A New Age, Same Shitty Mailorder

Back in the early 90's, I didn't take any shit from bad mailorder service. I wrote letters to Revelation, and I would use directory assistance to track down Dirk Hemsath at Doghouse, and Mike Hartsfield at New Age and call them at home. I think that at one time I may have ended up with Hartsfield's mom on the phone, and she hooked me up with her son's phone number so that I could check on an order that I had placed months ago and had not received.

Here we are 20 years later, and while Revelation now runs like a well oiled mailorder machine, New Age is still hobbling along like some three legged dog. Back in the early 90's, New Age was the one of the hottest labels, putting out records from Mouthpiece, Ressurrection, Unbroken, and Turning Point. These days, I don't know anyone that gives a shit about the bands on their roster. It is nothing the really interests me. When they put up a limited pressing of Outspoken's first 7 inch, Survival, I figured that I'd pick up a few items from their webstore. This was at the beginning of February. Months and months passed. Judging from the messageboards, I was not the only one that was waiting. When we got near the three month mark, I figured that it was time to drop an email to New Age to try and find out what was up.

I finally received a reply from Mike Hartsfield three weeks later, and he said that he was sending my order the following Tuesday, June 1st. Cool. Finally a response! I took a chance and replied back to say that I noticed that the webstore now had a burnt orange vinyl pressing of Survival, and if there was any way to add that to my order. To my surprise he replied minutes later and said to just Paypal him the extra $4.50 and he would add it to my order going out on Tuesday. I took the gamble and sent him the money. Time must move slower in California, as the post mark on the envelope shows that he sent it three weeks later than he said he would.

When all was said and done, it took nearly 5 months to receive my order. Crazy. Still, I was pretty excited to finally receive this package in the mail.

The new pressing of Survival is on "bubble gum red" colored vinyl, with the labels from the first New Age release, the Walk Proud 7 inch. No insert. New photocopied cover. It all seems thrown together, but for some reason it works for me, and it makes for a nice limited pressing of 77.

I've always been a big fan of Outspoken, but I never did get to see them live. The band is back together and playing some shows...and even though they are without their original singer, John Coyle, I'd still be down to check them out live. They are playing the A Time We'll Remember fest this November in DC with Hands Tied, One Up, and Mindset. I can't tell you how much I want to go to this show. Anyone up for a roadtrip?

The other copy of Survival that I picked up was limited to 207 on burnt orange. This seems more like a legitimate pressing. I still love the cover of this record. Outspoken's Survival and Insted's Feel Their Pain were the two biggest reasons that I got into vegetarianism.

It may seem like a strange pick, but I also picked up a vinyl copy of the Red Tape LP, High Revoltage. This may have been the last good band that New Age released, and that was 10 years ago, back in 2000. I love this record. Great hardcore with plenty of punk rock attitude.