Got The Most

I got my order from Revelation Records the other day. I saw that the new Down To Nothing was up for pre-order at REVHQ, and even though money is a little tight, I needed to try and get this on one of the more limited vinyl pressings. The one that I got was blue with some green spots...limited to 269. Finally, a record that knocks me over in 2007! I am really liking this new album. Great hardcore, but I do hear some metal riffs here and there...but it isn't overdone and doesn't take away that this is a tight hardcore band just ripping through a style that they have perfected.

While I was buying the new Down To Nothing, I also grabbed the new Only Crime and Outbreak split 7 inch. Only Crime is a sort of punk rock super group, consisting of the singer of Good Riddance, the guitar player from Bane, and the drummer of the Descendents. The comparisons to Good Riddance are obvious. I remember buying this bands first CD when I was in North Carolina on business. The rental car that I had came with a CD player and I didn't have any CD's to play. I stopped at the local Best Buy and bought the Only Crime CD as well as Green Day's American Idiot, which had just come out. Anyway, the songs from both of the bands are pretty good. The Outbreak songs don't grab me as much as the songs on their Failure album, but it's still good just the same.

End Of Summer Jam III

I took a trip down to Massachusetts for the End of Summer Jam III. Rob and Paul couldn't make it, so I took the trip alone. I was a little disappointed with the line up...there were a bunch of bands that I hadn't heard before, and a couple that I didn't care about. I still went because I really wanted to see Verse and Have Heart again, plus it would give me the opportunity to check out some newer bands, and I was hoping for some special EOSJ vinyl pressings. Once the doors to the place opened up, I headed straight to the merch tables. What a disappointment...not one EOSJ pressing to be seen. 108 had their record release vinyl with them, but I not too excited about that band. All that I picked up was a Japan tour shirt from Have Heart, the Rebuild CD from Verse, and the Soul Control / I Rise split 7 inch. I didn't spend nearly as much money as I thought that I would. The first band, The Effort, were pretty good. This show was their one year anniversary, and they weren't bad for a new band. They already had a 7 inch for sale and all I could think of was that too many bands release records before they should. Come on, if your band is only one year old, you probably aren't ready to have a record out. It still may be good, but I didn't pick it up on principle. Resist had a good set, and the new songs for the Indecision Records release sounded really good. Wake Up Call were amazing. They owned that stage and deserve to be huge. It was the first time that I had heard I Rise. They were really good, and it prompted me to buy their split 7 inch with Soul Control. I'm looking forward to their next release on 1917 Records. Verse were really good, and Soul Control played a couple of songs to begin the set. I did get to see Sweet Pete and talk with him about the Have Heart tour of Japan that he tagged along on. Those were the only highlights for me. As the night went on, and I sat through shitty band after shitty band, more and more I wished that I had stayed home with the kids who were upset that I was leaving for the day. By the time 11:30 rolled around and 108 was going on before Have Heart, I was so tired, hungry and sick of watching kids kick and punch there way to the edge of the crowd that I said 'fuck it' and went home. I really wanted to see Have Heart, but the thought of having to sit around for another hour before they went on, and not getting home until 3:30 in the morning did not sound good to me. I needed to be up early the next day to start wiring the new construction on my house, and did not want to be drop dead tired the next morning. The show went on too long with too many bad bands. Hopefully it will be better next year and I don't end the night as a cranky old man.

War With The Electric Guitar

I finally own a copy of Modern Life is War's first album, My Love My Way. I had downloaded it about a year and a half ago, but it wasn't until now that I finally purchased it. When Lifeline Records repressed it, I figured that it was a good time to order a copy and try and get some limited pressing. I got the white and yellow swirl vinyl, limited to 300 pressed. I've seen this band a couple of times, and both times I was blown away by how intense they are live. I don't think that same level of intensity carries over well to their recorded stuff. I think that I just haven't listened to them enough to really get to know the songs. I'm sure that over time, this band will start to sink in, and I'll appreciate them more.

While I was buying the Modern Life is War album, I saw that the Lifeline webstore also carried an album by the Regulations. I had wanted to buy this from the Youngblood store a while back but they had sold out of them. I was glad that I was able to order the vinyl from Lifeline, and took a chance on this Swedish band. They have a great early 80's punk rock sound...I can hear a definite early Circle Jerks / Adolescents influence. Very cool.

Allegiance to Rivalry

I got these two singles the other week. The second pressing of the Go It Alone single on green, limited to 210, plus the new Allegiance single. The new Allegiance looks really slick with the black and white vinyl, and was limited to 220. The new songs sound pretty good...along the same lines as the Overlooked LP. Money is starting to get tight so I only ordered one copy of the Allegiance record. They aren't a band that I'm really collecting vinyl for, so I was fine with just getting the one color. I'm not really collecting Go It Alone either, but for some reason I ended up with three colors for this single. I kind of got it into my head to collect all the pressings of everything that Rivalry was putting out, but now with money tight, it doesn't make much sense.

The new addition to the house is coming along slowly, but now we are at the point where we need to start shelling money out of pocket (as opposed to using money from the loan). This week I dropped a few hundred dollars so that I can start wiring the garage and new bedroom. I'm doing this project on my own, with help and guidance from a friend...and while I'm saving money by doing the wiring and finish work myself, I'm starting to see all of our money getting sucked away.

I've held back from a few pre-orders lately to try and save money. Still haven't ordered the new Allegiance record yet, and I finally just ordered the new Ruiner LP and Ceremony 7 inch on Bridge Nine. I'm okay with it right now because honestly, there aren't a lot of new releases that I'm really excited about. Last summer we had Have Heart, Betrayed, The First Step, Triple Threat, and Outbreak. Nothing has really met that level this summer. Some good stuff, but nothing that has really knocked me over.