A New Cover Is Revealed

Every time that I find a different pressing of the Reveal 7 inch, I'm surprised. I know nothing about the pressing info on this record, so I get excited each time I find something new. This time around, I stumbled upon the pressing with the limited edition cover...except this one was blue and not orange, like the one I already have. Anything else that I was watching on eBay took an immediate back seat, as I set out to win this at any cost.

Just like the orange cover that I own, this one is hand numbered out of 100. I'm assuming that this is just one run of 100 on black vinyl with the big hole, and they just a couple different colors for printing the covers.

The question now is, are there any other different pressings that I don't know about?

Lost And Found

Sometime around 1991, I really started to immerse myself into the hardcore scene. It really became everything to me, and I felt like it was something that I could call my own. Even though I was 20/21 years old, this music really helped define who I am today. The bands from that time period hold a lot of sentimental value for me, but apparently I'm alone in this opinion as I was able to pick up Encounter's Lost 7 inch, for only $5.50. Seriously, I would have paid 5 times the sale amount to get this into my collection. I already own this on black vinyl, but I didn't hesitate to pick up this copy on grey colored vinyl. A classic from Redemption Records.

Adolescents In Canada

This past weekend, Rob, Paul and I headed out for the 6th Annual Guy's Roadtrip. Our destination this year was a return trip over the Canadian boarder and into Toronto. A 12 hour drive, we made our first stop at a town called Niagara on the Lake, where we had reservations to take a jet boat ride down the river at Niagara Falls. The ride was awesome as the jet boat takes you down some class 5 whitewater rapids, plus it did some pretty sweet 360 degree spins as we were rocketing down the calmer parts of the river. Definite adrenaline rush. After changing into some dry clothes, we headed out for Toronto. We got to the hotel a little late, but we did bump into David Faustino, who played Bud Bundy on the TV show Married With Children back in the 80's. He talked to Rob and Paul for a bit while I was checking us in to our room. Seemed like a cool enough guy. Hanging out in Toronto was a lot of fun. We walked the streets for miles and miles...from record store to record store, but I only bought something at the first store we stopped at, Sonic Boom. Pretty cool record store with a nice selection of vinyl, but they didn't take American currency, so I had to put it on my credit card (which I was hoping to avoid). It made me hesitant to buy anything at the other stores, although I'm totally regretting not picking up the Slayer bootleg album that I had seen at Rotate This. After record shopping, we went to see a Toronto Blue Jays game. The home team won in the 10th inning with a walk off home run. Very nice. All over town we had been seeing movie posters up for this film called Dead Snow. None of us had ever heard of it, but he movie poster was so cool, that we hunted down a movie theater and caught a 10:00 PM showing at the end of the day. Movie was as good as we had hoped it would be...Nazi zombies with plenty of blood, guts, and gore. Nicely done. We spent all day on Sunday driving home, which was a little exhausting. All in all, it was one of the best roadtrips that we have been on. Good times.



The first album that I picked up at Sonic Boom was the Adolescents LP. I first heard this album about four years ago...somehow avoiding this punk/hardcore classic since it's release in 1981...and I've fallen in love with it. I have been meaning to pick it up on vinyl for the past couple of years, always putting off ordering it from Frontier Records. Seeing the 25th Anniversary pressing on grey colored vinyl at Sonic Boom was as good a reason that I needed to finally pick this up.

Another album that I've been wanting to buy for a while now was some of the Motorhead vinyl reissues on Back On Black. The pressing that they have done for the Motorhead catalog have looked absolutely amazing, but due to the price of these UK imports, I've held off on picking any up. I saw a few at Sonic Boom, and finally took the plunge by picking up Volume One of the BBC Live & In-Session double LP. Featuring some early live performances from '78 and '79, I was happy to finally add one of these Back On Black Motorhead pressings to the collection. Sonic Boom also had the 4 LP pressing of the band's 1980 classic, Ace of Spades, but with a $60 price tag, that one was still too pricey for me to pick up. Maybe some day....

Overloading The Collection

Just Another Day Records is really impressing me. I loved the Debaser 7 inch that I received earlier this month, and their newest 7 inch from Overload, We Live Here And Now, is a quality release as well. The pre-order version for this record is pretty sweet. Not only do you get the dust sleeve personalized and hand numbered (which is a nice touch, even though he spelled my name wrong and had to scratch it out!), but it comes with a different cover, and is one of the sickest looking pieces of gold vinyl that I have ever seen. Pictures do not do it justice, but it really looks amazing. Sebastian from Just Another Day had intended to press 88 on gold vinyl, but the pressing plant ended up only giving him 44, which make the pre-order version even more limited. Apparently the plant ended up pressing this on a lot more colors than Seb had requested, so like the Debaser record, there are a bunch of these to collect. In addition to the gold pre-order pressing, I also got the purple/pink marble (limited to 74) and the brown/grey mix (limited to 95).

Like Debaser, I had never really heard Overload when I purchased their record. A few guys, who's opinions I trust, had been saying good things about the band...plus with that record cover, it is no surprise what kind of hardcore they play. Straight Edge Old School Hardcore. I'm liking it, and will be talking to Seb to try and get my hands on other pressings of this solid record.

We're Gonna Rise Above

Back in April, I set myself up with a project. My mission was to listen to all of the music that I have downloaded for free and burned to CD over the past 10 years or so. I would give it a fair listen, and if I decided that it wasn't something that I would ever purchase, it went right into the trash. I had over 800 burned CD's in my collection, so this was not going to be a quick and easy task. So, from April through August, these burned CDs were all that I would listen to...starting at Abhinanda and ending with ZZ Top...tossing out over 100 pieces of shit like Dashboard Confessional and Static-X, and buying CDs of those that I wanted to keep like Dead Kennedys and Van Halen. At one point, I had no problem downloading free music, but no more. If I like it, I buy it. It is going to take some time to clear up the remaining 700 burned CDs that I still have, but I'll keep chipping away at it each month and make my record and CD collection more respectable.

My latest attempt to clear out some of those ugly CDRs came from an order to Rise Above Records. I've wanted to get my hands on Witchcraft's The Alchemist LP for some time now, but having to order from overseas was a bitch on shipping. I finally got to the point where I didn't care about pricing...I wanted this. The album is now on it's fourth pressing, and has been released on numerous colors, which now go for a hefty price on eBay. Rise Above had some of the third pressing available, so I went for it. I had the choice between green or purple vinyl, but I went for the "black sparkle". It is a very cool black vinyl pressing with bits of glitter in the wax. Nice. The band rocks a heavy Sabbath vibe, and I'm loving this album more and more with each listen. Seriously, this record is so good that I want to go back and order a couple more colors. Yeah, maybe when I've got an extra $100 burning a hole in my bank account.

The other album that I bought was the Gentlemans Pistols LP. Marcus introduced me to this band about a year ago (check it here), and as soon as I heard them, I was in love. Definite 70's rock influence that's got some serious hooks. Man, I remember being so excited when I first heard this band...it was just before I was headed up to bed one night, and after listening to one of their songs on myspace, I was too excited to fall asleep and tossed and turned for a while. Since it took me so long to finally place this order, I missed out on the colored vinyl, but fuck it, the black vinyl is limited to 200, just like the yellow pressing, so who cares.

React Records For The Win

The latest React pre-orders arrived this week. I typically do a first in, first out method for blogging, but since Marcus has already written about this one, I figured that I knock this one out know instead of putting it on the bottom of the pile. When pre-orders went up for this one, my bank account took a huge hit as I ordered the Hardcore Lives package deal from React, the Reaper Records special pressing of the ON album, plus another chunk of change was sent over to Powered Records for their pre-order of the ON album as well. In one day, I managed to blow over $100 on pre-orders. The race was on, and I wondered which label was going to get me the vinyl first. React easily took first place as I'm still waiting for the other two labels to cross the finish line.

I didn't hold back with my React pre-order, and went for the Hardcore Lives package deal which got you 2 pressings of the ON LP, three copies of the Gone But Not Forgotten 7 inch, plus 1 shirt from each band. Judging from Marcus' pictures, it looks like it also got you a different screened cardboard mailer (which are always a cool bonus).

I was happy with my ON records until I noticed that Marcus got a blue pressing of the record. I was at work today, and all of a sudden I couldn't remember if my colored vinyl for this was blue or white. Blue was the more limited color with only 150 pressed, where the white pressing was of 250. I was certain that I had received blue vinyl, as Marcus had, but I couldn't be sure and started having doubts. It got so bad at one point that I considered calling my daughter at home when she got off the school bus, and asking her to check which color I had. I stuck it out and checked immediately when I got home...shit....white vinyl. I was bummed. How was I going to get my hand on that blue vinyl pressing? I made a couple comments on Marcus' blog, expressing my disappointment in finding out that I had white vinyl, and within a couple of hours I had an email in my inbox from a friend saying that he could hook me up. Made my day.

The last piece of the Hardcore Lives package was the three colors of the Gone But Not Forgotten 7 inch pressing of the demo. React had previously released this on cassette, and while I hate the format, I still bought one. I'm glad that React decided to release this on vinyl as well. Great straight edge hardcore, with a strong Brotherhood feel to it.

Cheap Shots

After picking up the Cheap Tragedies 7 inch on Livewire Records back in July, I immediately sought out their other records. To keep things simple, I was able to order both the LP and their first 7 inch through Mad At The World Records. The band was pretty busy in 2008, because all three records were released last year, and all of them are solid. Great hardcore punk from Tony Erba and the boys. Mad At The World released the LP, Volume 1: Souvenirs & Evidence, which I picked on clear vinyl (limited to 300)...while No Idea released the self titled 7 inch (I don't know how many were pressed on purple).

Dead To Me

My friend, Rob, recently bought a Dead Swans shirt from Bridge Nine and as part of a package deal, he got a copy of the band's 7 inch as well. Since Rob doesn't really have any use for vinyl, he passed it along to me. This wasn't a band that I would have actively searched out and bought anything from, so I'm glad that I got this free 7 inch as my introduction. Neither good, nor bad for me, this one just fails to really make an impression on me. I've listened to it 3 or 4 times now, and while it is some rough hardcore in the same vein as Ruiner, Dead Swans quickly become background music and has me looking forward to the next record that I'll get to play. Maybe it's because this 7 inch ends with such a bad song. I've never heard the original version of My Bloody Valentine's When You Sleep, and after hearing Dead Swans cover it, I know that I never need to. Such a bad song that can easily be ruining the entire listening experience for me. Hey, at least Bridge Nine is now putting exclusive songs on their 7 inch records that prepare fans for the bands upcoming LP. I guess that is a positive, even if they are shitty covers of My Bloody Valentine.

Another Day, Another Record

A couple of months back, I spent a lot of money on records. Seriously, I was out of control. As a part of my record frenzy, I took a chance on the Debaser 7 inch from Just Another Day Records. Not only did I take a chance on buying a 7 inch from a band that I hadn't really heard before, I bought 4 copies...then I ended up paying too much in shipping so the label threw in a tour press as well, so make that 5 copies. My risk paid off, because this record is amazing...one of the best new bands for 2009. Imagine if The Nerve Agents had a head on collision with Panic...from the remains of the wreckage, you would find Debaser's Rich White Boys 7 inch. I can't say enough good things about this record.

The pressings on this remind me of the Have Heart demo from Bottled Up Records. The record was just released, and there are already a ton of different colors and transition presses. Those that don't really "get it" will crap all over this and say that there are too many pressings. Screw them, I love it and want them all.

Here we go...the pre-order pressing is limited to 107 on a dark magenta vinyl (although the pictures here make it look black), and the dust sleeve is hand numbered and personalized...plus mine has a note about the blog (thanks Seb!). The lilac/pink color is the tour pressing and limited to 84. Then there were 100 on blue, 110 on neon yellow, and 87 on solid orange.

Hard As Iron

I'm still not really sure how I feel about the Iron Age 7 inch, The Way Is Narrow, that was released last year on Painkiller Records. First of all, the cover art is absolutely killer...I love the 60's psych vibe of the whole thing, and might have bought this based on the cover alone. The two songs on the record are pretty good, I guess. Everyone seems to be loving this band right now, but I think it will take some time for me to really grasp this one. There are a lot of layers here for me to dig through, and while it didn't really grab me right off, this is getting better with each listen. I'll keep spinning it, and see if I want to invest in the new LP they just released.

Committed For Life

My first experience with 7 Seconds probably wasn't the best. When I first started getting into hardcore, I had heard the band's mentioned left and right. Everyone seemed to like 7 Seconds. I decided to check them out myself, and I picked up their newest CD at the local record store. Soulforce Revolution. Of course the band had been moving in a more indie/alternative direction, and I was left pretty confused. What the hell was everyone talking about? Over time, I grew to enjoy Soulforce Revolution, but it was when I decided to take another chance on the band that I discovered why they had earned their reputation as hardcore legends. I had seen the Committed For Life E.P. at Newbury Comics, and the band didn't really resemble the dreadlocked band that I was introduced to on Soulforce Revolution. No, this band was raw. This version of 7 Seconds was HARDCORE. It wasn't until I was browsing through Al Barkley's eBay listings back in July, that my attention was drawn to the numerous pressings of this 7 inch. I knew right then that I needed to start collecting them.

So here we have the 6th and last pressing of this 7 inch on Squirtdown Records. This one has the orange cover, but according to Al's website, there appears to also be a 6th pressing with a yellow cover. All pressings after this one were on the Pazzafist label. Grabbed this copy for $6.50.

Straight And Alert

Alert are a fairly new Straight Edge band out of Western Massachusetts. I downloaded their 2008 demo a while back and caught them play with Mindset and The Effort way back in February this year. I was really impressed with them, and you can tell that these kids love the old school sounds of Uniform Choice and Insted. Needless to say, I was pretty excited when I found out that Life To Live Records was releasing the demo on vinyl.

I jumped right on the pre-orders when they went up, but the vinyl package deal had already sold out, and I was left with only the clear and black vinyl...limited to 200 each. I couldn't believe how fast the red vinyl, with the special pre-order cover, had sold out! After catching Alert back in February, I had exchanged a few messages with the band's bass player Keith. A wise man once told me "If you don't ask, you don't get." and every once in a while I'll put that into practice. It worked for me with the Daysgone test press, and I figured that since I missed out on the Alert pre-orders, I'd hit up Keith to see if he could help me get my hands on the red vinyl. To my surprise, Keith had a copy that he would sell to me. I immediately sent him the money via paypal, and waited for the records to arrive. Each day, I was sure that today was the day that the records would arrive from either Keith or from Life To Live, and each day I was disappointed with my empty mailbox. I finally followed up with both of them. Dan at Life To Live wasn't sure what had happened. He said that my records had shipped, but offered to send them again. I told Dan, that there was no reason for him to be on the losing end of this transaction, and that I hated to see a cool new label lose some money, so I told him that I'd order them again when I got my next paycheck. At the same time I was having the conversation with Life To Live, I heard back from Keith. He was very apologetic that the records hadn't been sent. He had been away on tour and hadn't sent them before he left. I told him the bad luck that I was having in getting my hands on this vinyl, and so he said that he was leaving for the post office at that moment, and was mailing me all three pressings of the demo. Sure enough, the very next day, I received the package from him in the mail. Man, it feels good to finally have this in my hands! Thanks Keith!

Carrying On

With the Carry On pre-orders just posted this week for the It's All Our Blood LP, on React and Youngblood, I thought that it was fitting that I post the Roll With The Punches 7 inch that I just received. Nothing super rare...there are 1,700 pressed of this on black vinyl...but goddamn, it would be hard to not include this record in my Top Ten 7 inches of all time. That is how much I'm loving this record right now. Carry On are another band, in a long list of bands, that I've wanted to add to my record collection for a long time, but I've always had my eye on some other prize. Last month, I went on a "cheap" record spree, buying a bunch of stuff for under $10 a piece, and scored this record.

The funny thing is that I didn't start collecting records until the beginning of 2005 with Champion's Promises Kept. After a few months of getting into this hobby, I made my first major purchase...Carry On's A Life Less Plagued LP on orange vinyl. I spent $60 for it on eBay. At the time, it was a HUGE purchase for me. Never in my life had I thought that I would have dished out that much cash for just one record. The record collecting bug had bitten me hard, and since there were only 150 pressed, I figured that if I didn't go for it then, who knows when I would have had the opportunity to grab this record again. Here we are over 4 years later, finally picking up my second piece of Carry On vinyl, and more thankful than ever that I spent the money on that LP when I did.

Reach Out And Pass It On

A month or so ago, Al Barkley had a bunch of stuff up on eBay. I saw that he had two different pressings of the Billingsgate 7 inch. Knowing that I only had the black vinyl pressing of this record (which I picked up when I saw them open up for Killing Time in Boston), I set out to win both of them. I was prepared to pay more than they were worth, because once I get my mind set on something, there is no stopping me. The 7 inch was released in 1990, and I wouldn't consider it a huge collector's item...however, it was second release from Victory Records, so I couldn't be sure how collectible they really were. Since the auctions ended at $10 for the white vinyl, and $3.50 for the blue vinyl, I guess that there isn't a huge demand for Billingsgate vinyl. There is something about this band that I love. They played straight forward hardcore, but had some real sincere lyrics that touched upon some political themes of the day, such as the war in Iraq and pro-choice...including their Reach Out intro, "Just remember knowledge leaves an imprint greater than any punch. Reach out and pass it on.". The guitarist went on to play in Dillinger Four.

Comparing the three pressings, I was surprised at all the differences. Each one has a different color ink for the lyric sheet on the inside sleeve, plus the different ink on the b-side label for the black and white vinyl, not to mention the three different designs for the a-side labels. I would love to know the reasoning behind all the changes from one pressing to the next. Hell, I'd be content to just know the numbers pressed on this, since Victory doesn't seem to post the vinyl pressing info on their site.

In The Beginning...

For me, Heavy Metal began with the first Black Sabbath album. Other bands may have had some heavy riffs prior to the release of this album, but no one put it all together like Sabbath did. The album was released in 1970, which just so happens to be the year that I was born. Because of this, I thought that it would be rather fitting that I finally add this classic album to my vinyl collection with the gift certificates that I got for my birthday...and with the recent deluxe expanded editions being released, it was perfect timing. Released as a double LP, with bonus tracks of b-sides and studio outtakes, combined with the beautiful packaging, this thing is amazing. Truly a classic.

Boston Straight Edge

Have Heart's last show is scheduled for October 17th...Edge Day. While I really like Have Heart, the bands that I'm looking forward to the most are No Tolerance and Step Forward. I recently received the No Tolerance 7 inch the other day, and this thing is awesome. Featuring Justin DeTore and Chris Corry from Mind Eraser, but No Tolerance play a style of music that is closer to DYS and Project X. Unapologetically straight edge, raging and in your face. With songs that bring you back to the Chorus Of Disapproval album, claiming to be the judge and the jury, and a condemnation of fake edge bands like Boston X. Thing rips from start to finish. Boston Straight Edge! Drug Free Youth!

Crucial Times

I was checking the What I Got Today In The Mail thread on the React messageboard a couple months back, and saw that someone had posted a picture of the first Get The Most 7 inch on red and blue vinyl. I had no idea that this had been repressed. I checked the Crucial Response webstore and went a little crazy ordering more shit than I can really afford. Since shipping overseas is a bitch, I figured that if I'm going to place an order, I might as well make it a big one.

First thing I picked up was the second pressing of the Common Goals E.P. from Get The Most. Limited to 296 on red and 203 on blue vinyl. Band is so good.

Now I have heard that the guys in Brotherhood never really gave the Crucial Response guys permission to release this album which compiles all their recordings. If they are getting ripped off, that sucks, however this record was the only place that I was going to get to hear these songs when I picked it up 15 years ago through the Ebullition mailorder. The only pressing I had of the 12 inch is the second press on black vinyl. For the third press, Crucial Response took 101 copies of the black vinyl and created silk screened covers for them as part of their Raw Data series.

Another one from the Raw Data series with the silk screened covers...again, limited to only 101. This one is for the These Words Still Pray 12 inch from Onward. When this was released back in 1997, I had pretty much stopped buying vinyl at the time and was only buying CD's. Since this was a vinyl only release, I never picked it up. I'm glad that I finally have it in my collection.

The last record that I picked up was the Break Free LP from One Voice. I first heard this band on the Youth Crew 2009 comp 7 inch, and was really impressed. This album contains the songs from their 7 inch, plus the demo and comp song. Man, I am loving the songs from their 7 inch! Very reminiscent of the Loud and Clear album and probably early Justice, and at times it reminds me a bit of Lights Out. Limited to 300 on orange vinyl.

Speaking Out On Perfection

I've been wanting to pick up a copy of Bold's LP, Speak Out, for some time now. I didn't care what pressing it was, all I was concerned about was that it needed to have the gatefold sleeve. Sometimes the most common items are the ones that take the longest to get added to my collection. I've been after the red vinyl copy of Stand & Fight's Impact Demo 7 inch for years. Same is true for the black vinyl of Champion's Count Our Numbers record. I've spent years passing them by on eBay. Why? Because I figure that I can get one any time I want. When I saw that Al Barkley was selling his copy of Speak Out, I figured that the time had come for me to finally act...and with a winning bid of $16.00, the time was definately right. This one is the third press with the "Carrot Juice" and "Ha Ha Ha" on the matrix etching.

Man, the layout for this album cover is true perfection. I love everything about it, from the color combinations to the live photos that seem to really capture the youth crew excitement from 1987. As for the music on this album, it kicks ass all over their follow up, more "mature" 7 inch, and I may even like this LP more today than when I first heard it back in the early 90's. The only downside in buying this LP, is that it reminds me that I still have a hole in my collection where the Crippled Youth 7 inch should be. The search continues....

Save It For The Birds

First update in over a week. Man, it is going to be a struggle to get in double digit posts this month. It ain't for lack of vinyl though. Today, I just got back from a week long vacation with the family. After a real cold, wet and rainy summer, we got really lucky and had a week of sunshine and humidity for our week on the lake. We really couldn't have planned it any better. Spent every day on the beach and in the water. Great times, but it is nice to be back at home with access to my music and my computer. It was a true test being without music for a full week! The second day of our vacation, we had everyone from the family stop by for my, and my wife's, birthday party. I pulled in $180 in gift cards for Bull Moose Music. I was so excited that, over the week, there were some nights that I would lie awake in bed at 2:00 in the morning...just making mental lists of what vinyl and CDs I was going to buy when I got home.

When I got home from the lake today, I had 7 packages of new vinyl and CD's waiting for me in the mailbox. This vacation just gets better and better. But before I can get to the new records, I've got to continue to clean up the stack that I got piling up. So without further ado, this blog post is for the Birds Of A Feather 7 inch, Chapter 5. Featuring the singer from Mainstrike, you can guess that this band is going to have that old school straight edge sound, and if that is what you are looking for, this does not disappoint. Mainstrike were pretty good, but other than their first 7 inch, they never really lit a fire under me. Birds Of A Feather have the potential to do that. This is a really good record, and I love the idea of a bunch of over 30 dudes doing a Straight Edge band. Released only on black vinyl on Commitment Records...limited to 1,010 pressed.

How Are You Going To Do It?

Do it Doggy Style! When my brother first got the Doggy Style cassette back in the late 80's, I had no idea what Straight Edge or positive hardcore was, but there was something about this album that spoke to me. I never really drank alcohol...didn't take my first drink until I was well out of High School...I just never really grasped the concept of drinking to have fun. But even back then, hearing songs like Straight or even the anti-drunk driving message in Enough, just really clicked with me. But what really got me was the positivity of songs like Be Strong and Side By Side. When I did a stupid little zine in the mid-90's, I named it Still Hope, after Doggy Style's song of the same name. It wasn't until years later, after being introduced to bands like Minor Threat and Youth of Today, that the message and mindset really took hold, but Doggy Style laid that foundation.

A month or so ago, Rob and I went down to Boston to catch Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine. The show was a good time which included some burlesque dancers for their version of Snoop Dog's Gin and Juice. Crazy stuff. Before the show, Rob and I stopped at Nuggets for some record and CD shopping. I only walked away with one piece of vinyl on this trip, and it was the Doggy Style Side By Side LP. This 1985 album is in mint condition and comes with a HUGE fold out lyric sheet. Awesome.

Keep It Coming

I've found myself pressed for time lately...trying to keep this blog updated, and trying to keep up with the pile of new records sitting beside my computer waiting to be listened to and filed. And while I still have 13 pieces of new vinyl waiting in the wings to be added to the blog, I still find myself with an overwhelming desire to continue to buy more. There is no question that record collecting is my vice. I curse the mailman each day that he does not deliver the package that I've been waiting for. I spend more money than I should, and I burn more time on this obsession than is probably healthy. But it is what I love, and so therefore I make no apologies for it. I just turned 39 years old this past week, and it is funny how strong a hold this music, and this record collecting hobby, still has on me. I'm not just talking about the classics that I grew up on either. Hardcore has never died for me, and I still actively search out new music, and I still get a charge finding a new band that gets my heart racing, and reminds me just how much this all means to me.

This post is for the Not Just Words pressing of the Keep It Clear 7 inch. I got the North America pressing from the band a couple months ago, and I immediately loved their old school style of straight edge hardcore. I liked it so much that I ran out and ordered the 3 pressings from Not Just Words. 125 on clear orange, 165 on clear green, and 480 on black.

Painting The Bridge Black

Bridge Nine has left me pretty underwhelmed lately. New Found Glory, Defeater, Polar Bear Club, Death Before Dishonor...nope, not interested. But somewhere in the middle of the mediocre, they slipped in a Paint It Black 7 inch called Amnesia. Yup, three full length albums into their career, and this band is still going strong. Apparently, the band recognized how rare it is for a hardcore band to have the longevity for three consecutive strong albums, and are limiting themselves to releasing only 7 inches in the near future. First is this one on Bridge Nine, and then Surrender will be released on Fat Wreck later this month.

Days Gone And Reconnected

Not only has Facebook helped me reconnect with some old friends in far off places, but it has also provided the opportunity to increase my record collection. Back in the mid-90's, when I was travelling to Boston a couple times a month for shows, I met a kid named Robb Woods. Hell of a nice guy that was always quick with a smile, and some small talk. One of the rare individuals that didn't fall in with any "crew", and seemed genuinely nice to everyone he met. I remember taking a trip to catch a Slapshot show in 1997...it was an insane line up that included Ten Yard Fight, Floorpunch and Bane...as I was hanging out between bands, Robb came over and gave me a demo from his new band Daysgone. Great stuff. The only time I got to see Robb's band play live was their record release show for the Gold 7 inch. It was the first show of their tour with Trial, at some club that I can't remember the name of in New Hampshire. I bought a copy of their 7 inch, but ended up with a black copy. Robb caught me later on that night, and immediately swapped it out for the gold colored vinyl copy, which was hand numbered and limited to 100. The funny thing is that to this day, I am missing the black vinyl pressing from my collection.

At some point Robb moved out to Colorado, and it had been many years since I had heard from him. I was listening to Daysgone and recommending them to some friends on last.fm, when I figured, "what the hell", and I looked him up on Facebook, found him, and reconnected. During one of our conversations, he mentioned that he should sell me all of his old vinyl. I told him to make up a list and I'd gladly take some stuff off his hands. Months passed with no list. I kept bugging him, and he mentioned that he had lots of stuff that I would probably be interested in, and dropped the name of Boston greats like Eye For An Eye and Kingpin. Another month passed and still no list. I couldn't take it anymore and just made him an offer for a few of the records that I knew he had.


I asked Robb if he had any copies of the Daysgone 7 inch laying around. I wanted to pick up a gold copy for a friend, and I was hopeful to get a copy on black vinyl for myself. Robb didn't have a black vinyl copy, but he did offer me the one and only test pressing made for the Gold 7 inch. No special cover or anything for it, but I can't explain how excited I was to have this in my possession. In addition to the test pressing, Robb threw in three Daysgone t-shirts as well. Very cool. Only two are pictured above because it seems that my wife confiscated the one shirt that was too small for me, and she wears it as a night shirt.

I had no idea that Suburban Voice had pressed the Kingpin 7 inch on colored vinyl. I was looking at a larger version of the colored vinyl photo that Marcus has at the top of his blog, and there it was...the Kingpin 7 inch on gold vinyl. How could this be? I was there when Al Quint pulled into the parking lot at the Kingpin show and started assembling the records for sale for the first time, and they were all on black vinyl. Right after I saw the picture from Marcus, Robb mentioned that he would sell me his copy. Sweet, I'll take it.

The other piece of colored vinyl that Robb mentioned he had was the Omega Drone 7 inch from Eye For An Eye. I had forgotten how great this band was until I was recently listening to the 100% Unnatural discography on TAANG!. I had been unsuccessful searching eBay, looking for this record on colored vinyl. When Robb mentioned that he had their first 7 inch on red vinyl, yeah, I took it. I recently saw a blue vinyl pressing of this on eBay, but lost the auction at the last minute. If anyone has a copy of this on blue vinyl that they want to let go, let me know, and I'll make you a solid offer.

Robb also tossed in a copy of the Tone 7 inch from Flagman. Apparently his dog had taken a bite of the record cover, so he threw it my way. I'd never heard this record before, and you know, I kind of like it. Very much in the same vein of melodic hardcore of the time.

Straight Edge vs. Godzilla

Call the National Guard, Straight Edge is on the loose and it is coming to destroy your city! Man, for the most part, letting your friends draw the cover for your up coming record is usually a bad idea. The cover for the Resolve 7 inch is no exception. Seriously, is there anyone other than Wide Awake that could pull off the cheesy looking edgeman record cover? All in, this is a decent record...pretty generic hardcore with a few attempts to not be cookie cutter core by including some political lyrics surrounding prayer in school, corporate lobbyists, plus a few other topics. Hopefully they continue to improve their sound, because they really have some potential, and next time stay away away from the Sunday comics for inspiration on the next record cover.

The Truth About Lathe Cut Vinyl

Reveal The Truth recently released their Courage demo on vinyl. This ain't your average vinyl pressing though, these were created using a lathe cutting machine. This is a really old process used for cutting records by hand, and apparently the only guy that still does it is in New Zealand. Due to the cost and effort to create records using this process, it is limited to only small runs of vinyl. So when Reveal The Truth announced that their record was going to be limited to 50, I jumped on it as soon as Thunder Lizard had them up for sale.

The whole package on this thing is mint. Nicely screened covers, clear vinyl, A and B side stamped records and inserts, plus each one is hand numbered. Because of the cost involved in creating the vinyl on this, Thunder Lizard is only selling them as package deals with a t-shirt option...but really, $12.95 for a t-shirt and this record is a great deal. Get in on this.