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Hello and thanks for reading. Today I will write about this fairly recent TST reissue we’ve had in stock for a little bit. I feel like TST is a band that is not well known outside of Sweden, unless you are one of those Swedish punk/hardcore fanatics. They were from a relatively small town named Västerås, which this EP Vås Punx is named after. There were not a lot of bands there, but the city is only 60 miles from Stockholm. When I compare them to bands like MOB 47, TST doesn’t really come off like a råpunk band, but they quickly developed much more hardcore tendencies after their first 7”. I would say their 1983 s/t LP was probably the prime of their hardcore shit. All that material was recorded in 1982, and it is furious. There are a few different recording sessions on the LP, and you still get a serious taste of the band’s ’77 sound. TST started all the way back in 1977, while Vås Punx didn’t come out until 1981. They recorded a demo and broke up for a while before releasing that 7”. I read that they used two songs from the demo, but I am not sure if it was literally the same tracks or just the same songs re-recorded. They only pressed 300 copies of this 7”, and oh baby, it’ll cost you a paycheck for an original!!
If you aren’t familiar with all this stuff, I’ll say my favorite TST material is easily No Teenage Future. This record was recorded in 1981 and released on a 12” between the 7” and the s/t LP. I wish I could find a full rip on YouTube cos it RULES. It’s the perfect blend of punk and hardcore with those anthemic choruses that get your blood boiling. Ah, here we go, I found something. If I pasted this right—it’s a playlist. The kinda silly video with the cool pics that starts the playlist was done by this Swedish label Birdnest Records, who released a TST compilation some years ago. That double disc reissue would be a discography, but it’s missing Sweden, a 12” they released in 1984. I haven’t listened to it in a long time, but I don’t remember liking it very much. Oh shit, they have a 1988 LP too, haha, I never knew that. Anyway, since I have that comp on Birdsnest, I was on the fence about scooping up this Vås Punx reissue. The comp has great sound, but man, nothing beats a repro-reissue. I’m a sucker, but I have other reasoning as well, haha. The comp does sandwich these tracks between others, which didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Besides that, this 7” reissue added some cool photos of the band I have never seen before. I wish either reissue added a bit of a band biography or interview or something, cos it would be super cool to read some more about them. The Vås Punx reissue has some brief liner notes, though. Ah yes, if you aren’t familiar with this EP you can jam it here. Alright, that’s all for this week. Cheers and thanks for reading everyone.