Local H’s As Good As Dead: Band Disputes Unapproved 30th Anniversary Reissue
A planned 30th-anniversary vinyl reissue of Local H’s acclaimed 1996 album, As Good As Dead, has turn into the subject of a dispute between the Chicago-based band and Enjoy The Ride Records, a Long Island-based record label. The conflict surfaced last week when Enjoy The Ride announced the reissue on social media, prompting a swift response from Local H asserting they were unaware of the plans.
“Well, this is news to us,” Local H commented on Enjoy The Ride’s Instagram post. “Especially since we were in the process of acquiring the rights from the label for our own official reissue. But — y’know — who the fuck are we, right?”
As Good As Dead, featuring tracks like “Bound for the Floor,” “High-Fiving MF,” and “Eddie Vedder,” is considered Local H’s most successful album. Original vinyl pressings have become highly sought after, commanding prices upwards of $200 on the secondary market, according to reports. The band initially released the album with Island Records, which was later acquired by Universal Music Group, which now holds the rights.
Local H frontman Scott Lucas told Vanyaland that the band had been in discussions with Universal regarding their own reissue, including a newly commissioned remaster. Enjoy The Ride Records founder Ross Shotland stated his company “has a working relationship with Universal” and received what he believed to be approval for the reissue. Shotland also told Vanyaland that Enjoy The Ride attempted to contact Local H directly last year via Instagram direct message, as they were unable to locate formal contact information for the band. Local H’s website, however, features a readily accessible contact page.
Lucas expressed frustration with Enjoy The Ride’s approach, questioning the validity of using social media messaging for business negotiations. “I’m not here to beat up on a small label, but This proves a little annoying that they’re playing the victim card,” Lucas told Vanyaland. “Their defense is that they tried to get in touch with us about the reissue last year. How did they try? They sent us a message via Facebook Messenger. But again – is this how people do business? Who the fuck uses Facebook Messenger as a legitimate way to get in touch with someone over business matters? Have they never heard of Google? It takes three seconds.”
Lucas also suggested the quality of Enjoy The Ride’s reissue may be compromised, referencing the challenges of sourcing original master recordings. He suspects the original masters for As Good As Dead were lost in the 2008 Universal warehouse fire, leading to previous reissues being sourced from CD-quality files. “It was basically a pressing of the CD onto vinyl featuring artwork that was scanned from a CD booklet,” Lucas said of a 2016 reissue, “as Universal couldn’t locate the masters.”
Local H is proceeding with their own reissue, aiming for a more faithful recreation of the original album, including the artwork and a new remaster by Dan Coutant. “So, what we’ve done with our reissue is go to the original artist and try to faithfully recreate the original artwork, which is not easy,” Lucas added. “We also went to our favorite mastering engineer Dan Coutant, who delivered a thoughtful and respectful remaster that would sound great on vinyl. And it does sound great. We have no idea what this unauthorized version sounds like. It wasn’t approved by us.”
Enjoy The Ride’s reissue is currently available for $35.99, but Shotland has indicated it will be a one-time pressing. Local H has not yet announced a release date for their own version, but stated they will share more details soon.