It has been exactly one year since I started to upload material onto this website from rare cassettes, LP’s, 7″ and 12″ singles. By the thousands of comments left on those posts, it seems like the quest has been well worth it.
It has been a learning curve for sure.
I started my uploading journey with the Touch Of Hysteria cassette on October 23 2007, and during the next couple of months I had sussed out it was much quicker to record the whole side of the tape rather than individual tracks on the tape. I also realised it was better to place both sides of a record onto the same post, rather than two seperate posts for two seperate sides…Doh!
By the turn of the new year I had generally got the mix right on all the uploads posted, including writing small essays on each post relevant to the band, artist, venue or any other interesting detail. Also I started to take time adding photos or gig flyers within the posts.
Recently in the last three or four months, I have been ripping text off other sites to save me a lot of time trying to think of interesting, or new things, to write about whatever artist or band is featured in the posts. Since the birth of my little boy on April 6th 2008, time has been increasingly important to me.
I have tried to upload interesting material, of all kind of genres, every day (unless I am away from my records, tapes or the computer of course, which is not too often) for the KYPP faithful to check out and hopefully enjoy, discuss or whatever.
I am lucky enough to have worked full time for twenty years now at the same place (Southern Record Distributors), I also run four smaller websites (which do not take up too much of my time ), plus the boy is starting to leave his mother’s side and needs much more time with myself, his father. Time which of course, I am more than prepared to give.
Recording the material (a C90 takes 90 minutes to record to the harddrive), converting to mp3, getting the mp3 on mediafire, scanning or photographing sleeve artwork, photobucketing those photos or scans. Going on relevant websites to find extra images or text to upload onto the post all take a fair amount of time.
I have therefore made a decision to cut down on the amount of posts I will upload onto this website each week. Normally, through the past months, it could be ten to twelve posts a week, never less than seven (one a day) anyway.
I am planning to upload material when I can, but not on a regular basis like you are all used to. Maybe I can find time for three or four uploads a week, maybe more or maybe less. I don’t know for certain how much time I will have to spare.
One thing I do know for certain is that I will still be uploading much more rare and interesting material for the next year to come, just not on an everyday basis.
Whilst you wait for new posts, it may be a good opportunity to check out the archives (on the right hand side underneath recent comments) for stuff you may have missed out on when it was originally uploaded. Also some good stuff over in the post 86 section to check out.
Lot’s of material already uploaded these past twelve months to comment on, even if a new post does not come fresh each day.
Thanks for the post support, via the comments in the last year, it’s been very uplifting.
Mug
October 24, 2008 at 1:41 amThanks for everything. That’s a cute picture of your son. He’s a good looking kid.
Lazy Rod
October 24, 2008 at 3:19 amUplifting for you and for us… I remember discovering the D & V tape when you posted it and been a regular ever since. I know I very rarely comment, fuck I don’t even have the time to listen to most of the stuff I download from here, there and everywhere else but I’m sure I’ll get round to it one day!! Killer Reggae posts by the way hope there’s plenty more of those set for the future… Thanks and looking forward to the next KYPP year. All the best… Rod.
devotionalhooligan
October 24, 2008 at 9:48 amcheers for everything too mate,i’ve re/discovered the apostles[and shit loads besides]and heard all these almost mythical tapes[thinking of all those lush f.o records/astronauts] through the KYPP site… and some of the posts [heretics thread/bob short-just ordered his book]are pure class….enjoy the time with your kid,they change so quickly… one minute they can hardly stand up & before you know it he’ll be diving into your record collection with his mates… and rediscovering not being able to stand up.
by the way,i used to love getting stuff from you at king penguin… you’d always stick in a tape of stuff for me to check out …. well cool… so cheers mick!>>>looking fwd to what comes next.peace
Mike (UK)
October 24, 2008 at 9:49 amThe most important thing is to spend time with your boy. Even if you only posted once a year, we would still be here!
Thanks for all the great stuff. All of your posts are much appreciated.
Mike (UK)
smith3000
October 24, 2008 at 9:59 amCute kid!
The site is great mate, you seem to have touched a nerve with the old punks. If there’s any way of sharing the load, let us know …
Carl
October 24, 2008 at 10:06 amYou have and are doing a great job and of course time is an important factor and of course the family is massively important.
Post when you can.
Its very much appreciated.
John Eden
October 24, 2008 at 10:10 amGood for you Pengy! KYPP has been a bit much to keep up with for me at times anyway 🙂
Nic
October 24, 2008 at 10:25 amYes, I’ll echo everyone else and express my thanks for all of the time and effort you’ve put in Penguin: much appreciated…
And your life is more important than uploads here (as good as they are)…
Keep having a total Doss…
Ian
October 24, 2008 at 10:40 amI’ll still visit the site, 5 or 6 times, maybe 10 or 11 times a day!! The music you upload is fantastic, the threads are an excellent read, surely there’s a few books amongst these posts. Have happy times with your boy. Kids are a constant pain in the arse, and a constant source of joy.
i@n.
Nuzz
October 24, 2008 at 1:30 pmOh! how I know that feeling Penguin. Ever get those feelings of addiction and obssesive compulsiveness? No,..! Fuck, it must be just me then. Stay Free! four or even five!
Trunt
October 24, 2008 at 2:31 pmYeah. Good on you mate, they grow up to fast, and you will soon be taking your boy to footie match’s and scooter rallys. Enjoy the time together. Wish i had the young uns hair, damn old age. All the best, to your goodself and the family. Trunt
p.s. KYPP has to be one of the best sites around, I check it out everyday. Always throws up something I’d forgotten about.
baron von zubb
October 24, 2008 at 3:27 pmits good to know others a have become just as addicted to this as meself.
Mr P as you now know you’ve done a brilliant job and its really appreciated.
Spend some time with your boy, as someone said they change rapidly even though it might not seem so.
Soon enough he’ll be playing in a punk band.
We’ll be ok, just, without you here all the time.
Cheers to you & all at K Y P P.
Phil R
October 24, 2008 at 4:57 pmYeah, thanks Pengy for all the energy you’ve put into this site
(although, I now have got a nasty puppy habit as well!)
dan i
October 24, 2008 at 6:03 pmA million thanks for all you have done already, don’t worry about spending more time with your boy, he needs you.
I sent some more Culture tunes to tony puppy (his email is the contact email address. If you dont have Zion gate 12 and BoJangles’ DJ cut to Two Sevens Clash, he has copies of mine!
Crass Dave
October 24, 2008 at 6:31 pmHey Penguin can we not upload stuff here to take pressure off yourself ?
Tony Puppy
October 24, 2008 at 8:51 pmWell done Penguin, thanks for the incredible effort you’ve put in for the past year. I’ve enjoyed a lot of the stuff you’ve put up on the site, and it was great fun to come here and find out what you’d done. There’s been some v. interesting comments about some of the music, it’s helped shape the site and kept things interesting around here.
And of course you had to reload everything after that unfortunate incident this spring. That was a bit too interesting for comfort.
Of course your efforts has helped mask the fact I’ve done very little here myself over the last year – due in the main to my own young childrens needs.
All the best with your cute son, and I’ll see you soon.
Dan i – I forwarded those culture tunes to Penguin.
Crass Dave – what you can do is upload stuff to a file sharing site like media fire, then post the link on here.
urgo
October 24, 2008 at 9:07 pmhi Penguin, i often visit your site and i’m always impressed by the dedication you put in it. I have a 2 years old daughter so i don’t take much time to download and listen to music anymore (anyway we prefer to sing in the family) , what interest me the most is the historical aspect of your work and i take a great pleasure to read your texts and the comments aswell.
enjoy fatherhood, it’s the real revolution!
Steve
October 24, 2008 at 9:37 pmJust echoing what everybody else has said – your selfless efforts are much appreciated.
W
October 24, 2008 at 10:28 pmTo be honest I’m impressed you’ve managed to keep it up this long. I know I often struggle to find the time even to listen to the downloads, and that’s just the recordings I don’t already have. There is such a wealth of great music on here already that no one is really going to notice if the pace slows down a bit. And the discussion threads are every bit as entertaining and informative. They really fill out the context of that musical era.
andus
October 24, 2008 at 11:06 pmNice one Penguin, its a first class website. I found it by accident after doing a google search on Daz Russel. pity you can’t get other people to load up stuff.
dan i
October 25, 2008 at 9:34 amI think Tony was suggesting that we can Andus. If so, then Pengy can enjoy some music from the rest of us! Not entirely clear how we would post a link up, in response to something else as a regular post?
I did that to the Suns Of Arqa thread but not sure if anyone noticed? Go back there for some top Adrian Sherwood live mixes (one from a stage show and one from a radio show).
https://www.killyourpetpuppy.co.uk/news/?p=873
John Serpico
October 25, 2008 at 10:45 amThanks for your stirling work Mr Penguin. I sometimes wondered how you were finding the time to upload so much stuff what with your work and family commitments. Life need not entirely stop when you have children though – it just needs a change of pace and re-arranging. A positive result of you slowing down might be that there will be a lot more commenting on your older posts. It would be a valid thing and hopefully of interest. I mean, a lot of these bands and records had a big impact on a lot of people so to comment on it all must be a worthwhile thing?
luggy
October 25, 2008 at 11:33 amJust to echo what others have said, time with the sprog when he’s young is far more important than keeping us old farts supplied with constant uploads. A couple a week would still get people checking back often.
For addicts, there’s plenty of other good blogs (though not as interactive as this one) out there to keep them busy. Maybe we should do a list of recommended ones.
Nic
October 25, 2008 at 3:12 pmI’ve got effin’ hundreds of blogs bookmarked (in nice, neat folders), so Luggy’s suggestion of a list sounds a good idea…
Could we have a ‘sticky’ at the top of the page or something?
I think a couple of posts a week (whether an upload or just a post to get people chatting) are more than enough to keep it bubbling…
kashi
October 25, 2008 at 8:19 pmThanks for what you’ve already done, and thanks in advance for the great future uploads.
As far as the nipper goes, Mugs comment reminded me of a day walking through town many years ago.
OJ & I happened across an old mate PeeWee who was carrying his very new son. We were at the zebra crossing.
“Thats a fucking ugly baby, Peewee” says Owen. Back comes Peewee, quick as you like … ” you haven’t seen its mother!” (which was true, we hadn’t).
The Punk / Post Punk Tribe
October 26, 2008 at 7:19 amI am already addicted to this site, no matter how many time you post (can be once every 4 weeks or a once a day) I discover some old awesome band here, (record shops in Canada are VERY poor with this kind of stuff, its already good if you can find a Bauhaus or Crass vinyl here sadly).
Also running a thing like that can seem easy for some but its A LOT of work.
But what I really like is the fact its not only a simple website but we can feel a spirit here! Also the fact its nothing fancy. I get my overdose of superficial empty product…
Spend time with your boy and Familly lucky bastard! 😉
slyme68
October 26, 2008 at 3:42 pmas the papers have it today, Fearful Sharkey, punk singer, now heads the “industry war on downloading”… Twat.
http://abc-afterglow.blogspot.com/2008/09/undertones-hypnotised.html?showComment=1221828240000
http://www.taringa.net/posts/musica/122020/The-Undertones—True-Confessions-(Singles-A_'s-+-B_'s).html
http://www.torrentreactor.net/torrents/2005441/The-Undertones-Teenage-Kicks-The-Best-of-%2BArt
http://thewickedthing.blogspot.com/2007/09/undertones-teenage-kicks-7-ep-good.html
bloater999
October 28, 2008 at 7:07 pmThanks for all the downloads they’re much appreciated – I visit regularly although I rarely post comments
Cute baby – Enjoy your time with him, it’ll go very quickly; I should know my son’s now 19!
Tony Tschuk (DJ Twinpeaks)
October 30, 2008 at 11:22 pmJust to say thanks. So many Gigs, so many bands that I half remembered, you have brought them all back to life again.
Kindest regards
Tony
Kent
December 6, 2009 at 3:59 pmThanks for the bucktloads of quality youve taken time to put up on here Penquin, I sold all my vinyl back in the early 90’s to fund bad habits DOH!!
I have been re buying some bits lately but some of the recordings you have added on here I never knew existed so massive thanks to you and the family.