Test Press To Fade

When I was picking up that $9 Danzig record from Wanna Hear It, I felt the need to add something else to my cart. As I was scrolling through their webstore and saw a Violence To Fade test press, I figured that I'd act like the record collector that I used to be and pick it up.

Violence To Fade had ex-members of Alert, and when they released their first 7 inch in 2013, I was at the height of my record collecting mania... so of course I bought three copies of the record. Having the opportunity to buy the test press 10+ years later was just too good to pass up.

25 test pressings... numbered and with a great looking special cover.

This is a really good 7 inch, but over time it just got lost in with all the other music that I consume and I haven't listened to it a few years. Seeing this test press made me dust these songs off and it feels good to give this a spin again. Straight forward hardcore that does not disappoint.

Calling All Creeps

I've obviously backed off on buying every Hardcore record that is released this year. Spending most of my time listening to shit from the 80's, made it impossible to keep up with what is going on today, and frankly, I have too many second rate Hardcore records that I don't have time to listen to now, so what is the point of adding 50 more. That's is not to say that I don't still love the core...just saying that I don't have the time or money to stay on top of each and every band anymore.

Still, every once in while, I'll see a preorder go up, and I'll fell the impulse to try something new...I'll roll the dice and pick up a new Hardcore band. Such was the case with Head Creeps.

I remember downloading the Head Creeps demo at some point last year, and while I couldn't really name any of the songs from it, I recalled that I did like what I'd heard. So, back in May, when Life To Live put up preorders for the bands new 7 inch, I threw caution to the wind, and dropped the $6 for it.

Outside of the Sweet Jesus preorders, the Head Creeps took the longest time to arrive. I'm not sure what the delay was, but I was happen to see the record arrive three months later.

The Head Creeps are really good...basically a Hardcore band out looking to have a ton of fun, and their songs reflect that. Another solid release from Life to Live.

100 pressed.

Safe And Sound In The Tides

When I picked up the Winds Of Change compilation earlier this year, one of the biggest surprises for me was Safe And Sound. Man, that song jumps off the vinyl at you, and really sets the tone for a great comp.

I was really looking forward to hearing more from the band, and when Life To Live put up the preorders, I grabbed the three different pressings. While I couldn't resist one of each of the regular pressings, I did manage to show some restraint, and I passed on buying the test press. Life To Live seem to make a few of these available to buy when their preorders go up. I think it is a very cool option, and if I had the money to throw around like Chris, I might have grabbed one too.

This is a pretty solid Hardcore record and shows some promise. Hey, when you've got Aram from Betrayed singing on one of your songs, you know that you've got something going on.

150 pressed on blue splatter vinyl for preorders. 200 pressed on blue. 300 pressed on black vinyl.

Break The Dogchain

Even with my large consumption of Metal, I'm still trying to keep in touch with what is new for the Hardcore scene. I tend to follow along with what Life To Live is up to, so checking out the new Dogchains release wasn't really that much of a stretch for me.

With the band's name, I really wasn't expecting much, and though that this 7 inch was probably one that I could pass right by. I checked the song, Sun, that the label posted, and was instantly sold. The band has a sound that is reminiscent of early Justice, and that was all I needed to know. I hopped in the store, and placed my order.

Pre-orders came with a special cover with a band logo that reminds me of Infest. Clear vinyl is limited to 200.

I'm not sure why, but at the time, I felt the need to buy two copies. Orange vinyl is limited to 300.

Violence To Fade

I was first introduced to Keith when he was playing bass for Alert. He is a hell of a nice guy, and when I would show up to shows by myself, he was always a friendly face that was quick to come up and talk for a bit. Once Alert dissolved, I was happy that he jumped right into another band, this time singing for Violence To Fade. They played a show in Maine a few months ago, and opened their set with the intro to the song Black Sabbath. It may have been one of the best intros I've ever seen a band do.

If I learned anything from the January Record A Day challenge on Instagram, it was that I'm not alone in my dislike of splatter colored vinyl. Seems the general rule of thumb is that all collectors hate it...so why do labels still press this shit. 150 pressed on gross splatter vinyl.

Violence To Fade is a bit more raw when compared to the Youth Crew style of Keith's last band, Alert. They have a more of a rough New York Hardcore kind of sound. I can dig it.

200 on green vinyl.

I can't seem to place an order with Life To Live, and have it arrive in one piece. First, I got a badly warped piece of vinyl for Losin' it, then I had a package that was nearly destroyed from water damage...this time around, I only received the pink vinyl from my three record pre-order package. Thankfully Dan, was quick to admit his error, and shipped out the missing vinyl within the next week. Whew...crisis averted.

300 pressed on pink.

Raw Justice

Life To Live Records is a solid label, and I tend to dig most of the records they release. When they announced that they were doing a split label release for a new band out of France called Raw Justice, I figured that I'd give them a chance.

The band had a free download over at their bandcamp page, so after checking it out and digging their raw old school sound, I decided to grab a copy from LTL.

Since this was a split release with two overseas labels, Ugly And Proud and Straight & Alert, Life To Live was only going to have 50 records available out of the 350 total pressed. For some reason I was worried that this was going to sell out fast, and made sure that I was first in line when pre-orders went up.

Three months later, Life To Live still have these available.

Being there early for pre-orders at least meant that I was able to grab a copy of the test pressing that Life To Live had up for sale. I love it when labels put up test pressings up for sale, and I'm too weak a man to just walk away. Couldn't resist picking up a copy.

Number 19 out of 23. "Only for promotion".

A few weeks ago, I saw that Straight & Alert had some left over copies of the Raw Justice tour pressing available. Since I had the regular pressing and the test, I couldn't just let the tour press pass me by.

Number 45 out of 70 with the special SSD cover for the Summer tour.

Warpin' It

Dude, I love Losin' It. That Danger Zone 7 inch from last year was great. I was thinking that this must have been in my Top 10 list from last year...when I checked, I was surprised to see that it didn't make the cut. I guess when Prisoner Abuse is listed as number 10, it is going to be tough cracking into the list.

When Life To Live did a second pressing, I was all over it.

125 pressed on red, 150 on yellow, and then 225 on blue.

Live To Live made these available back in March, but it has taken me a while to post them up here as the blue vinyl that I received was "slightly" warped. Damn, I've never seen a record in such bad shape.

I had emailed Dan at LTL and told him what happened, and he said that we could work out some kind of deal. It wasn't his fault, I guess. I felt bad asking him to replace a record that was probably damaged by the Post Office, so in the end I just ended up ordering myself a second copy...'cause you know, I have money to throw around like that.

Adding three new pieces of vinyl to the collection meant that it was time to get a family photo. Damn, I love how all the colored vinyl looks for these.

When placing my order, I checked around to see if there was anything else that I could add to my cart. The Provider 7 inch really grew on me since picking up the preorder last year, so I threw an orange vinyl copy into my cart. 150 pressed.

Mindset Give And Take

Back at the end of January, Ev from Mindset/REACT! threw up a link on Facebook stating that the first three people to donate to support Aram's Ride To Conquer Cancer would get a copy of Leave No Doubt on clear vinyl. I was working from home when I got the message, and within seconds I was out of my chair and running to get my credit card. I tend to leave my wallet in my car, so I charged out to the garage to grab it. On the run back to the house, I tried to clear all four stairs at once only to have my slipper fly off, and to land on my hands and knees, leaving a nice gash in my shin from the stair tread. No time to address the wound now! I grabbed my slipper from the ground, and rushed back inside, quickly made my donation, and fired off an email to Ev. Blood was running down my leg, but damn it, I had secured myself a copy.

The clear vinyl pressing was exclusive for Mindset's European tour, and limited to 300. So glad I was able to get a copy by just donating to a good cause.

A couple weeks later, Mario left a comment on my Mindset post asking for my address. He said he had a surprise for me, and since I like surprises, I fired off an email to him with my info. Mario does the Across Your Face blog. He drinks, collects guns, and listens to too much oi! music...none of these things I understand...but the important thing here is that Mario is a good dude.

When Mindset came through town on their Cali tour, Mario was there and grabbed me a copy of Leave No Doubt on white. These things were only available on Mindset's tour and were limited to 100. Not only did he go out of his way to get me a copy, but he wouldn't let me pay him for it. Nope. "Just keep me in mind if you encounter any sweet tour pressing vinyl in the future", he said. Solid, solid dude.

Mario is correct. I'm just missing a test press and the record release version. After watching a record release pressing sell on ebay, I figured that I take a chance and email Ev Mindset directly to see if he had an extra copy that I could buy off him. Hell, I'd rather give the money directly to the band instead of someone just flipping on eBay, but I got no response to my question, so I'll suppose I'll have to be on the hunt with eBay.

In addition to the Mindset record, Mario also grabbed a copy of the Step Aside record that the band had with them on tour. I love a good tour pressing, and this Powell Peralta cover is top notch.

Hand numbered and limited to 50 for the Mindset/Step Aside/Counter weekend tour. This is the 8th copy of Reaching Out that I own. Wow. How did that happen?

Thanks again for the records Mario. Best of luck on your ride, Aram.

Losin' It In 2013

I loved the Danger Zone 7 inch that Losin' It released last year. Man, that record was a blast, and I listened to it a ton. Therefore, even though money was a bit tight at the end of 2012, I still couldn't resist jumping on the pre-order package deal from Life To Live.

My pre-order copy came with this weird "guy on a tricycle" insert...numbered 2 out of 5. I'm not sure what the purpose of this insert is. Strange.

The album itself is great, and is a nice extension of their first 7 inch, and still maintains that fun Lockin' Out/Mental vibe.

100 on pink/purple swirl. 50 of them numbered for pre-orders.

175 on pink.

As much as I like this record, I've got to say that the packaging on this sucks. The layout and design are cool, but a bi-fold cardstock cover is a cheap way of packaging an LP. If you are going to release a full length album, you've really got to use an LP jacket. This bi-fold sleeve really distracts from how good this is.

225 on blue.

Step Aside For The Second Press

Released at the end of 2011, Step Aside's debut, Reaching Out, did not fail to impress. Apparently I wasn't the only one that thought so, as Life To Life quickly sold out of the first pressing.

In an attempt to possibly follow in the footsteps of Bottled Up's pressing for the Have Heart demo, Life To Live Records give us four different colors of vinyl for the Reaching Out second pressing. That totals 7 pieces of vinyl in under a year! Time for record collectors to step up.

75 on red. 100 on gold. 125 on white. 200 on "frost", a.k.a. clear vinyl.

Since I'm only missing the test pressing, I figured that I'd haul out the entire collection to get a group photo. Who doesn't like pictures of colored vinyl? Looking good Life to Live.

Providing For A Wasteland

That tough Hardcore sound seems to be popular at the moment, as kids are jumping all over bands like Trapped Under Ice, Backtrack, and Fire & Ice. So it should be no surprise to see new bands coming along that are picking up that style as well. If Madball was Agnostic Front's kid brother, then Provider would play that role for Backtrack (without the literal family connection). Do you want more of the same? That is up to you, but Provider deliver with some no frills, straight up Hardcore with plenty of crunch.

I had a bit of a dilemma when I was placing my order with Life To Live for their newest release. I wanted the most limited pressing that was available for pre-orders, but I also wanted a copy with the regular cover art. I'm not looking to collect for this band, but still I ordered two copies.

The pre-order cover is a simple design of Charlie Brown getting the football yanked away by Lucy. Seems like a strange choice for the cover...I wonder if there is a story behind it.

Limited to 75 and hand numbered.

To avoid any confusion, both the record label and the cover are numbered.

The regular cover is far superior to the pre-order one, and was the reason why I needed to order two copies. Very well done, and it reminds me of Agnostic Front's Cause For Alarm cover art.

The violet colored vinyl looks great as well.

Outlast and Alert Second Pressings

In addition to the new Losin' It record, Life To Live also release second pressings for the Outlast and Alert demo 7 inches.

The Outlast demo from 2009 was a promising start, and they got even better with 2010's Take Control 7 inch on Bottled Up. Can't wait to see what their Harvcore record brings later this year.

Nothing too special about the second pressing of this record. The black vinyl is identical to the first pressing, the only difference is the hand numbered dust sleeve. Number 3 out of 100.

The Alert 7 inch at least comes with an altered cover to differentiate it from the first pressing.

Like the Outlast 7 inch, this one come with a hand numbered dust sleeve. Number 2 out of 100. I'm liking these low numbers!

With this latest Alert pressing, I decided to pull them all out for a photo. I was thinking that I was only missing the test pressing for the Demo '08 vinyl, but then I remembered that they did a very limited tour pressing for this record as well. I guess I need two more to fully complete this collection.

Losin' It In The Danger Zone

Not every band can land on REACT!, Triple B, Back To Back, or even Six Feet Under Records. There are a bunch of great Straight Edge bands kickin' it right now that don't get the benefit of the hype that those bigger labels provide. Truth Inside, Caught In A Crowd, Enough, Step Aside and Written Off...now you can add Losin' It to the list of great new bands.

Life To Live Records aren't as big a label as some of the heavy hitters, but they have put out some quality records, and I sit up and pay attention when they announce pre-orders. After downloading a couple of demos from Losin' It, they instantly won me over with a sound that is reminiscent of the early Mental stuff. Download this shit from their bandcamp page and tell me that you aren't hooked.

Of course I didn't hesitate when Life To Live put up the Losin' It pre-orders, and I grabbed everything available, including the special pre-order cover that was limited to 75.

I love the look of the violet colored vinyl. Limited to 155 pressed.

125 on coke bottle clear vinyl.

155 on black.

Now don't be fooled by the goofy record cover with the alien Floorpunch dude, this is seriously good...I guess the laid back/goofy vibe kind of plays into the Mental influence as well. Lyrically, Losin' It are on their game here, and with a song against homophobia, these guys give you more than your standard Youth Crew anthems. Great stuff.