Monday 15 September 2008

SEARCH AND DESTROY - ENGLISH TERROR BOYS EP TEST, BLUE, CLEAR RED, BLACK





See this is what happens when you get a fellow record collector who puts out a record of a band he likes. Each seperate variant is put together and produced superbly. From the vinyl, to the artwork and even the dust sheets an excellent job done by Marcus Andrews and his Endless Quest Records label. Search and Destroy pretty much shook up the UK hardcore scene to such an extent that some people loved them and some hated them. They mixed an attitude and musical ability something akin to what Neg Approach did in the early 80s, raw, simple and in your face with a definate english feel throughout. I'm not going to go through each variant myself but have lifted the following straight from Endless Quests pressing info, read on and a big thanks to Marcus for my test press!

There were only supposed to be two versions of this one - red vinyl and black vinyl, all with identical sleeves. However, there turned out to be a few more variations, each due to unforeseen problems. Firstly, there were supposed to be 100 red vinyl, for which we had bought 100 yellow dust sleeves. When the records came back from the pressing plant, there were 117 red vinyl, meaning that we were short by 17 yellow dust sleeves, so the final 17 were given green dust sleeves (like the tests). Secondly, there were sleeve problems. The sleeves themselves came back from the printer as flat, scored prints that each then had to be cut out, folded and then glued. Making them was time consuming, so they were being made to order. Two problems were then discovered


i) There were about 50 covers less than there should have been

ii) Some of the covers were scored so heavily that the scores were actually cuts through the card, meaning that the tabs (which were supposed to glue the sleeves together) actually fell off completely.


Unfortunately, the problems with the printing weren’t realised until about four months after the printer had been paid, so it wasn’t like we could go back to the printer & tell him we weren’t happy with his work and demand more sleeves. So instead, sleeve variations were made up.The Negative Approach sleeves were made specially for the Negative Approach show that took place in London Town on 7 December 2006. Beautiful Steve used his rock star credentials to get Search & Destroy on the bill, and this cover was made as a souvenir. It also conveniently solved the problem of what to do with the 50 records that didn’t have covers. The sleeve was made to parody the Negative Approach 7″, and the 4 different flyers for the show were printed on the inside. Considering that the artwork was put together using Photoshop (which had to be figured out on the spot, since we’d had never used it before) and the covers were hastily made on the photocopier at work, they look pretty damn good. At least, John Brannon thought so

1 comment:

mcs said...

The funny thing is that I just re-read that stuff you pasted from my site. And I thought to myself "hey, this is pretty well written". Haha, what a spaz!

If anyone still wants this record I have a few left.