New York Crew

The fourth annual Guys Roadtrip. The first year the three of us made the trip to Pennsylvania for the Knife or Death fest with the Youth of Today and Mouthpiece reunions. Next year, Paul had just had a baby and couldn't take the trip, but Rob and I made it back to Pennsylvania for the last Posi-Numbers fest. Third year was our trip to Toronto for the Red Sox/Blue Jays game. This year it was decided that we would spend the weekend in New York City and catch a Mets game. I don't really care about baseball, but a weekend spent hanging out with Rob and Paul is always a good time. For our trip, I was really looking forward to hitting some record stores. Our first stop was Generation Records. Holy shit, I could have blown so much money in this place. They had a huge room that was strictly dedicated to vinyl. The place was amazing. The only way for me to get the most out of it was to start at A and work my way through the entire rack, thumbing through them one at a time. It took a lot of restraint, but I controlled my spending and only got 3 albums (and got 3 that Paul bought me for Christmas).

• Regulations : Regulations - I am really liking this band. Great early 80's style punk in the vein of the Circle Jerk's Group Sex EP. Great snotty attitude. I have their second album, Electric Guitar, and since the vinyl version of their first album seemed to be sold out at the online distributors that I use, I was glad to find this record.
• No Turning Back : Holding On - I was really reluctant to listen to these guys when I first heard of them. I was expecting some tough-guy hardcore similar to Death Before Dishonor, or maybe Hatebreed and Madball...I don't know why, it was just the image that I had of them. Tyler GetBroken liked this album, so I decided to try it, and figured at the least it might be good music to listen to at the gym. I was surprised at how much I liked this...good solid hardcore with a tough edge to it...plus a guest appearance on Alive or Dead by Aram is a definite bonus.
• Hellanbach : Now Hear This - This one was recorded in 1982, and was one of the earlier albums released by Neat Records, who I specifically remember as a kid for releasing those Venom albums. Well this one sounds nothing like Venom, but more of an English version of Van Halen. Pretty good rockin' stuff.

After Generations and a bite of pizza, where I managed to drop a good sized drop of tomato sauce onto the crotch of my tan shorts, we made our way to the infamous Bleecker Bob's. I had heard such stories about the cranky owner that I was a little nervous to enter the store. Sadly, I didn't really find much that interested me...and what did interest me was grossly overpriced. An original Overkill Fuck You EP for $35, and an autographed Kind Diamond The Portrait for $100 were a bit pricey for me.

• Various Artists : All Systems Go! - I had downloaded most of the songs on this album, but I figured that $7.00 was a good price for an album of cover songs. Great versions of Ten Yard Fight covering Youth of Today, Bane doing Chain of Strength, Ensign doing an Underdog song, and Reach the Sky doing Rites of Spring, plus many others. Cool shit.

On Saturday we caught a Mets game at Shea Stadium. Having only experienced Fenway Park, I would have to say that Shea Stadium was awesome. I can't understand why they are building a new stadium to replace this one. We had great seats...field level but in the back row, so we could stand and come and go as we pleased without disturbing the entire row. The game was fun, and it was Bucket Hat Day, so we all got our free hats. After the game, we went back into the city and had dinner at Serendipity III, which was a very cool restaurant that Paul wanted to go to. I think the only vegetarian thing on the menu for me was the ravioli, but damn, it was so good. We also had the house specialty of a Frozen Hot Chocolate, which was definitely a treat.

The weekend was so much fun, from hanging out in the city, avoiding the puke on the subway, and the conversation of drunk girls on the same train ride, to goofing off in the hotel room and jumping from bed to bed trying to get pictures of each other airborne (most people don't seem to understand just how funny this was). We walked for miles and miles through the city, with Paul getting the attention of homeless people and starving Hip Hop artists looking to sell their CD's. We laughed the entire three days. Good times.

Worth The Wait

I've been waiting to post on this one. The day that I received the new Champion live LP, Different Directions from Bridge Nine Records, I got an email from Aram saying that he had a copy of the album on gold vinyl that he was going to set aside for me. I had not heard about a gold pressing, so I was extremely excited to find out from him that it was special "friends press", limited to 100! He went on to thank me for the support that I had given to Champion and Betrayed and said that I deserved one. Holy shit...I don't hero worship, but you have no idea how fucking excited I was. This was at the end of April. Fast forward four months of waiting, and a few email exchanges, and the record finally arrived today. Easily in the top 5 pieces of vinyl that I own...well worth the wait.

eBay Killed The Record Convention

There was a time when there were two local record conventions around here each year. One in the Spring and one in the Fall. For each one, I would tap into the savings account and load up on vinyl, bootleg cassette and video tapes, and CD's. Man, how I loved those record shows. I think the last one I went to was around 1991, and I remember picking up the Judge album on vinyl. Soon after that, I stopped buying vinyl, preferring to buy CD's, and stopped paying attention to when the record convention was rolling through town. Needless to say, I've been interested in going to one of those record shows again. For the past couple of years I've been trying to track down one of those local shows, but to no avail. It seems as though they are no longer setting up shop in Westbrook, Maine. After doing a couple of online searches, I found one in Massachusetts. I talked to Jeff about it, and we both thought that it would be a great time, so we headed down. We had a blast on the trip down, talking about music from our teenage years, and about how much of an impact it had on us. Great company...great conversations.

We got to the record convention, and were surprised at how small the thing was! The conventions from when I used to go were huge. Giant conference rooms, packed wall to wall with records and CD's...and the people...man, people would be 5 deep waiting to thumb through stacks of vinyl. This one was less than half the size, and no lines! Kind of sad, really, but when you have eBay at your fingertips, I guess a lot of people prefer to just go online and get that immediate satisfaction, rather than browse and shop. Even with the scaled down version of the record convention, I walked away with a healthy stack of vinyl.

The first table that we stopped at had a section of records on sale for $4.00 each. I immediately found something that I wanted.

• Van Halen : Women and Children First - Van Halen were another band that I hated though my teenage years, and have just recently begun to appreciate. This is a cool record.
• The Doors : Absolutely Live - Never liked The Doors, until Rob played me the first song on this record, Who Do You Love. As soon as I heard it, it was like a light was turned on and I finally understood why people lose it over this band. Jim Morrison's voice is so amazing, when he screams it can send chills down your spine, it is so powerful. When the guitar kicks in during Who Do You Love, I knew that I'd found a "new" band.
• UFO : Force It - This album contains one of my favorite songs from this band, Mother Mary. Another cool Rock record.
  

Coming to this record show I was really hoping to find some classic thrash records from the '80's and at the next table I visited, I found some of what I was looking for.

• Metallica : Weed Killer and Sugar - An obvious bootleg. This is a recording taken from a couple of shows back in '84 and '85. The sound quality isn't that good, but I love that James' voice is high and screechy. This band was amazing for their first three albums, and this is a cool record that captures how great they used to be. Doing a search online, I've found that this is the first pressing of this bootleg, and I've seen some people selling them for $70. My copy has the corners of the sleeve pretty well bent, but it was only $15.
• Dio : We Rock - This is a cool 12 inch single, with the b-side being a couple of live songs from the Donington Festival back in '83. I've been on a bit of a Dio kick, and for $5, I wasn't going to pass this one up. Excellent condition.
• Exodus : Fabulous Disaster - One of the best Exodus albums. It opens with The Last Act of Defiance and just shreds all the way through. Funny thing about this band...apparently I saw them live with Suicidal Tendencies back in 1990, but I have no recollection of seeing them! I was probably too preoccupied with not getting punched by security or FSU. They are coming to New Hampshire in February, and since I am loving their last two albums, I may try and catch them again.
• Queensryche : The Warning - I had forgotten how great this record is. Either Paul or I bought this on cassette tape when it was released in 1984, and I was excited to add it to my vinyl collection. This copy has the gold promo stamp, which I always find extra cool.
• Led Zeppelin : IV - I may have said it before, but I'll say it again...I grew up hating Led Zeppelin. Like The Doors, one day it just clicked and I finally recognized how great the band was. I even find myself getting into Stairway to Heaven when I listen to this album!

The last table that I stopped at was hit or miss. When I'm buying used vinyl, I need it to be in great shape, or I'm not interested. This table had a bunch of albums that were in rough shape, so there were one's, like Metallica's Master of Puppets, that I just could not buy. Still, I was able to find a couple of records to pick up and end my day.

• Metal Church : The Dark - I love this record. I remember getting the cassette for Christmas back in '85, and sitting with my Walkman cassette player at my Grandparents house, headphones pressed tight on my ears, just taking in how fast and intense this album was. This album still had the plastic shrink wrap on it, so I knew that the album cover was in good shape, but I didn't realize that the first song has a small skip on it. Plus I found out this past weekend that Jeff's copy has a lyric sheet and mine doesn't. Damn it, I want another copy...a complete copy.
• Kiss : Hotter Than Hell - Holy shit, another band that I used to hate. I grew up with the Kiss that was a hair band, turn out crappy songs like Lick It Up. Again, Jeff got me to look past that era and dig into the early years of the band, and I'll be damned, I've come to really like the first three or four Kiss albums.
  

My Love Can Be Bought

I love Shield Recordings! A while back, Rold had posted on his blog about Shield putting up a pre-order for the new Said and Done LP. Pre-order copies of the record were to come with a special sleeve, pressed on red and black "flamed" vinyl, and were limited to 50! I checked out a couple mp3's of the band, and liked what I heard so I emailed the guys at Shield to get a price for shipping to the States. I figured that while I was ordering overseas, I'll pick up a few other things at the same time and ordered the new High Treason 7 inch and the Heartfelt CD that I was missing from my collection. Gert-Jan from the label emailed me back with the pricing, apologizing for the $16 shipping charge. I was so charged up about getting the album, did I mention that it was limited to 50, that I wasn't concerned about the high price for shipping. When I got the package in the mail, I nearly wet my pants with excitement when I saw that Shield had included a test press of the Said and Done album along with the pre-order pressing. I was so excited that I even ran to show it to my wife...and since she has little to no interest in what records I'm getting, that should tell you how happy I was. The test press has a cool Motorhead rip-off sleeve, and is limited to 10...and mine was number 10. Much love and respect to Shield Recordings for adding this record to my colleciton. Also to note, the High Treason 7 inch came on white vinyl and was limited to 525 copies, and the Heartfelt CD....well, no one really keeps track of how many CD's were pressed, so Shield needs to get the Heartfelt stuff pressed on vinyl.

Wasting My Time

I picked up a couple of new 7 inches from Grave Mistake Records. Both Government Warning and Wasted Time had something new to give. The Government Warning record starts off with the title track, Arrested, and the lyrics "God bless the USA, and only the USA." scream off the vinyl with a classic Born Against style. Wasted Time was new to me, but I decided to take a chance on them. Wow, this is easily going to be one of my favorite 7 inches of 2007. They take their name from a Negative FX song and they play an intense style of hardcore not unlike that band, or Last Rights, or early Slapshot (basically any early 80's hardcore band that Choke was involved with). I had placed my order with Grave Mistake with hopes of possibly picking up one of the few copies of colored vinyl left in stock for Government Warning, but they sold out so quickly that I only got the black vinyl for both records.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

Today is my birthday. I am now 37 years old. Fuck, that sounds old, but you know what, I don't feel old, and sometimes I wonder if I have anything in common with other people that are my age. I enjoy what I do for my job, but I could give a shit about my "career". I'd rather chill with family, spend hours going through my record collection, or hang out with friends playing video games, than waste my time and mind at happy hour with drones who's sole existence seems to revolve around when they can drink. I love my life, and live it the way that makes sense to me. I remember when I was around 17 years old and was really getting into Thrash Metal...listening to a lot of Metallica, Slayer, Testament, and Overkill. A co-worker of mine at McDonalds told me that soon I would grow out of that style of music...like I was going to enter adulthood and toss out my Heavy Metal tapes and tune into some radio station playing "the hits of yesterday and today". I don't know if that is how it works for some people, but it sure as Hell wasn't how it was going to work for me. Music makes up a large part of who I am. As an awkward teenager with zero self-confidence, it was a safe haven. It was where I could go and not concern myself with how I measured up against others.

So here I am 20 years later, 37 years old and finding myself getting a charge out of buying the newest Slayer release on vinyl. This is a re-issue of their Christ Illusion album, which was released on my birthday last year. Apparently they had another song, Final Six, that didn't get finished during the recording session because Tom Araya got sick and couldn't finish the vocals on time. After the album was released, they finished up the song and re-released it to include the extra song. In addition to the new song, there is an alternate version of the song Black Serenade, and a different album cover. Saw it on vinyl for $15, so I picked it up. The other Slayer item that I picked up this week was the Soundtrack to the Apocalypse box set. I got $60 in gift certificates for my birthday, and saw it as the perfect opportunity to pick this up as well. 4 CD's and a DVD, a really cool and detailed book about their existence, plus a couple of other trinkets (a banner and a laminated pass). Very cool, and since it is limited, I was happy to get a copy (unlike that Iron Maiden box set that I missed out on a few years ago). So, yeah, 37 years old and listening to Slayer...yeah, maybe I'll outgrow this music someday...right.

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.

Here's Your Warning

A few weeks ago, I saw that Tyler had a band called Government Warning on his weekly last.fm charts. I had never heard of the band before, but the kid typically had good taste so I checked them out. I found their myspace page and checked out a few songs. They had a great early 80's hardcore sound with some early D.R.I. thrown in for good measure. Every distro that I usually use was sold out of this album, and I was afraid that I had slept on it too long and that it was out of print. I finally found their No Moderation LP in the webstore on the No Way Records site. I had no idea how reliable this label was...for all I knew the label had already folded up and no one was minding the webstore, but I took a chance and sent over a paypal payment for $10.00. Less than a week later, I had my copy!

I've Made My Choice. Six.Six.Six.

I've long thought about collecting Slayer vinyl, but have never gotten around to adding much to my collection. All I had was Hell Awaits, which I bought back in High School (1985) when I was starting to get into Metal that was more extreme than the Iron Maiden and Judas Priest that I was listening to at the time, and South of Heaven, which I bought off of Jeff last month. The collection was not really getting anywhere because I was spending my money on other records and CD's on eBay. I was at Newbury Comics the other day, looking through their small assortment of vinyl and was surprised to see the newest record, Christ Illusion, in there. Here it was in my hands, and I didn't have to bid on it on ebay, and pay for shipping...damn...I didn't hesitate to drop the $16.00 for it. Warning : Nerd Alert! This record comes in a gatefold sleeve, and the packaging looked so sweet wrapped up in plastic. There was something about it that was just so perfect, so incredible, that it took me a full five days before I dared break the plastic seal to reveal the red colored vinyl. Sorry, you were warned, and I totally geeked out on this record. All hail the mighty Slayer.

Histories and Soul Control

I received the Go It Alone and Soul Control preorders a couple of weeks ago. Unlike some people that I know, I wasn't lucky enough to get the red pressing of the Go It Alone record. I got it on black, which is limited to 210, and on white, limited to 720. This band has really grown on me lately. I've bought all their records since the Vancouver Gold 7 inch, but nothing has really grabbed my attention, but a few months ago I really sat down with The Only Blood Between Us and I'm starting to appreciate this band more.

I don't know much about Soul Control other than they are from Rhode Island and someone from Verse is in the band. Their style is very similar to Lion of Judah, or for the old school reference, Burn. The first song really pulls you in with it's intensity and I can see kids going nuts, and singing along to this song live. This 7 inch is limited to 210 on green with yellow swirl and 720 on green.

Getting The Most

A while back, I saw a posting on the Livewire messageboard that Crucial Response Records was offering free shipping for a limited time. I had been wanting the green vinyl pressing of the Get The Most 7 inch, so I figured that it was a good time to place an order. I used to get all the Crucial Response releases, up until around they released the Rectify stuff. That was when I started to lose interest...plus I stopped buying records through Ebullition Distro, so I didn't really have a means to readily buy their stuff. Anyway, I got the green vinyl of Get The Most, limited to 300, plus I picked up the One Track Mind compilation. The comp is full of cool European hardcore bands...a couple of them I knew, like Damage Control, Dead Stop, and Black Friday '29, some of them I was anxious to check out, like Know Your Enemy and No Denial, and a bunch of bands that I had never heard before. The whole thing is well done, with a great representation of Euro hardcore from 2003. I got the limited Raw Data cover...only 90 of them were made. The Raw Data series is an exclusive pressing that Crucial Response is doing, where the records come in a silkscreened sleeve. This series is only available through CRR mailorder. Very cool idea, and after getting the One Track Mind comp, I'm thinking of ordering more from the series.

First Verse

I recently won the first Verse record, simply titled Four Songs, on eBay. It's the first pressing on black vinyl and limited to 500. I saw that it was up for auction with no bids and a starting price of $2.75. I figured that I might be able to pick it up for cheap, and won as the only bidder. I remember buying this on CD when it was first released in 2003. At the time I was listening to a lot of punk rock like Good Riddance, Dillinger 4 and Anti-Flag...still good stuff, but I had pretty much lost touch with what was going on in the underground hardcore scene. I remember stumbling across the How's Your Edge messageboard, and reconnecting with a friend from the old Boston scene. Anyway, a lot of people were talking about this band, What Feeds The Fire, that had recently broken up and a couple of members were in this new band called Verse. They were talking about bringing back the early 90's style of straight edge hardcore, and mentioned Outspoken as an influence. Being such a fan of Outspoken, I was excited to check out this new band and try to reclaim that excitement in hardcore. I bought the CD and while it was good, it didn't really grab me the way that I'd hoped. It wasn't until Verse released the Rebuild album and seeing them play with The First Step that I really started to fall in love with this band. So kind of like Champion, the first output from Verse seems kind of mediocre, but seeing where the band is, and how they have grown, and can appreciate this first seven inch for the raw, sincere hardcore that it is.

Stay Cruel

Another pre-order has arrived! Last week the mailman delivered Cruel Hand's new LP, Without A Pulse. The vinyl is on orange with blue splatter, and limited to 300. The singer of the band used to play guitar in Outbreak, and while the band plays some pretty thrashing hardcore, there isn't much similarities between the two bands, with Outbreak winning the contest hands down. First saw the band when Rob and I went to the End of Summer Jam last summer, and while I thought they were just okay at that show, I had some high hopes for the album. All in all, it is a pretty average outing.

Speaking of cruel hand...my Boston Celtics were dealt one last night with the NBA lottery. They had one of the better chances to draw a top two pick and they ended up getting the number five pick. The team had some serious issues last season, and when Paul Pierce went down with an injury, it was damn near impossible for them to pull out a win. I had high hopes for this lottery and when their name was pulled from the envelope at number five, my heart sank. I'm imagining that the team will look very different at the start of the season. Either the pick, and some young players (maybe Gerald Green) will be traded away to provide Paul Pierce some veteran help, or Pierce will be traded and the team will be starting from scratch and building around Big Al Jefferson. Either way, I'm nervous that next season will bring more of the same disappointing loses as last year.

Nothing Done and Knife Fight

As soon as I got the mailorder update from Revelation that listed the new Nothing Done album, Everybody Knows, I immediately placed an order. Their last album was so much fun, I did not want to miss the first pressing of the new record. It does not disappoint. Amazing thrashy hardcore. 10 songs in 13 minutes. Limited to 500 on baby blue vinyl.

While I was shopping on REVHQ, I saw the new Knife Fight album, Crisis. I had never heard the band before, but from checking various messageboards, there was certainly a buzz about them, so I took a chance and ordered the album. The chance didn't really payoff. There is certainly some potential in the songs, they are ripping fast, and there are some catchy choruses, but a lot of it is lost is the muddy production...kind of disappointing.

Second Outbreak

I got the second pressing of the Outbreak album the other week. It's red vinyl with some slight yellow streaks in it...limited to 1,000. One of the surprises for 2006, this album is so much fun. The band is from my home state of Maine, so it is pretty sad that I have only seen the band live 3 or 4 times, but then again, I don't get out to shows very much anymore. Modern Life is War played down the road from my house last week, and it was too much trouble for me to get out and see them. Fuck, I'm getting old.

Fired Up and Getting Warmer

I got more records from Youngblood last week. I got the new Justice album, Escapades. The packaging of this record looks amazing. The white and blue vinyl, limited to 225 pressed, looks incredible. The album cover looks fantastic, and the photos on the inner sleeve really capture the the good times of a band on tour, and how great they can be live. Pictures of the band on stage, X'd up, with kids screaming along to their songs. I put the album on the turntable and the music on the record didn't really have that sound that was portrayed in those pictures. I listened to it once, and was really put off by the bands sound. I've never been a fan of Supertouch, and this had Supertouch stink all over it. The record ended and I was glad it was done. Later that afternoon, I decided to give it another chance. Yup, Supertouch...and every once in a while I can hear a little Underdog in there as well. I love Underdog, but this Justice record still blew. A few days later I've got the record cataloged in the database program I have on my computer, and I'm ready to file the vinyl away in my record collection, and I figure that I'll give it one more shot. I drop it on the turntable, and pull out the lyric sheet to fully immerse myself into the record. Hey wait a minute, this first song has a pretty good groove to it and the lyrics are pretty tight. Alright, this record is starting to grow on me, and I'll continue to give it a chance.

The other records I got were a few pressings of the Fired Up 7 inch. Youngblood had just pressed the second pressing on red (limited to 300) and on green for the labels 10 year anniversary (hand stamped and numbered 40 of 200). While I was at it, I figured that I would pick up the first pressing on black (limited to 400). As you can tell, I am loving this new record. I plug in my headphones at work a couple times a week and spin this CD. The opening riff to the title track, When The Lights Go Out, is so great. Straight forward, "generic" hardcore. Awesome.

Pre-Order Season Begins

I have spent a lot of money over the past couple of months on pre-orders. Must be that time of the year, because all of a sudden every one seems to be releasing records. One of the first to arrive was from Rivalry Records. The new Go It Alone 7 inch is the single for the upcoming new album (also up for pre-order at Rivalry). In the same vein as the last album, the single contains three songs of some pretty heavy hardcore. The purple vinyl is limited to 155, and 875 on black.

I had never heard of the band Red Handed before, but the mp3 that Rivalry had posted sounded pretty cool, so I figured I'd give them chance. The 7 inch has a pretty good sound to it, and I'm looking forward to checking it more. This one had 214 pressed on red, and 715 pressed on white.

One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure

I got a message from Jeff the other week...he had decided to clean out his record collection, getting rid of doubles and stuff that he no longer wanted. He was planning on putting a large number of records up for sale on eBay, but he offered to give me first crack at them. I wasn't sure what I would find, but he gave me a $2.00 price tag on everything, so I was looking forward to a little shopping.

Jeff ended up having lots of Metal up for sale, and I found more records than I was expecting.

• Anthrax : One of the first things I picked out of the pile were these three Anthrax albums...the Armed and Dangerous EP, Spreading the Disease, and Among the Living. I was around 15 years old, and Spreading the Disease was one of the first albums that introduced me to thrash and speed metal. The following year, I specifically remember going to the Mall to buy Among the Living with my friend Bill...sitting outside studying the packaging of the cassette tape, looking at every detail, while we waited for his father to pick us up.
• Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell : I didn't have Heaven and Hell on vinyl for my Sabbath collection, so I picked it up. Sabbath is currently touring, with Ronnie James Dio back singing for them. Unfortunately the band is unable to use the Sabbath name without Ozzy, so they are using the name Heaven and Hell. Jeff and I are going to Massachusetts in May to catch them live.

  

  Some stuff I picked up because it was in such mint condition, and some stuff I took a chance on.

  • Heathen - Breaking the Silence : I bought this on tape as a teenager. Cassette tapes are a complete waste of space, and this album was in such great condition that I bought it. Listening to this again, I was surprised at how good some of their songs were.
  • Flotsam & Jetsam - Doomsday for the Deceiver : The band that had Jason Newsted as the bassist before he went on to play in Metallica. This album is the bands best. An album that I hadn't really heard for a while, and hearing it again I was reminded just how much fun it is. Great speed metal.
  • Rage - Reign of Fear : I had never heard this album before, but it was one of the early releases on Noise records (which released records from bands like Celtic Frost, Grave Digger, Kreator, etc). The record is alright, at times reminding me of Metal Church...not great, but still entertaining.
  • E-X-E - Stricken by Might : I pulled this out of the pile because of the "Thrash With Class" sticker on the cover. Flipping the album cover over reveals photos of the band members, with the one of the bass player looking "evil" covered in blood...yeah, that must be the class they were advertising. I would have bought it for that alone. The music on the album is a direct attempt at the early Slayer sound. It works for me.

    

    Then there were the records that I was especially thrilled to get. A steal at $2.00 a piece.

    • Danzig : The first and the best. Complete with mint condition gatefold album cover, and gold promo stamp...it doesn't get any more collectible than that. I put the album on Jeff's turn table, and when the needle hit the first note of Twist of Cain, the power of those chords as they roared out of the speakers was so insanely heavy.
    • D.R.I. - Dealing With It : I first owned a copy of this on cassette tape. These days I despise this format, but as a teenager, before the introduction of CDs, I preferred cassettes because they were so convenient. Sure the artwork and liner notes were so small to non-existent, or that they were so fragile that few of my cassettes lasted through my teenage years. I kick myself for wasting my money on tapes, instead of buying vinyl. Anyway, first I owned this on tape, and then bought the CD...now I have the vinyl. Everyone should own at least one copy of this classic.
    • Slayer - South of Heaven : I had seen this Slayer album in Jeff's collection before. I was surprised, because this isn't typically his style of music. I was hoping it was going to be in the pile that he was selling, but it wasn't. I asked him about it and he didn't even know that he owned it. I found it in his collection and he just kind of shrugged his shoulders and sold it to me for $2.00. When this album first came out, I didn't like it too much since it was such a departure from Reign in Blood. Over time, I came to really appreciate this record, and now I would say this is one of my favorites from the band.

      

      Other than the Slayer record, there was one other record that I was hoping Jeff would have up for sale.

      • The Metal Massacre Limited Edition Picture Disc Box Set : I don't expect anyone else to grasp how f'n cool this thing is. Hand stamped as number 90 out of 1000. This box set contains picture discs of the first five Metal Massacre complications on Metal Blade Records. The record label left me in awe as a kid, as I would drool over their ads in Metal magazines...hoping that the local record store would carry some of their stuff. From Metallica and Slayer to Armored Saint and Lizzy Borden to Voivod and Hallows Eve. One of the coolest Heavy Metal record labels from the 80's. This one was all mine for $15.

      There were so many other records that Jeff was selling that I wanted, but at $37 for the lot, I had already spent more than I was planning on. He still had a section of Metal that he had yet to sort through, so I am looking forward to going back and taking more cool shit off his hands.

Youth Crew

When I had kids, one of the biggest things that I looked forward to was sharing my love of music with them. I hated the typical kids music, and instead chose to introduce mine to Black Flag and The Misfits. By the time Sam turned 5, he really was getting interested in music, mostly early Heavy Metal and Hard Rock from my collection. The first band that he really latched onto was AC/DC, and his favorite songs were If You Want Blood, TNT, and Jailbreak. He would listen to those songs over and over again. Slowly he found interest in a few other songs, like Black Sabbath's Iron Man and Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water. I love that Sam is so interested in music...good music. Every once in a while he will want to go through my CD's and albums, pulling out the ones that he knows, and studying the album covers that he thinks are cool.

Since I had this picture of Sam looking at my vinyl collection, I needed to find one of Julia that I could post as well. I was digging around and found this picture from 2002. I had an Impact (later to change their name to Stand & Fight) sticker that I put on the front of her shirt, X'd up her hands, and we had a good time screaming into her toy microphone.

Heartfelt Punks

I finally got my package in the mail from Rold! I had sent the money to him back at the beginning of February, and by the time April rolled around, I thought for sure it had been sucked into the postal black hole as it crossed the Atlantic. I had resigned myself to the fact that I was never going to receive what he had sent. I was so happy to find the package in my mailbox this week. He sent me two Heartfelt CD's, Take It Or Leave It (which is new on Shield Recordings), Explosive (which I think is their first one), plus a few pins and an assortment of stickers. I really like this band. Musically they kind of remind me of Betrayed, and Rold has a vocal style that really reminds me of Eric Ozenne from Redemption 87 (pre-Nerve Agents). Great stuff. Thanks Rold, now you need to get Take It Or Leave It pressed on vinyl!

In The Beginning...

It was one of those days where I was just surfing through ebay...just looking for some cheap vinyl. I came across this Mercyful Fate album, The Beginning, for $9.99. Shipping was only a few bucks, so I picked it up. I always loved this band as a kid...the cartoonish satanism, complete with King Diamond's face paint with an upside down cross on his forehead. Awesome.

The Magic of the Celtics

Took a day off from work last week for our annual trip for a Celtics vs. Magic game. Paul, Rob and I headed down to Boston after lunch to get in some record shopping before the game. As always, it was a fun trip, but for some reason this one was one of the best...complete hyjinx from start to finish. Our first stop was supposed to be Re-Generation Records. This was a great punk/hardcore record store in Boston, but when we got there we found out that it had been turned into Re-Generation Tattoo Shop...no records. It was disappointing, but the guy gave us directions to In Your Ear Records.

In Your Ear was a cool little dive of a shop. They did have a punk section, but I felt that the prices were a little too high. Still, I found a few cool records.

• Indestructible Noise Command - Razorback and The Visitor : I loved I.N.C. when I was a kid...I remember Paul had both of these on cassette. They play that great style of generic speed metal from '87/'88. These two records were in mint condition and for $6.00 a piece, I quickly picked them up.
• Alice Cooper - Special Forces : Another one of Alice's weaker records, that doesn't rock as hard as he had in years past. Still, there is some fun songs on this album. This was in great condition, plus it had the gold promo stamp on the front...and for only $3.00, how could I not buy it?

After our trip to In Your Ear, we stopped at Nuggets. Again, I found some cool stuff, and maybe I was just feeling cheap that day, but I felt like some of it was over priced as well. Still, I walked out of there dropping over $50.

• Led Zeppelin - Presence : This was my first Zeppelin vinyl. Quite fitting actually, since this album was the first one that Jeff played for me that got me into the band. It was also the first Zeppelin CD that I bought (complete with packaging that replicates the original vinyl version). I grew up hating this band, and when I first heard the rumblings of Achilles Last Stand to start this album, I realized what I had been missing.
• Deep Purple - The House of Blue Light : Come on, it's Deep Purple with Ian Gillian singing. I haven't listened to this one yet, but Gillian has such an amazing voice I'm sure I'll like this record. Plus it was only $4.99, so what the hell.
• Tokyo Blade - Warrior of the Rising Sun : Back in 1985 this band had a song called Lightning Strikes on a compilation called Banzai Axe. The comp had songs from the likes of Slayer, Metallica, Venom and Raven. I always liked the Tokyo Blade song, but never had the chance to hear anything else by them. About a year ago, I downloaded the Warrior of the Rising Sun album, and I really liked it. Found the double vinyl at Nuggets for $12.99.
• In My Eyes - The Difference Between : One of my favorite bands of all time. I have all their records on colored vinyl. This one was on black vinyl and only $7.99. Now I only need the Nothing to Hide LP on black vinyl and the collection will be complete.
• The Nerve Agents - The Butterfly Collection : Another great hardcore record. The Nerve Agents were so good. I never got to see them live, but their recorded stuff...intense, ripping hardcore.

After our record shopping we headed over to the Garden. Took a trip over to Faneuil Hall before the game and Rob and I got a couple of big-ass M & M cookies. The game was an emotional rollercoaster. I'm ready for them to tank the season for a top draft pick, but Rob is a big Magic fan, and if Orlando won he'd love throwing it back in my face. It was a double overtime thriller, and even though it seemed like Boston was trying to throw the game, the refs kept making calls against the Magic. Seriously, Orlando had this game wrapped up, until the refs made a call with about 3 seconds left on the clock giving the ball to Boston, and then Pierce hit a huge basket to tie the game and force overtime. Boston wins and makes it a sweep for every time we've made a trip to a Celtics / Magic game. It was a fun game, and hey, Boston still has a good shot at a top 2 draft pick.

Nothing Done

Nothing Done just released a new album on Not Just Words Records called Everybody Knows. The pre-order was limited to 100 and came with a different album sleeve. I had never heard that band before, but when you site bands like Black Flag, Negative Approach and Circle Jerks as influences then you have my attention. I checked out a couple of mp3's and liked what I heard, however I wasn't really prepared to pay the price for a record overseas...I think it would have cost me around $20. I checked the Revelation mailorder and they had a copy of Nothing Done's first LP, Powertrip, so I picked that up instead. It was a second pressing on blue vinyl and limited to 525. The record is amazing. It is so much fun. They definitely have that early 80's hardcore sound...fast and aggressive. I love it. When RevHQ carries the new album, I will have to pick it up.

So Here's To Fucked Up Youth

Ceremony play a style of hardcore that is harsh as fuck, brutally ripping through songs that barely clock in at a minute long. Heavily influenced by Infest, with lyrics that are spit with rage, this record is an intense 13 minutes. I had Ceremony's first 7 inch, and thought it was okay, but I never really had the chance to listen to it much. I picked up their newest record on a whim through Revelation, and I am blown away. As a bonus, the packaging of this record is sweet. Gatefold sleeve, with a red, white and grey splattered clear vinyl. I can't stop listening to this. Amazing shit for when you hate the world.

Living Hell

Fuck

So here's to fucked up youth

Here's to burning lies

Here's to each fucking day that just passed me by

Fuck

Higher Learning

Another piece of my order from Revelation Records...Down To Nothing, the Higher Learning 7 inch. This one is the second press on green vinyl. I'm not sure how many were pressed. This one was out for a while before I finally bought the record, and now I'm wishing that I bought it earlier. These three songs are so good, with one of them being a great Four Walls Falling cover. It took me a long time before I finally checked this band out. They were on Thorp Records, and I kind of had that label pegged as a tough guy, metalcore record label, and so I avoided them. I think the thing that pushed me to check them out was when Rob and I went to Posi Numbers 05. They were on the bill, and I downloaded Save It For The Birds to prepare for the show. The album was really good, but didn't really stick with me. They had a good set, and did a great cover of No Spiritual Surrender. I caught them in Maine with Have Heart on the Fourth of July last year, and realized that they were a straight edge band when I saw them all X'd up. Okay, call me biased, or close minded or whatever, but once I saw they were straight edge I became more interested in the band. I bought the Splitting Headache CD at the show but it didn't really do much for me. Save It For The Birds, however, really grew on me, and if this new 7 inch is any indication of how their new album is going to be, I'm looking forward to it.

Get The Most

It has been a number of years since I've bought anything on Crucial Response Records. In the mid-90's, this record label was one of my favorites...I could always count on them to release some great positive straight edge hardcore. At some point I got away from what they were doing, but Get The Most was the band that got me interested again. They play that straight up, generic youth crew style of hardcore that still gets me Xing up my fists and fighting to get up front to sing along and stagedive. Damn, they are named after an Insted song, so how can you go wrong? I really owe it to Tyler for bringing this band to my attention.

I got this record through RevHQ. Black vinyl limited to 700 pressed. I'd love to get my hands on the green vinyl pressing or the record release cover at some point. Great stuff.

Lace And Whiskey

I recently picked up this copy of Alice Cooper's Lace and Whiskey. This is generally not known as one of Alice's better records, but I still enjoy it. Even though Alice had split with the original band years before...the band that helped create the truly classic albums...there is still some solid hard rock songs here. There are also a few radio friendly songs...I guess you could call them ballads. In most cases, I would probably not be interested in that style of song, but there is just something about his voice that allows him to pull it off.

I got this record through ebay for $10. It is a promo, as noted by the giant pink sticker on the front of the album cover, making it more of a collectors item. This copy still had the order form to join the Fan Club.

X-ing Up Strongly Suggested

It has been too long since I've added some hardcore vinyl to the collection. I was killing some time on eBay and saw a first pressing of Champion's first 7 inch, Come Out Swinging. Picked it up for $4.34. I'm not sure how many were pressed on clear vinyl, but I'm going to have to find out. Edit : I checked with Aram and he thinks there were 300 pressed on clear and 700 on black vinyl.

Before it was re-pressed on Bridge Nine, this record was released by Platinum Recordings on vinyl and Phyte Records on CD. I remember when this was first released...it had Timm McIntosh from Trial in the band so I was excited to check it out. I saw the CD at Newbury Comics and was checking out the packaging. The back of the CD case was designed like the credits on a movie poster...complete with a rating. Rated SE, X-ing up strongly suggested, contains straight edge hardcore that may incite finger pointing. Yes! I didn't hesitate to buy this CD. Unfortunately it didn't move me the way that I'd hoped, and I never really got into the band until they released Promises Kept. This record isn't nearly as strong as that LP, but it has grown on me and I can appreciate it for what it is...the starting point of a great band.

Dude, Where's The Vinyl?

Wow, I sure didn't by much vinyl in February. This past month I actually put most of my money into my CD collection. Up until recently, I never put much thought into collecting CD's. Over the past 5 or 6 years, I've gone nuts downloading music. Using Napster, WinMX, and Soulseek, I had created hundreds upon hundreds of burned CD's....stuff that I had no intention of buying because I had limited myself to only purchasing punk and hardcore. Over the years, my interest has moved from that singular focus and has expanded to include Rock and Metal. I grew up on Heavy Metal, and since the nostalgia for those old bands has kicked in, I'm not too impressed with my collection of burned CD's and homemade packaging. The collector in me has taken over, and I need to own the real deal for a lot of it. We are also putting an addition on my house, and I will be gaining a large walk-in closet to store all of my music. The thought of having shelves of my CD's on display, cluttered with a bunch of burned disks, pushed me to start cleaning it up. I still have over 800 burned CD's, so it will take some work, but I'll get there.

Sabbath From Japan

One of my newest obsessions, and if you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that there are quite a few of them. This time around it is Japanese pressings. When I started collecting Iron Maiden vinyl, I knew that I wanted to get a Japanese pressing of one of their albums...just for collectors sake. I ended up getting the Killers LP and their Live Plus One EP. I loved the packaging on these records...the OBI strip around the record sleeve, and the extra insert. When I got my Japanese pressing of Sabbath's Master of Reality, I was hit with the urge to add any other Metal/Rock record from Japan to my collection. The first one that I found was Live Evil from Black Sabbath. Picked it up for $10.50 on eBay.

I think that Live Evil may have been one of the first Black Sabbath album that I had. I don't even know where I got it from, but I had taped it off of someone. I remember, as a kid, blasting this album from my boom box. Cranking these songs as my soundtrack, playing basketball in my driveway under the hot summer sun. Music is tied heavily to my memories of growing up, and this is one of those albums that will always remind me of those days as a kid...just hanging out with my brother and playing basketball and baseball with neighborhood friends.

That's Why It's Called Record "Collecting"

I don't know many people that really "get it". I was talking to my wife the other day about the Sabbath reunion tour with Dio, and I mentioned that they would be releasing a Best of Sabbath : The Dio Years CD. She replied, "Well you already have all the CD's, so you won't need to buy that one.". I told her that I thought that there was going to be a couple of unreleased new songs included, and she told me that I could just download or copy them from Jeff. Nope, I'll need to buy it. I am a collector. I am a completist. I need to own it.

I know that she would never understand this recent addition, and I'm sure she wouldn't be alone. My Black Sabbath addiction has not gone away, and my newest mission is collecting different pressings of the Master of Reality LP. I once saw a picture of someone's collection...about 30 different pressings of this record...I thought it was one of the coolest things I've seen. Such a great documentation of different pressings from across the world. Master Of Reality has always been one of my favorites from Sabbath, and was one of the first CD's that I ever bought from them. I got my first vinyl copy of this album up in Toronto, and then won the promo copy on eBay. It snowballed from there, and I recently got three more copies for the collection. First, I bought the clear vinyl pressing from Jeff for $10. It was released on Earmark Records, and Jeff hated the sound from this remaster so he sold it to me for cheap. After buying that one, I won a couple on eBay. The Japanese pressing is very cool with the OBI strip and special insert. That one was $26.00. The final copy that I got was the US pressing with the green label...only $4.00.

So, even though I know that not many people will understand this fascination, I'm having a good time with it.