| Main Pressing plants Pennyroyal Tea Test pressings Collection |
| Erika Records | |||||
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Erika probably pressed most of the Nirvana records on Sub Pop. K Disc made the lacquers, and Lee Plating made the fathers, mothers, and stampers, as can be seen from the L-code in the matrix. Now Erika also do in-house mastering and processing. Erika themselves never added anything to the matrix code when they received stampers from another factory. Because of that, it's hard to say if they where the ones pressing all the other indie releases, like Here She Comes Now, Teriyaki Asthma, and Hard To Believe. Erika was widely used by the labels responsible for these releases, and Lee Plating did most of their plating, so generally, a Nirvana release with an L-code was most likely made by Erika, unless something else is added to the matrix code. An example of that would be the US Oh, The Guilt black 7" which was made by Rainbo Records. Sub Pop colored vinyl Back in the nineties, Sub Pop usually did not specify the particular color(s) when ordering colored vinyl. Instead they let the plant, which was usually Erika, decide which colors to use, to avoid delays if an ordered color was out of stock. When pressing the 1992 pressing of Bleach, Erika pressed maybe around 200 muddy white records (image 1). Sub Pop were worried that these could be passed out as first pressings. Most ended up in the hands of employees, other bands, journalists, special friends, and some may have been sold. Several Erika pressings have Erika credits and phone number on the labels and/ or sleeves. In Nirvana's case, this applies to the 1992 pressings of Bleach and Sliver. This may be because Sub Pop owed Erika money, so they let them press and distribute some records. However, that Erike received all proceeds from that is doubtful. Sub Pop would still have to pay publishing fees (royalties). It was probably more of an advertisement. It is also possible that some without Erika credits was pressed by a different plant. Old rumors suggests that there were so many different colors because Sub Pop used whichever pressing plant where they could obtain credit. This may be true to a certain degree, but when pressing different colors of a release I'm sure they'd press them all at one plant, for quantity rebate and better use of pressing plates. |
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 1. Record Thanks to Toi Phillips and Chris Pugh (image 1). | |||||
| Main Pressing plants Pennyroyal Tea Test pressings Collection |
