Last copies of the Evil Roger tape unearthing via Industrial Coast!


Proper gem this - the kind of curious, wholly DIY venture that makes absolute sense on tape, and is another great addition to the vast & expansive accumulated worlds of Industrial Coast and the crew that surrounds it -

Check the info here -

"Side A: 2 untitled tracks (Side 1 is Mono - I have kept it that way as I have no idea if it was intentional)
Sibe B: 2 Untitled tracks (8 minutes, vs 14 minutes of side A - again, dead silence on side B is retained, for purposes of authenticity with the original)

From what we know Evil Roger was a guy who lived in a tower block on a Stockport estate during the late 1970s and early 1980s who, appearing to be disillusioned by life under Thatcherism (as everyone was), the sewer skulking sounds of industrial music, and plagued by the gangs that stalked the stairwells of his tower block at night, cobbled together a mouldy tape recorder and a dodgy sounding synthesizer from his downstairs neighbour (credited on the original cassette's handwritten sleeve notes as John 'The Murderer' ) and carted it across the estate and through the town in an old suitcase to his locals function room sometime during the winter of 1981 to recorded the sounds that were discovered in late 2019 on this cassette

He appears to have attempted some form of distribution by making (badly) home dubbed cassettes in his living room, sending to addresses found on the back of industrial and extreme noise record sleeves that were available at the time (for those hungry enough to search them out). A selection of damp vinyl sleeves with heavily scratched discs were found in the same charity shop haul in Stockport in late 2019 when the original cassette of these recordings was discovered. Notably each record sleeve featured Roger's first name and top floor address hand scribbled on them, and each albums’ record label address circled in biro, the most notable of the stash being 'Birthdeath Experience' and 'Total Sex' by Whitehouse, both self-released via groups label Come Organisation in September and November of 1980 (Whitehouse also got a thank you on the original tapes’ fading sleeve notes)

With the tower block address now leading to nothing more than an overgrown dumping ground and the estate pub long since torn down and replaced with a Tesco, very little more is known in regard to the current whereabouts of Evil Roger or John The Murderer or if any other recordings from the project exist. The closest thing we found as a lead to more information about this unknown industrialist was the manager of charity shop (who requested to remain strictly anonymous) where the tape was found. When we spoke to them and asked if they know who dropped off the original cassette and the vinyl albums, he replied "oh it was most probably left outside the shop at night, we should have thrown it all straight in the bin".

- The North, Winter 2020

NOTE: Cassette only. No digital...anywhere. In 1981, we didnt do Soundcloud"


Edition of 50 - 20 in black, 30 in white.
We have the last handful here, and half of those have already been pre-ordered,
so you've been warned.