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SUNN | |
| "Grimm Robe" double picture disc LP | ||
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OLR-022 * September 2003 * Edition of 219 219 regular sets 15 test pressing sets 1 'ultra grimm box set' see bottom of page for full explanation of pressing |
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The story behind the 'Grimm Robe' Set Well, what is the story behind this release....let's see. I met Stephen O'Malley when he moved to NYC, which was probably around late '99 or so. We became friends, and bonded over such things as going to see Iron Maiden, Queensryche, and Halford at Madison Square Garden! He is a vinyl maniac like me, and so a friendship was born! He always kept me up to date with releases he was involved with, and when the Grimm Robe CD came out he gave me one. I remember thinking "if I still did drugs, I'd LOVE to listen to this while lying around high". I used to listen to EARTH like that when I was a victim. But whatever, it's good music for what it is- SUNN do what they do well! Obviously, they are more than just a soundtrack for the drugged masses, but of course with my damaged brain that was the first thing that popped into it. Fast forward a few years, and Stephen and I were talking over lunch or on the phone or something when he told me that this was something that had never come out on vinyl that he'd like to do. No, I take that back, I think what happened was that I was thinking of an idea of doing a split LP of SUNN with these Indian musicians who play in restaurants on 6th Street (an idea I still love!), but instead this release came up. I think that's how it may have happened.... who frickin' knows. As to not bore you with more rambling the bottom line is this: the idea to release the demos came to fruition, and the double LP picture disc set of the "Grimm Robe Demos" was born. It came and went in the span of a couple weeks, and was one of the most amazing responses I've ever gotten for a release. Thanks to everyone who has ordered and is enjoying this package. I have gotten some very cool emails from people, like one that said that this was the "best record in their collection"! I think the best description/review that came in yet regarding what's in the grooves was from my friend Matt in CA who said: "......that Sunn record...3 sides of the very mouth of hell........" Special thanks to Stephen O'Malley for all his help and dedication to this project, and to all the members of SUNN (Greg 'Southern Lord' Anderson, George Dahlquist, et all...), for providing the music. Without the music, none of this would be possible! Constructing 'Grimm Robe' Set Putting this project together was quite a process. Stephen is a person who likes to push the limits of packaging, and so between the two of us it was a deadly combination. It's hard to remember now who thought of what or when, because over the span of almost a year we talked back and forth, traded ideas, and it all just organically progressed into what it became. We wanted to make this thing different, and I'd say we did. The idea of sealing each one so that it couldn't be kept 'mint' was something I'd wanted to do for a while. I battle the collectors demon too- and is something I am not always proud of! I've had HUGE fights with girlfriends for bending the cover of an LP, lost sleep over things like LPs getting lost in the mail (which always turn up), gotten up in the middle of the night to check on an ebay item when it was closing (before the days of auction stealer!), shit like that which just isn't normal! So something I experienced while doing this project was letting go of things. I am an obsessive collector who likes to get ALL variations of things I collect, and of course I collect things on my own label in that same way. But each one of these records was different. There was NO way to hold onto 'one of each variation' unless I kept the whole pressing! We just made them, and let them go... and each copy is different in more ways than just a number on the back. Everyone who got one now owns something unique in it's own way! The wax seal..... I had gotten this hot wax seal as a christmas gift from my aunt years ago, and had immediately though 'wow, would be great to do a record where you used this and they had to break the seal to see and hear it'. It took a few years for it to happen, but it came to be used- the idea at least. I have to say, I've never experienced as much physical pain constructing a release as I did on this one. Stephen got the seal from some witches off ebay. He came over and helped do about 100 of these, but the rest I did alone. And I have to say, when sealing them alone it was hard to hold it shut- juggle the burning wax and seal it! I got a lot of pretty rough hot wax burns! As far as the 'etching' goes, there's been a lot of questions about that, and here's the facts... as many people have figured out, it's just "dylan carlson" repeated on side 4. So why did we press it like that? It wasn't our choice really. We had planned it as a 3 sided release, and were thinking about doing an etching on side 4. The etching thing couldn't be done at the plant, so we said- fine- just leave it blank then, it will look cool like that. Well, they did the test pressings fine in that way (side 4 is blank) but when it came time to do the actual pressing we got an email at the last minute saying "if we press it one sided it will be warped". And so they asked if they could put the same music again on side 4. We agreed to do that, BUT the covers/films and all had already been designed- for a 3 sided release! So, instead of changing all that, and/or leaving is so that people got MORE confused as to why a 3 sided double LP all of the sudden has 4 sides, we decided to 'etch' the last side. Again, a very interesting process for me, as I've never intentionally defaced a record. I have to say it was kind of fun! And so you have the story of the etching on side 4. You know, another funny thing about this is that as it went on, the packages became nicer and nicer. So it's a case where it is of course always cool to have a lower number on the pressing, but quite honestly the seals on the early ones were hard for us to do as I was inexperienced with using 'hot wax'! Same with the silkscreen printing on the covers, the first batch was hard because we didn't have the exact proper mix down with the ink and I didn't know the materials as well as I did after doing 150 of them! So what I'm saying is that some of the later copies look really nice, so if you got a low #, of course that rules, but if you got a later one- it has it's perks! There were many variations and changes that were made as it went along because it was a process. We would run out of something, get something new, have new ideas... so it's just the way it was. As far as the different types of covers inside, same story- I ran out of regular jackets and my distributor didn't have any more, so we went with the DJ style disco jackets for the last 19. There are only 218 #'ed copies. We made a #0/220 which I used the proof cover for, and I kept that one because Stephen wanted #1/220. In the end he sold that one at the Chicago show, which was funny.... anyway, hope this is interesting or something to somebody, it was fun to do! PRESSING INFO FOR SUNN 'GRIMM ROBE' SET Here's the information breakdown of the SUNN pressing, of how many of each were made and what color wax etc.... I've tried to be as specific as possible. On the left is the #'s, then the color of wax was used for the seal, then type of paper, and lastly- the color ink used to print inside. #0 silver wax, black card stock, silver print inside & outside-
proof cover used. photo gallery: click here to see photos of all varaitions that were documented and the process. Some of the photos are a little blurry, sorry about that. I'm going to try and reshoot them when time permits. other random notes: All copies are numbered on the cover next to the silk screened information. Although they are numbered out of 220 copies, there are really only 218, the pressing was short. #0-199 have the LP's in standard black covers All sets were constructed between the dates of 9/23/03 and 10/9/03. Etching of Side 4 was done by Stephen and I on 9/23/03. There are 9 sets which were not "etched" on Side 4. We kept 5 of those and 4 of them are out there somewhere.... Covers were silk screened by hand in Brooklyn one at a time at Kayrock Studios, first 57 by Kayrock, Wolfey, and Omid; the other 161 by Omid. Test Pressings: The test pressings for this set were done on blank white picture discs with a blue line on them. They are 3 sided, the 4th side is blank. The packaging is similar to the final sets, each LP is in black cover, and on the front of one sleeve is a black certificate with information printed on it, and a # of / 15. Then each has a black paper 'band' that holds the 2 LP's together, and it's sealed with a hot wax stamp. All test pressing sets are identical, and have silver wax seals. #1-15 silver wax, black card stock band around cover Before you even ask- and you wouldn't have been the first to... I don't have any of these for sale right now. Most of these went to band/people involved. I am going to auction off any extra sets I have of test pressings for all Outlaw releases at some point in the future to fund upcoming releases. The "Ultra Grimm Box Set" Basically, after I moved I was going through all my stuff and I had collected all the items related to the SUNN release in one place, and decided to pack them up and pass them on. So I created the "ultra grimm box set" which basically housed ALL the items related to the pressing and process of this release. It was sold on ebay, and now resides in the hands of a very happy collector who says he will cherish it until death! Below is a list of what was in it. THE COMPONENTS: Three page 11”x17” printouts of proof artwork for
discs. You can see the original plan for etching on side 4 of
the discs.
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