Wax Nostalgic #2: The Ergs! - '3 Guys, 12 Eyes' 7''

By Jason Duarte

Artist: The Ergs!

Title: 3 Guys, 12 Eyes

Inches: 7

Label: Whoa Oh Records

Pressing: First (black vinyl/yellow cover/incorrect 33-1/3 rpm labels)

Color: Black

Release date: 2001

This week, I wanted to feature one of my more recently-acquired pieces of wax, even though it's been around longer than my little sister. On Friday, February 10, I visited my pal Mike Hunchback at his record shop, Co-Op 87 Records, in Brooklyn for the first time. All I had with me was my backpack, which I had been carrying with me everywhere since I landed in Queens the morning before, and didn't know if I would be able to transport any records, no matter how tempted I knew I would be.
I wasn't in the store for a minute before I spotted a copy of The Ergs!' 3 Guys, 12 Eyes 7'' (in the yellow cover) behind the counter. After chatting a bit, I asked Mike if it was for sale.

"For you, sure," Mike said. "How's $3 sound?"

I was shocked at his killer deal, and knew I'd be a fool to turn down the foundation; the building block; the quintessential stepping stone that one of my favorite bands of all time had created and sprung forth from.
So I perused most of Co-Op 87's inventory and made a neat pile of records I wanted to bring back home. Mike rung everything up, and the total was $20-something and some change. He grabbed the 3 Guys, 12 Eyes 7'' and dropped it on top and said, "And that one's a freebie."

"What?! Are you sure?!" I asked him.

"Yeah, man," he said nonchalantly. I wasn't going to contest it. Instead, I'd make it a point to return and check out all the records I didn't flip through that day. He packed them in a sturdy cardboard mailer and double-bagged it in brown paper bags that had "Co-Op 87" stamped on them. He gave me walking directions to the House Boat/Mikey Erg show at Death By Audio, 1.1 miles up the road so I said goodbye and started walking, records in hand.