The time has finally come! The prodigal son returns! Back with a vengeance is The Sawtooth Grin!
When I first started WV I remember making a list of all my favorite releases that I wanted to press. I was just kind of haphazardly trying to figure things out and thought I would shoot for the stars and put Sawtooth Grin on there. Little did I know that a mere 5 releases later, “Cuddlemonster” would be on wax. I think Cuddle was such an important release for WV, but looking back, I would have done so many things differently.
The hardest part about the no represses thing is not getting to redo some of the first 10 WV releases. What I wouldn’t give for some Destroyer Destroyer sigs, you know? But! I think they were correct for the time period, and for that period of WV. But it always kind of lived in the back of my mind “wouldn’t it be great” you know? Sawtooth especially. Thankfully I do think Cuddle turned out super nice, but that is what got me thinking about Pervavor.
The new me would have just done all of the Sawtooth material in one little 2xLP set or something. But old me didn’t have the foresight. But I think its for the best, because having Pervavor on its own little 12” is just so much fun! It’s the missing pieces of the incredible sawtooth discog! The lore! The culture! After everything, after these past few years, I wanted to do another Sawtooth release and give them the records they deserve. I wanted to cap off the discog for one of the most influential bands of the genre.
This release is WEIRD. There’s a lot of little things going on here, so please indulge me. Let’s start with the art.
The actual jacket art was done by Ben Hoagland almost immediately after Cuddlemonster dropped. You can ask Destroyer Destroyer about how after Dead Sleep was done, I had LWA whipped up “just in case” haha. You’ll notice a lot of Hoagland eyes and it’s a bit more “old style WV art” than a lot of the recent drops. A lot of these instas have art made back in late 2020, early 2021 tbh. It’s going to be fun to see. ANYWAY.
Because I leaned so hard in to the van imagery from the CD release of Pervavor for Cuddlemonster, I knew I needed to go a different route. This art is based off the original, pre-release artwork for Pervavor. I think its such a weird cover I knew it had to be the new centerpiece. Ben really updated the colors, added some VHS fuzz and reworked it a lot. I think its subtle, and exactly what was needed for a large format version of this artwork.
But what I didn’t tell you (well, I mean, here we are I guess with me telling you) is that this ALSO includes all the “finished” Jabberwocky demos! So, the back panel of the jacket reflects a little Jabberwocky treat! Its cool! The insert is laudably sparse and truly a nice little “fuck you” from the sawtooth grin to you, the listener. They could have done *not this* but decided *not to do not this* because you’re literally spending $30+ on a 12” version of a bunch of half-finished songs.
Which brings us to the tracklist. This is either the best or worst part, depending on how you feel about it. It’s the full Pervavor material brought to life by Zach over at Third Eye Studios. I’m not kidding when I say it sounds INSANE. Pervavor sounds better than Cuddlemonster now, its embarrassing. But! The polarizing part is that I’ve done some editorializing (with input/with direction from the band) on Jabberwocky.
This release is not a “true” full remainder discog. They/we elected to not include the unfinished/sans-vocal tracks on the Jabberwocky demos. I mean, you realize that “demos” is in the name of that release, right? Like its not a full, cohesive body of work. Just a handful of unfinished songs that are just in the Sawtooth lore. I feel really good about keeping this release to just the “finished” songs and having this whole thing be succinct and listenable.
If you are telling me you want to listen to a bunch of guitar and drum only demos and that this compilation is trash without the last 4 tracks on Jabberwocky, I respect that. I really do. But I think keeping this to the final 6 polished, completed songs is really a lot of fun. I think it flows really well, and turns this body of work in to its own thing. It Is now more than Pervavor + Jabberwocky demos and has become “Pervavor” imo.
So anyway! New old art, new old songs, same old Sawtooth. This one has been in production since like, 2020 and I’m so amped for you to see what Gotta Groove can do with another round of Sawtooth! It’s the last of the Sawtooth material that will be released, so if you missed it back in 2020, good luck this time around!
Also, I realized I never even wrote a paragraph about why this material rules – but if you’re reading this you know why it’s getting put out. Like, its Sawtooth? Get real!
This one-time pressing is limited to 305 copies across five variants:
50 Sigcutter Siglift (Wax Vessel Signature)
50 Sig Aficionado (Wax Vessel Signature)
50 Sig Sigula (Wax Vessel Signature)
50 Dead Ringer
100 Jackal Splatter
5 Golden Mage
All of this housed in:
1.5x thickness Matte single pocket jackets
Double sided matte full color insert
Black polylined innersleeves
Gold foil numbering
Stuffed into polybags
I really want to thank Jason and Rich for letting me have another go at their catalog here. Every time a band comes back to work with me it really feels validating, haha. I can think of no higher compliment! It really does mean the world to me, and I’m honored to represent the final piece to this rare and important catalog. Welcome back!
Orders go live Monday, February 28th at 1:00pm CST and will be shipping immediately!
