No Use For A Name: Leche Con Carne Purple Vinyl

Why you'll love it

This limited purple vinyl edition is part of Fat Wreck Chords' 35th anniversary run of reissues. ¡Leche Con Carne! was the Sunnyvale band's third full-length and their first for Fat, the record that carried them into the mid-'90s punk boom.

This edition

Purple vinyl
Limited edition
Fat Wreck Chords 35th anniversary series

About the album

Few bands found their voice as clearly as No Use For A Name did here. Formed in Sunnyvale, California, in 1986, they started as a scrappy Bay Area punk band and leaned heavy and metallic for a spell. By the time they signed with Fat Mike's Fat Wreck Chords in 1993, Tony Sly had taken over vocals and songwriting, and his knack for a melody pointed them toward something brighter.

¡Leche Con Carne! is where it all clicked. "Justified Black Eye" and "Couch Boy" come out swinging, "Soulmate" is a pocket-sized melodic punk classic with a chorus built for shouting along, and "51 Days" and "Leave It Behind" show Sly's ear for bittersweet hooks. They also take on Bob Marley's "Redemption Song," turning it into a fast, heartfelt punk singalong, while "Fields of Agony" and "Exit" close out a record that rarely drops below full throttle.

The album arrived just as the mid-'90s punk wave was cresting, and the band grew their lineup soon after, with Chris Shiflett, later of Foo Fighters, joining on guitar. Thirty-odd years on, "Soulmate" still gets a room of grown adults singing in unison, which is more than our staff meetings manage.

Also at Kops: more No Use For A Name on vinyl · browse Punk