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We’re letting the cat out of the bag! Yesterday I posted this picture on the label Facebook page, dropped a few hints, entertained some guesses at what this might be: Well today, we’re going to just get it out in the air and let you know that we are officially re-releasing the WiNEPRESS discography – a classic nugget of early 90′s Chicagoland pop punk for the first time ever on vinyl…well… as the collection – It’s an exciting day! Our forefather label Harmless Records originally put together this compilation back in 2001 and it was released on CD only, the band played a few reunion shows around it’s release as well. At the time I was working at Ryan from Winepress’s store in Lansing, IL called Bossa Nova, and until the show(s) happened, I only barely knew who the band was. That first reunion show at Off the Alley strongly cemented the band deep in my head and in my heart. A perfect example of why I have such a fondness for weird band discographies stems from this era (not long after this I started wearing down the Ambition Mission folks to let me put their discography out, come to think of it – the picture of Jake and Bryan in drag in the CD is from that same weekend at Off the Alley). They were a band from Chicago that I knew more in a historical sense than their music, and having a guy like Scott @ Harmless helping get everything in one place, reminding anyone that cared to track it down that yeah, they did some cool, fun songs, now you can hear them in one place. I always appreciated these efforts. I reconnected with the guys at the 2010 reunion show with the Mushuganas at Windy City Sound Clash Fest, where they played a mesmerizing set. I hadn’t seen any of them in a long time, but it was like a day hadn’t gone by. When it was announced that Winepress was going to play Ian’s Party 2013, I reached out to Ryan with the idea of “wouldn’t it be cool if we put the discography out on vinyl for the show?” He told me that would be amazing because the band wanted to bill this as their 20th anniversary show too! Excellent! So we were off and running. I quickly made calls, send masters off to the plant, got the records pressed (we made 100 blank label copies for the show) and that pretty much brings us up to today. Never a dull moment in UnderComm-land… I owe Ryan big-time, through his store (that I was a customer first and an an employee second) he made me buy Jawbreaker’s “24 Hour Revenge Therapy”. I’m pretty sure I bought Pegboy’s “Strong Reaction/Three Chord Monte” CD there too. Monumental. Life. Changing. Music. Came into my life at that time; Ryan will always have an association with those things, so to me this is just another part of returning the gift. It’s also Ryan’s birthday today, so this all worked out pretty conveniently, don’t you think? I couldn’t be more honored to a. re-release this into the world b. directly re-release a Harmless Records album c. Get to see some old friends smile and see them play some songs for old times sake – for many people that never had a chance to see them in the first place (it’s important to remember that I was in those shoes in 2001 too). Here’s the new cover art: We made a facebook page, please go LIKE that if you’re into that sort of thing: www.facebook.com/winepressband I put up the album streaming on our bandcamp page: undercomm.bandcamp.com/album/the-complete-recordings Once we finalize the insert art I’ll put that up with the album as a pdf attachment and I’ll enable the download/purchase ability of the digital version, and I’ll keep you all posted on when you can pre-order the LP – I’m going to order a few hundred more after Ian’s Party with printed labels too.