Get Another Oxygen Tank!

Another band that Sweet Pete turned me on to. He roadied for Mental for a while, and had high praise for this Boston Straight Edge band. They were opening for an Insted reunion show in Rhode Island that I was going to, so I picked up their CD. It took me a while to fully appreciate this band...the singers voice was unique and I wasn't immediately drawn in. The first song to really grab me was Growing Pains, which stands as my favorite song by them. I saw Mental at that Insted reunion show. The singer came out dressed totally in hip hop style, and the band just seemed to really have a good time up there. I was impressed and started getting into them more and more.

This entry is for their Get An Oxygen Tank 7 inch on clear purple vinyl. Limited to 300. Got it off eBay for $16. I was trying to get the Posi-Numbers pressing, but I missed out on trying to bid at the last second. I was pissed because the auction ended at $12, and I would have bid higher than that. I looked at what else the seller had out there and won this pressing on purple.

More Rivalry Pre-Order Splits

In addition to the Champion / Betrayed split 7 inch, I also pre-ordered the Go It Alone / Blue Monday split. I only ordered one copy for this record. I've been thinking that someday I'll try to collect the Rivalry Records library so I ordered one copy, hoping to get the rare pressing. I got it and, damn, look at that vinyl! It looks so sick. The Rivalry Showcase pressings look so amazing as well, and I can see that I'm going to need to get those too.

Completed...Again

Got my pre-order from Rivalry Records of the Champion / Betrayed split 7 inch. The red with orange splatter is limited to 320, and the clear vinyl is limited to 980 pressed. This pre-order sold very quickly, and I was relieved to see that I got both pressings when I opened the package from Rivalry. That splatter pressing looks so awesome. These two records complete my Betrayed record collection, once again.

Iron Age

I received my Iron Age pre-order from Youngblood records. It is on yellow vinyl with the deluxe embossed cover. Pretty slick looking. I saw them open up the Planet Mental record release show. The singer used to front Far From Breaking, and a friend told me that FFB were better, with more of straight forward 'youth crew' hardcore sound. I had never heard either band. Iron Age bored me at the show, although this album rocks a damn good hardcore style with some touches of early Metallica-type metal. I bought a Far From Breaking 7 inch at the Posi-Numbers festival, and I would agree with my friend and take FFB over Iron Age. This is still a good album though, and since I've been entertaining the thought of collecting all Youngblood releases, it made sense to get the pre-order.

Count Champion's Numbers

Counting my Champion numbers, I am up to 28. Here we have Champion 'Count Our Numbers' on white vinyl. Limited to 384 pressed. Picked it up on eBay for $20. I still have yet to get my hands on the record release pressing of this record. Every time I see it on eBay I get outbid.

I saw Champion in Bucksport, Maine with Rob and Paul. It was a long drive, but the three of us always have a good time on road trips. Since it was such a long drive we left right after Champion and missed Agnostic Front. During the show, the guitarist, Chris, noticed my Undertow t-shirt and came over to me while they were setting up. Talked about how he liked the shirt and has one like it at home. He mentioned that he was thinking about making a Champion shirt that ripped off the design. Since they are breaking up, I doubt that will happen. I wore that same shirt to the Posi-Numbers festival and bumped into Chris again. We talked for a little bit, and he seemed like a really genuine dude. I ended up trading that shirt after the Betrayed set to some guy for three new t-shirts (Have Heart, Triple Threat, and Gorilla Biscuits). I was reluctant to get rid of it since I had traded some Sandman comics to a guy in Undertow for the shirt long after they had broken up, but I figured that $30 in new t-shirts was a decent enough deal.

Reason For Collecting

This is why I collect records. I thought that I knew of every pressing of the In My Eyes records, then I saw a picture of this one posted on the Bridge Nine messageboard. I had no idea that the demo 7 inch was released with this Welcome to California tour cover. This is why I collect records. I collect so that I have some kind of documentation of music history. Looking back, I guess I've always been a collector. Collecting Star Wars trading cards when I was a kid...buying packs of those cards trying to get the entire series. Going over the checklist to see which ones that I needed. Collected smurfs for a while too. I remember going to the Hallmark store and digging through the bin of smurfs, pondering which one I would buy next. I even tried collecting stamps when I was I kid, but stamps didn't really excite me. Then, a little over a year ago, I first saw other people's record collections posted on the B9 messageboard. It all clicked. This is what I was born to collect. I collect records because this music means so much to me.

I picked up this record through eBay. Got it for only $33. I thought that it was a great price since I had seen it sell a couple weeks before, grouped with some other, less rare, IME records for over $90. This record is numbered 26 of 50 pressed.

This Is Our Time

Another version of the demo 7 inch from In My Eyes. This one has the Springsteen cover that was made for their tour. Hand numbered 67 of 400 made. Picked this one up for $25. Got it from the same guy that sold me all the Live in Philly records.

The demo has my favorite In My Eyes song...The Is Our Time. I saw IME in Portland with Right Brigade and American Nightmare for the Boston Invasion weekend. The last song that In My Eyes did was This Is Our Time. As the song breaks into the line "We'll look back on these days as the best times of our lives...", I ran up on stage and Pete handed me the microphone and I sang out the rest of the song, diving on people. Pete ended the show with "That was Mike Preston, the most Straight Edge guy in Maine.". The words to that song mean so much to me, and that memory makes it mean even more.

Courage To Care

When someone is down on their luck, and looking to get some fast money by selling some records, I'm happy to make the sacrifice and help 'em out. I had purchased records from this guy before, and when I heard that he was having money problems and was selling records from his collection, I quickly emailed him an offer. He accepted my offer for $40 for all three pressings of the In My Eyes 'Live in Philly' 7 inch. Recently I had seen the clear and white pressings going for around $20 a piece on eBay, so I thought that it was a fair offer. Even though In My Eyes remain as one of my favorite bands, I never really liked live recordings, and I avoided buying this record when it was released in 2002. Of course I needed to get it for my collection, but reading the liner notes from the guitarist, Anthony Pappalardo, made it a worth while release and made me miss this band more than I already do.

Bring Your Daughter...

There is something about Iron Maiden that is magical to me. They were my favorite band while I was growing up. Piece of Mind was one of the first Metal albums that I bought. Iron Maiden on the Powerslave tour was the second concert that I went to. As a kid, I spent so much time listening to this band, reading interviews, posting their album covers and pictures on my wall. I had a book about them that I read over and over again until the spine broke and the pages fell out. Before I had even listened to any of their songs, I remember walking through Spencer Gift's and being completely in awe of the Maiden posters and t-shirt designs. Magical. During my years in Thrash/Speed Metal and Hardcore/Punk, I lost interest in Maiden. At some point a couple of years ago I found that lost love, and once again found myself listening to all of their albums, reading the new edition of Run To The Hills, and once again being drawn into the artwork from the album covers. I had recently started collecting records and Maiden was re-releasing the single for The Number of the Beast on colored vinyl, and I thought that it would be fun to collect the albums and singles of this band.

There are a few versions of the single for Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter, but this is for the 12" version (which has different artwork than the 7" pressing). I picked this one up on eBay for $5.50. I don't usually buy from overseas sellers...postage is too expensive...but for this record the price was low enough that it didn't bother me.

Going The Distance

Completing my Bridge Nine Records collection for The Distance, we have the pressing on red (limited to 150). Picked it up on eBay for an unbeatable price of $4.75. At some point, I got it in my head to collect the entire Bridge Nine library...and considering the number of limited pressings that B9 has done, that may not have been a very smart decision, but I'm into it and I'm not turning back now. While The Distance isn't necessarily a band that I like enough to really collect, B9 did release it, so I needed it.

Completely Betrayed

All 6 pressings of the Betrayed 7 inch. The blue one is a "Friends Press", limited to 60. I never thought that I would get my hands on one, but then by chance I had the opportunity to purchase one. How much did I pay? More than you probably would have. Who did I buy it from? I'm sworn to secrecy. Seriously, one of the best releases from 2005.

Rivalry Showcase

In keeping with the Champion and Betrayed theme this week, I received the Rivalry Showcase pressings of the split 7 inch. Two of the best Straight Edge Hardcore bands these days. Champion is breaking up, but Betrayed has recently been in the studio recording their full length. These two records were pressed for the Rivalry Showcase out in California, one for each band. Both are limited to 135 with the Betrayed one being on orange and brown mix, and the Champion one being on orange and red split. Of course I wasn't at the Rivalry Showcase, and got my hands on them through a "friend". $20 a piece was a little pricey since the show was the week before, but I figured that they would go for more than that when they hit eBay. Once I receive my pre-order package from Rivalry Records later this month, I should have the complete collection.

8 Down, One To Go

Let me start by saying that I LOVE this album. I bought Champion's first record when it came out and I wasn't too impressed. I wasn't collecting records at the time, so I bought the CD version. Their second 7" came out on Bridge Nine, and while I thought it was better, it still didn't do much for me. Champion played a show in Portland, and I skipped the show. Sometime after that I picked up Promises Kept, and was completely blown away from the first song to the last. Every time I listened to it, I liked it more and more. Promises Kept is just a perfect album. This copy is the grey pressing on Dead & Gone records, making that 8 copies of this record that I have in my collection. There were 300 pressed on grey vinyl, with 100 of them getting blank labels for their European tour. The Euro tour press is the only one I am missing. I won this copy through eBay for $14.68.