metal type font have something to do with one another. This may have been used on a T-Shirt or something, certainly not a common design for the band.

Back cover // B-Side shell. Shells are all black with no identifying markers. If you look at the track-list, the cassette is missing track 5 (Hipsterectomy). The track order then follows as 1/2/3/4/6/7/8. This could be for one of two reasons: certain tapes have specific allotted 'playing time', and due to shortage in length maybe a track had to be axed, and it would make sense to remove a B-Side track as closer 'Honest Sleep is the longest track on the EP, and 'Hipsterectomy' is the shortest. But (far more unlikely) it may have had something to do with old drummer Jeremy Zsupnik not wanting it on the release following his departure. I'm going with the playing time theory myself. 

Spine view. 

The J-Card folds out to show this illustration (more Black Metal stuff apparently) and then a small note was inserted into the case of each tape, telling us a little about the release. These look to have been made for Sound and Fury 2009 (a /100 copy of To the Beat of a Dead Horse was also made for S+F '09, look back to earlier posts...) and then any left over copies were to be sold on tour. I ended up with number 47/50. I nearly got a copy of this a couple of years back on eBay, but the seller had a bunch of TA items and I got caught up in a few records that finished beforehand. It feels really good to finally have this. 

On to the CD versions... 

No idea what these were made for. I know they were on the band's Bigcartel for a while and I know that this was /100. 

Back cover. This black and white version is known as the 'photocopied' variant. The CD copies actually came in handy, as the vinyl (and tape apparently) due to time constraints had to cut down the track-listing. The tape has 7 tracks, the vinyl has 6. Huckleberry (track 2 on the full listing) and Hipsterectomy (track 5) (neither of these are on the vinyl release) are available here, and it is the only case where the complete track-listing is available physically.

The insert comes in 3 separate sheets on this copy. Lyrics, band personnel and recording credits are placed throughout, alongside a map and some photography. 

Reverse side of the inserts. 

This is the other CD variant. Same rules apply, I don't know much about it. This is known as the 'Silk-screened' variant. 

The cover art is similar on both, however the Silk-screened copies have a little extra art on the front cover, and a colour scheme change. 

The insert is also a little different. The map along the inside cover is also screened, and these copies are numbered. I ended up with number 17/100. 

As the black and white copy shows the insert laid out separately; these copies were stapled together and show the insert as a booklet. It makes a little more sense this way. 

Lastly, we are on to the ever elusive 'West Coast Tour' cover variant. Long story short, a 7 date tour with special covers made up for the occasion. 5 copies sold a night, 35 copies in total (at a guess). One copy was Red vinyl (from the 1st press /300) and 4 copies on White vinyl (from the 1st press /600) per date. The dates are screened on the cover, 3/24 (24th March) was apparently the Seattle date of the tour. I messaged Nick from the band when this arrived to see what the deal was with it, and he kindly explained that the covers were made from a Silk-screened map cut into pieces that were relative to the geographical location of the tour date. There was a cancelled date on the tour too, so the copies were kept by the band for that one. One of the five copies were sold by an ex band member, so that is the rarest of all the covers with only one in circulation. There's a bit more to it than that, but nevermind. 

The standard cover was also slotted into the sleeve, as is the same with all these copies I assume. The vinyl copy on the left is from the standard press which I already had. The copy on the right is the tour copy. As you can see on the tour copy, there is a patch of brown and black swirl in the mix that isn't present on my standard copy. I'm not sure if this was done on purpose, and that any copies with mix in the vinyl were given as tour copies. It's probably a happy accident as I haven't seen any other copies that weren't dead white. I'm sure there are other mix copies mind, it just feels like I got a bit more with my money for having a slight transition in the variant. 

So is this complete as I have a copy from the tour, or is it only complete when I track down a copy from each date? Of course I want a copy from each date. I have one, so I guess you could call it complete. But as I mentioned in the beginning of the post, this collection could go on forever. It could go too far, like I could seek out an Is Survived By - Valentines press containing a photo of each band member, but I probably won't. No promises though. I still would like the Youth Parade Zine, I still don't have a test press for most releases. I have one copy of each variant, and one copy of each limited cover (such as the No Sleep sub cover, the S+F /75 jackets etc. but they're posts for another day). It could end now, it could never end. Either way, I'll keep you updated. I know it feels way more complete to me for having this in my collection. I also know that i'll be doing another 'collection photo' at some point too, as I've grabbed a couple of re-presses (and the BBC vol. 2 7'' is on pre-order) as well as these items. The last one took something silly like three hours to put together and pick apart. I can't quit.

From Canada with Cursed

This is my first cassette entry, to my knowledge. Thankfully it's a really cool one, and one that i'm really grateful to have in my collection. The cassette press of the Cursed demo.

This really is the only way to have the demo. There was a CD press of this way back in the day, but the amount released is a mystery. Some say 13 copies exist, some say 66; I'm on good authority it's 13. No more than that though. So when I saw this I was excited. Until I saw it was sold out. In fact, there had even been a second press that I'd managed to sleep through. 

Not to worry though, as the good dude that runs Night Trap Recordings (who released this) answered a prayer (or email) and we got to talking about all things Cursed. Turns out he's a super nice guy, and just about the biggest Cursed/ Chris Colohan fan you could run in to. His collection literally puts any collection of any band ever to shame. It's impressive to say the least. A few emails and a Paypal payment later and this was on it's way to me. No fuss, a perfect transaction. I was given the choice of a 1st or 2nd press of this tape. I went for the first press as the black/ white split shell appealed to me (if you have sharp eyes you'll notice). 

As far as design etc. goes, I think the cover is a still image or promotional shot from the film 'The Devil Rides Out'. I think the Cursed 'Baphomet' logo may be from the same film? Christopher Lee was in the movie, I'm sure I watched it with my Dad as a child. Anyway; the stark black and white imagery against the black and white shell of the tape works really well, and considering this thing was released long after the demise of Cursed, it really fits in with what they were all about. I really appreciate the fact that someone took the time out of their life to give this the effort and attention it deserves. Standard jewel case, nothing sloppy but nothing fancy either, just as a demo should be. And that font, how could you not love that font?

As for the tracks, they're incredible. This version of Polygraph is punishing, and so abrasive. I love it. Three tracks that play on each side of the tape and every time I play it, it gets flipped straight back in the cassette deck to be heard again. 

Long live Cursed.

TA 2010 7"s

Touche Amore a band that I love. I get so nerdy over this band it's almost intolerable. They are the only band I have tried/ am still trying to gather a full collection of everything. With recent news of the 2012/2013 7" box set soon coming out; now would be a nice time to start posting about various selections from my as yet incomplete Touche Amore collection. This was a present bought for me by my wife at Christmas, it truly is the most wonderful time of the year. I got fat and got some awesome records. There will be more on that one in future posts (not the being fat thing, records).

I really like the idea behind this box set, and I like that they are continuing it. Their first four 7" releases, on an exclusive colour in a screened mailer; hand numbered and exclusively for tour.

And here it is. I believe Nick Steinhardt (Touche Amore guitarist and design guy at 23in.) designed the cover, they were all hand screened and numbered. I really like the design here, the four respective labels that released 7"s for the band all get a place on the cover, and the font-type looks awesome here. So many innovative things you can do with a standard mailer!

From the look of things I got number 175/200. The box set was already opened when I got it (so it would be really rude not to take them out, take photos of them, play them once and then just gaze longingly at it forever). Shout out to whoever it was from though, the mailer and records were all in great condition. I have heard some horror stories of this one with people writing on the screened mailers for posting, instead of an outer mailer/ jiffy bag (silly bunch).

First up is the 2008 demo, and Touche Amore's first release; it came out on No Sleep records. By this point it is apparent that the mystery colour is clear for these four 7"s (as is with the new box set from what pressing information I have seen). I'm not too sure on other box sets, but my version of the demo has tiny dashes of black in it. The demo was actually already pressed on clear/100 for the first press; so this variant clears up confusion with new A/B labels (the first press has really nice T/A labels and every pressing after has these A/B ones, I'll post on this a little later). Also, the sleeves are leftovers from the first press, as by the second press the sleeves came on thicker card with slightly revised artwork (again, you'll see all of this in the next few posts).

Next up is the La Dispute split, officially named Searching For a Pulse/ The Worth of the World. This features some great artwork from Nick Steinhardt, and some flawless design work, with a die-cut fold out cover (again, more of this in later posts). The recording quality of the Touche side suffers a little on this release, but god damn if the songs aren't amazing. And the bands' respective vocalists contribute guest spots to each others tracks on this split, super cool idea. 

The split with Make Do and Mend came out as a split release with 6131 Records and Panic Records. Both bands offer two songs each (same as TA/LD) and comes with some really nice fold out artwork (probably the work of Nick, but I'm not 100% on that one). Touche Amore, La Dispute and Make Do and Mend are all part of a group of hardcore bands called The Wave (some inside joke apparently), along with Pianos Become the Teeth and Defeater. It's cool that up to this point these bands are all doing interlinked splits. All of them (the bands and the splits) are fantastic, well worth a listen if you haven't already.

 Finally is the live on WERS 7". I believe this was self-released by the band under the label name Condolences. It still is the only release on the label. This 7'' came in quite limited quantities; to this day only 500 exist. 300 on black, and 200 on clear (for this box set). The recording here is great, and a nice insight to the band's live sound. The centre labels with the Condolences logo on them are a nice touch too. This could easily be my favourite live release. 

This thing seems a real piece of history to me now, although I've only had it a short while. Since releasing this the band have offered up another 4 7"s, and are signed to fucking Deathwish inc. such a great progression. However, this early material is pure gold to me; and the whole hand numbered/ exclusive colour/ screened mailer/ tour only deal just gets me too. I seriously love this band too much. If you're into them at all, get looking forward to quite a few posts. And if anyone can help out on anything I'm missing, check my Deadformat link in the blog description and message me!

 Now I just have to cross my fingers, as the new box set is an email application/ lottery style deal where owners are picked at random instead of being thrown up on a webstore/ being available on tour. Crazy. As I said, fingers crossed!