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Hello and thanks for reading.
I have not found myself in the mood for writing the last week, so I apologize for the state of my staff pick. It feels like it’s been a minute since we’ve had a consistent newsletter, but there’s a bunch of great records in stock and I wanted to mention a few. I also need to go back and talk about a previous staff pick cos I learned some integral information since then. But more importantly, I need to talk about hurricane Helene first. I think most readers know about this hurricane and the devastation it has caused in the southeastern United States. I’ve had some friends from overseas hit me up cos they hear North Carolina, but we are lucky enough to have been a few hours north of the floods. I don’t want to get into how the US can afford to send billions to Israel to fund a full-on ethnic cleansing, but can’t afford adequate relief efforts to these communities that are suffering complete and total loss right now. I wanted to drop this link to our friends at RUMAH. If you are able to send some funds to help with supplies and essential items, you can find a number of trustworthy places via that link. If you live in the triangle, it’s also got information on how you can help by volunteering. If you’re in Raleigh, be sure to come out to the Halloween cover show! All the money from the door will be used in relief efforts. There is also a benefit on the 14th at Kings and Neptunes. I’m sure there will be more benefits to follow. Let’s stand together and look out for each other. The systems in place fail us, but we are not powerless without them. They need us; we don’t need them.
Last week we traveled north to bear witness to the mighty MOB 47. These guys are old. I guess Christoffer, the bassist, ain’t quite as old since he is a newer member. I think Åke said he was 62, shit. I’m not tryna talk shit by talking about their age, but give praise that they are still full-on rocking at this point in their lives. So sick. Naturally, I am a huge fan of MOB 47. I was very excited to see them. But of course, I wondered how well they would actually perform at this age. I didn’t wanna get my hopes up, but man, they were so damn good. I really didn’t expect it. After the gig we hung late at Patrick’s house, where I proceeded to grill the fuck out of Åke about MOB 47 and of course, DISCARD. I don’t want to spend too much time writing about it, but I asked Åke about the two different DISCARD sessions and where the songs were used. And most importantly, I asked him about DISCARD’s logo that rips off DISCHARGE. I was talking to him and said I knew about the art in Really Fast Vol 3, but said from my understanding they didn’t have a DISCHARGE rip-off logo until the 1990 7”. Åke corrected me and explained how they did it—in the ‘80s. I wanted to explain this cos I was so wrong when I previously wrote about DISCARD. It’s probably cheesy and unimportant to most, but it’s super significant they had done something like this so early on. Thinking back now, I wish I had asked him and Chrille even more questions, haha.
There are some reissues we have in stock I wanted to mention, cos I consider them essential. SWANKYS Very Best Of Hero has just been released by General Speech in the USA! I don’t think this band needs an introduction, and this record has been dying for a reissue for decades now. General Speech has added an additional insert that includes the history of SWANKYS. While it is brief, it is awesome to read. I didn’t quite understand the history of GAI and SWANKYS, so I really appreciated it. If you didn’t know, SWANKYS and GAI were the same band, just under different names at different times. They were initially forced to change their name to GAI, as SWANKYS had been banned at clubs due to extreme performances. General Speech did an absolutely amazing job on the reissue, down to the actual sound of the record. The packaging is almost identical to the original. It’s super nice and slick—in a good way. There are just some subtle, and tasteful, changes to denote it is a reissue. I know General Speech has more reissues lined up after this and I really can’t wait. I think this record is essential for every collection, so grab one if you have not!
I also wanted to mention this reissue I have been playing the hell out of, We Can’t Help It If We’re From Florida. The artwork and title of this compilation is hilariously awesome. Especially cos the bands fucking rip. To me, this is a whole new world. I’ve heard of two of the bands before, but never heard any of these songs. It’s funny to me they chose 10" format for this reissue. I know the original was a 7", but this one has bonus tracks so obviously it could not fit on the original format. From my understanding, these days all 10"s are just 12"s cut down to size. 12"s sell better than 7"s, and I think 10"s sell the worst. To me, I don’t care about the size, as long as it’s good. Again, this record is all new to me. I think all the bands are super cool. Maybe MORBID OPERA is one I wouldn’t jam so much, haha. I know I heard ROACH MOTEL before cos we had some 7"s come through the shop, but hearing em again on this compilation really made em stick out to me. HATED YOUTH obviously rip so fucking hard, shit. I had no idea. I’ve seen the name around forever, but my ignorant ass never checked them out. Now I need to find one of those 7"s previously released on Burrito Records. I think these compilation tracks are a different session from what was released on that 7"? I actually picked one of these 10"s up from my buddy Chris a few weeks ago cos I wasn’t sure if we’d get distro copies. He told me to check it out, and I instantly grabbed one, haha. If you don’t know shit like me, check this compilation out and you’re gunna one grab one. If you already have the original, maybe you’ll be tempted to grab it for the bonus tracks, haha. Alright, I think that sums it up for me today. Free Palestine.