''Shop Assistants''

Sleeve - Front:
(Showing typical ring wear)

Sleeve - Back

Vinyl

Stats:

General:
Tracks: I Don't Wanna be Friends With You / Looking Back
Released: 2006
Label: FU Records (Self Release) - FU-04
Matrix A: FU-7062-A
Matrix B: FU-7062-B

Pressing Info:
500 (8 test presses - see notes below)

Inserts:
No regular insert

Variants:
No variants

Notes:

General:
Sold at Hidden World record release shows. Covers of two songs originally by Shop Assistants. There are two versions of each song, one with Damian singing and one with Manno (Dangerloves) singing.

LFG Post (July 21 2006):

Record Release
We confirmed the dates for the "Hidden World" record release show. Oct 27, 28 and 29th in Toronto Canada. Lots of crazy shit will go on, make plans to be here.

Couple Tracks Album Insert / Inlay Notes (2010):
When we were planning our record release shows for Hidden World in 2006 we wanted to have as many records on the table as possible, and decided to cover two Shop Assistants songs (and two Dolly Mixture songs)...We had our friend Manno from the Bayonettes to sing versions of each song so they'd be like those Smiths singles that said ''featuring Sandie Shaw''on them. She's not a huge star in her own right,so it didn't really sell a lot of extra copies having her name on the cover (plus we didn't put it on there) but she made us lasagna and bought it to the studio.

From email correspondence:
Dolly mixture and Shop Assistants - minimum 8 test pressings for each record (I had them, they gave away a set at Halloween). 

The ringwear was by accident the sleeves are from the same place in Toronto as 'Generation'. But after they were stuffed and put in a box the ringwear was on all them (wet print still?). 

(There are at least one pair of mint covers, that did not go in the box)

Sleeve Notes:

Artwork references original Shop Assistants release including bar code (and ring wear):

Commodity Fetishism

Test Press #1

Test Press #2

Both the above were sold as test presses on Ebay, not sure why they are different, but both appear to be genuine. The top one was sold as part of a collection, which included several records obtained from Damian Abraham - the handwritten "DA" seems to confirm this - it was advertised as limited to 3 copies...

'Someone in the know' confirmed there were 8 test presses, but it's not clear if this applied to the big-hole version, or the combined total of both versions - i.e. there are either 5 or 8 big-hole versions.

Maybe one was rejected, or maybe it's just an oddity, the record was (according to the same person in the know) probably one of the last things to be pressed at the Pickering plant - but it lacks the big dot (see also Generation & Baiting TP's).

''Dolly Mixture''

Sleeve - Front

Sleeve - Back

Vinyl

Stats:

General:
Tracks: He's So Frisky / Dream Come True
Released: 2006
Label: FU Records (Self Release) - FU-03
Matrix A: FU-706-A
Matrix B: FU-706-B

Pressing Info:
500 (8 test presses - see notes below)

Inserts:
No regular insert

Variants:
No variants

Notes:

General:
Sold at Hidden World record release shows. Covers of two songs originally by Dolly Mixture. There are two versions of each song, one with Damian singing and one with Manno (Dangerloves) singing.

LFG Post (July 21 2006):

Record Release
We confirmed the dates for the "Hidden World" record release show. Oct 27, 28 and 29th in Toronto Canada. Lots of crazy shit will go on, make plans to be here.

Couple Tracks Album Insert / Inlay Notes (2010):
When we were planning our record release shows for Hidden World in 2006 we wanted to have as many records on the table as possible, and decided to cover two Shop Assistants songs (and two Dolly Mixture songs)...We had our friend Manno from the Bayonettes to sing versions of each song so they'd be like those Smiths singles that said ''featuring Sandie Shaw''on them. She's not a huge star in her own right,so it didn't really sell a lot of extra copies having her name on the cover (plus we didn't put it on there) but she made us lasagna and bought it to the studio.

From email correspondence:
Dolly mixture and Shop Assistants - minimum 8 test pressings for each record (I had them, they gave away a set at Halloween). 

The ringwear was by accident the sleeves are from the same place in Toronto as 'Generation'. But after they were stuffed and put in a box the ringwear was on all them (wet print still?). 

(There are at least one pair of mint covers, that did not go in the box)

Sleeve Notes:

LFG Posts (Sept 11 & 25 2006):

Congrats
Congrats to Pink Eye and Lauren, who were married last Saturday. We all had a lot of eat and drink and are looking forward to the next one.

FU & Manno at Damian's wedding Picture by Mimi Cabell

FU 'Love Logo' : Image on reverse of sleeve.
Appeared on blog post mentioning release shows and featuring cryptic 'Happy Valentines Day' greeting. (Posted in September)

Commodity Fetishism

Test press?

Test Press?

Both the above were sold as test presses on Ebay, not sure why they are different, but both appear to be genuine. The top one was sold as part of a collection, which included several records obtained from Damian Abraham - the handwritten "DA" seems to confirm this - it was advertised as limited to 3 copies...

'Someone in the know' confirmed there were 8 test presses, but it's not clear if this applied to the big-hole version, or the combined total of both versions - i.e. there are either 5 or 8 big-hole versions.

Maybe one was rejected, or maybe it's just an oddity, the record was (according to the same person in the know) probably one of the last things to be pressed at the Pickering plant - but it lacks the big dot (see also Generation & Baiting TP's).

''The Other Shoe''

Happiness always comes with a price

Sleeve-Front:

Sleeve - Back

Vinyl - 'A' Side

Vinyl - 'B' Side

Lyric Sheet:
David and Veronica dying on the inside.

Lyric Sheet:
Nick Fenstle - Ego

Stats:

General:
Tracks: The Other Shoe B/W The Truest Road
Released: 2011
Label: Fucked Up records (Self release) FU: 010
Matrix A: FU010-A   92460H1/A
Matrix B: FU010-A   92460H2/A
Pressing Info: 500? TBC
Inserts: Regular insert as pictured above
Variants: No variants



Notes:

''The Other Shoe'' 7" was a limited release, originally sold on tour and via Rough Trade Records UK, remaining copies were available through the FU Webstore. The title track is taken from the David Comes To Life LP and the lyrics form part of the narrative to the album.

The sleeve image shows David and Veronica, the couple are pictured apparently outside; the sun behind them, their hair swept by wind Veronica is dressed in pink and is wearing opal & gold rings.

T-shirt version - image by Jason Gilmore

Nick Fenstle (''The Truest Word''):

The 'B' side ''The Truest Road''  is not an album track, it forms part of the prologue, along with three other 7"s. The prologue includes songs about the DCTL characters:

''Each character in the thing has their own song, and a side of a 7" devoted to them. The lyrics tell a bit more about their motives and why they do what they do in the story.''

 ''The Truest Road'' tells the story of Nick Fenstle, who owns the light-bulb factory; strangely he doesn't get a mention beyond this song. It seems he created the environment in which the events unfold, but doesn't get mentioned beyond the prologue. It's almost as if he doesn't exist, or if he does then it's in a different place to the other characters - maybe the boardroom.

Sleeve image taken from Nick's Facebook Profile
DCTL is set in the 1970's before the advent of paperless offices...

On the desk are a number of light bulbs and  a lamp /  (The Sun?)

More Nick Fenstle:

The Other Shoe / The Truest Road (From FU Webstore)

We released this record because there was a spare song that didn't fit anywhere - it's called The Truest Road, it's about Nick Fenstle, a Stirnerist / judge / factory owner / lawyer / Veronica's ****** / energy drink entrepreneur / Josh's dad.

Notes:

1. Nick Fenstle was also the band's roadie.

2. Veronica's ******   Father / Killer (Delete as applicable, or choose your own alternative)

The lyrics include Stirnest terminology and subliminal advertising.

Nick Fenstle: Stirnest (From Wikipedia):

Max Stirner, was a German philosopher. He is often seen as one of the forerunners of nihilism, existentialism, postmodernism, and anarchism, especially of individualist anarchism.

Egoism:
Individual self-realization rests on each individual's desire to fulfill their egoism. The difference between an unwilling and a willing egoist, is that the former will be 'possessed' by an empty idea and believe that they are fulfilling a higher cause, but usually being unaware that they are only fulfilling their own desires to be happy or secure, and the latter, in contrast, will be a person that is able to freely choose its actions, fully aware that they are only fulfilling individual desires.

The contrast is also expressed in terms of the difference between the voluntary egoist being the possessor of his concepts as opposed to being possessed. Only when one realizes that all sacred truths such as law, right, morality, religion etc., are nothing other than artificial concepts, and not to be obeyed, can one act freely. For Stirner, to be free is to be both one's own "creature" (in the sense of 'creation') and one's own "creator" (dislocating the traditional role assigned to the gods). To Stirner power is the method of egoism. It is the only justified method of gaining 'property'.

Anarchism:
Stirner proposes that most commonly accepted social institutions – including the notion of State, property as a right, natural rights in general, and the very notion of society – were mere illusions or ghosts in the mind, saying of society that "the individuals are its reality." Stirner wants to "abolish not only the state but also society as an institution responsible for its members."

He advocated egoism and a form of amoralism, in which individuals would unite in 'unions of egoists' only when it was in their self-interest to do so. For him, property simply comes about through might: "Whoever knows how to take, to defend, the thing, to him belongs property." And, "What I have in my power, that is my own. So long as I assert myself as holder, I am the proprietor of the thing." He says, "I do not step shyly back from your property, but look upon it always as my property, in which I respect nothing. Pray do the like with what you call my property!"Stirner considers the world and everything in it, including other persons, available to one's taking or use without moral constraint – that rights do not exist in regard to objects and people at all. He sees no rationality in taking the interests of others into account unless doing so furthers one's self-interest, which he believes is the only legitimate reason for acting. He denies society as being an actual entity, calling society a "spook" and that "the individuals are its reality" (The Ego and Its Own).

Notes:
1. Applying the above to Nick Fenstle's role as Factory Owner, needs some further thought...





Nick Fenstle: The Video
Nick Fenstle doesn't actually get mentioned on the album, but he does appear in the video for ''Turn The Season''

0.03 - Opening Scene (almost) - The viewer / camera looks into a camera, with four people behind, including Octavio, reading on RHS. The background music at this point  is ''The Other Shoe''', with the refrain 'Dying on the Inside' playing the end of the song. 

0.15 - A slightly different camera angle reveals that Nick Fenstle is there too,  looking out of the window, his attention apparently taken by the world beyond. The background music has changed to ''Turn The Season''
('Fenstle' is the German word for window. Actually it's fenster, but fenstle dosen't seem to mean anything, so it will have to do for now)

1.25 - After panning around the room, taking in various characters from the story and other DCTL videos, the camera finds Nick, still looking out of the window.  Whilst none of the band, or 'crew' seem to notice they are being filmed, most of the DCTL characters look  into the camera as it pans around.

1.32 - Nick turns from the window and heads to the table, without acknowledging the camera. Included on the table are a tray full of small lights and notes directing what has happened and what  is about to happen.

2.56 - Camera pans down to see these notes... Damian notices something out the window...

3.34 ...Damian looks out of the window as the bomb explodes, (Veronica dies in another story) the lights go out and the sound is deadened.

4.00 - The camera pans back to Nick, still sitting at the desk, with the plot in front of him and his lights still illuminated.

4.15 - Closing moments. The bomb having detonated, Nick turns to the viewer.

Nick Fenstle: Josh's Dad 
(More spooks / taking the search for meaning one step too far):
From Wikipedia:  The English name Joshua is a rendering of the Hebrew language "Yehoshua", meaning "Yahweh is salvation"... "Jesus" is the English of the Greek transliteration of "Yehoshua" via Latin. In the Septuagint, all instances of the word "Yehoshua" are rendered as "Ἰησοῦς" (Iēsoūs), the closest Greek pronunciation of the Aramaic "Yeshua". Thus in Greek Joshua is called "Jesus son of Naue" (τοῦ Ναυή) to differentiate him from Jesus Christ. This is also true in the Slavic languages following the Eastern Orthodox tradition (e.g. "Иисус Навин" (Iisús Navín) in Russian).

Note:
In terms of Tabloid Headlines, Nick Fenstle's son is Jesus. Further research (Mixtape 2) confirms that Josh (Jesus) has a hairy ass (arse) because he's Jewish. This is clear proof (subject to minor theological technicalities) that Nick Fenstle is God.

''Two Snakes''

THE LAMB AND THE GOAT MUST COME TOGETHER. PURE LOVE DESCENDED FROM THE PINNACLE OF HEAVEN. UNITED WITH PURE HATRED FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL.
(Message on Insert)

Sleeve - Front (North American Press)

Sleeve - Back (North American Press)

Vinyl (North American Press)

Stats:

General:
Tracks: A - Two Snakes Part 1 / B - Two Snakes Part 2
Year: 2006 / 2007 (B&W sleeve versions) & 2008 (Colour sleeve versions, pressed 2008, released 2009)

Label - HG Fact (Japan version) All others self released - FUR-006,  

Matrix A: FLV-205.680 A  SST  Fucked Up
Matrix B: FLV-205.680 B   SST  Two Snakes for the World

Pressing Info:

• White label tour press (B&W sleeve)  -300 (Of which 100 or so UK Tour variant, 200 or so Euro Tour variant)
• North American Press (B&W sleeve) - 200
• German Version (*Colour sleeve)  200 or 250
• Greek Version (Colour sleeve) 350
• Japanese Version (Colour sleeve) 350

Inserts:
North American version does not have a regular insert
All other versions have lyric sheet, printed in language specific to region

Variants:
There are three B&W-sleeve and three colour-sleeve variants:

• UK Tour 06 - Black & White sleeve, white stamped labels, English lyric sheet
• Euro Tour 07 - Black & White sleeve, white stamped labels, German lyric sheet
• North American - Black & White sleeve, printed labels, No lyric sheet
• Δύο Φίδια - Colour sleeve, printed labels, Greek lyric sheet
• Zwei Schlangen - *Colour sleeve, printed labels, German Lyric sheet
• Japanese - Colour sleeve, printed labels, Japanese lyric sheet

*German versions - Discogs refers to 50 copies with paper sleeve, which apepars to be based on the HG blurb on the LFG post -  it is assumed the Euro tour version is being mistaken as a variant of  ''Zwei Schlangen'' as both have German lyric sheets. Please advise if you know otherwise.

Variants:

Black & White Sleeves:
There are two variants of this; the Tour Pressing and the  North America pressing. The Tour Pressing also has two label variants. These are all discussed below:

Black & White Sleeve: (Folded Out) - Front

Black & White Sleeve: (Folded Out) - Back

1. Tour Press: There is a UK & a Euro Tour variant. Both have the same sleeve, white-label vinyl and dust covers numbered out of 300.

UK Tour version has the labels stamped: ''UK Tour 06'' and comes with a double-sided English lyric sheet

Euro Tour version has the labels stamped ''Euro Tour 07'' and comes with a single-sided German lyric sheet.






From a total of 300, it seems the first hundred or so where used for the UK version and the remainder were given a different stamp and insert and used for the Euro version. These numbers are based on the highest number UK version found during ''research'' being # 99/300 and the lowest Euro version being # 114/300.

Tour Press Variants: These are numbered out of 300
Left: UK Tour 06  # 096
Right: Euro Tour 07 # 114

Tour Press Inserts - Front
Left: UK Tour version is double-sided and written in English
Right: Euro Tour Version is single-sided and written in German

Tour Press Inserts
Left: Reverse of UK version
Right: Front (again) of Euro version (reverse is blank)

2. North America Press:
The sleeve is similar to the tour version, but the text on the front cover is slightly smaller and the image quality is sharper. The labels are printed and there is no insert.

North America Press:
B&W Sleeve, printed labels, no insert.

Tour Sleeve Compared with North America Sleeve:North America sleeve has slightly smaller text and sharper image quality than Tour sleeve.
Left: Tour Sleeve
Right: North America Sleeve

Colour Sleeves:

There are three variants (Greek, German & Japanese). The sleeves and inserts are all alike, but differentiated by the text, which is translated into the language of each of the three countries. The sleeve artwork comprises the original image, but is screen printed with a reflective silver background and red snake silhouettes.

Colour Sleeve: (Folded Out) - Front

'Text Bars': This picture shows the tops of the three different sleeves for comparison. The sleeves are otherwise identical.
Top: Greek
Middle: German
Bottom: Japanese

Colour Sleeve: (Folded Out) - Back

Inserts:
This picture shows the inserts of the three variants for comparison.
Left: Greek
Middle: German
Right: Japanese

Vinyl:
This picture shows the disks of the three variants for comparison.
Top Left: Greek
Bottom: German
Top Right: Japanese

Notes:

Mircea Eliade Quote (intro to Two Snakes lyrics on Hidden World album insert / inlay - 2006):

''To be no longer conditioned by a pair of opposites results in absolute freedom''

LA Record Interview (June 28th 2007):

Was ‘Two Snakes’ inspired by Snakes on a Plane? 

Jonah Falco (drums): Definitely not. Maybe subliminally, like maybe a fleeting relationship to that film. Although Mike does have a severe fear of flying, so maybe that influenced it. That was a very intuitive question on your part.

AU Interview - LFG Post (Jan 3rd 2008)

AU- Was the song ‘Two Snakes’ inspired in any way by Conan The Barbarian? *adopts Arnie voice* “two snakes……..facing each other!” 

10KM- Ha, no, I have never seen that movie. Its from the medical staff - the caduceus. The song is just supposed to be about the entwinement of opposites, and snakes were just the coolest symbol we could think of - it could have been about the double-helix. While we were recording we had an article about this two headed snake that had just been born somewhere.

LFG Post (Jan 12, 2009)

Two Snakes

Hello fans. The "Two Snakes" 7" has just been released in Japan on HG Fact. For those keeping track, that makes it: England, Germany, Greece, North America, Japan issues for this single. Still waiting on Israel, Yukon, Azerbaijan and Kiribati editions in the future. Here is the blurb from the label, so you can try to order one (there are 250 copies only):

(ps you aren't gonna get one)

HG Fact release blurb

FUCKED UP - Two Snakes HG-236 (7"EP) ltd 350 copies!

The track is originally on the 2xLP Hidden World released by Jade Tree but was re-mastered and separated on two 7inch sides. Probably the most powerful track on the Hidden World 2xLP. Fucked Up are from Toronto Canada and play tuneful hardcore. On the records they expanded the bondaries of hardcore with a lot of cool arrangements and ideas and bring in many other influences but live all songs are shorter and in the face, just plain hardcore. A band with a  lot of ideas, humor, content and success!


Two Snakes:  

Snake 1: Why are me measured in inches?

Snake 2 We don't have feet

Sleeve Notes:

Two Snakes Mermaids image in art nouveau reference book