Rein Sanction-Deeper Road b/w R.K. (1992)

 

Artist: Rein Sanction

Title: Deeper Road b/w R.K.

Label: Sub Pop

Format: 7"

Cat #: SP 160

Year of Release: 1992

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1992 4,500 pressing

Listed Condition: VG+/VG+

Sell Date: 8/31/25

Sell Price: $3.75

Discogs Last Sold: 9/1/25 NM/NM $6.00

Low: $1.99

Median: $4.03

Average: $4.12

High: $9.07

Current low price: $2.99

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 28

Have/Want: 288/27

Where Sold: Nashville, TN

Time it took to sell: 10 years

Where and When Bought:  Boston Newbury Comics new when released probably $3.99

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B-

Sad To See It Go: No

The expansion of Sub Pop from Seattle to nationwide (in this case Jacksonville, FL) in search of talent ultimately meant for dilution of relevance even as sales and pressings increased exponentially from the Nirvana sales tsunami.  A band like Rein Sanction, although ok on it's own merits, seemed an afterthought after the initial wave of acts on the label.

I dutifully bought this single upon release without guilt or reservation in the summer of 1992.  I had the full length and the single from the prior year, but I stopped here before the second album came out.  Suddenly, I ceased to care about Sub Pop as something I should have every single release of and Summer of 1992 seemed about the end of the line for me.  That doesn't mean I didn't buy the labels output on a regular basis.  It does mean that at as an imprint as a whole they sounded less like something crucial and simply were an indie rock brand.  Fairly reliable in 1992, but something was a little off.  Rein Sanction epitomized this.

The band broke up for a good long time after the album Mariposa that spawned this single and the Gentry brothers reformed the band in 2006.  Southern Lord reissued their debut EP in 2019.   The last release was in 2021 called On Your Way.

Reasonable laconic grunge.