Long-lost Portsmouth music scene compilation Git Dayn! from 1981 to be rereleased as cassette and zine bundle

The 16-track Git Dayn! cassette was originally released in 1981 by Hamster Records from Hayling Island as Hamster Tape One.

They were spurred on by the previous year’s release of the successful South Specific album, which also highlighted local musical talent. But releasing a cassette album was seen as a less expensive way to showcase local bands than a vinyl pressing.

The compilation delivers a snapshot of the diverse music scene at the time, featuring two songs apiece from eight bands – Plastic Turtles, Astral Bodies, Body Count, Private Eye, T.Bone, Right Profile, Vivienne Encore and Sister Romance.

Recorded at Toucan Studios, Hayling Island, it had an initial impact, but like many local compilations, was then largely forgotten, ripe for rediscovery.

Last year Rob Bartlett and Brian Poole from independent Portsmouth-based label Brain Booster Music, eager to preserve Portsmouth's music heritage, set about learning as much as they could about this intriguing cassette.

Having already rereleased South Specific, a Portsmouth vinyl compilation from 1980, BBM thought it would be interesting to track down the mysterious release and unearth the sounds of 1981.

Initial enquiries drew a blank.

But then, Brian recalled: ‘We also found out that a fanzine was published locally that had accompanied Git Dayn! with an eight-page “pull out” guide.’

‘The hunt was on – incredibly the fanzine, called Reuters, was produced by a good friend of BBM who had, as far as anyone knows, the only surviving copy and agreed to allow its rerelease.

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‘After a few months and following a serendipitous conversation at a local gig, an original copy of the cassette was located.’

The cassette is to be recreated with a reproduction of the zine and released jointly with fellow local independent label Brutalist Records, who are also behind the Save Our Scene compilations.

Git Dayn! will be rereleased on October 7 as a fetching blueberry-coloured tape and zine bundle, limited to only 100 copies. Each tape comes with a download code featuring all tracks from the original release.

You can preorder it from the Brutalist Records at brutalistrecords.bandcamp.com or Brain Booster Music’s Bandcamp page.