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Hi and thanks for reading. I got my LAMA box set in the mail the order day, and I want to write a bit about that. But first, I wanted to briefly mention these two reissues we have back in stock. I wrote about BARN AV REGNBUEN and SISTE DAGERS HELVETE about one year ago, when we returned from tour with some distro copies. PUBLIC ACID also played at Blitz in Oslo on the way to K-town like we had done the year before. I met up with my homie Bård again and I grabbed a nice stack of his reissues to restock Sorry State. Both of these bands rip, especially BARN AV REGNBUEN. Compared to other Norsk bands I think they are a bit underrated. Bård explained to me that the sound on SISTE DAGERS HELVETE was improved from the original pressing, as the band was not happy with the original pressing on Rock-O-Rama. They had a few compilation appearances, which are included on this reissue as well. BARN AV REGNBUEN compiles their 7” on X-Port Plater, their absolutely raging flexi that was released the year after, and some bonus tracks that I have no idea where they came from. If you don’t have these reissues already and like Norwegian hardcore, I consider them essential!
Moving on, I think LAMA was the first Finnish hardcore band. I could be wrong, or maybe it’s just a matter of opinion. Maybe this opinion is crazy to a Finn, haha. I know they weren’t full-blown distorted like KAAOS or CADGERS, but they certainly walk a fine line between punk and hardcore. LAMA began in the late ‘70s under a different name and their first record came out in 1980. RATTUS was another Finnish hardcore band who began in the late ‘70s with their first record coming out in 1980 as well; however, the sound was not nearly as pummeling as LAMA. RATTUS kinda had a ’77 sound up until their legendary 1982 Rajoitettu Ydinsota EP, at which time they were clearly under the influence of DISCHARGE. I am not sure what LAMA’s influences were early on, but on their 1983 7” Ajatuksen Loppu I can certainly hear some DISCHARGE.
LAMA was from Helsinki. They released four 7”s and an LP between 1980 and 1983. I’m not too familiar with their line-ups and related bands, but I know they had some ties to UNICEF. UNICEF was just a drunk punk band who was also from Helsinki, and they had a revolving line-up. I read they didn’t like to be paid at gigs, instead requested to be paid in booze—Sorbus more specifically, haha. It’s funny the title track on their sole 7” is actually a Skrewdriver cover sung in Finnish… Rane Raitsikka was in UNICEF, and he was also playing bass in LAMA. He was not an original member though; the only record he played on was Ajatuksen loppi. He got his nickname from Epe, the singer of LAMA. The name came from when he had placed small bombs he found at a construction site in Lepakko between some tram tracks. Juha “Jusa” Ranta was also in UNICEF and LAMA. He was not the original drummer of LAMA but he played on all their 80s records (I think).
So, these LAMA 7”s have been reissued before. Back in the ‘80s the original label who released them all, Johanna, compiled them onto a 12” entitled …Ja Mikään Ei Muuttunut. Svart had previously done a reissue of this as well, actually. Back in 2009 Finnish label Combat Rock Industry reissued all the LAMA 7”s in their original format. I don’t have any of those pressings, but to me it’s always cool when stuff is reissued on their original format. One could argue the 12” compilation is better cos most of the 7”s have only 2-3 songs each on them. But their third 7”, Väliaikainen, has four tracks alongside one of the coolest foldout posters ever. These 7” reissues have been hard to come by, and you’d likely have to pay over double the original retail cost to secure a copy on the second-hand market. I think they were each limited to 500 copies.
Svart always keeps the cost of box sets considerably low for what they contain, and I really appreciate that. They reproduced the LAMA 7”s sleeves quite well and the sound is excellent. The discs sound nice and crisp, and the bass really carries through. The box itself is fairly flimsy, but I don’t care about that. I kinda dislike box sets in general and put the actual box on a shelf never to be seen again, and then I file the records individually, according to country, in alphabetical order.
Svart has a pre-order up for LAMA’s s/t 1982 LP now. They’ve previously reissued this, but again like most LAMA reissues, coming across a copy of that in the USA in the last handful of years has not been so common. If you don’t have that one, you’re definitely gunna need it too—and Sorry State will certainly have copies. Continuing about LAMA reissues, I wanted to point on that we have some copies of this LAMA live cassette Onks Marko Täällä? from 1982. This is kind of a nerdy archival reissue. You’ll probably never see one of these in the wild, so it’s great that the Finnish Hardcore label gave this one an official reissue, and on its original cassette format.
Alright before I go, for a long time I thought Väliaikainen (1981) was my favorite LAMA shit, but lately I really lean towards their 1980 debut Totuus Löytyy Kaurapuurosta. Hilariously, the title track ended up on an 80s television ad for some Finnish oatmeal brand named Elovena. It’s not actually LAMA playing the song in the commercial and they’ve altered the song a bit, but it’s still a pretty good laugh. Alright, I think that sums it up for this week. If you haven’t gotten your copy of the LAMA box set yet, what are you waiting for?! Cheers and thanks for your support.