NO BLUES 10th Anniversary Vinyl Repress Available Now
UK and North America stores, plus exclusive new merch designs.
You better believe, it’s 10 Years since the release of our 5th studio album, NO BLUES. The vinyl has been practically impossible to get hold of in recent years, so we’re marking the occasion with a limited edition repress of the LP on our very own Heart Swells record label.
This is the first time the album’s been available since 2018 and it now features updated artwork (hand-painted by Rob) and remastered audio.
Those of you in North America, can save on postage by ordering via our good friends at Wichita.
On top of that, we’ve got 2 brand-new NO BLUES shirt designs available, exclusively as part of the pre-order.
We Will Flower Again - lyrics from what was the album’s lead single, ‘What Death Leaves Behind’.
No Hard Time Blues - featuring the image of Dusty Rhodes, “Los Camp!: A Symbol of Strength for the Blue Collar People Who Vent Frustrations”.
No worries if you like the shirts but not the vinyl, these are available as individual items, including at the usual Low Income rate (on our UK store) if that’s helpful to you.
The vinyl comes in 3 colourways, dependent on how you get yours, each limited to just 1,000 copies…
PINK direct from our online shop.
TRANSPARENT GREEN from your favourite UK record store.
SPLATTER (pink on transparent green) from the North America shop/your local record store if you’re over there.
Release date for the vinyl is December 8th.
Lots of things coming up that we’re very excited about. We should have letters dropping in your inbox every week or two for the next couple of months.
Rob On The Original NO BLUES Album Cover Shoot
“I was supposed to pick up Michael, the photographer, at 6am, but I was still lying wide awake when my alarm went off at 5. I then spent the next hour desperately trying to get '15-20 minutes' of sleep, as a token effort in mitigation against driving the car off a cliff.
It was about 8am by the time we had parked up in a spot just below the western entrance to the Woodhead Tunnel in the Peak District. We then proceeded to hike down to Middle Black Clough Waterfall. It was the end of August and the heather was in bloom, as we made our way through a fold in the moorland, down into forest and found the river, which we then followed around to the falls.
The reason for the early start was that I hadn't asked permission for us to shoot there. And the reason I hadn't asked permission was because I strongly suspected it would be denied. Also I didn't really know who to contact.
I didn't exactly know how we were going to achieve the effect I had in my mind. I was envisaging perfect little cloud-like puffs of pink smoke, rising above the water and up around the falls. I wanted it to feel slightly dreamlike and otherworldly; an unnatural phenomenon occurring in a completely natural environment. Luckily Michael is a really good photographer, so I thought the chances we'd end up with something usable were at least reasonable.
I'd brought along about 10 canisters of pink smoke that I'd bought from a local paintball range, along with a dust mask, gloves and sunglasses for protection, just in case they turned out to be toxic and/or slightly explosive. I then hid behind various boulders and outcrops, with Michael positioned further downstream, as I used a variety of plastic bags and pieces of cardboard to try and wrangle the filthy pink smoke into some kind of tangible shape. I breathed a lot of it in, but the good news is that I haven't died yet, so it's probably fine.
The only member of the public who happened upon us was an old man walking his dog, who warned us they might send a helicopter out if someone mistook the smoke for a distress call. He said that if that happened we'd have to foot the bill. None of it sounded quite right, but I didn't know enough about helicopters to dispute it.
We took some other shots with a banner bearing the text NO BLUES, which made the final album art, and me waving a large pink flag, which didn't. We'd been there for a good few hours when it suddenly began to pour down, so we packed up and left to get some lunch.
As we emerged from the forest we saw a long snake of stationary lorries stretching along the valley into the distance. The road was closed further to the west for some reason, but it looked as though time had frozen at some point whilst we'd been down by the waterfall. So there was only one thing to do; drive east, get a pint and review the photos we'd taken. And we were pretty stoked with what we'd managed to get”
Did you see this nice new promo shot of us?
📷 Adam Whitmore. Cardiff, September 2023
Notes
I found another old box with a few CDs inside (17 copies of RIB and 3 copies of HON,Y… to be precise). We get a lot of requests for CDs these days, so rather than leave them collecting dust, they’re up to buy now. £8 each including p+p, shipping direct from my gaff. UK only. Here.
Each newsletter I’ll annotate the lyrics of an LC! song on Genius. Last time out you asked for To Tundra, so here you go. Still a big fan of that song, good choice! Let me know a track from NO BLUES that you’d like for the next letter. I was saying to Tom the other day that I think Let It Spill is maybe my fave set of lyrics I’ve written, so I’ll do that one if that’s alright?
Next time we write to you will be to announce some live concerts (standalone gigs, not NB anniversary gigs). What do you want? Not where do you want, but what do you want? Let us know in the comments.
And very soon we’ll have news on a Heart Swells release which isn’t an LC! record… 🤔
Thank you, speak soon x
Would be incredibly happy if Hung Empty made its way to the setlist! Proper singalong banger. Either way, love reading these newsletters. LC!4LYF
Allez Les Bleus is an all time favourite of mine!!