"Sun Glass"

Sacred young, feel the sun, vermillion. Avert your gaze, be afraid, can't look away.

Sleeve - Front

Sleeve - Back

Vinyl - 'A' Side

Insert - Front

Insert - Back

Stats:

General:
Tracks: Sun Glass B/W B.O.K.
Released: 2014
Label: Matador Records OLE 1072-7
Matrix A: OLE-1072-7 - A    GOLDEN
Matrix B: OLE-1072-7 - B    GOLDEN
Pressing Info: 2000? TBC
Inserts: Regular insert as pictured above
Variants: No variants







Notes:

Lyric Sheet: Who knows what happened to this nicely illustrated sheet? It
dosen't seem to have made it as far as the actual record...


Nerd Note:
Rocks in the sky frozen in time.
Paper hearts to set alight.
Scissors cut the old flame from the fire.

Video Still: Who know's what the elaborate spooky shadows on the table
are about? They didn't make it to the final cut...

Nerd Note:
Instead of misinterpreting the cycles / youth / death imagery, lets just stick
to the fact that the concert footage is from Tank Crimes Brain Squeeze.

Alternative Artwork: Who knows what this was
used for? It was used for the promo CD.

''GLASS BOYS''

Jacket - Front (Regular version) 

Jacket - Back (Regular version)

Jacket - Front (Limited Double LP version)

Jacket - Back (Limited Double LP Version)

Jacket - Image on inside of gatefold (Same for regular and limited versions)

Vinyl
(all versions have same label design)

Insert with lyric sheet on reverse

Insert / lyric sheet

Stats:

Year: 2014

Matador Version:
Label: Matador Records OLE 1049-8
Matrix A: OLE-0149-1 A S-90624
Matrix B: OLE-0149-1 B S-90625

Matrix C: OLE-1049-8 A
Matrix D: OLE-1049-8 B

Arts & Crafts Version

Label: A&C092
Matrix A: 
Matrix B: 

Matrix C: 
Matrix D:

Inserts: Double-sided insert, as pictured above

Variants: 
Regular LP on Matador UK / Euro
Regular LP on Matador US
Regular LP on Arts & Crafts (Canada)
Limited Double LP on Matador UK / Euro
Limited Double LP on Matador US
Limited Double LP on Arts & Crafts (Canada)

Notes:

''This new record'' (Post on FU Website - February 18, 2014):

We haven’t said much about the LP we started recording almost a year ago but we promise we’ll have some more for you soon. IN the meantime this is a pretty good read at Stereogum about where our heads are at.


Extracts From Stereogum Article Feb 18 2014:

(Damian)“I think Mike’s version of Fucked Up is clearly different than my version of Fucked Up,” says Abraham, talking about how Haliechuk’s original concept of the band was a mysterious all-pseudonym art-project thing. “I didn’t like Fucked Up being mysterious; I liked Fucked Up for being welcoming and very open and honest. Here I am: a fat guy who has a hairy back and is insecure as fuck and on anti-anxiety pills and smashing shit on my face. I’m loud, and I like to talk, and that’s who I am. That existed in direct conflict with what Mike’s version of Fucked Up was.”

But while Abraham and Haliechuk have always had different ideas about the band, the songs that the two bandmates are writing now share a certain theme. They fit together into a sort of adulthood tableau. “I wanted my side to be a concept record about the death of innocence in the music industry and my death in the music industry and of this band,” says Abraham. “As the record developed, I started to see what Mike was writing, and I think it’s more about maturing and trying to reconcile what you are as an adult compared to what you were as a young person.”

Extracts from COS interview March 18 2014:

In an interview with CoS, Haliechuk said the 10-track album is “a bit more chill and less OCD than the last record”, adding, “There’s not a million riffs, it’s way drummier, and just feels way looser all around.” Haliechuk explained that while it’s not another concept album, “every Fucked Up record does have some agenda”:

“This album is about growing up, and that second coming of age you have when you’re already an adult. It’s about being a grown-up and having a job and responsibilities and still feeling fragile and uncertain. It’s also about us being in a band for 12-13 years, and what started as this weird hobby has become almost like a job. We no longer get excited about the music, but we’re the ones making the music that hopefully young kids will hopefully find inspiration from. It’s a tip of the hat to these kids, telling them ‘We were those people, and one day you’ll be us.’ To me, it’s not a down record, but about embracing that life as a continuum.”

Vish Khanna Interview


''Glass Boys'' (Post on FU Website - March 6, 2014):

This is what we've been trying to tell you:

The Gulf of Time: The video above shows old footage of DA & MH performing to a frenzied crowd of moshing kids. By contrast the soundtrack sets a reflective mood, opening with piano and featuring Chris Colohan, who played drums in the original Fucked Up line-up back in 2001.

Previous Generations: The cause of the madness is revealed; the original recording is ''Generation'' being performed back in 2006; Mike is left temporarily unable to play when his guitar strap parts company during the stage invasion. 

The old days, when... 

...Fucked Up was Pink Eyes, 10,000 Marbles, Gulag, 

Young Governor, Mustard Gas & Mr Jo...

But now:

Promotional Posters: 

The statue ones each have a lyric from the LP included in the text

The Rampin Horseman

Rampin Horseman again

Apollo

Belvedere Torso

Mausolus

The Dying Gaul

Mausolus

"The Philosopher, from the 'Of  Death, Part Two' series" 1898 - By Max Klinger

"Boy blowing on an ember to light a candle" 1570-72 - Painting By El Greco.

Twitter Pic:

Golden Age

Commodity Fetishism 

Mr Jonah Falco & Glass Boy Test Pressings

''Royal Swan'' (Split with Katie Stelmanis)

To bid death farewell the journey ends with a swan at the top of the earth...

Sleeve - FU Side:
Some swans at the top of the earth

Sleeve - Katie Stelmanis Side:
Stelmanis duets (spars) with Damian on ''Royal Swan''
Appears here colour coordinated and with symbolic upside-down FU logo.

Vinyl: Black labels; the other two ChemCom singles repeat the sleeve artwork on the label

Insert - Front:
Sempervivum image by Albert Renger-Patzsch
The name Sempervivum has its origin in the Latin semper ("always") and vivus ("living"), which may or may not be relevant; likewise the fact that it has hermaphrodite flowers (more on that later) 

Insert - Back:
Lyrics / credits

Stats:

General:
Tracks: Royal Swan B/W I'm Sick (Katie Stelmanis)
Released: 2008
Label: Matador Records OLE 848-7
Matrix A: OLE 848-7-A         GOLDEN
Matrix B: OLE 848-7-B          GOLDEN
Pressing Info: One Time Pressing of 1000 (September 3, 2008)
Inserts: Regular insert as pictured above
Variants: No variants




Notes:
Originally intended for distribution only at the 12 hour "Chemistry of Common Life" release show, subsequent lack of availability lead to ebay madness remaining copies were made available some time later via the FU online store.

LFG Post (Dec 12 2008)
So in case you were wondering why this song is called Royal Swan in the first place - the term comes to us (me) by way of the Russian Esotericist Boris Mouravieff (by way of the ancient "Orient"), who explains that once existed a royal race of birds that when presented with a mixture of milk and water, could separate the liquid to drink the milk and leave the water behind. The appeal of this myth to Fucked Up should be plain to even the most casual observer.

LFG Post (Dec 27 2010)
All the artwork associated with the ChemCom album shared the sunlight theme. All of the 7"'s (No Epiphany, Royal Swan, Crooked Head) had the sun very prominently displayed on the covers, as did obviously the album itself. This picture was therefore a no brainer - a bunch of swans, the sun. I just found it in the library's image bank in the "Swans" folder when I was looking for LP artwork. This 7" only really exists
 because this picture is so perfect - if we'd have found a picture that perfectly represented the lyrics to "Days of Last" or whatever, that would have been the 7" instead of this, but I couldn't find this picture and not make
 it the cover of a record. The song title refers to a G I Gurdjieff anecdote about these ancient swans used by royalty who had the ability to separate milk from a mixture with water. This goes back to the alchemy theme, wanting the ability to separate the wheat from the chaff, in the parlance of our times.

G I Gurdjieff

From Wikipedia:
Gurdjieff was an influential spiritual teacher of the early to mid-20th century who taught that most humans live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to transcend to a higher state of consciousness and achieve full human potential.

Royal Swans:
''In Search of The Miraculous'' By PD Ouspensky
''Gurdjieff, Ouspensky and Fragments'' By Boris Mouravieff

Commodity Fetishism:

Test Pressing:
Generic white sleeve with handwriting, generic labels

''No Epiphany''

Son of Heaven, The Sun of God...

Sleeve - Front: The Sun

Vinyl - 'A' side: The Sun

Sleeve - Back: The Sun

Vinyl - 'B' side: The Sun

Insert - Front: The Sun (and a boat)...
Image originally used on ''Carried Out To The Sea" 7" (Which doesn't exist)

Insert: The Sun
Top: Unidentified 'Solar Calendar'. Sun surrounded by repeating pattern of four symbols contained by ouroboros
Bottom Left: Final lyrics by 10K
Bottom Right: Original Lyrics by Mr Jo - this version appears on 'Couple Tracks'

Stats:

General:
Tracks: No Epiphany B/W No Epiphany (No Age Remix)
Released: 2009
Label: Matador Records OLE 838-7
Matrix A: OLE 838-7-A         GOLDEN
Matrix B: OLE 838-7-B          GOLDEN
Pressing Info: One Time Pressing of 3000 (February 3, 2009)
Inserts: Regular insert as pictured above
Variants: No variants

Notes:

FU Tom Jones 'Poison Idea' Shirt -  Front

FU Tom Jones Shirt - Back

LFG Post (Feb 11 2009): 

Hi, we are releasing the No Epiphany 7" single on March 10 ... it's the 3rd single off the ChemCom album, the first being Crooked Head, which you can get anywhere, the 2nd being Royal Swan, which you can get nowhere.

As you can see from this picture the single arrives fraught with mystery and hilarity. Why did the NME name it "Single of the Week" 4 months before it was even released? What on it made Katy Perry call us "good musicians?", and why did Tom Jones admit that it was "not something (he) would play"?

Originally this 7" was planned as kind of a double aside - the actual aside containing the album version of the song, and the more symbolic aside (ie the bside) containing a demo version of the track.

When we recorded the song we did a few versions of it. Jonah wrote this song, and he really likes punk, so No Epiphany was originally conceived as a faster piece. I kind of like punk, so I decide it would sound cooler if it was slower, and had some ridiculous guitar tracks all over it...if you are on this website you've heard the press - No Epiphany has 1546 guitar tracks in total, mostly all written on the spot. I digress - the bside for this 7" was originally going to be the faster version of the song that was eventually completed - the faster music and lyrics written by Jonah Himself. Also he played all the instruments. We got No Age to do a remix of the original album version, and now thats on the 7" instead, but I feel bad for Falco, because his version got bumped (twice now), so here is a little tribute to his vision:

Jonah's Lyrics:

- the sun of heaven, its message sent

- gaze in the blaze of incendiary judgement

- present a life or a static catastrophe

- no epiphany

- regard the victor - his splendour, foiled

- unveil the laggard in all his spoils

- worst of its vision makes all liquid boil

- no epiphany

- perchance to glance a glimpse thereof

- a salty tear tended by a mother's love

- reveals the sun-kissed shade of ennui

- no epiphany

- I see the cover but never the book

- you can change but i'll only ever look

- no amount of time can be took

- no epiphany

- nothing new and nothing old

- facet the diamond or burn the coal

- the gleaming essence of miscellany

- no epiphany

- do what you will to incense, to make irate

- shatter life's foundations with a pathetic shake

- a callous smirk at the shifting plates

- no epiphany

Epiphany:

An epiphany (from the ancient Greek ἐπιφάνεια, epiphaneia, "manifestation, striking appearance") is an experience of sudden and striking realization...

The word epiphany originally referred to insight through the divine. Today, this concept is used much more often and without such connotations, but a popular implication remains that the epiphany is supernatural, as the discovery seems to come suddenly from the outside.

No Epiphany:
Where none of the above happens.


Son of Heaven...

Hidden World Show Poster:
Dante and Beatrice gaze upon the highest heavens ''Dude, is that like a big 'F' in a circle?'';
from Gustave Doré's illustrations to the Divine Comedy.

Commodity Fetishism:

Test Pressing - No Epiphany - No Picture

"Paper The House"

Old man, life spent. Carving a legacy never making a dent...

Sleeve - Front

Sleeve - Back

Vinyl - 'A' side

Insert - Front

Insert - Back

Stats:

General:
Tracks: Paper The House B/W Galloping
Released: 2014
Label: Matador Records OLE 1071-7
Matrix A: OLE-1071-7 - A    GOLDEN
Matrix B: OLE-1071-7 - B    GOLDEN
Pressing Info: 2000? TBC
Inserts: Regular insert as pictured above
Variants: No variants



From FU Merch Table: The a-side here is this one off of Glass Boys:



the b-side is an unreleased song from the Glass Boys sessions, although part of the music from this song was used in this, a little promo vid we did for the record:



(Lyric) ...the Great Divide, The Gulf of Time. A vanguard turns rear flank. Over time the wounds they make just run dry. And as the bleeding stops, so do I.



Nerd Points:

• "Paper The House" video has the 'A' side track dubbed over footage from the Long Winter show, also pictured on the back of the insert.
• The Glass Boys promo features vocals by Chris Colohan, a man whose extensive punk CV includes being the original drummer for Fucked Up. The video footage is from this video of  "Generation" from 2006.

Sleeve Notes:

The Dying Gaul: This statue is believed to be a second-century AD Roman copy of a third-century BC Hellenistic bronze commemorating the victory of the Greeks over migrating Celtic tribes.

Polybius wrote an evocative account of Galatian tactics against a Roman army at the Battle of Telamon of 225 BC: "The Insubres and the Boii wore trousers and light cloaks, but the Gaesatae, in their love of glory and defiant spirit, had thrown off their garments and taken up their position in front of the whole army naked and wearing nothing but their arms... The appearance of these naked warriors was a terrifying spectacle, for they were all men of splendid physique and in the prime of life."

The Dying Gaul became one of the most celebrated works to have survived from antiquity and was engraved and endlessly copied by artists, for whom it was a classic model for depiction of strong emotion, and by sculptors. 

Insert Girl: Flower-haired lefty, previously appeared artwork for other musicians and Lithuanian menus.