Presenting: Secret Audio Club - 001

Posted on October 04, 2012 by Kyle Chapman | 0 Comments

Half Hearted Hero - Defining. Refining. can be purchased here on 180 gram vinyl, a free digital download is also available at the same link.

We are happy to present our first project here over at Secret Audio Club HQ. I stumbled upon half hearted hero at some point in 07/08 and we put out a 3 song demo cassette. Those songs would be re-recorded for Defining. Refining. We later ended up putting out Defining. Refining. on vinyl in the winter of 09/10 on our defunct label 'farewell party records'.

Coming up on the 4 year anniversary of this album in just a few short months, we decided it was best to get this speedball punk symphony back in print.

The artwork has been updated and features matte finish - vintage style jackets. We also really wanted to push the audio quality with this release so we went with 180 gram vinyl.

We told the plant just to use blank labels for the first re-issue pressing. We were surprised when a few of the records showed up with the original labels. - those variants have been categorized and noted below.

We had intended to hand stamp our logo on both sides of the blank labels for simplicity sake, thought it would fit the esthetic of the new jacket design and as a throwback to the DIY aspect of the OG pressing on Farewell Party Records. We stamped one side of half of the black records and soon realized that the combination of "waxy" center labels and the ink we used wasn't going to allow our hand stamps to dry ask quickly as we hoped. So we waited. Then we waited some more. A week passed, they didn't dry and mild smearing of the ink would occur upon touch. Mind you it was extremely limited smearing (ink wasn't dripping or anything) but we still needed a solution.

We had three options -

1. Sell as is and hope no one touches the center label - not be up front about it and say "sorry" if anyone emailed us about it. But this isn't an option for our company and doesn't align with our values.
2. Destroy about 1/4-1/3rd of this pressing and just not sell the records. We saw this option as very wasteful and may prevent this record from getting in the hands of some people who would enjoy it.
3. Find a DIY fix. Bingo.

We landed on putting one thin layer of clear packaging tape over the stamped portion of the label. We tested extensively and found that it didn't affect our record players or the sound quality at all. It kept the ink from smearing and still kept the intended esthetic appeal of the DIY hand stamps. Some people may be disappointed or not into the DIY appeal of this variant, some may enjoy it more. Either way we have a limited number of these DIY label variants available to purchase for only $10.

We really hope you enjoy this release. If you have any more questions on this release, the record pressing process or just want to say hello, send us a note - store@secretaudioclub.com