Fuel For the Hate Game is occasionally my favourite Hot Water Music album. It varies between A Flight and a Crash, Caution and this one, and I don't think I could ever choose one favourite. In a Desert Island Discs situation, I might end up choosing Fuel... out of those three - it's the heaviest and I think I'd appreciate that if I was stuck on a desert island; I'd probably be pretty pissed off.
I first heard Fuel For the Hate Game about 2 years after I first heard Hot Water Music. A friend's band was playing in The Barfly in Cardiff and one of the bands had brought along a distro. In amongst the cds were Fuel... and Dead Reckoning by Small Brown Bike for a fiver each, so I bought both in what is still an excellent way to spend £10. I didn't know each album was such a classic (both overall, but also for the bands in question) so it worked out pretty well.
I knew Caution and A Flight and a Crash by this point, so Fuel... was a bit of a shock, but in a very good way. There are fewer of the huge choruses (but still plenty - see Turnstile or Rock Singer) and the dual vocals are taken to a level I hadn't heard yet. To this day, I have no idea what's being sung on The Sleeping Fan despite having the lyrics in front of me. Lyrically there are repeating themes of fuel and industrial machines and a general feeling of aggression, which matches the music well. I think it's that combination of things that makes me like it so much as an album. Other HWM albums feature parts of these things, but none rely on them quite so heavily.
This copy is from the 19th (!) pressing of the album (and includes a complete pressing history on the insert), which makes it the third most re-pressed record No Idea have put out (their discography page has a very detailed list). Of course other LPs might have had larger runs, but it's still impressive and something called out on the etching in the run out groove. I picked this one up in Gainesville last year because it's definitely a record that I should have on vinyl.
Format: 12", a4 insert
Tracks: 11
Cost: £7 new
Bought: Hear Again Music, Gainesville
When: 04/11/13
Colour: Purple/red mix
Etching: Side A: "Whoa - ten years!" Side B: "How many times have we cut this thing?!?"
mp3s: Download code
