It's here! 7 years in the making! Finally the new Skin Yard CD "Start at the Top" exists and is available only from this website (my garage sale page) and the C/Z Records website. There are a limited number of copies for sale, so pay attention! This is the final missing piece in our recorded catalog: most of the stuff (singles, rarities, compilation cuts) that never made it onto CD, plus 6 totally unheard tracks to sweeten the deal even more.

Here's some honest-to-God comments from recent purchasers, reproduced with their permission (thanx guys!):

The latest Skin Yard CD totally KICKS ASS!
Bob N.

(later:)

Hey Jack:
Sure, you can quote me! As far as I'm concerned, "Start At The Top" is the best damn album that I've heard since Nirvana released "Bleach" way back when! You can quote that last line too.
Peace,
Bob N.

Hi Jack!
I just received your package! Thanks for the signature. START AT THE TOP seriously kicks ass!!! Great music, great sound, great artwork! Do I have to say more? ;-) I'm already looking forward to the PERFECT LAWN -cd!
Thanx, Martin F.
Austria
PS: You can quote me on your website if you want ...

I can honestly say that this (Start at the Top) is the best effort I've heard from the belated Skin Yard. If this is any indication at all of what direction the band was heading upon its departure - I think they should have stuck it out a little longer!
Kirt Teschner

Hey Jack,
I just recieved my copy of "Start at the Top", number 119 of 1200 or 700 or however many that were made. [it's 700--JE] It rocks!! I live in St. Louis, the heart of the midwest. Needless to say, very few indie bands come our way, and mainstream rock has sucked for a very long time (our radio station blares Kid Rock daily; I have seriously thought of throwing my radio away). However, as soon as I put in "Start at the Top", I knew I was in for a treat. I cannot convey in words how refreshing it is not to hear the same three chords or two riffs in every song. Thanks for the great rock!
Josh Vise

Hi Jack,
I just got my copy of Start at the Top today! It's great to finally hear some of these songs on disc. My turntable is such a piece of crap. I'm not sure if it's playing at the right speed anymore. Anyway it's great to have this to finish off my Skin Yard collection. I had some of the songs already but its a nice compilation to round it out. Thanks a lot for getting this collection of songs together. Skin Yard was defiantly one of my favorites during that period. You guys were so much more original sounding than some of the other bands.
Thanks,
Chris

Jack,
Wow!! Thank you very much for the killer package of goodies!!! Im really enjoying it:
Skin Yard-"Inside the Eye"...Honestly man, this is my favorite!! Fucking killer riffs/hooks!! Its a lost classic, I think its my favorite Skin Yard album of all!! Very, very killer!!!  [I have this at my garage sale page too--JE]
Skin Yard-"Start at the Top"...Again cool..interesting things on it. I love the Sub Pop single.. by the way..the cover art is really really cool! Very impressed by that.
Thanx,
Greg Anderson  [owner of Southern Lord Recordings]

 Initially I sent out the following to my whole subscriber list:

<<BEGIN SPAM>>

Hi gang - this here is a rare bit of Endino-spam rather than a newsletter. The first "new" release by my old band Skin Yard, "Start at the Top", is out NOW. We have only 700 hand-numbered copies for sale, details below. These may never be available in stores.

WHO? Skin Yard was the Seattle band for which I played guitar and co-wrote the music for 7 years, 1985-1992. Ben McMillan (later of Gruntruck) was the singer. Daniel House (later owner of CZ Records) was the bass player for all but our final year. Drummers included Matt Cameron (later Soundgarden, now Pearl Jam), Scott McCullum (later of Gruntruck), Jason Finn (Presidents of the USA) and Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees, Tuatara, etc). All are on this record.

We made 5 albums in our day and influenced a lot of other Seattle bands (listen and figure out which ones!), but we were too tripped-out and noise-damaged to go for the big sellout... therefore, happily, we're all still alive and sane people today, more or less.

SO WHAT THE HECK IS THIS? This is the long-rumored comp CD of all our rare singles and B-sides, starting off with our ultra-rare Sub Pop single and getting weirder from there. There's also a couple cover tunes (check out "Machine Gun Etiquette") and six other tracks that have never been released, including the ultimate definitive version of "Gentle Collapse" which smokes the one on our third album. NONE OF IT HAS EVER BEEN ON CD BEFORE. I labored mightily for some years over the mixing and mastering of this, and it sounds better than our other five records, since I now have TECHNOLOGY available to me. Some of this will fry your head.

BOTTOM LINE: This is the great lost Skin Yard record, and I think it's a better record than at least two of our "real" albums were. If you like big, big riffs and serious guitar damage, this is for you. No one else ever sounded quite like us, that's for sure.

This band was also my "production laboratory," where I tried stuff I wouldn't risk yet with my other studio clients!

Here's what Daniel sent to his list:

>Hello everyone ~

>I just got off of the phone, and I will have 700 hand-numbered Skin Yard CDs in my grubby little hands later tonight!

>Needless to say, I'm psyched. Jack did a great job with the mastering of these tracks, and Gary Bedell kicked ass with the graphics. The songs sound better now than they did eons ago when they first appeared on vinyl (not that all of the tracks have appeared ANYWHERE before this...).

>If you want one (or two or three) grab your checkbook, and I'll start packaging your personal copy of START AT THE TOP to drop in the mail... Thanks for your support by the way. Feel free to tell your friends -- that is if they even remember the name Skin Yard. It's been a looong time.

>Thanks
> ~ Daniel

<<END SPAM>>

There ya go. Usual caveats apply, money orders should be in US Dollars, etc etc. You can buy from me at Jack's Garage Sale, and there's a ton of other interesting goodies (including Skin Yard T-shirts and other CDs) there, so check it out. Daniel's also got 'em at the CZ website. You can also buy it (slightly more expensively) with a credit card from CDBaby.com.

Oh yeah, here's the "postpaid" pricing:
$12 inside the U.S.
$15 for Canada & Mexico (or JE will accept 20 Canadian dollars cash, at your own risk)
$17 the rest of the world (or JE will accept 20 Euros cash, at your own risk)

Detailed Track Listing and Liner Notes
Jack's Garage Sale
CZ Records Website

Thank you and good night.