We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It – Bostin’ Steve Austin 12" Vinyl LP Album

- Neon hooks, punk nerve, and Birmingham attitude collide at full volume

Album Front Cover Photo of We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It – Bostin’ Steve Austin Visit: https://vinyl-records.nl/

We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It – Bostin' Steve Austin landed in 1988 like a brightly colored brick through the polite window of British New Wave. This was Fuzzbox hitting their full stride: chart-visible, scene-defining, and cheerfully uninterested in behaving like a “proper” band. The sound is restless and fizzy, all sharp rhythms, rubbery basslines, neon keyboards, and vocals that bounce between pop hooks and punk sneer without asking permission. Tracks like “Love Is the Slug,” “Rules and Regulations,” and their wired take on “Spirit in the Sky” show how catchy chaos can still punch hard. Produced by Robert Lloyd, the album feels fast, tactile, and joyfully overloaded, like four musicians daring the tape machine to keep up. Decades later, it still sounds gloriously unbothered—proof that attitude ages better than polish, especially on a solid original UK pressing.

Table of Contents

"Bostin' Steve Austin" (1986) Album Description:

"Bostin' Steve Austin" is the sound of a Birmingham band grabbing pop hooks with one hand and a fuzz pedal with the other, then refusing to choose between fun and fight. It lands like bright, bratty pop-punk that still keeps one foot in New Wave’s twitchy keyboard glow, powered by stacked vocals, quick-change instrumentation, and a sense that the rules are there to be laughed at. The songs don’t pose as “serious rock,” but the intent is dead serious: get loud, get catchy, and get out before anyone can sand the edges down.

Album front cover image for We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It - Bostin' Steve Austin
A sleeve that looks like it was designed by sugar, spray paint, and a dare.
Britain and Birmingham in the mid-80s

Mid-80s Britain was all pressure and contradiction: money and media gloss in the big picture, while a lot of cities were still living with post-industrial fallout and youth frustration. Birmingham had a long history of loud, inventive music, but it also had that “prove yourself” chip on its shoulder, especially outside the London spotlight. In that climate, a band that sounded scrappy, looked outrageous, and didn’t ask for permission wasn’t a novelty act; it was a local survival skill with a beat.

This is also the era when indie scenes and radio tastemakers mattered in a direct, practical way. You didn’t need a polite origin story; you needed songs that could cut through a late-night broadcast or a packed club with a bad sound system. Fuzzbox came up as a gigging, learning-in-public unit, and you can hear it in the way the record prioritizes momentum over perfection.

What genre this actually is (and why it didn’t sit still)

Call it pop punk, call it alternative rock, call it New Wave with teeth: the point is the collision. The guitars bite, the rhythms snap, and the melodies keep grinning even while the lyrics throw elbows. Where a lot of mid-80s UK indie was leaning into jangle and wistfulness, this record goes for punch, color, and a kind of organized mischief.

The closest family tree runs through bands that treated pop structure like something you can mess with, not worship. Think of the post-punk tradition that kept the dance-floor pulse, plus the feminist-leaning UK underground that wasn’t interested in being “nice,” and then add a hook-first instinct that never apologizes for being catchy.

Musical exploration: the trick is how fast it moves

The album’s signature move is constant motion: voices stacking and swapping, instruments treated like shared property, and arrangements that keep changing shape before you can get comfortable. It’s not studio trickery pretending to be energy; it’s energy captured and then sharpened into songs that still feel slightly dangerous around the edges.

Fast reasons the album hits
  • Harmony vocals that turn bratty lines into anthems.
  • Fuzz guitar used like a color, not a macho flex.
  • Keys that sparkle without “softening” the attack.
  • Rhythms that stay clipped and impatient, like the songs are late for something.
  • A band feel where personality is part of the arrangement, not a marketing layer.

“Love Is The Slug” is the proof-of-concept: tight, direct, and weirdly sweet for something that still sounds like it could start a minor argument in a pub. “Rules And Regulations” leans into the band’s natural subject matter: social friction, control, and the fun of pushing back. And that wired take on “Spirit In The Sky” works because it doesn’t pretend to be reverent; it treats the song like a playground.

Key people and what they likely did for this record

Producer credit matters here because this kind of chaos needs steering to stay listenable. With Robert Lloyd attached on production, the album gets a sense of direction: takes that keep the snap, balances that keep the hooks visible, and a finish that still sounds like a band, not a lab experiment. The idea isn’t polish; it’s impact you can replay.

Engineering is where the “band in a room” becomes a record that survives real speakers, and that’s where Mark Bruce’s credit sits. The performances need to stay sharp without getting thin, and the vocals need to sit up front without killing the grit. Add the remix credit for Stephen Stewart-Short at Trident II, and you get that final-stage tightening: separation, punch, and the kind of clarity that helps the quick arrangements read.

Recording at Rich Bitch Studios in Birmingham fits the album’s DNA: local, direct, and built around getting results instead of overthinking the vibe. It’s the kind of place where you can keep the band’s identity intact because you’re not spending half the session trying to become something you’re not. The record sounds like it came from people who knew exactly what their city energy felt like and wanted it on tape, not translated.

Band timeline: formation and line-up changes

The story starts in Birmingham in 1985, with Vix and Jo meeting at school, then pulling in Maggie “Magz” Dunne and Tina O’Neill to complete the original quartet. Early releases built attention fast, partly because the songs had bite and partly because the band refused the usual “roles” on stage, swapping instruments and leaning into a shared-frontline approach. That flexibility becomes a musical feature on the album, not just a trivia detail.

Not long after this era, the band’s path takes a sharp turn toward a more mainstream, slick pop presentation on the next album cycle. That contrast makes "Bostin' Steve Austin" feel like a snapshot of the earlier mission: brash, hooky, and proudly off-center, before the industry pressure to “streamline” the concept really kicks in.

Controversies and flashpoints

The album’s flashpoints are mostly about content and posture: titles and themes that were never designed to be polite, plus a presentation that made some critics instantly reach for dismissive language. “XX Sex” is the obvious grenade in the track orbit, not because it’s subtle, but because it isn’t trying to be. It sits in that classic UK punk-adjacent tradition of saying the thing out loud and letting everyone else deal with it.

There was also a predictable cultural backlash to the band’s feminism-as-fun stance: the idea that you can be catchy, confrontational, and unserious at the same time seemed to confuse people who needed women in bands to pick a single “acceptable” lane. Fuzzbox didn’t pick. That refusal is part of what made the record feel like a provocation even when the choruses are basically begging to be sung back.

“Another enticing slice of fun… just as uninhibited and entertaining.”

Contemporary UK trade-press reaction
Quick listening guide

If the goal is to hear the album’s whole personality in a few moves, start with the singles and the rule-breakers. The singles show how efficiently the band can write, and the sharper tracks show how little they care about sounding “approved.” Either way, the through-line is the same: hooks with attitude, and attitude with actual songs behind it.

  • “Love Is The Slug” for the hook-first mission statement.
  • “Rules And Regulations” for the friction, the bite, and the point.
  • “Spirit In The Sky” for the band’s talent at controlled chaos.
  • “XX Sex” for why the record could still make people uncomfortable.
References

Album Key Details: Genre, Label, Format & Release Info

Music Genre:

British New Wave, Indie, Punk

A collision of British New Wave sharpness, indie attitude, and punk energy, built around concise songwriting, nervous rhythms, and a deliberately off-center sense of style that rejects polish in favor of personality.

Label & Catalognr:

WEA – Cat#: FBOX 1

Media Format:

Record Format: 12" LP Vinyl, Stereo, Gramophone Record
Total Weight: 230g

Release Details:

Release Date: 1988

Release Country: UK (United Kingdom)

Production & Recording Information:

Producers:
  • Robert Lloyd – Producer

    Producer credit with Robert Lloyd is the tell: this record was not just captured, it was steered.

    Robert Lloyd, sits in the producer chair for this album, guiding the sessions and signing off decisions until the songs land as a proper finished release. Producer credit means the overall direction, the “that take” choices, and the final thumbs-up on what makes the cut are his responsibility on this record.

    Robert Lloyd Wiki
Sound & Recording Engineers:
  • Mark Bruce – Sound & Recording Engineer

    Engineering is where chaos turns into sound you can actually play back; Mark Bruce had the keys to that machine.

    Mark Bruce, is credited as the sound/recording engineer on this album, meaning the technical capture lived on his side of the glass: mics, levels, and the thousand tiny fixes that keep a session moving instead of melting down. That engineering credit is the difference between “great band” and “great record,” because this is where performances get bottled with enough clarity and punch to survive real-world speakers.

Recording Location:

Rich Bitch Studios – Birmingham, England

  • Rich Bitch Studios – Recording studio

    Birmingham walls, Birmingham attitude: Rich Bitch is where these tracks got properly pinned to tape.

    For Fuzzbox’s "Bostin' Steve Austin", Rich Bitch Studios at 505 Bristol Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham, England isn’t just a line in the credits: it’s where the core performances were captured in a local, band-friendly complex built to keep sessions moving and results happening. For a Birmingham band, recording on home turf in Selly Oak makes practical sense.

    Rich Bitch Studioplex - Recording Studios - Birmingham
Mixing Studio & Location:

Remix by Stephen Stewart-Short at Trident II Studios, London, England

  • Stephen Stewart-Short – Remix

    Remix credit means the final shape of the sound got deliberate attention, not a casual shrug.

    Stephen Stewart-Short, is credited with the remix work at Trident II Studios for this album, taking the recorded material and pushing it across the finish line with tighter balance, clearer separation, and a more controlled punch. Remixing is the last-mile surgery: tightening what needs tightening, spotlighting the hooks, and making sure the record translates outside the studio.

  • Trident II Studios – Remix studio (London, England)

    Trident II is the kind of name that comes with a reputation; the remix landed in a room built for serious audio decisions.

    Trident II Studios, is the London studio credited for the remix stage on this album, and that matters because studios are not neutral; they bring their rooms, gear, and working methods into the sound. This credit pins the final remix decisions to the Trident II environment, where the “how it hits” details get dialed in with precision.

    Trident II Studios Wiki
Album Cover Design & Artwork:
  • Andy Airfix / Satori – Album cover design

    Sleeve design is the first “track” everyone experiences; Andy Airfix / Satori set the visual tone before the needle even thinks about dropping.

    Andy Airfix / Satori, handled the album cover design for this release, meaning the visual identity of the record was shaped right here: layout, typography, and the whole first-impression hit. That design credit is the packaging work that turns a set of songs into an object you notice, remember, and reach for again.

Photography:
  • Paul Cox – Album and promotional photography

    Those photos are not decoration; they are the band’s timestamp, pressed into the sleeve.

    Paul Cox, is credited with album and promotional photography for this release, supplying the imagery that frames how the music is perceived before anyone hears a note. Photography credit on a record like this is identity work: mood, attitude, and era captured so the sound has a face and the sleeve tells the truth about the moment.

Management & Representation:
  • Patsy Winkelman / Patatle – Management

    Management credit is the invisible infrastructure that keeps an album cycle from becoming an endless argument with a calendar.

    Patsy Winkelman / Patatle, is credited with management for this release, which is the unglamorous but essential work of keeping the machine running around the record: schedules, coordination, and the constant “make it happen” pressure that lets the music stay the main event. The album exists as a finished product because somebody handled the logistics while the band handled the noise.

  • Rob Hallett / Performance – Agent

    An agent credit usually means the next step was already being lined up while the current one was still ringing in the speakers.

    Rob Hallett / Performance, is credited as agent for this release, representing the band’s interests on the outward-facing side of the album cycle: opportunities, bookings, and the business connections that turn a record into momentum. Agent credit is the bridge between “here’s the album” and “here’s where the world meets it.”

    Rob Hallett Wiki
Tour & Styling Credits:
  • Brian Beatnoll Troy – Road Manager

    Road management is where the “album era” becomes real life: vans, timings, problems, solved.

    Brian Beatnoll Troy, is credited as road manager for this release’s wider cycle, keeping the live side functional so the record can actually be promoted in the real world. Road manager credit is pure practicality: moving parts, people, and gear without the whole thing collapsing into missed shows and bad luck.

  • Matty and Nigel / Cocktails – Hair

    Hair credit exists for a reason: image is part of the message, especially when a record is trying to be seen as much as heard.

    Matty and Nigel / Cocktails, are credited for hair on this album’s presentation, shaping the look that shows up in photos, promo, and the broader identity wrapped around the release. Styling credits like this are part of the packaging: the band’s visual attitude made consistent and camera-ready for the era this record came out of.

  • Louise / A Sightling – Clothes

    Clothes credit is another piece of the album’s “front cover reality”: the look that sells the mood before the music speaks.

    Louise / A Sightling, is credited for clothes tied to this release, locking in the visual style used in the album’s promo ecosystem. Wardrobe decisions are not trivia in this world; they’re part of how the band reads at a glance, and that look feeds straight back into how the record is remembered.

Fan Club & Information:

PO Box 235, Balsall Heath, Birmingham B12 9RZ, England

Band Members / Musicians:

Band Line-up:
  • Jo – Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Piano

    Jo Dunne is the band’s do-it-all workhorse, the kind of player who makes a complicated record sound weirdly effortless.

    Jo Dunne, a key part of the original Birmingham line-up, comes from that glorious tradition of players who don’t “specialize” so much as they simply refuse to be cornered. The wider career story is tightly welded to the classic Fuzzbox years: early indie buzz, major-label attention, and that very specific 80s moment where hooks, attitude, and color could actually crash the charts together. On this album, the multi-instrument credit reads like a map of how the songs got built. Guitar and bass provide the muscle and the bite, locking riffs into something punchy instead of polite. Drums and extra rhythm duties keep the momentum clipped and urgent, like the songs are always half a step from taking off. Piano adds those sly harmonic lifts that brighten the choruses without sanding the edges off. Vocals bring the finishing stamp: direct, bold, and hook-focused, making sure the wild parts still land as actual songs rather than “conceptual chaos, darling.”

  • Magz – Vocals, Keyboards, Bass, Violin, Percussion

    Maggie “Magz” Dunne is the melody architect, threading synth-pop sparkle through punk attitude like it’s the most normal thing in the world.

    Maggie Dunne (better known here as “Magz”), is one of the core voices and signature sound-shapers of Fuzzbox, and her musical career is basically stamped with that band’s DNA: the original 80s run, the later revivals, and the ongoing legacy of songs that never learned how to behave. On this album, keyboards aren’t background wallpaper; they’re the high-voltage wiring that makes the hooks glow. Bass credit alongside keys explains why the grooves feel intentional and physical, not just “guitar band with some synth.” Percussion adds extra motion and snap, giving the arrangements a restless, danceable pulse. The violin credit is pure Fuzzbox logic: a splash of unexpected color that pushes the songs further into their own eccentric orbit. Vocals sit right on top of it all, bright and bold, helping the choruses hit with a grin that’s equal parts pop and provocation.

 
  • Tina – Vocals, Drums, Bass, Saxophone, Percussion, Performer (Metal Chimney)

    Tina O’Neill brings the rhythmic backbone and the stage-anarchy energy: tight, loud, and never remotely “background.”

    Tina O’Neill, the original drummer in the classic quartet, is part of the band’s defining era: the 80s rise where Fuzzbox moved from indie fizz to wider visibility, then eventually split when the original run ended. On this album, drums are the engine room, keeping everything sharp and driving so the songs feel fast and focused rather than messy. Percussion expands that pulse with extra hits, accents, and little bits of kinetic noise that make the grooves feel alive. Saxophone is the glorious curveball, slicing through the mix with a brash, cheeky edge that screams “no rules, no apologies.” Bass credit hints at role-swapping and reinforcement in the low end, which suits a record built by a band that treats instruments like shared tools. The “Metal Chimney” performer credit is the cherry on top: performance-as-sound, stage-prop-as-instrument, that whole Fuzzbox refusal to separate the spectacle from the music.

  • Vic – Vocals, Keyboards, Drums, Percussion, Saxophone, Violin

    Victoria “Vix” Perks is the frontwoman with a long tail: the voice that launched the band, then kept evolving well beyond it.

    Victoria Perks (known in the Fuzzbox universe as “Vix”) is the band’s lead vocal identity and one of the prime movers behind its wider story: classic 80s chart-era visibility, later reunions, and a continuing musical life through projects under her own name and stage-name after the original run. On this album, the credits read like the blueprint for how the sound gets its “anything can happen” character. Vocals give the hooks their swagger and clarity, keeping the songs catchy even when the arrangements get unruly. Keyboards add color and punch, pushing choruses into that bright, hyper-saturated zone where pop meets punk without cancelling either. Drums and percussion credit suggest hands-on shaping of the record’s rhythmic feel, not just singing over somebody else’s engine. Saxophone and violin are the texture grenades: unexpected lines and tones that cut across the guitars and make the band’s personality impossible to miss. The end result is a record that sounds assembled by people who actually enjoy musical risk, instead of treating it like a PR strategy.

Collector’s Note: Jo & Maggie Dunne: Sisters, Spark Plugs, and a Very Loud Learning Curve

Jo Dunne and Maggie “Magz” Dunne weren’t just bandmates in Fuzzbox, they were sisters, which explains a lot about how the group moved: tight, instinctive, and totally unbothered by the idea that everyone should “stay in their lane.” That family connection gave the band a kind of internal shorthand, the musical equivalent of finishing each other’s sentences, except with basslines, keys, and whatever was within grabbing distance.

The origin story is peak Birmingham DIY. The group formed in 1985 after Vix met Jo at school, and the band name came from a moment of pure practical inspiration: they bought a guitar distortion pedal and Magz basically declared the mission statement out loud — “We’ve got a fuzzbox and we’re gonna use it!” Subtle? No. Accurate? Completely.

This is what a vintage fuzzbox pedal looks like
This is what a vintage fuzzbox pedal looks like

Getting into music wasn’t some conservatory pipeline or carefully plotted career ladder. The early line-up jumped in with more nerve than technique; accounts from the time describe them as barely able to play at first, learning in public and getting better by doing gigs, not doing homework. That’s the punk-pop cheat code: enthusiasm first, polish later, and if anyone complains, turn the fuzz up.

Collector’s Note: Steve Austin, The Bionic Man: $6 Million, Slow-Mo Runs, and a Perfect Album Title Target

If "Bostin' Steve Austin" doesn’t wink at Steve Austin from The Six Million Dollar Man, it’s one hell of a coincidence. The show kicked off on ABC in 1973 and ran through 1978, built around a former astronaut/test pilot (Steve Austin, played by Lee Majors) who gets rebuilt after a catastrophic crash: bionic legs, a bionic arm, and a bionic eye, all paid for with that deliciously blunt price tag in the title.

The premise came from Martin Caidin’s 1972 novel Cyborg, which is basically the “what if science did a superhero, but with invoices” blueprint. The TV version turned it into pop-culture shorthand: slow-motion sprinting, that iconic electronic “bionic” sound, and the fantasy that you could break yourself and come back upgraded. In the mid-80s, that was exactly the kind of shared-reference joke a band could drop into a title and trust people to get it.

And yeah, the name “Steve Austin” was so sticky it spawned its own universe. Jaime Sommers first shows up via The Six Million Dollar Man and then spins off into The Bionic Woman (1976–1978), which tells you how big this stuff was in the cultural bloodstream. So when Fuzzbox slap “Steve Austin” onto an album title, it reads like a cheeky lift from a TV legend: the ultimate “we’re fast, we’re loud, we’re upgraded” metaphor—minus the government handlers and the OSI paperwork.

Quick references

Complete Track-listing:

Tracklisting Side One:
  1. Love Is The Slug (3:06)
  2. Wait And See (2:15)
  3. Jackie (2:39)
  4. Spirit In The Sky (3:05)
  5. X X Sex (1:59)
  6. Alive (2:17)
Video: Fuzzbox - Love Is The Slug (Official Music Video)
Tracklisting Side Two:
  1. What’s The Point (2:27)
  2. You Got Me (3:35)
  3. Hollow Girl (3:09)
  4. Console Me (1:27)
  5. Rules And Regulations (2:48)
  6. Preconceptions (2:32)
Video: Fuzzbox - Rules and Regulations (Official Music Video)

Disclaimer: Track durations shown are approximate and may vary slightly between different country editions or reissues. Variations can result from alternate masterings, pressing plant differences, or regional production adjustments.

Album Front Cover Photo
Front cover photo of Fuzzbox’s 12" LP “We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It – Bostin’ Steve Austin”: four women posed in loud 80s styling (pink, red, black, and green spiked hair; fishnets; bright dresses) against a hyper-saturated cartoon landscape with mountains, pine silhouettes, a waterfall, a running person in a yellow jacket, two horses, standing stones, mushrooms, and small creature details. The jagged pink/purple “Fuzzbox” logo dominates the top, with “Bostin’ Steve Austin” in green beneath, plus handwritten graffiti-style phrases at the corners—pure collector-bait sleeve design and typography.

Front cover photo of the original 12" LP, and it’s basically a neon warning sign that Fuzzbox were never going to behave. The top third is all typography: the word Fuzzbox in a jagged, hand-drawn pink-and-purple logo that looks scratched into the sky, with Bostin’ Steve Austin printed underneath in bold green lettering. In the corners, graffiti-style writing spells out the full “we’ve got a…” / “and we’re gonna use it!!” slogan, like the sleeve itself is heckling the viewer. For collectors, this is the stuff that matters: loud title treatment, high contrast, and instantly recognizable layout at a glance in a crate.

The center is a staged band portrait: four women in full-on late-80s riot color, posed in front of a wildly illustrated background. One person stands behind with huge bright red hair and a black outfit with lace texture; three others sit or lounge across the bottom edge—one with vivid pink hair pointing straight out at the camera, one in the middle with towering black spiked hair and star-shaped sunglasses doing a “shh” finger-to-lips pose, and one on the right with green-and-black spiked hair, an orange dress, and fishnet tights. Jewelry, sharp makeup, and aggressive hairstyles read as part of the “package,” not decoration—exactly the kind of sleeve photo that screams era and attitude before a single note plays.

Behind them is a hyper-saturated, cartoon-like landscape: mountains in the distance, dark pine silhouettes, cliffs, and a waterfall that drops into the lower right. Smaller scene details are scattered across the art like little easter eggs—there’s a person running in a yellow jacket, two horses in the mid-right, a cluster of standing stones, and a patch of oversized mushrooms near the bottom right. The frame edges are busy with extra illustrated creatures and objects, giving the sleeve a “too much, on purpose” density that still holds together because the colors are so punchy. No obvious sleeve damage jumps out in this photo: no big creases, no seam splits, and the print looks crisp, which is exactly what you want when this cover’s whole power is color and linework.

Note: Images can be zoomed in/out on tablets and smartphones.

Album Back Cover Photo
Back cover photo of Fuzzbox’s 12" LP “We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It – Bostin’ Steve Austin”: right-aligned white panel with full track listings for Side One and Side Two, production credits, and band line-up in compact black type; left side filled with blue line-art illustration of a running figure, horses, landscape, and glowing-eyed creatures; barcode, WEA logos, and catalog details printed at the top right, emphasizing clean layout and readable typography for collectors.

Back cover of the original 12" vinyl sleeve, and this is where the chaos of the front gets disciplined into information. The layout splits cleanly down the middle. On the right, a tall white column carries all the practical goods: Side One and Side Two track listings in neat black type, with small star symbols marking key songs. The typography is compact but legible, clearly designed to be read at arm’s length while flipping through a rack, not just admired from afar. For collectors, this clarity matters—no clutter, no gimmicks, just the data you actually want.

Below the track lists sit the production credits, stacked tightly and economically. Robert Lloyd is credited as producer, with engineering and recording details following underneath, all printed in a restrained hierarchy that keeps the eye moving downward. The band line-up appears lower still, each member listed with their multiple instruments, reinforcing how hands-on and interchangeable the group really was. Everything here feels intentional and efficient, like the sleeve is saying: jokes on the front, facts on the back.

The left half is where the visual personality sneaks back in. A blue line-art illustration fills the space, echoing the fantasy landscape style from the front cover but stripped down to outlines and flat color accents. A running figure in a bright yellow jacket cuts across the scene, with horses standing behind and rocky terrain, trees, and oversized mushrooms scattered through the background. Near the bottom, small creatures with glowing yellow eyes peer out from the grass, adding a slightly unhinged edge that keeps this from feeling like a polite credits page.

At the top right, the barcode and WEA logos sit cleanly against the white background, along with catalog and rights markings. There’s no obvious wear visible in this photo—no ring wear, no heavy creasing—which is crucial for a sleeve like this where contrast and white space show damage fast. As a back cover, it does exactly what it should: readable, orderly, and still unmistakably part of the same loud, oddball universe as the front.

Note: Images can be zoomed in/out on tablets and smartphones.

First Photo of Custom Inner Sleeve
First side of the custom inner sleeve for Fuzzbox’s 12" LP “We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It – Bostin’ Steve Austin”: a dense collage of personal photographs showing childhood portraits, school photos, candid snapshots, teenage moments, early band images, guitars, punk hairstyles, ID cards, and playful faces, arranged edge-to-edge with visible borders, creating a raw scrapbook-style visual biography central to the album’s identity.

First side of the original custom inner sleeve, and this is where the record stops pretending to be a product and turns into a scrapbook. The entire surface is packed edge-to-edge with small photographs, layered tightly with almost no empty space. Childhood portraits sit next to school photos, family snapshots, and awkward early-teen moments, all mixed together without hierarchy. White borders, uneven crops, and slightly faded colors make it clear these are real prints, not studio mock-ups. For a collector, this immediately signals an inner sleeve designed to be looked at, not skimmed.

Faces dominate the layout. Babies in prams, school-uniform smiles, birthday scenes, group shots of friends, and playful close-ups are scattered across the surface like memories dumped out of a shoebox. Some images show deliberate mugging for the camera—tongues out, exaggerated expressions, punk attitude creeping in—while others are innocent, stiff, and formal. The contrast is the point: this sleeve maps the journey from ordinary childhood into something louder and less controllable.

Toward the lower half, the timeline accelerates. Teenage hairstyles explode into sharp angles and bleached spikes. Early band photos appear, including group shots with dyed hair and DIY fashion that clearly predate chart success. A bright blue electric guitar sits upright near the center-right, acting like a visual pivot from personal history to musical identity. Nearby, official-looking cards and tickets—child IDs and transport-style documents—add a bureaucratic texture that clashes beautifully with the chaos of the faces.

The overall effect is busy, confrontational, and deliberately unpolished. No captions, no explanations, just images doing the talking. From a vinyl perspective, this inner sleeve matters because it’s printed content, not a generic paper liner. Condition is everything here: scuffs, seam splits, or paper yellowing would instantly dull the impact. In this photo, the print looks strong and intact, with clear contrast and readable detail—exactly what you want when the sleeve itself is part of the album’s narrative.

Note: Images can be zoomed in/out on tablets and smartphones.

Second Photo of Custom Inner Sleeve
Second side of the custom inner sleeve for Fuzzbox’s 12" LP “We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It – Bostin’ Steve Austin”: a dense photo collage of candid band and personal moments—punk hairstyles, backstage shots, performances, friends, pets, meals, costumes, and chaotic home scenes—arranged edge-to-edge with visible borders, documenting everyday life colliding with early band energy.

Second side of the original custom inner sleeve, and this one leans harder into lived chaos. The entire surface is again packed wall-to-wall with small photographs, but the tone shifts from childhood memory to full-blown social sprawl. Candid shots dominate: friends piled together on sofas, faces mid-laugh, mid-yell, mid-anything. Punk hairstyles explode in every direction—bleached spikes, teased volume, half-finished dye jobs—caught in bad lighting and honest moments. From a collector’s angle, this is deliberate density, not sloppiness.

Performance and pre-performance energy runs through the middle of the collage. Several images show live or rehearsal moments: microphones, instruments in hand, bodies in motion, hair flying. Costumes appear half-worn and half-invented—jackets, scarves, odd textures—suggesting dressing rooms, kitchens, and living rooms doubling as prep spaces. Nothing here is staged for press; these are snapshots pulled straight from the orbit around the band.

Domestic details ground the noise. There are pets—cats sprawled across cushions—shared meals with plates and bowls still in frame, people asleep or slumped over from exhaustion or laughter. One photo shows a person leaning into another’s shoulder, eyes closed, the camera close enough to feel intrusive. Another catches a wild expression frozen at the wrong second. These moments matter because they anchor the music in real life, not mythology.

Visually, the collage keeps its raw edges: uneven borders, overlapping prints, slight color shifts between photos, and no captions to explain anything away. As printed vinyl material, condition is crucial—creases or paper wear would instantly break the illusion of this being a single chaotic surface. In this image, the print still reads sharp and intact, letting the inner sleeve function exactly as intended: a visual overload that rewards slow inspection while the record spins.

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Close up of Side One record’s label
Close-up of the green-and-lime WEA label for Fuzzbox’s “We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It – Bostin’ Steve Austin” (FBOX 1): ‘SIDE ONE [over]’ printed at top, but both Side One and Side Two tracklists appear in hot pink with durations; a white-and-blue outline drawing of a running person dominates the right, ‘GEMA/BIEM’ box sits left, ‘LC 4281’ oval sits right, and a ‘33’ triangle marks 33 rpm at the bottom.

Side One label close-up, and the first hit is pure late-80s attitude: a deep green label face framed by a loud lime-yellow outer ring, like the record is wearing a highlighter. “SIDE ONE” sits at the top in yellow with decorative swirls, followed by a small bracketed note “[over]” that literally tells you the design continues across the label surface.

Track text is printed in hot pink, big enough to read without squinting, and laid out in two stacked blocks: Side One titles and timings across the upper half (“Love Is The Slug” 3:06; “Wait And See” 2:15; “Jackie” 2:39; “Spirit In The Sky” 3:05; “X X Sex” 1:59; “Alive” 2:17), and then Side Two right underneath (“What’s The Point” 2:27; “You Got Me” 3:35; “Hollow Girl” 3:09; “Console Me” 1:27; “Rules And Regulations” 2:48; “Preconceptions” 2:32). That “both sides on one label” thing is a very Fuzzbox move: maximal info, zero chill, and it makes this label instantly recognizable in a photo archive.

The big visual anchor is the white-and-blue outline drawing on the right: a person (possible the Six Dollar Bionic Man) caught mid-run, leaning forward with bent arms and one leg kicked back, like a freeze-frame from a sprint. Function-wise, it’s not just decoration; it’s a navigation marker. When the record’s on a turntable, that running pose becomes the fast “where am I?” cue—your eye finds the figure, then snaps to the side title and track block next to it. Practical, bold, and very on-brand for an album that’s basically motion and mischief pressed into vinyl.

Collector codes are clearly printed and worth clocking. A “GEMA/BIEM” rights-society box sits on the left side of the label face, while an oval “LC 4281” label-code mark sits on the right. At the bottom, a green triangle with “33” signals 33 rpm speed. Fine-print rim text circles the lime ring; it’s present, but the photo’s focus and angle make the smallest words hard to read cleanly—still, that ring is where the usual copyright/manufacture warnings live on WEA-era labels.

Print quality looks strong here: the pink titles pop against the green, the yellow headings stay crisp, and the center hole is cleanly cut with no ugly tear-out. Surface-wise, the black vinyl shows normal light reflections and faint handling marks under the glare—nothing that screams abuse, just the typical “this record has been played” evidence that collectors expect on an honest copy.

WEA, UK (United Kingdom) Label

This label is a high-contrast, collector-friendly design: a dark green field for the main content, surrounded by a lime-yellow rim that carries the fine-print perimeter text. The layout is built for quick reading and instant identification, with strong color separation and bold track typography.

Colours
Dark green label face, lime-yellow outer ring, hot pink track text, yellow side headings, white/blue illustration.
Design & Layout
Two stacked track blocks (Side One above, Side Two below), centered around the spindle hole; “SIDE ONE [over]” header with decorative swashes at the top.
Record company logo
No large WEA logo dominates the face in this close-up; identification leans on the label’s color scheme, codes, and typography.
Band/Performer logo
Band name appears in the lower text (“All songs written by FUZZBOX”), while the artwork-style running figure acts as the visual signature tied to the album theme.
Unique features
“SIDE ONE [over]” header plus both Side One and Side Two track lists printed on the same label face; prominent running-person illustration; strong collector codes (GEMA/BIEM and LC 4281).
Side designation
Printed as “SIDE ONE” with bracketed “over” note: “SIDE ONE [over]”.
Rights society
GEMA/BIEM (boxed on the left).
Catalogue number
FBOX 1 (from the album’s release details on the page).
Rim text language
Fine-print rim text present around the lime ring; smallest words are not fully legible in this photo, but the layout follows standard English-language rights/copyright perimeter text placement.
Track list layout
Hot pink titles with durations; Side One block at top includes “Love Is The Slug” (3:06) and “Jackie” (2:39); Side Two block below includes “Rules And Regulations” (2:48) and “You Got Me” (3:35).
Rights info placement
GEMA/BIEM box left; LC 4281 oval right; additional legal text runs along the outer rim.
Pressing info
No clear “Made in …” statement is readable on the label face in this close-up; any manufacturing statement would typically appear in the perimeter fine print.
Background image
Stylized white-and-blue outline illustration of a running person, used as an instant visual cue and thematic link to the album title.

All images on this site are photographed directly from the original vinyl LP covers and record labels in my collection. Earlier blank sleeves were not archived due to past storage limits, and Side Two labels are often omitted when they contain no collector-relevant details. Photo quality varies because the images were taken over several decades with different cameras. You may use these images for personal or non-commercial purposes if you include a link to this site; commercial use requires my permission. Text on covers and labels has been transcribed using a free online OCR service.