Set for re-release exclusively on iTunes worldwide on Dec 8th 2009
Limblifter -'Limblifter' (1996) and 'Bellaclava' (2000)
The Age of Electric - 'Untitled' (1995) and 'Make a Pest a Pet' (1997)
It's never bothered me that the back catalog of my two old groups have
been out of print for years... despite being constantly inundated by
people, demanding we make them available... I think we kinda liked it
that way!
Universal made us an offer to re-release them a few years ago as one of
those 20th Century Masters collection. You know the ones, with the
silver border, that old records are re-released into drugstores on, it
didn't seem right to us, plus the deal they offered was laughable. The
deal was, we would make zero, unless we sold hundreds of thousands of
copies! For records we'd broken our backs to make ourselves? Keep in
mind that these records have always been independent releases in
Canada, we paid for them by playing shows 50 weeks a year, except for
two of them, which were paid for by Mercury in the US, the rights to
which reverted back to us before 2000. We own them and weren't
interested in giving up that ownership to a major in Canada, since we
have never had a major label record deal in Canada, just licensing
deals, I don't think people have ever really understood that, I will
shut up about it. We didn't have the major label machine behind us
financially, that's why we'd struggled to make videos that were cool on
low budget, maybe that's why Much still plays them? Well the genius of
Derek Horn, the director doesn't hurt! We toured in a van not a bus, we
ate dollar pizza on our way to the Junos. John Kerns used his gold
record to walk home in the rain because he had no money for a cab. So
when people ask us why we broke up... I say "because we were too
stubborn!"
Recently, I woke up one morning and found myself hunting down all the masters and artwork for all my old back catalog.
I took me a week! Most of the artwork has been lost on Cyquest discs
many years ago, so I asked a friend help me, by rescanning the artwork
from old copies, one record I had to borrow from a friend for the
artwork. The idea of re-mastering had been suggested, but after
listening to them I realized that they sound better than records made
today, not as loud, but more dynamic, more analog. Bob Ludwig had
mastered them in his prime, he was and is probably the best, most
musical mastering engineer ever. Going to those mastering sessions,
back then, was the reason I started mastering years later, he was a
magician, and all the amazing gear and tape machines really made and
impression on me and I wanted to learn that process.
Kurt recently brought up the idea of releasing the Limblifter demos
that lead to the first record which we'd recorded on the four track,
that is arguable better than the record. I've dug up the original
cassette masters that I'd buried in the back yard and will master it
and release it in the new year, time permitting. Limblifter's I/O, the
third record, is still available through iTunes at least in Canada and
the US.
The First couple of AOE releases will also be coming down the pipeline
as well in the new year, I will reconstruct those and master the first
one that was only released on cassette so everyone can listen to
'Aphrodisiac Smile' 'til the cows come home! There is also at least
four unreleased songs from 'Make a Pest a Pet' that will also be put
out there, that are surprisingly good, they were left off the record
because they seemed unfinished back then, but in retrospect were a bit
rougher around the edges, more punk rock, angrier songs.... Well, there
you have it, that's the real news in AOE-land. Now Chart can update
with some facts.
-posted by RD
http://www.ryandahle.com/events