Wreck-Age

I can't remember where I first heard about Wreckage. They popped on my radar somehow and caught my attention with that great looking record cover. There was just something about that cover photo and the blue and orange colorway that just screamed "90's hardcore", and I needed to hear the record. Our Time was the first record that I bought this year, placing my preorder on January 1st, and even before I heard a note, I knew that it was going to be a killer hardcore record.

Wreckage do not disappoint. At times the vocals kind of remind me of the old Boston Hardcore band Dive, but other than that I can't really make a direct comparison. It is just hardcore, and I can easily say that Our Time will be one of my favorite records of the year.

100 pressed on orange vinyl.

Mind Over Matter

Last year, I found myself unable to get enough of those early 90's Hardcore bands. That time was special for me, the bands were unique, and I found myself spinning lots of Bad Trip, Eye For An Eye, Kingpin, and Black Train Jack. I was obsessed with these bands, and started looking for bands that I may have missed the first time around. That was when I discovered Mind Over Matter.

I'd heard their name mentioned "back in the day", but I'd never bothered with them. During my search for new early 90's bands, I started looking at the Wreckage label. Hey, they had Bad Trip and that first Die 116 record, so Mind Over Matter might be worth checking out. I managed to find a download of their first two 7 inches, plus a live radio set from '92, and I was hooked.

I kept checking eBay, but for months I came up empty with my search. I finally struck gold six months later with an auction that contained both of the records I was looking for...the self titled debut from 1992, and Hectic Thinking from 1993. As the only bidder, I won them for the opening price of $9.00.

Still Trippin'

Last March I started heavily listening to Bad Trip. I also began to routinely search for their vinyl on eBay, and I scored two different pressings of the Positively Bad 7 inch. Still, I kept coming up short on both the Fear And Loathing and Buzzy LPs. Six months later, I'm still listening to this band like crazy, and I'm happy that I've finally added one of their LPs to my collection.

While I assumed that Wreck Age had pressed the Fear And Loathing LP on colored vinyl, I'd never actually seen one, so I couldn't be sure. Discogs showed that there was a yellow vinyl pressing of Buzzy, but there wasn't any info listed on colored vinyl for their first LP. Thankfully, Marcus spotted one on eBay, and pointed it out to me. With one other bidder, I managed to grab it for fairly cheap at $12.00.

Grey marbled vinyl. I'm not sure how many pieces of colored vinyl Wreck Age typically pressed...500???

Taking A Couple Bad Trips

I kind of stumbled upon Bad Trip when I was on an early 90's kick recently. I only had their split with Go!, and the Elevator 7 inch, and while I enjoyed them when I picked up those records 20 years ago, I don't think they ever really made much of an impression on me. After listening to those songs recently, I suddenly found myself very interested to check out what else they had done.

Even after releasing two full length albums in the 90's, I don't believe that Bad Trip ever really generated much attention from the Hardcore scene. Hell, it's obvious that I'd never really been too interested in checking them out when they were around. Because of this, I figured that eBay would be flooded with cheap vinyl for the band. To my surprise, the pickings were pretty slim, and after months of searching for the Fear And Loathing LP, I was still sitting here empty handed. There were a couple copies of the Positively Bad 7 inch floating around with Buy It Now options, but I was holding out for the first Bad Trip LP. It finally got to the point where I couldn't take it any more, and I pulled the trigger on one of those Positively Bad records.

As soon as I sent my paypal payment, I noticed that the 7 inch that I bought was on Wreckage records. Hold on. I seem to remember seeing another copy with different labels. I did some research and discovered that the Wreckage pressing was not the original.

The original pressing of the Positively Bad 7 inch was on Bell Bottom Records. I found a recent auction on eBay that ended with zero bids. I took a chance and messaged the seller, asking if he'd be interested it throwing it back up on eBay with a Buy It Now option. He agreed, and I couldn't resist owning an original pressing. So within a couple of days, and for a total of $8.25, I now had two different copies in my collection.

I don't know if I'd say that this 7 inch is better than the Fear and Loathing LP, but damn, this record is really good. A nice surprise that I find myself spinning every couple of days.