Late To The Party: A Pickup Post

This pickup has been a long time in the making. I actually scored these a few months back, but am just now getting around to mentioning them. Before I get into the actual items, let me start with a few stories.

Back in 2001 or 2002, I was hot on the hunt for a Bane test press. I was pretty much looking for any one I could find. Back then, I had very few options. 3 EPs, a split with Adamantium, and two LPs. Those were my options. I dug deep but no one was giving up a Give Blood test press, and I couldn’t find an It All Comes Down To This test press anywhere (who’s got one??). The EPs were even harder to find. I knew a few friends who had the first one, but they didn’t seem to want to let them go either. AT that point, I had pretty much given up. That is, until my friend Bob started talking about them. It was at this time that I decided I would get one for him. He’s a good friend, loves Bane and could use one in his collection. Around the same time, I also learned that Steve Neale had a test press for the first EP. I called Steve up one day and told him how I wanted to give one to Bob. He was definitely into it. He really dug that camaraderie. When I asked him how much he would want for it, he told me I could have it for FREE as long as I gave it to Bob. That’s right. FREE. And that’s what happened. A few days later, I drove to Steve’s house, he gave me the EP, I gave him a hug, we chatted, and I left. Incidentally, that was the last time I saw Steve. He tragically died a year later in a car accident. We miss you, Steve.

Fast forward a few years. I had basically given up record collecting. This was probably 2009 or 2010. I wasn’t actively looking for any records. But then Marcus (of endless quest records fame) asked me if I could help him out. Turns out someone had tracked HIM down offering to sell him a Bane test press. Yes, you read that right. Marcus had posted about wanting one, and the seller had googled Bane test press … Boom. Match made in heaven. Marcus was a little suspicious and asked if I would be willing to middle man this transaction. I of course, agreed. The dude lived in Boston so it was no big deal. Then he revealed that the seller was Dickie Cummings. This one blew my gourd. 10 years back, I bought Dickie’s entire record collection, or so I thought. Obviously, he held a few special items back. Bummer for me because that test press would have been a great score in that record collection. Regardless, I met up with Dickie, handed him some cash, and he handed me the Bane test press. Of course, this was a test press for the first EP (if you are keeping count, that’s two that I have handled without keeping). I shipped it off to Marcus and he shipped me some Nikes. Win-win. You can read the story from Marcus’s view here.

Now Marcus had the Bane test press market pretty much cornered. EPs, LPs, splits, comps. He has it all… I’m just a little bit jealous … Fast forward another year, and two things happened: a) Bane released a ridiculous amount of EPs in every color of the rainbow, distributed from every continent and b) vinylnoize.com was kicked off. I was posting daily about records, and started getting the bug again. I wasn’t going deep on old records, but I pre-ordered a few EPs and even hooked up my record player. It had been unplugged for 3-4 years at that point. Those Bane EPs really filled out my collection. The same with the Holding This Moment repress on LP. I was psyched to get all of those, when one day, it occurred to me that I could probably score some test presses.

And that’s what I did. With a little hooking and crooking, I grabbed some test presses. I’m not in Marcus territory yet, but I’m working my way there. Real happy with these.

The collection continues to grow. Now I need to track down those older EVR and Life Record test presses. If you got them, let me know.