G7 Welcoming Committee Records. Uncooperative since 1997.

Many, many years ago, there existed a small window of history which we at G7 have long relegated to the dustbin, as it were. It was an idealistic time, a time of exciting new ideas, rapid political development, and terrible layouts photocopied on brown recycled paper.

No, I speak not of my short-lived but forever embarrassing zine. I’m talking about the early days of G7, spanning 1994 through 1995. It was in this time period that a fledgling G7 released two long-out-of-print records which we have inexplicably decided to revive in digital format for the public to consume and pontificate on once again.

First up we have the final release from the long-time Winnipeg institution Red Fisher, entitled “War Wagon.” These local “pop” punk pioneers featured John Stewart of Mico on guitar and vocals, Jason Tait of The Weakerthans on drums and Simon Head on bass.

Second up we’ll be re-releasing both halves (as separate digital EPs) of 1995’s John K. Samson / Painted Thin split. JOHN K. SAMSON’s release, “Little Pictures” is a solo acoustic record from The Weakerthans vocalist and lyricist, while Painted Thin’s “Small Acts of Love and Rebellion” featured Paul Furgale on bass and vocals, Stephen Carroll of The Weakerthans on guitar and vocals, and James Ash of I Spy on drums.

These three digital releases will all be available via most music download services (the ones you pay for that is!) on August 29th.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!

On the same date, we’ll be launching two other digital releases …

The first is Greg Macpherson’s debut release, which he did independently in 1999, called “Balanced On A Pin”. These 11 songs do not appear on any of his later albums – brand-new material for most of you no doubt.

And finally, it is with much excitement that we bring you the complete anthology of the short-lived but wickedly-awesome instrumental (yes, I said instrumental) three-piece band from Winnipeg, MB known as Giant Sons. “Anthology” combines both of their independently-released albums (“Consonance” and “Dark Satanic Mills”) with two unreleased tracks recorded shortly before their demise, for a total of 15 songs of intricate, heavy, and all-around amazing instrumental rock.

Oh, and one other thing … we’ll be offering all of these releases, as well as the entire G7 catalogue, for paid download directly from our website, as unrestricted 320 kbps MP3 files – straight-up with no silly authorization schemes – along with full CD artwork for all albums in PDF format.

It all happens August 29th. Or so the Supreme Rulers of the Internet tell us.