The Zips Reissue

The Zips is a band from Scotland formed in 1978. Their EP was recently reissued by brooklyn-based Sing Sing Records, making it available to us mortals who can't afford to spend hundreds of dollars on beloved vinyl. On an e-mail the singer and guitarist, Jonh McNeill (a.k.a. Jonzip), told me: "the re-issue has been a real worthwhile exercise for us, altho we did have doubts to begin with. you see, the original was only a 500 copy issue, and had become quite a collector's item, fetching prices up to $427 on ebay! and we thought it might destroy the rarity value. but the guys at Sing Sing convinced us that the collectors would still want one of the originals regardless of the re-issue, and that it would give us a new audience"

I said "It's really great that you guys have decided to make your music available not only to me but to a wider audience. And they are right, collectors will be collectors. But not everyone who buys vinyl is that type of collector (or can afford to be)"

Nevertheless, check out this band that has a nice classic Ramones/UK Subs sound.