Live Fast Die Fast EP
Label: Black And Blue Records (410017)
Recorded: August 1984, Fitchburg, MA
Released: Matrix indicates October 1984 pressing, but this was not released until Jan/Feb 1985 (the front cover photo is from the Jan. 10, 1985 show at The Channel)
Tracks: Live Fast Die Fast / Livin’ Like An Animal // Loudenboomer / I Need Adventure
** Also released as handmade cassette
Lineup: GG Allin (drums, vocals), Alan Chapple (bass, lead guitar), Randy "Zark" Martin (guitar)
Test pressing w/ rejected cover
Handmade alternate sleeve
White paper first pressing
Blue paper repressing
Rhode Island-based GG collaborator/producer/public relations man Peter Yarmouth started up his long-running Black And Blue label with this radio-friendly, curse-free EP. The record seems chronologically out of place, following up two crap-fi, profanity-laden efforts. But, seeing as 1984 was the the infancy of MTV and the signing of new “alternative” and heavy metal bands, it’s possible this EP was a last gasp for commercial viability. To wit: the inadvertently hilarious video of “Live Fast Die Fast.” GG hooked up with members of Manchester hair-metal band the Flyin’ 69, though in typical fashion he laid down the drum tracks himself in the studio, rounded out with Alan Chapple on bass and Randy “Zark” Martin on guitar. According to posters, the live unit was scheduled for some record release gigs in late 1984 / early 1985. Photos exist from a January 1985 show at The Channel with this band, so at least one of those performances materialized. (Side note: The Flyin' 69 released a little-known 45 in 1986, which twenty years later served as the artwork for an EP by New York band LiveFastDie on Douchemaster Records.) “Fuckin’ The Dog” is cleaned up and reworked into “Livin’ Like An Animal,” while “I Need Adventure” borrows some of the lyrics from its original 1980 incarnation and grafts them onto a hard rawk tune with a totally different chorus. “Loudenboomer” may have taken its title from an instrumental Steppenwolf song (“Earschplitten Louden Boomer”), but the similarities end there. First pressing copies are on white paper, and subsequent pressings are on blue paper with insert featuring extensive GG press clips. The handmade cassette version sports exclusive mid-period GG photos. One of the hardest to find GG items is an extremely rare alternate sleeve, possibly whipped up prior to the proper sleeves being printed, for friends or local stores. This is pure speculation, as I have only ever seen two of these, both of which surfaced on eBay in the early 2000s. The cover artwork is from the inside of the next EP, with the song titles “Live Fast Die Fast” and “Livin’ Like An Animal” written in black marker on each side of the cover. Oddly, the vinyl enclosed in my personal copy is actually the subsequent Scumfucs EP instead of the “Live Fast” record.
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