Hell is For Heroes - Kamichi

Unlike the last single, I remember distinctly buying this record. I'd just finished for Christmas in my second year of University and had gone home via Bristol to visit my friend Nick. He still had a day of term left, so during the afternoon I went into town to see what I could find in Bristol's many (at the time) record shops. I'd applied to Bristol myself the year before and spent most of the open day browsing records. I always get lost in Bristol (even now with a smartphone) but had found Replay Records and bought a Minor Threat record and Screaming Life by Soundgarden. I also found my way into a Virgin Megastore and saw a couple of copies of this on the shelf. I was entirely unaware that Hell is For Heroes had a new album coming, so very excitedly bought a copy (even more-so as it was hand-numbered) . Of course, my record player was in Lancaster so I had to wait until January to play it.

The a-side would become the opener for their second album, Transmit Disrupt, and was a pretty good tune, although not as instantly memorable as the singles that had come before it. Road to Xanadu on the b-side was much more scatty than other other song I've ever heard by them, but still a good listen.


Format: 7", numbered (681/750)
Tracks: 2
Cost: £2 new
Bought: Virgin Bristol
When: 10/12/04
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Hell is For Heroes - Retreat

The last of The Neon Handshake singles, I can't remember much about buying this one at all. Looking at the date, I must have been knee-deep in A-Level revision. I guess buying records has been a favourite past-time of mine for quite a while. I was a huge fan of the band by this point, so £1.50 for a new b-side seemed like a good deal, and both songs are pretty good. I used to put a 7" on in the morning while I was getting ready for college, so I almost certainly played this record a lot (I'm much slower these days and require at least five songs in the morning).


Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £1.50 new
Bought: HMV Winchester
When: 07/05/03
Colour: Dark gray
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Hell is For Heroes - You Drove Me to It

You Drove Me to It was possibly my favourite of the singles from The Neon Handshake, although I'm having trouble even convincing myself of that statement. If Night Vision and I Can Climb Mountains weren't singles then it might definitely be, but I quite like Retreat too. You know what, I can't decide. They're all good. (I don't actually own a copy of I Can Climb Mountains, but I'm sure I could find one fairly easily these days).

This came out a month before the album did, cementing my plans to buy it as soon as it came out. Another that I picked up in the HMV in Winchester. I remember thinking that if I bought all the good 7"s they got in, they'd keep getting 7"s in stock. I've not been in that store in years, but it certainly seemed to work while I was living there. So yeah, two more great songs from Hell is For Heroes (Inside, the b-side, is another song that could easily have made the album) on a nice clear, smoky vinyl. My list says I paid £1.34 for this, so I'm guessing it was £1.50 but with a 10% student discount.


Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £1.34 new
Bought: HMV Winchester
When: 20/01/03
Colour: Clear/smoky
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Hell is For Heroes - Night Vision

I bought this 7" ten years and a day ago. Makes me feel very old. The HMV in Winchester had not long opened and would get in a small selection of new 7"s each week, which I'd go and browse through. I'm reasonably sure I'd seen the video to Night Vision on one of the music channels before the single came out (as was the way things worked back then); I definitely remember seeing the video in the early hours of a Sunday morning at a friends house, and that was the day after my birthday (it was her 18th but since she had the party on my birthday we kind of crashed it) so I must have seen it before I bought it. That's the train of thought anyway.

Night Vision is still a cracking song, but I still love the whole album. There's something about the singer's vocals that you don't hear too much these days. I imagine if this record came out now, someone would try to clean the vocals up a bit and over-produce it. The b-side Can't You Hear It is pretty good too, with chuggy guitar verses and a soaring chorus. Nice clear vinyl too.


Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £1.50 new
Bought: HMV Winchester
When: 23/10/02
Colour: Clear
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Hell is For Heroes - The Neon Handshake

Last week tickets went on sale for a line-up that made me a little weak at the knees: Hundred Reasons, Hell is For Heroes and Cable, with the first two playing their classic debut albums in full. Clearly I wasn't the only one excited by this as tickets sold out in hours and they announced a second London show. I get quite excited by bands playing an album in full at the best of times, but add in the fact that Ideas Above Our Station and The Neon Handshake are two records I'm a huge fan of and you have a very large smile on my face!

A few years ago I wrote a list of my Top 50 Records of the 2000's, a list that I don't agree with entirely now but is largely accurate. The Neon Handshake just pipped End Transmission and came in at number 17, which should give you an idea of how much I love this album. (As a side note, I'm doing pretty well on seeing these albums played in full - a lot of them are turning 10 years old so bands seem to be playing them. So far I've seen IAOS, Full Collapse and Fever to Tell.)

I first heard HIFH on a Kerrang! cd before the album came out. There was a demo of Sick/Happy that might have been the highlight of the cd. It certainly stuck out regardless and made me aware of the band. My local HMV would get in a few 7"s from time to time and I picked up the singles from this album as they came out and bought the album (on cd) on release day. I immediately loved every second of it; there's not a bad song on there and it was just the sort of music I was into at the time - heavy but not metal. I'm still into it now. The whisper/break in Out of Sight is perfect and Five Kids Go is a stunning opener. Sick Happy and the singles are still massive (blog posts on them to come at some point) and the closer rounds it off very nicely. I can't fault it.

A year of so after it came out I found the LP for a bargain £4.50 in Selectadisc in Nottingham whilst visiting my sister. That store was great - so much vinyl and so many awesome albums in the sale. I've not been to Nottingham since so I have no idea if it's still there or still so great. The London one tends to be too pricey for me these days. I think I bought so much that day I had to put some records back because I couldn't carry them all. Anyway, it's a record I'm very glad to have in my collection. Red vinyl and numbered (#344). There's a slight bit on the top right of the sleeve where the price sticker took away the colour, but otherwise it's perfect.

I only got to see the band once, in Preston with The Lucky Nine supporting, but it was incredible. I'd missed them at Reading at least once and later realised my mistake. They were due to play Cardiff on their last ever tour but cancelled the last few shows. I think The Neon Handshake shows will make up for that. It was a shame they called it quits, because all three of their albums were incredibly strong. A few months ago a friend and I went to New Noise in Kingston and were slightly shocked by how few songs we knew (perhaps we're too old for clubbing!) but requested Hundred Reasons and HIFH. They played our requests back to back and I had a fantastic 7 minutes jumping around to I'll Find You and Five Kids Go (nearly accidentally head-butting some girl). At Banquet's Big Day Out I had the fun of seeing HR again and in November I get Hundred Reasons and Hell is For Heroes in one night, except this time I'll be jumping around to the bands instead of a DJ and it won't just be me and Sarah excited!

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £4.50 new
Bought: Selectadisc Nottingham
When: 15/03/04
Colour: Transparent red
Etching: none
mp3s: no