Positive and Focused

PFR017 Finn Silver - Crossing the Rubicon

2012-02-28T11:24:00.000-08:00

PFR017

Finn Silver – Crossing the Rubicon

12inch, May 22^nd 2011

Finn Silver was recommended to me by Gideon van Gelder. He told me about the two people behind the project and praised their commitment and focus. We met at their home-studio and only after a few moments the lights went out (because this enhances listening-experience) and the music played over enormous speakers. There I was: sitting in the dark with two strangers listening to some tracks only a few people heard before. The songs were beautiful and I remember being glued to my chair. The tracks were recorded (analogue!) in Berlin by Jazzanova and Fridolijn and Mark paid all expenses (trust me: those were high) by themselves to have total control. Now that's the true DIY-spirit! They wanted to self-release the CD-version but didn't had the cash left for vinyl. So that's where Positive and Focused came in. Finn Silver ordered the records themselves so that's why you'll see Cat.number PFR017/JBR02 in the mirror of the record.

The pressing of the records is a story on it's own. The recording-studio in Berlin owned the analogue master and made the vinyl DMM-master. This master was sent to Record Industry where they made the testings. Due to different equipment in Berlin and Haarlem there were some things that did not satisfy Fridolijn and Mark but eventually it turned out okay. But the road to being okay involved numerous e-mails and telephone-calls. I actually went to Record Industry to listen to the testings together with their cutting-engineer. IAMKAT did the artwork that suits perfectly to the songs. For the release-party the band arranged Studio K. We had a nicely styled corner to promote the record and CD.

At the release-show I got the chance to meet Axel from Jazzanova and gave him some PFR-goodies. I also made a trade with Richard Spaven. The Finn Silver-record was picked up very well because of the attention Finn Silver got in several media. They even made it big in Japan and were band of the week on iTunes-Japan. I really hope they'll make it so they can continue their passion.

Testpressing /4

These are the infamous testings that were listened over and over by the band, Record Industry, recording studio in Berlin and myself.

F/c cover, shrinkwrapped /300

The records have a full-colour sleeve and a innersleeve with protective plastic (polybag). All records were shrinkwrapped. The Positive and Focused-logo is put on the back of the cover like PFR016.

PFR016 Gideon van Gelder - Perpetual

2012-02-23T08:58:00.003-08:00

PFR016

Gideon van Gelder – Perpetual

12inch, December 15th 2010

A new Positive and Focused-chapter: Jazz! And not just the ordinary kind; this is for those of you who can appreciate the unconventional. I found out about Gideon's cd-release when visiting the Rush Hour-store. I bought the album and was hypnotized by it. The first track "Wave" hit me like thunder and lightning. I did not hesitate and wrote Gideon an e-mail if he would be interested in a piece of wax with his songs. I had no expectations but he wrote back almost immediately and was very excited about the idea. We talked about possibilities and finally came up with the idea to co-release this 12inch with Kindred Spirits; the label that also released the cd. For the first time I relied on the experience of another label. They pressed the record in France.

The sleeve is printed in full-colour on reversed cardboard giving it a very nice effect. Costwise I would not have been able to do this but the cooperation with Kindred Spirits made it possible. The cover of the vinyl is different from the cd and I think much nicer. I used the artwork for a small production of posters; 50 pieces were made. The 12inch has a exclusive track that cannot be found on the cd. The album was already received very well and the vinyl version got good attention as well. Once again the hallway was full of boxes with vinyl :o)

I was lucky to see some of his very inspiring live-performances and decided to ask Gideon for a private gig in 2011. Luckily he was willing to do so; check the video.

Testpressing /5

The testings were made by MPO in France and 5 pieces were made. They are not numbered.

F/c cover, shrinkwrapped /500

The final product is looking really nice; if I may say so. All records are shrinkwrapped and have a sticker with linernotes by José James, Gilles Peterson and Benjamin Herman.

The Positive and Focused-logo can be found on the back of the cover.

PFR015 Knobsticker - Four

2012-02-22T08:50:00.001-08:00

PFR015 Knobsticker – Four

12inch, July 15^th 2010

This record is actually not a "real" release; it's just some sort of home cooking. When I released their EP I really wanted to have the song "Four" on it. However the band didn't agree because they wanted to showcase more recent work. I still felt the need to own this track on vinyl so I asked the band if I could make one piece just for myself. They agreed and sent me the song in high quality. I ordered this one-off pressing at My Own Record and that's basically all there is to tell. Oh... the record is not a lacquer but a real record with the same lifetime as a conventional record. Check the video because it's putting a smile on my face every time I watch it.

This piece of wax has a double A-side for extended listening pleasure. There are no inscriptions in the mirror of the record.

PFR014 Shook - The glow EP

2012-02-21T12:12:00.001-08:00

PFR014 Shook – The Glow EP, 12inch, July 14^th 2010

When searching the internet I stumbled upon Shook's website. 1986 was the first track I heard and it had the same impact on me like a Youth Crew singalong. I guess only a few people, if any, will understand me but being DIY or punk isn't always about only listening to one style of music. Shook is super talented and refuses to use this for commercial mainstream. Besides that he creates an alternate universe with an animated self that produces a mystique sound, allowing his music to speak for itself. I contacted Shook and we met at a local bar in Alkmaar. We seemed to get along and at the end of the evening agreed to release a 12inch record.

The record came with a full colour mini-comic made by illustrator Giuseppe Modica. He also made the sticker on the sleeve plus the labels. Inscription in the mirror of the record:

Side A + B: Let's trade records!

Like the p e a c e FIRE-record this 12inch has a double A-side for extended listening pleasure. In July everything was ready and the record was released. It was picked up very good because of the fanbase that already followed Shook online. When I write this I only have 9 pieces left of the record.

1^st testpressing

with hand-glued labels #/7

I rejected the first testings because they had lots of static-noise. Perhaps this happened because I glued the labels on them by hand. I was very curious how the records would look with the labels but after this experience I will never glue labels again.

2^nd testpressing, white labels #1/1

For the first time in PFR-history I had to ask for a 2nd testing. I approved it straight away.

Solid red wax, f/c comic /200

The final product comes in striking red wax. Accompanied by the full colour comic, flyer/postcard and PFR-disco-flyer.

PFR013 V/A - Youth Crew 010

2012-02-15T02:25:00.001-08:00

PFR013 V/A – Youth Crew 010

7inch, January 15^th 2010

After the 2008-edition I decided to repeat this compilation every two years. So by the end of 2009 I started to look for new bands. I tried to find bands from every continent of the world but did not succeed. However, the line-up came out really strong again and I managed to put 10 bands on this piece of wax:

Alert - Nowhere to turn
Pressure - Pressure
Fumbles in Life - The long run
State of Affairs - Turn it around
Forever Young - Kids on the run
Reveal the Truth - Look around
Half the Battle - Legacy
Rearranged - Letter to a friend
Staid - We're here to stay
Outlast - No Better

Two other labels wanted to join; Monument from Sweden and Youth Crew from Italy. For this piece of wax I relied on the cutting-engineer and did not order any testings. He did a great job and the final product was pressed on black, white, red and hot-pink wax. The record has additional inscriptions which refers to people saying PFR sold out on hxc:

Side A: No matter what you think
Side B: Still positive and focused

Javi did the artwork and made a really cool drawing of a crowd waiting for the show to begin. The flyer shows a venue with closed doors. On the cover of the record you can see the doors are opened and the back shows a crowd going wild. On the flyer you can see "You, Me; Youth Crew" on the T-shirt of the singer. This was corrected into "Me, You; Youth Crew" on the cover of the record.

The record was picked up very well and for the first time in PFR-history all records were gone/reserved before it actually hit the streets. I still remember the amount of money I had to pay at the post office; astonishing!

Black wax, f/c inlay /100

White wax /200

Hot pink wax /200

Red wax /200

I was very pleased with the four colours of wax; no transparent colours this time, only solid.

Each record came with a flyer. This flyer has a print-error on the back; the pink splash is not supposed to be there. The printingcompany gave me a 50% discount for this.

The lyricssheet only came together with the limited black wax. This insert is A3-size and has the lyrics on one side; the other side shows me again at the age of 16 months old; Youth Crew!

Tape Youth Crew 010 + 08

Learn to Trust - Malaysia

Winter 2010

Somewhere around summer 2010 I got an e-mail from Learn To Trust from Malaysia. They wanted to release both versions of the Youth Crew compilation on tape. I agreed on one condition; I would get a few tapes. By the end of the year I got a nice package with the tapes :o) For the 2012-edition Learn To Trust will participate with PFR for the 7inch.

PFR012 p e a c e FIRE - Sapphire rainbow EP

2012-02-12T03:06:00.000-08:00

PFR012 p e a c e FIRE –

Sapphire Rainbow EP, 12inch

October 15^th 2009

p e a c e FIRE is probably the most mysterious artist I released. This guy from San Francisco resides in Kobe, Japan and most of the communication went through his manager in Switzerland.... how weird is that! The 3 tracks on this 12inch EP are euphoric, big and vivacious. I still love this record. All tracks can be heard on his Soundcloud. I asked Record Industry to press the tracks on one side at 33rpm. The other side of the record is a duplication so the record can be played over and over again. Extended listening pleasure guaranteed! For the Knobsticker-record I used 180grams vinyl plus innersleeve and outersleeve. For this release I needed to slow down a bit cost-wise so I ordered 125grams vinyl and just a discosleeve without innersleeve. Again I worked with a sticker on the sleeve. The artwork was made by p e a c e FIRE himself. There's an inscription in the mirror of the record:

Side A+B: I think I am in love

The record did get some attention on several blogs but it wasn't picked up very well. I found a company that wanted to give some of the records as a present to their business acquaintances. People that bought the hardcore-related PFR-releases thought I was going nuts and wrote stuff like: "I am positive you are not focused anymore" on messageboards. It didn't bother me because I still fully support this release.

p e a c e FIRE sent me this picture after he got the records; it destroyed a bit of the mystery but it shows he's a really nice guy. I really hope new tracks will be released this year because he told me new work should be finished soon.

Testpressing #/8

For the testings I ordered black labels.

Double A-side /200

The final product has f/c labels. The B-side shows a picture of me again at the age of 16 months (if you take a close look). All records come with plastic sleeve and promotional sticker. The text on this sticker is taken from the Discodust blog.

PFR011 Knobsticker - Enter the woods of Rekcitsbonk

2012-02-10T13:24:00.000-08:00

PFR011 Knobsticker –

Enter the woods of Rekcitsbonk

12inch, June 1^st 2009

The eleventh release is a special one; the first one on 12inch and the first non-hardcore. I first saw Cellid during a Giovanca-show in Alkmaar and was totally surprised by the expressive way he worked his synths. Back home I googled his name and found out about Cellid, Abmip and Knobsticker..... was surprised even more and remember to have played their track "Four" on repeat for a whole week. Without hesitation I wrote an e-mail if they liked the idea of a 12inch on Positive and Focused. They did, but told me that Dox Records already had plans for a full-length cd-release.

Knobsticker decided to ask Dox Records if they would agree on a small 12inch production as a teaser for the full-length album. Dox agreed so we met in Utrecht in a building on the 12th floor and made final plans for this 12inch. Me & Julia made the artwork and I ordered 180grams vinyl. To save some costs I worked with a sticker on the sleeve. There's an inscription in the mirror of the record which refers to the Gorilla Biscuits but it's also a way to say that you shouldn't be afraid to show your other side.

Side A: A new direction

Side B: Start today

For the first time I had to reject 50% of the pressed records; the labels were not glued correctly and showed many bubbles. Record Industry did not argue and pressed new records immediately. On June 1st I drove to Utrecht again and released the 4-track 12inch. Knobsticker played some shows that summer and by november all records were gone. The releaseparty of their full-length album was also something special!

We agreed to have a special dinner at the PFR-headquarters when the revenues of the 12inch would hit the point of break-even so in november 2009 I prepared them a 3-course meal with a touch of purple.

Testpressing #/11

Eleven testpressings were made for this 11th release. Handnumbered and stamped. For the stamp I used the Javi-design which is also featured on the T-shirt and sticker.

180gram wax /200

Not much to tell about the final product that hasn't already been told above. Just perhaps the label for the B-side: it's me; at the age of 16 months old.

YES! I am positive and focused

2012-02-07T10:35:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed I like Javi's drawings and he made this fresh design for me. I first used it for a sticker and later on decided to use it for a PFR-tee. I ordered 50 pieces in 6 different colours at Merchandise.nl. They went to various PFR-fans all over the world. I had the idea to make a book with pictures of all owners of this T-shirt including their Positive and Focused-story. I relied on these people to send pictures to me because visiting all those countries would be impossible. I got some pictures back but not enough to make a nice book out of it so unfortunately it never happened.

PFR010 Pressure - s/t

2012-02-05T06:04:00.000-08:00

PFR010 Pressure – s/t, 7inch

April 20^th 2009

Early 2009 I found out about a new band with ex-members of Poining Finger. The four tracks on their Myspace-page were awesome and I asked the band if they would be interested in doing a 7inch. They told me they wouldn't record new songs in the near future. We agreed to press the current tracks on a double A-side 7inch because it would be a waste not to have these tracks on a piece of wax. The band already contacted Javi for artwork so things went pretty smooth from there. The basics from the tape-design were used for the cover of the 7inch. These tapes were released by the band and sold out within a few days (48 tapes + 100 cdr's).

For the flyer Javi made a new design. Javi originally drew a guy with a scarf around his wrist for the flyer; the band did not like that because I think they thought is was too "tough-guy"-ish. Javi made one without the scarf.

The record has four tracks which are pressed on one side. Because the pressingplant did not charge extra to have those tracks repeated on Side B I decided to make it a double A-side. They forgot to do this with the testings so these have B-sides without any grooves. There is a inscription in the mirror of the record:

Side A + B: No dogmas, please

I found two other labels that wanted to co-release this record: Monument from Sweden and Heartland from Utrecht. The record got good reviews and I was out of copies within a few weeks.

testpressing

SSD rip-off cover #/27

For the testings I made a rip-off insert of the SSD-album "The kids will have their say". Testings are hand-numbered and stamped. It comes with two different flyers, a sticker and a personalized insert. Especially for this release I ordered a Pressure-stamp at Onlinestempels. I used the stamp for the testings and the SSD-inserts.

Positive and Focused cover /120

Monument cover /120

Heartland cover /120

360 records were pressed on black vinyl and were equally devided to the participating labels. Out of these records a full box of records was sent to the band. For a while I was afraid the package was lost. The Portugese mail must have taken a long siesta because after ca. 5 weeks it finally arrived. Each label had their own sleeve which you can detect by the different logos on the back of the cover.

Heartland cover

with Nike AM90 insert #/20

Heartland decided to do a limited version out of their records. The Nike Air Max 90 "Infrared"-shoe is a Youth Crew-icon that suits perfect to the Pressure 7inch.

Positive and Focused Graffiti

2012-02-05T02:17:00.000-08:00

Jym129 is a very nice person and made this graffiti for Positive and Focused back in the summer of 2008. This was at the time when I just decided to stop all PFR activities because the hobby turned out to be too expensive. This piece of art in a town almost 600km away from the PFR-headquarters made me feel proud but also quite sad. I think this graffiti is one of the reasons I simply HAD to kickstart the label again.

I made a special boxset to thank Jym129. This boxset included PFR01-PFR08. I made one box for Jym129 and one for myself. Jym129 did a lot of hxc-related graffiti:

http://www.myspace.com/graffitiishardcore Jym129 also does a Blog: http://jym129.blogspot.com/

PFR09 Golden X - s/t

2012-02-04T04:57:00.000-08:00

PFR09 Golden X – s/t, 7inch

January 1^st 2009

I guess the cool drawing by Javi (used for the testings) must have caught my attention first. Then I listened to the great songs and found out these Austrian guys were ready for some wax. As you can read in the previous post I invested some money to kick-start the label again (with the financial help of a friend). Somehow I felt the urge to make this release really special and Javi made the most incredible artwork. He also made the flyer and a limited special cover. Communication with the band went really smooth and you could tell from the start these guys felt the same commitment. I decided to do everything in full-colour; but I ordered black vinyl only to save a bit of money. The inscription in the mirror of the record is:

Side A: Positive life

Side B: my way

I made 10 special boxes with tape, cdr, usb-card, testing, pre-order and regular version. When I look at this today I still feel the excitement and pleasure I had making these.

Here's the video of the special box. Below you can check more pictures of the box.

Testpressing, green cover

personal copies for bandmembers #/4

I ordered 14 testings and took 4 of them to send straight to the band. For the cover I took the drawing by Javi that I saw first on their Myspace-page. The other testings were used for the special boxes.

Pre-order, gold cover

with cdr and f/c inlay #/30

For the pre-order version I took the same cover as the testings and printed it on thick gold paper. This pre-order came with cdr and f/c inlay (not shown on this pic). 10 pieces of this pre-order version were used for the special box.

Fc cover + cdr /70

F/c cover /180

The regular version came with or without cdr. All artwork is full-colour and I was (and still am) very pleased with the result. The cdr doesn't have the usual silver back-side but is black. All records came with additional flyer and "Yes I am Positive and Focused"-sticker.

Alternate F/c cover #/21

The band came up with the idea to do an alternate cover. Javi once more showed his skills and made a cover that makes the story complete. 21 pieces were made and I folded these extra covers additional to the f/c-version /70 + cdr.

boxed set #/10:

testpr. yellow cover #/10,

pre-order + cdr #/30,

regular /180, cdr #/10,

tape #/10, USB-card #/10

Now here's something I'm still proud of: the effort I've put in these boxes was worth the result. Every evening for one whole week was needed to finish the boxes. I got the boxes and foam from a packaging company. The lid of the box is X-ed on the inside and a piece of thick foamboard covers the content of the box.

On the foamboard I attached a handnumbered cdr plus a usb-card. The usb-card has a leather jacket. The jacket has the number of hole(s) that corresponds with the number of the box. The ubs-card was spraypainted by hand with goldpaint. The green insert warns you to be careful with the usb-stick.

The records in the box are a handnumbered plus stamped testing #/10 with a yellow cover, a handnumbered pre-order with gold cover and a regular copy of the record + cdr. All boxes came with flyer and "Yes I am Positive and Focused"-sticker.

Above you see the testing with yellow cover. They differ from the green ones because the yellow cover has a inner-print.

The tapes are handnumbered plus stamped and I ordered them again at Duplicase.

I totally dig these boxes but I'll probably think twice before starting such a project again. Most of the boxes went to Austria (I believe it were 6 pieces). Two pieces stayed in Holland. The other two I forgot. Perhaps you can find them on ebay once...

Positive and Focused 2.0

2012-02-02T13:27:00.000-08:00

Positive and Focused 2.0

In June 2008 Antti from Turn The Tide wrote me about a band he met during his trip in Australia. It was Can't Relate and I was stoked! I contacted the band and we agreed to release a 7inch. It would be co-released by Australian label Suppression Records. Can't Relate would record new tracks before the end of that year. However in August 2008 I talked with my PFR-partners and we decided to stop with Positive and Focused. This is what I wrote on several messageboards :

We decided to pull the plug. Positive and Focused always was a very expensive hobby. This was no problem because we're committed to what we're doing. But recent calculations showed a not so pleasant view; we simply lost too much money in the last few years.

The scheduled debut-7inch by Can't Relate will be released by Suppression Records. We hope to have pleased at least some of you with our releases and we'd like to thank all the bands that wanted to work with us:

Off My Chest, Up Yours, Henceforth, Stop at Nothing, Turn The Tide, Make the Difference, Speak Out, Waster, Outlive, True Colors, Mindset, Break Through, Things we Say, Fired Up, One Voice, Go for Broke and Times Together.

Now go and start your own label!

Toni P.

The 7inch by Can't Relate never got released because the band decided to quit. Rumors said that they could not handle the pressure to write new songs. Their amazing demo was released on tape by Forever Young Records. Perhaps I'll put it on wax sometimes... the tracks definately deserve it.

In the months that followed after the decission to stop all PFR-activities I found it very hard to believe that this would actually be it. So I sold some records of my private collection and the inevitable return of Positive and Focused was already announced in November of that same year:

Sorry people, we're not done after all. In January 2009 a new Positive and Focused-release will see the light. It is gonna be the debut by the Austrian outfit GOLDEN X.

Positive and Focused 2.0 was born!

PFR08 V/A - Youth Crew 08

2012-02-01T06:26:00.000-08:00

PFR08 V/A – Youth Crew 2008, 7inch

June 16^th 2008

Now here's a project I had been thinking about for a while; a international Youth Crew compilation with new bands. I used the contacts I had and the line-up for this comp turned out to be very strong:

True Colors - My city

Mindset - Building tomorrow

Break Through - What you seek

Things We Say - Move on

Fired Up - Overruled

One Voice - Human demise

Go For Broke - The difference

Times Together - To learn

Bands from all regions of the world; from Belgium to USA, from Germany to South Korea to Sweden and UK. Most of the tracks were recorded exclusively for this comp. Times Together replaced Reflection and Change (ex-Hoods Up) because the band decided to quit before it even got started. Coordinating all this was a pretty hard thing to do. Besides contact with the bands I also found other labels that wanted to participate. Behind You from Germany and Momument from Sweden turned out to be very reliable to work with. Take The Risk dropped out after I already printed the flyers so that was not very nice but about the participation of Upside Down I still feel a bit misled (see pics and words at the end of this post). The artwork was made by RAM from Denmark. I know he did a project with the guys from Resolve but somehow I can't find him on the internet anymore. The record has additional inscriptions in the mirror of the record:

Side A: Youth Crew revival

Side B: It is up to us!

The comp got good reviews and revenues did cover the costs of this project. I gave all the bands a full box of records to thank them for their input. I wrote a "letter" which you can see on the back of the cover. I also posted this letter on several messageboards to promote the release; it got different sorts of replies ;o). Here it is:

Dear Youth Crew Participant,

The Youth Crew Revival is fast approaching. Months of planning and training in preparation for this project will be put to the test in the next few months. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to bring together people from all over the world to share ideas and examine issues which impacts on us all. The success of this project, as well as the vital messages and ideas that will arise from it, may have an important role to play in the future world wide.

Your role in this project is crucial. You have been nominated for the Youth Crew because of the unique qualities and skills you possess. The people who make up to the Youth Crew exhibit strong life, communication and interpersonal skills, including the motivation and commitment to living a healty lifestyle. These characteristics have been recognized as extremely valuable and important to the success of this project.

The Youth Crew Revival will offer a unique challenge to everyone involved. It is now up to each of you to determine how you will rise to the chanllenge. It is time for setting personal goals around participation and leadership. It is time for pushing beyond normal comfort ranges and being open to activities and experiences that will result in personal growth. Your commitment will ensure that our high standards for this project are met, and that your involvement in the Youth Crew will be a very special and rewarding experience.

This upcoming 7inch-compilation has been developed to assist you in performing your job. Please familiarize yourself with it's contents as it will enable the project to run more smoothly, and allow you to assist participants with any question or concerns.

We would like to thank you for putting forward your best efforts in making the Youth Crew 08 become a reality!

Yours truly,

Toni P.

Black wax, white labels #/88

clear wax /250

white wax /250

yellow wax /250

For this release I did not press testings; by then I relied on the cutting engineer of Record Industry to do a good job and he did. I ordered 4 different colours of wax and decided to order the black wax with white labels which I numbered by hand. This gave the "feel" of a testing. The pictures on the inside of the cover and on the B-side of the label were used by kind permission of Attheshow.org and were made at a True Colors-show. Each record has a promotional flyer with all PFR-releases mentioned; it comes in two different versions made by RAM.

Black wax, with labels #/2

I ordered 88 pieces of the white labels but the pressingplant made 90 pieces so I decided to make two pieces with labels and glued them by hand. One piece is owned by Jan (the guy who made the Positive and Focused Grafitti), the other by myself.

USA-version

tests /15

gold /100

black /300

The innitial idea was that Upside Down would participate in the Euro-release. Sending records overseas however is pretty expensive so we agreed that there would be a USA-pressing which would be done by Upside Down themselves. I did all the work so it would be an easy job to do. I sent out a box with 24 records of the Euro-release to Upside Down with the request to distribute them to Fired Up and Mindset. Then the waiting started... When I already stopped believing things would happen I found out there was a Youth Crew 2009-version with the Times Together-track being replaced by a Right Idea-track. I started to contact Upside Down and after numerous e-mails I actually got a box with records. However it were only 10 pieces and I found out Fired Up never got their records...

Let's put it this way: it was not how I pictured it to be....

PFR07 Outlive - More than meets the eye

2012-01-26T02:48:00.000-08:00

PFR07 Outlive –

More than meets the eye, 7inch

February 22^nd 2008

In July 2007 I was siked to find out about a new Dutch band. I bought their demo and got them on the line-up of the 2nd PFR showcase. After that show I asked them to do a 7inch release. We agreed and met at a rehearsal. The band recorded new songs at Warning Studio in Amsterdam and delivered cool artwork for the record plus flyer. In the mirror of the record you can see cat.number PFR777 and also these additional inscriptions:

Side A: You are number 7

Side B: I am not a number I am a free man

One song they recorded was not put on the 7inch and this song (Homerun) can be heard on the Soundcloud-page of Positive and Focused. I always found it a pity this song did not make it to the 7inch.

The 7inch was presented on February 22nd 2008 at The Stage in Arnhem with a very interesting line-up. Birds of a Feather however had to cancel this show and Final Stand was replaced by Citizens Patrol and Sandbox Rebellion completed the line-up. I picked up the band and we drove to the show together. The record was picked up well and got good reviews. When I almost reached the point of break-even I gave the rest of the records to the band for a symbolic amount.

Testpressing

silver alternate cover #/22

For the testpressing I used the pictures of the lyricssheet and printed it on paper with a silver-ish shine. It came without the lyricssheet.

F/c cover, inlay, clear wax /200

The clear wax was packaged in a full-colour cover with a big lyricssheet. The band also offered a free download-code which was put on the lyricssheet.

B/w, blue paper cover, inlay, solid blue wax /300

The second colour of wax for this record was solid blue. I actually ordered baby-blue but the pressingpland called me it was not available. They delivered another shade of blue which fitted the artwork very well.

Promo, f/c cover, inlay, solid blue wax #/19

Once again Record Industry pressed a few more records than I ordered and I used them as a promo to various media. It has a full-colour cover with the solid blue wax. It is hand-numbered.

PFR06 Waster - Question everything EP

2012-01-25T03:45:00.000-08:00

PFR06 Waster –

Question everything EP, 7inch

October 1^st 2007

While I was working hard on The Black and White Double EP I heard the Waster tracks. I really liked the oldschool hardcore with a remarkably fresh and powerful sound. I contacted the band and offered them to do a small production. They agreed and also wanted to participate in the production 50/50. I asked the pressing plant to press these records between the black and white records of PFR05. This method allowed me to get coloured vinyl without extra costs. It also resulted in a lot of shades of dark- to light-grey. Because Record Industry did not want to get confused between the production of the Waster record and the Black and White Double EP I had to give this cat.number PFR07 which you can see in the mirror of the record (PFR06 was already taken by the white record of the double EP). You can also see additional inscriptions in the mirror:

Side A: I still remain...

Side B: Drug free

I presented the record at the 2nd Positive and Focused Showcase on September 15th (as you can see on the picture above). This show also would lead to the next PFR release of Outlive. The Waster record was official released on October 1st. It got good reviews and the total revenue was sufficient to cover the costs. Some people commented that this band would not fit Positive and Focused because it was too agressive. I think their overall message is to get people start thinking and is still positive. The only thing I didn't like so much about this release was that I couldn't attent any shows because of the distance. It made be decide to try to release more Euro-bands and preferably from The Netherlands.

Testpressing #/15

Testpressings came with additional postcard/flyer. They went to the band plus a few fans. The inside of the cover is identical to the other versions.

Friendspress, orange cover

dark grey marble wax #/7

There were only a few pieces of very dark-grey records and I took them for a special Friendspress. Hand-numbered and stamped. They went to the band plus I kept #1.

Pre-order, yellow cover

mid grey marble wax #/50

For the pre-order version I took most of the mid-grey vinyl and gave it a yellow cover. Handnumbered and stamped.

Bandpress

silver alternate cover

light grey marble wax #/24

The band asked for a different cover that they made themselves. I used it as an insert and made a version on silver cardboard and one on gold cardboard. Most of these went to the band.

Bandpress, gold alternate cover

light grey marble wax #/24

Regular, white cover

dark- to light-grey marble wax /175

The regular version comes with different colours of vinyl. However most of them are light-grey marble. Only a few mid-grey got mixed in the regular version and just one or two of the dark-grey.

PFR05 V/A - The Black and White Double EP

2012-01-22T09:11:00.000-08:00

PFR05 V/A –

The Black and White Double EP

2 x 7inch

September 15^th 2007

Where to beginn with this release..... the idea started with a split 7inch but all of a sudden I found 4 bands with more songs than would fit on one 7inch. So after numerous calculations I came up with the idea of two 7inches; one on black wax the other on white wax. The records carry both black and white labels to indicate which side to play. The pressingplant needed two seperate cat.numbers for the two pieces of wax. The mirror of the black record is marked PFR05 and the white record is marked PFR06. The records also have additional inscriptions in the mirror:

PFR05:

Black label: Toni P. says...

White label: Posi Up!!!

PFR06:

Black label: Share our common goal...

White label: Positive Hardcore

The concept of the record was puzzled out while I was abroad:

Black and White is sooooo 2007

Unfortunately this is no joke.

Nowadays more and more people

are judging in a black/white way.

This double EP is all about the opposite.

Four bands with different backgrounds

but with one common goal: Positive Hardcore.

So let's Turn The Tide and Speak out

why we need to Make The Difference....

but always with an Up Yours attitude :)

Enjoy the records!

Talkseek completed the package with some nice artwork; just for a while I was affraid he ripped me off because communication was little to no. Fortunately all worked out fine in the end. I rejected the first version of the artwork because I didn't want the booze/smoke/slime to be shown. Now that I see it again I would probably leave it that way because it once more shows that you shouldn't judge by the cover. I really had to dig deep but found it on an old back-up.

The Black and White Double EP was presented at the 2nd Positive and Focused Showcase on September 15th 2007. Turn The Tide and Up Yours played at this show. True Colors, Outlive and Permanent Mark completed the line-up. Turn The Tide did a very intense roadtrip and stayed at the PFR-headquarters after the show. The TTT-songs are still one of my favourite tracks, especially 'Evergrowing'. The sad part of the story is that despite all the effort that went into this release it was picked up very poorly. The good reviews on several messageboards did not change this and the loss I made on this record was a substantial amount of money.

Poly-bagged set #/24:

testpr. #/24, friendspr. Toni P. cover #/24, releaseparty #/54, pre-order #/88, regular cover /340

Once again I was going bezerk on the different versions. This time I made a polybag with all versions. Because of the Black and White-concept the difference between the versions are the cover-inlays. All inlays are stamped and have different phrases which were printed on stickers. On the background of the polybag-inlay you can see my personal record-bag; I still use this intensively. The Toni P.-friendspress is the rarest and was exclusively for the polybag.

Testpressing #/27

I ordered 24 testpressings to use for the polybags but I got 27 pieces. So instead of destroying three pieces I decided to offer those seperately to anyone interested.

Releaseparty, Calvin & Hobbes cover, black and white wax, date-stamped #/54

For the releaseparty-version I made a Calvin & Hobbes inlay-cover. This same image was used for the PFR Showcase-flyer.

Pre-order

anti-KKK cartoon cover, black and white wax #/88

For the pre-order I took the front-cover of a old Maximumrocknroll magazine. I felt this image suited the concept of the record very well. At first sight you might be offended by this KKK-cartoon but things aren't always what they seem to be...

Regular cover, black and white wax /340

Everything there could be said about the regular version has already been told. I made a close-up pic of the back-cover. Here you can see how to choose the side of the record you'd like to hear.

Promo, no cover, promo card #/21

Promos of the record went to several media. It doesn't have the cover because these records were actually over-production. It came with flyer + promo-card.

OneMen version

regular cover, OneMen sticker, plus cdr

black and white wax /75

It would take another year to realize that I would end up having lots of boxes with PFR05 in my attic. This made me decide to do a limited run with cdr and to donate 50% of the proceeds to OneMen. These records were taken from the regular version /340. I stalked complete strangers with it but after 3 months I was able to donate 150 euros to OneMen. All records that were still left after this were given away.

PFR04 Stop at Nothing - Legends never die EP

2012-01-21T10:36:00.000-08:00

PFR04 Stop at Nothing –

Legends never die EP, 7inch

March 30st 2007

The first three Positive and Focused releases emerged from the Amsterdam Hardcore-scene. Number four is the first international one. Stop at Nothing hails from Olympia (near Seattle) and the moment I heard their demo I was blown away. The guitar-riffs, the drum-rolls and especially the vocals are supertight and fresh. Sell our Souls Records from spain released their demo and also planned to do their 7inch but it never happened. So I contacted the band and Floppy Matt (singer) told me they would like the idea of a 7inch. By then the US-label This Blessing, This Curse released a cd with both new songs plus the demo-tracks; I did a few trades with them after we agreed on the 7inch release. Floppy Matt also told me the band would probably cease to excist in the next few months. It did not hold me back because these new tracks were simply too good. I once again asked Michiel Walrave to do the artwork and I was very pleased with the result.

Kyle von der Haar sent me some very cool high-res pictures which were used for the inlay and back of the sleeve. I must have listened to the tracks non-stop and really wanted this release to be perfect in every way. So I decided to order a glued sleeve, two different colours vinyl plus an inlay. Another friend wanted to participate in this record and made this possible money-wise. Record Industry did a good job but I was unpleasantly surprised by the set-up charges of the artwork. I still feel they did not inform me correctly; but had to pay anyway. The mirror of the record has additional inscriptions:

Side A: Legends never die

Side B: OMC is dead

There was a good demand for the ep and several big distributors like Revelation Records and Reflections Records wanted to carry it. After 8 months stock was gone. The good interest for PFR04 did sadly not match the high costs. But what the #! I am still siked to have this in the PFR-catalogue. For the 2nd Positive and Focused showcase (Sept. 15th 2007) I talked extensively with Floppy Matt to get them across the ocean for a small final Euro-tour. Unfortunately he could not motivate the band and I regret never seeing them live. I still have 200 empty sleeves of this record because minimum order-quantity of the sleeves was more than I used. Perhaps I'll do a second press someday.

Paper-wrapped set #/25:

testpr. #/25, pre-order #/100, transp. green wax /500

I ordered 25 testpressings and used those for a special paper-wrapped set that included all versions of the record. The sets are handnumbered and stamped on the inside of the paper-wrap. They rapidly found their way to lovers of high quality hardcore from all over the globe. You can find some owners on the howsyouredge-site.

Pre-order, clear wax #/100

Above is the pre-order version on clear wax, hand-numbered out of 100.

Regular version, transp. green wax /500

The regular version comes on transparent green vinyl and was pressed simultaneously with PFR2.7 by Up Yours. I think the vinyl and artwork make a good combination.

PFR03 Henceforth - An ambush among friends

2012-01-19T11:36:00.000-08:00

PFR03 HenceForth –

An ambush among friends, 7inch

January 13^th 2007

Because of contacts in the Amsterdam hxc scene the next release by Henceforth came as no surprise. The guy on the drums also played in Off My Chest and both bands had already played some gigs together. The problem with the Henceforth record was that they had 10 songs ready for a release which they recorded a the famous Bunt Studios. Since there was not enough money for a 12inch I decided to release a 7inch and to do a limited version of the record that came accompanied with a full-lenght cd. The songs on the 7inch have a different mix than those on the cd and there are also some slight differences between the artwork. This 7inch is the only PFR-release with a big hole because the guy who made the artwork misinterpretated the artwork-template. Since I needed to move on because of the deadline I decided to leave it that way. The record has no additional inscription in the mirror because I simply forgot it. Most bandmembers were not heavily into vinyl so perhaps they longed more for the cd-version than the 7inch; on shows they also sold the cds without the 7inch. 500 cds were made and 150 of those were used for the limited 7inch version. Above you can see the flyer made by the singer of the band (with white background) plus the one that was made by myself. The record was intentionally scheduled for december but got delayed due to issues with the production. Despite the effort and money put into this release it was not very succesful. I think the songs are very well-written and executed but they were not picked up by a large crowd.

Some people accused the band that they copied the artwork from the 'Your closest enemies'-ep by The Distance. I must say there is some resemblance...

Boxed set #/11:

testpr. red cover #/11, releaseparty #/20, f/c cover with cd #/150, b/w cover /350

I wanted to do something special with this release and I looked all over the place for some nice boxes. I did not find them but fortunately Robert from Commitment Records was so kind to give me some boxes. I made 11 special boxes with all the versions including a testpressing. The only way to get a testpressing is by owning the complete box. Boxes were given to the band plus a few fans.

Releaseparty, yellow cover, transp. red wax #/20

For the releaseparty (Jan. 13th 2007) there were twenty copies made with a yellow cover. However, the idea of the boxes came after those were made so only 9 copies were available at the show. Those went quickly.

F/c cover + cd, transp. red wax #/150

The most fancy record I released until that point; a full-colour cover accompanied by a full-length cd also packaged in full-cover cd-wallet. The production of the cds gave some stress due to the deadline for the releaseparty but it got ready just in time. Plastic sleeves were clued to the innersleeve of the 7inch which was a pain to do.

B/w cover, transp. red wax /350

The most common version of this record has a black/white cover. I ended up with lots of boxes with this version. I made a deal with the band and sold all stock to them below costprice.

PFR02 Up Yours - demo '06

2012-01-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

PFR02 Up Yours – demo '06, tape

July 3^rd 2006

Oef! What did I think when starting this blog? A nice way to document the PFR-catalogue but why on earth did I release soooo many different versions? I guess I freaked out a bit. Anyway, let's talk about the second Positive and Focused release. Up Yours was the side-project of two Off My Chest-members so it was kind of a natural thing I would be releasing their songs. First a tape was released, then a cdr followed a few months later and finally a 7inch saw the light. The tapes were ordered at Duplicase.nl and the inlays were copied and hand-folded by me and the singer of the band. Once again Michiel Walrave did the artwork.

Tapes with white, neon-yellow and grey-ish cover #/100

79 pieces came with a white cover, 20 pieces with a neon-yellow cover and 1 came with a grey-ish cover. I made 1 test-cover with a picture where you could see all the faces of the bandmembers. They were not pleased with that so I kept that for myself (#0/100) and modified the picture by putting the Up Yours-figure over their faces.

Above you can see pictures of the only copy with white cover and different picture on the inside that got rejected by the band.

All other tapes came with modified picture. Above is the only copy with grey-ish cover but you can't really tell from the picture.

PFR2.5 Up Yours – demo '06, cdr
November 27^th 2006

Cdr with white, yellow or orange Judge rip-off cover, #/50

The tapes went pretty quick and the band asked for cdr's because they witnessed a demand for it during shows. The band came up with the idea to do a Judge rip-off cover and put the words "West Frisian Crew" on it. 16 pieces were made with yellow cd-label and white cover, 24 with yellow cd-label and orange cover and 10 pieces with white cd-label and yellow cover. The cd-labels were printed at the PFR-headquarters and I etched all cdr's by hand which was a pretty annoying thing to do. The covers are hand-numberd on the inside. There are no differences between the different coloured covers.

PFR2.7 Up Yours – demo '06, 7inch
March 30^th 2007

In march 2007 I had already released the Henceforth 7inch and made plans for PFR04. It looked like Positive and Focused was really taking off and it got me thinking that it was weird to be a vinyl-label with PFR02 as an exception. So I asked the band if they would be interested to join a 7inch production of their demo. They almost immediately said yes and 125 pieces went straight to the band. As cat.number I decided not to use PFR02 because that was already used for the tape, PFR2.5 was used for the cdr so I gave this cat.number PFR2.7. The 6 songs were pressed on one side with black labels. It got pressed together with the Stop at Nothing 7inch and Record Industry did not charge me for the coloured wax of PFR2.7. The mirror of the record has the inscription "HxC Hero".

Paper-wrapped set A #/5:

testpr. pic.cover #/5, testpr. pink cover #/10, green cover /125, white cover /125

This set with 4 records is the most rare. Because the band did not want to use the picture where you can actually see their faces I made a little joke and used this as cover for the testpressings. The paper-wrap shows the modified picture and is stamped on the inside. There were 15 testpressings made and 5 of them got the picture cover, the other 10 have a pink cover. So the only chance to get a testpressing are those sets. These sets with picture cover were given to the band plus I also kept a copy.

Paper-wrapped set B #/5:

testpr. pink cover #/10, green cover /125, white cover /125

These sets with 3 records have the same records as set A but miss the testpressing with the picture cover. The paper-wrap is stamped on the inside. They went to various people over the globe and of course I kept #1 since I own all #1's of my releases.

White cover, transp. green wax /125

The regular version came with two different coloured covers; above is white.

Green cover, transp. green wax /125

And here's the version with green cover.

Promo, no cover, promo inlay, transp. green wax /15

Record Industry pressed a few copies more than ordered and I decided to use them as a promo. They were sent out together with promotion for PFR04.

I am really looking forward to blog about my other releases; that'll be so easy compared to this one! However.... not too sure when I'll get to PFR05.

PFR01 Off My Chest - s/t

2012-01-15T11:45:00.000-08:00

PFR01 Off My Chest – s/t, 7inch

April 24^th 2006

The first proper post is about the release that got positive and focused started. When Off My Chest finished the recordings at the Bunt Studios those went straight to Envy Records for the split-cd with State of Disgrace. All things that could go wrong went wrong and by the time I finally got those cd's I already decided to beginn my own label with the financial help of a friend. To get released by a foreign label on cd is great but I had a strong desire for vinyl so that's why PFR01 was born. The original cat.-number for this release is P&F01 (shown in the mirror of the record) but later on I decided to work with PFR for the cat.-numbers. I already got a pre-testing made by myownrecord.com but now it was time for the real stuff. The people at the pressing-plant (Record Industry) were so kind to help me fill out all the forms and David from Kawaii Records helped me out a bit by pre-ordering 50 pieces. I decided to put his label-info on the backside of the cover. I asked Michiel Walrave for the artwork and he did a great job. Friends and family were stalked big time but besides that some other people were actually interested and the first pressing was gone by the end of the year. Above is the flyer for this release. I ordered the records with an inscription in the mirror of the record; side A: always true, side B: never down. The pressingplant forgot this on the testings but they did the inscripton on the actual finished product; however it is very hard to read because of the transparent vinyl.

Pre-testpressing big hole, #/2 (My Own Record)

This is the version that was made by myownrecord.com. Hand-numbered and stamped. #2/2 is owned by a friend.

Testpressing small hole #/5

Then the proper testing from Record Industry. Hand-numbered and stamped. Still remembering the day they came in...

Pre-order, orange cover, transp. dark orange wax #/100

The pressingplant started mixing black to the orange vinyl from #401 and this made the transparent dark orange wax.103 pieces were pressed of which 100 were used for the hand-numbered Pre-order version with an orange cover instead of the white cover of the regular version. Pretty much all of those were sent out with Off My Chest-sticker (not shown).

Special, handcoloured cover, transp. dark orange wax #/3

From the darker orange version 3 pieces were left (that were not used for the pre-orders) so I decided to make a special version. Hand-numbered.

Regular, white cover, transp. light orange wax /360

400 pieces were pressed in transparent light orange wax with white cover. The picture on the back was shot at the show on January 28th 2006 @ The Mix, Uithoorn. The picture for the label on side B was also shot at that same show and shows me and my label-partner.

Releaseparty, carry on rip-off cover, transp. light orange wax #/40

From the regular version 40 pieces were taken and given a Carry On - Roll with the punches rip-off cover. 20 pieces were given away at the show on May 25th 2006 @ Volta, Amsterdam. Hand-numbered.

2^nd press, last show, Kiss rip-off cover
transp. red wax #/50
January 13^th 2007

When Off My Chest planned their final show I already was thinking about my 3rd release. This was on transparent red wax and I asked the pressingplant to be so kind to make an extra 50 pieces of PFR01 on red wax. When I was a young kid I got heavily inspired by Kiss so this made me decide to do a Flaming Youth rip-off cover. The innerside of the cover is a collage of pics from 2003 - 2006. Hand-numbered. The flyer is for that final Off My Chest show where they played Off My Chest by Carry On. Henceforth presented their new record and Hoods Up from Germany did their first NL-show.

3^rd press, blue cover, no lyrics

solid blue wax /50

February 22^nd 2008

By the time I released my 7th piece of wax I longed for another colour of wax of my first release so once again I asked the pressingplant to make a limited run of 50 pieces. The picture on the back was shot at the show on May 12th 2006 @ De Kade, Zaandam.

Perhaps I'll press another colour but at the moment not too sure about that.

It's on!

2012-01-15T04:41:00.000-08:00

It's on! The start of the Positive and Focused Blogspot. I'll try to upload all P&F releases and give you all the inside-information, pictures, pressing-info etc. Hope you enjoy.

Toni P.