I had heard of this band through Pahaa Verta and was an instant fan. After all, fanhood is why I am doing this. I was very lucky that they were willing to work with me and they have been tremendously supportive and this partnership has taught me a lot. I hope there will be more to come. Thanks YP!
The band wanted to do the pressing in Europe, since that is where most of the records would most likely sell. This has really been the case with every BHL release, including the Secret Prostitutes; sales are mostly in the EU. For this pressing, we used Flight 13 Duplication in Germany. Every step of the production was done through them. They were easy to work with and F-13 is the mirror of professionalism. The test presses arrived quickly and the production of the actual records was only about two weeks from the time we approved the test presses. Everything was clean and the the quality was top notch.
Of the 733 LPs, 200 came to the US. As for the cost of shipping to the US from Germany, it was 350 euros for the 200 LPs. These were double boxed and responsibly packed for shipping. The pressing plant did a very nice job of it. The downside to this is that it adds up and the records aren't as cheap as I would like. This is just an unavoidable fact of it. For me, in the USA, to fairly work with a foreign band, the sale price is probably going to hurt. I find to speak of such high prices and profit in punk is about like speaking of safe sex in a Southern Baptist Church; it's taboo. Vinyl punks, this maybe the dusk of our time; extincted by gas and tax. Too bad that some folks don't recognize that profit is necessary to make the free stuff, like stickers and buttons. Also, profit is necessary to be prepared for the ever-increasing costs associated with doing this. It is reality. Funny to me is that a few of the complaints I've heard have come from people who weren't alive when prices were cheap. Back to it, the rest went to Helsinki. The shipping for 533 LPs to Helsinki from Germany was about 150 euros. We also paid a VAT (tax) for the Finnish customs and that was about 19% of the value for the records that went into the country. I have to say that Flight 13 worked this out for us and saved us some money here, not much, but they made a great effort and it's appreciated. We will have copies on tour with us this summer on the east coast. The tour dates are listed below. You can check out tracks here:
http://ydinperhe.bandcamp.com/
I know I tend to ramble about the costs, but my intention when I began doing this was to try and give some insight to newbies like myself and let them know what I have experienced with what I have done. I always welcome any advice and suggestions. If anyone can direct me to the cheapest (not crappiest) way of getting records out, please write. I am always happy to hear from people.
And before I forget, this record RULES!
