What April Showers Bring... (APE 01) was a 7" compilation released in 1996 by Gregg Holtsclaw's label Ape Records. It was the first of a small but important catalogue that the Bloomington-based label would release in the 2 years Gregg maintained it, featuring four songs from four different bands. Side A consisted of two songs from the bands In Ano and Failsafe, both from Indiana. Side B was two songs from the bands Barrel and The Soviets (which was a side project of some of the Calm/Mohinder guys). The 7" is about as DIY as it gets...folded paper sleeve with some roughly drawn print on the front with a 4 page booklet admittedly printed at the local kinkos. On various colors of marbled vinyl, the comp also has a acetate transparency with the covers art printed with various colors of ink (sofar I've seen black, red, blue..).
Holtsclaw had a knack for liner notes, so I'm going to include complete transcriptions (with one or two minor error corrections) of the notes for the two releases on the post:
saturday june 8, 9:30am
in roughly 4 hours i will be going to kinko's to use copy cards to print this booklet, an ad, and the covers of this record. in the end it will seem a lot like everything, not completely realized, constrained by money, lacking depth and meaning...but at the same time i hope there is something here for you, i hope that you understand that this is more than paper and vinyl in an oversized sandwich bag. it is hard for me to focus what i want to say...mainly because i have not sold out, (but i am currently taking offers...), so really what is there to say? possibly i should tell you that i am poor, that i saved for a long time to do this record and still came up short. maybe i should tell you that my parents before me were poor. maybe i should tell you that my father is dead from agent orange, and that my mother is, to use a tired expression, poor as dirt. i could add that i will probably follow in their footsteps, that being poor means i have always bought my clothes at goodwills, targets, and value cities, or whatever the equivalent is in your city. i could tell you being poor means you always have a chip on your shoulder, and that you always have the firm idea that you will never amount to anything firmly planted in your body. but i will skip that, skip it because today i don't feel that way. actually i don't really feel that way at all anymore, which has been a long time coming. as this record slips between the hundreds of others i wonder what the difference is...the lyrics, music, my intro, the drawing, the colored vinyl...something similar to the point has been done a hundred times over. i guess the point is that this is mine, which i want to share with you. i think that a few people will understand, and the rest? well they can go buy the newest victory or revelation release. thank you for your time.
thanks to phil dwyer for his help,elizabeth for drawing the cover and being a beautiful person, jeremy for being a friend and getting in ano involved with this, clay and the soviets(apologies),failsafe(who are cringing at the sweatercore intro),rick & barrel for patience, rick o. for assistance. thanks to derek daniels, dave britts, ryan, steve duginske, clark, and austin for passing time. thanks to others...but i don't have the kinko cards to list you all.
Israfel (APE 004) was the fourth release and second compilation released on Ape Records, this time a full LP instead of a 7". The LP didn't really have a sleeve, but it did have a sleeve sized piece of card backing the LP in its printed inner sleeve with various inserts of different shapes, sizes, and colors. My copy has: A 16 page paper booklet bound with blue yarn including liner notes from Gregg along with a page for each band on the comp (sans Harriet the Spy, Reversal of Man, Inept), A vegan resource guide of non-vegan ingredients that Holtsclaw compiled on a long strip of paper, A large yellow printed catalogue for the 4 Ape Records releases, and a "HARDCORE SELLOUT DECODER RING". My copy also has the artwork for Inept which was too late for the booklet on a piece of paper.
In an attempt to give some financial support to the family of two young girls with Werdnigg-Hoffman disease, Holtsclaw put this compilation together with the help of the few bands that were motivated to help. Fourteen bands contributed songs to it in 1997 including The Locust, Old Hearts Club, Serotonin, and Reversal of Man. All of the bands put forward pretty unique displays and the compilation as a whole is very diverse, I love all of the bands on here. Bands like Criswell, The Weak Link Breaks, and Twenty Seven Hours wouldn't release much music past this comp, but I think their songs are some of the best of the comp. If you are going to listen to any of the tracks, definitely check out Twenty Seven Hours' "Coaxial".
Why this record came to be:
This record is the product of roughly two years of work. It is a benefit for the Rachel and Sarah Ping fund, a fund established in Indianapolis to cover the medical costs of two little girls, who had Werdnigg-Hoffman disease. Werdnigg-Hoffman is one of a number of genetic disorders/diseases, it is marked buy the degeneration of the spine, muscles, and nerves. The girls were twins and slowly became sicker as the disease progressed. Eventually they could no longer roll over on their own. Their heads became too heavy for them to support. The girls came to the point where they had to have a live in nurse. The disease is fatal, and it was in their case. While trying to care for the twins and progress through the difficult financial times, let alone the motions, the family declared bankruptcy. They still had two children to support, and they were forced to sell their house. This comp is a drop in the bucket. More may follow. I really don't have a clue. I know this is the least that I can do, because I was too pitiful to spend time with the girls. Because it upset me to see them with their slumped heads, with their fragile dying bodies, and their innocent beautiful smiles that I knew would never grow old. Goddamn me. I could leave, but their family couldn't. But my mom didn't. And for a time their community didn't. Maybe this is my atonement, but I know only that I failed. And that I hope not to continue failing.
the bands.
In the beginning I contacted a slew of bands, focusing on political bands. They were not very political and none were reliable. In the end the bands on this record were the most patient, and passionate I could find. Hopefully more bands will come around with the dedication and devotion to music and helping others that these bands have. I somehow doubt that will happen. Thank you to the bands. Gregg/Ape
The booklet also contains, along with the bands individual pages, a four-page-long manifesto of sorts, due to its length I'm making a separate post for it here.
Download APE 01 here.
Download APE 004 here.
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