Jump to content

BossToneS vs. Asbestos Records Reissues?


jhulud
 Share

Recommended Posts

Asbestos licensed the Let's Face It repress from the original label. Somehow someway, the Bosstones were offered/asked to promote the repress and they declined. Then Asbestos announced the Question the Answers repress and Joe Gittleman (MMB bassist) posted on a private forum to Asbestos' owner to please stop reissuing MMB's music on vinyl. And then after that post, Asbestos licensed and did a pressing of Live From the Middle East, which I take it further incensed the band and they decided to go fully public with their displeasure. But their Instagram account is down now so maybe they regretted that decision? I don't know. I didn't pick up the QTA repress or the new Live From the Middle East once I learned of the band's feelings.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad someone posted this as I saw this on the Bosstones Instagram yesterday. Both Joe and Dicky commented on the situation. Apparently the Bosstones had plans to reissue Live From The Middle East themselves at this years Throwdown and asked Asbestos to release the license to them. Asbestos wouldn't do that and went ahead with their release. The band was also not happy with the changes to the artwork (front background color), there are also a shit ton of grammatical errors inside the liner notes that weren't on the original release. I kid you not, someone did not bother to do an edit before this thing went to press, it's almost laughable. Anyway, this sucks as I really love Asbestos and the ska releases they've done. But the Bosstones are my favorite band so I feel bad for the unfortunate position they're in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually still like Asbestos records a lot.. I haven't bought any of their Bosstones reissues but they usually do great stuff and having typos on a release doesn't seem normal for them... Sucks when the band doesn't want this stuff to happen but unfortunately it does sometimes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is something going unsaid here. Flood is a respectful cat and I know he loves this band. I see where it says they tried to freeze it at the pressing plant. At what point did they ask him to kill this release? How deep in was he already? I can't see this particular guy totally blowing off a bands wishes. Just my read from my personal dealings. I hate to see this happen. I'm not a fan of bands feeling scorned by the repress/sublicense craze but I have a good feeling there is a good bit more to be said here. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only Asbestos releases I have are the Dead Milkmen reissues they did for the past two RSDs. They're wonderful, and I'll keep buying from them if they keep doing those reissues. <3 Flood does seem like a good dude, so there's definitely something going on here that isn't being said.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sucks when you don't own your music, but this is what happens. I don't hold anything against Flood/Asbestos for running a business and filling a demand in the market.

 

There are thousands and thousands of bands out there who would love for their records to be released/reissued. I don't get why these label people would instead decide to release records that the creators do not want them to release.

 

Even if they are purely looking at this through business goggles and how many units they can shift, surely there are still bands who would both sell loads of copies AND be happy to be apart of the process of having their music easily available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gone are the days where buying merch is always going to support independent bands. It used to be nice that way but the consumer doesn't care as they selfishly want the merch that they're buying. Shit it could be made by Chinese slave laborers with bloody fingertips and people would still be like "I want a copy." buying records isn't done to support the band, its done to support selfish collector habits. No one cares enough about the artists to stand behind them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gotta agree. Bands need to suck it up and accept that Flood/Silly Ross/Struedel/Catnip and all the new repress label owners are going to release their music on vinyl with or without their blessing. You think Adam Levine or Doig Finny were OK with their music being released without their involvement? No. But none of us complained because Silly Ross happens to be our friend here. That's why we have to stop, take some time to think, and figure out what's important to us before we automatically take the MMB's side. It's called capitalism and Flood and co. are just running a business.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×

AdBlock Detected

spacer.png

We noticed that you're using an adBlocker

Yes, I'll whitelist