This is the only Million Dead vinyl I own. I have both of their albums on cd, but I don't think either were ever pressed on vinyl. They caught our attention pretty early on when some of their singles made their way onto MTV2. I didn't really know what sort of style of music Million Dead played at the time but I knew I liked. It would be years before I discovered that Frank Turner was also from Winchester, but that's another story.
I'd got A Song to Ruin shortly after it came out and thought it was great (it's an album I still go back to regularly now). I was pretty pleased to find this 7" in the HMV in Winchester when it came out, mostly because I had no idea they had a second album coming out. This was back in the day when 7" records were dirt-cheap and this one in particular set me back £1. I could have saved a further 10% by using my student discount card, but it just didn't seem worth the effort. Anyway, Living the Dream is another fine Million Dead song and builds up to a huge outro, which is always nice. Tonight Matthew might be the only post-hardcore song written about Stars in Their Eyes and probably very confusing to any non-British fans. It's a pretty good song too; the sort of b-side that could easily have been an album track (although perhaps it was the obscure lyrical content that put them off including it).
The thing that always amazes me most about Million Dead is that I think I never actually saw them live. According to Wikipedia, the only time they played Reading Festival was the one year I didn't go (2005 - I was living in Australia so I had a good excuse). They almost certainly played nearby a bunch of times and toured with bands I probably would have gone to see, but I somehow never saw them. I've seen Frank solo many times since they broke up, but he's pretty adamant that a reunion is off the cards. I've heard they were quite something live and they certainly had the songs. It's shame but another reminder to check out bands when you get the chance.
Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £1 new
Bought: HMV, Winchester
When: 28/03/05
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
