Police Story

I've always regretted not picking up the Not Sorry package deal from Salad Days when they went up. At the time I was trying to watch my spending a little, and I chose not to take the leap. Ever since then, I've wished that I'd just bitten the bullet and bought it. When Salad Days announced that they were doing a Euro press for Police & Thieves, I knew that I was not going to make the same mistake.

Youngblood Records originally released the Amor Y Guerra as a 7 inch EP back in 2008. Like the CD that Youngblood also released, the Salad Days pressing includes both the Amor Y Guerra plus their first 7 inch on a full length LP.

Salad Days went with new artwork for the LP, incorporating what the band used for the Amor Y Guerra 7 inch record release cover. I don't know if I would have picked pink as the color for an album cover, but for this, it really works. The layout for this whole thing is well done. 100 on clear with pink splatter. I'm usually not a fan of splatter pattern colored vinyl, but the pink and clear looks amazing and coordinates with the cover art nicely.
150 were pressed on clear vinyl.


Only 250 were pressed on black so each one is a pretty limited run. Get yours while you can.

Thrash Authenticity

Thrash and Speed Metal ruled from around 1985 to about 1990. For Metal, nothing can touch the bands that released the classic albums during that period. Sure everyone remembers Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth, but I also cherish Forbidden, Rigor Mortis, Exciter, and Tankard. Something about thrash from that time period was just a big middle finger to all of society's norms...it was loud, proud and didn't give a fuck. Thrash was a statement of my youth...it separated me from most of my peers, and was the one part of my teenage years where I didn't feel like an outsider...or more likely, it made me feel comfortable being an outsider.

Some things never change. I still don't understand what most people are chasing in this life. The only difference between then and now is that I no longer feel the need to try and keep up with everyone else. I do my own thing and it makes me happy. Of course music is a big part of what makes me happy, and I love the fact that there are new bands around today that are still blasting out Thrash Metal like it's 1986. One of my favorites from the recent Thrash revival is Gama Bomb. The band isn't going to threaten the Big Four of Thrash, but they can certainly keep up the pace with the second tier Metal bands from the Golden Age of Thrash. Their first album, Survival of the Fastest, was recently released on vinyl and since I only had a downloaded copy, I was happy to finally grab a copy for the record collection.

The coolest piece of the packaging for this record is the Certificate of Authenticity. Nice thick paper that lists the release date, the total number that were pressed on vinyl, and how many were pressed of the specific color. 105 were pressed on clear vinyl, with mine numbered as 197 for the total 525 that were pressed. It is because of this Certificate that I want to pick up a few more colors of this LP.

Tied To The Wreckage

It seems as though I am destined to never see Hands Tied live. I travelled to Boston around 1997 or so, because if memory serves me correctly, Hands Tied was playing at The Rat with Ten Yard Fight and Shift...only to find out at the door that Hands Tied had cancelled. The band was pretty short lived, and soon broke up. Apparently they are back together, and have a new two song 7 inch to their name on Livewire Records. The band is back on the road, playing a few shows. They were part of an amazing line up in Massachusetts back in August with ON, Get The Most and Mindset...I had family commitments and was forced to miss that show. I then hung my hopes on the A Time We'll Remember fest coming up in November. Again, those plans were crushed as my annual roadtrip with Rob and Paul couldn't happen that weekend due to more scheduling conflicts. Damn it.

Even though 13 years have passed since the Hands Tied debut, this new 7 inch fits right in with the rest of their material. Great straight forward hardcore that is dedicated to the Straight Edge.

Only 500 were pressed of this record. 200 on yellow vinyl, and 300 on red.

Triple B Weekend: Part 2 - Welfare Records

The Triple B Showcase was held at Anchors Up, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It is a great place for shows, and as an added bonus, Welfare Records is upstairs. Concentrating on used vinyl, the store has plenty of hardcore, punk, and metal vinyl. I've browsed the store before, when I've come down for other shows, but I've never bought anything prior to this weekend. After seeing the lack of vinyl at the Triple B Showcase, I knew that I'd be dropping some cash in the record store.

I've been meaning to pick up a copy of Ozzy's first solo album, Blizzard of Ozz, for years. A while back, he re-issues this classic album and had the bass and drum track re-recorded so that he wouldn't have to pay royalties to those that helped bring him back from the brink of destruction. One dick move in a long line of fucking people over. Still, this album is amazing, and grouped with his second solo album, Diary of a Madman, it makes a hell of a comeback for a man that holed himself up in a dark hotel room and nearly drank himself to death. Too bad that hotel room wasn't available to stop him from releasing so much crap after The Ultimate Sin LP and turning into a pathetic cartoon character.
Yeah, I'm a huge metalhead from the 80's, and I love adding early Metal Blade releases to my record collection. I just took a look at the Metal Blade discography and realized that I still haven't heard some of their early releases. I'm a poser. I've always loved Lizzy Borden, and didn't hesitate to pick up the still sealed copy of Give 'Em The Axe for $8.00. Classic.

I can remember how excited I was when I heard about the first Amendment 18 LP. Guys from Outspoken, Insted, and the singer for Chorus...holy shit, I could not wait to hear this album. I picked up the CD at Newbury Comics, while it didn't come close to the greatness of the member's previous bands, it was still a good album. I recently ordered the New Age re-issues of this album and when Paul pulled this original pressing from the rack at Welfare, I quickly snatched it from him. Red vinyl and limited to 500.

The last record that I found when I was getting ready to check out was Dead Stop's Done With You LP. Man, I have been trying to track down a vinyl copy of this for the longest time. I always come up empty with my eBay searches, and the one time that I found it online, through the Powered Records webstore, they ended up reimbursing me the cash because it ended up being sold out. I'm so happy to finally have a copy of this album.

Triple B Weekend : Part 1 - The Show

The original plan for our roadtrip this year was to head to the A Time We'll Remember fest in Washington D.C.. Unfortunately, Paul was unable to get that weekend off in November, so we had to improvise and decide to make our destination quite a bit closer with the Triple B Showcase in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Other than the show on Saturday and Sunday, Haverhill didn't offer a lot for us to do and see in the down time, but Rob, Paul and I made the most of it and had a blast. Saw a bunch of great bands, and met up with some cool people. I was disappointed with the lack of vinyl for sale at the show, as I was planning on picking up some records from the bands that I'd recently checked out...but to my surprise a lot of bands only had t-shirts for sale.

In addition to the Showcase, this weekend was the Record Release for the America's Hardcore compilation on Triple B Records.

The record looks awesome, and the bands selected are all pretty solid. I love the cover on this thing. I was surprised to find out that the pressing that Triple B was selling was the most common one. Nothing special for the Record Release show. Blue with white splatter. 700 pressed.

Free Spirit, Foundation, Rotting Out, Thought Crusade, The Rival Mob, and Cruel Hand. Fucking solid. While I do love how the packaging on this record looks, I do think that the Triple B logo on the back is a little overkill. Ha! How much real estate does a label need to take up for their logo? Damn.

The book that is used for the insert is amazing as well, with each band getting a full size page for lyrics, etc. Triple B spared no expense in making this record as special as possible. Nice job.

In my last post, I mentioned how much I was looking forward to catching out Thought Crusades' set. I love their two 7 inch records, and I promised that I would be launching from the stage when this band played...regardless of if anyone was going to be there to catch me or not. As soon as the guitar kicked in for Tightrope, I was off. Such an amazing song. I caught up with the singer, Ryan, after their set, and he handed me the demo tape for the band Noose. Said that REACT! was putting their demo out on vinyl and suggested that I check them out. Very cool gesture. Picked up the blue vinyl copy of Common Man...limited to 100.

The line up on Saturday was amazing, and I had such a great time...Sunday on the other hand was pretty disappointing with lots of really "tough" bands and big guys throwing punches on the dance floor. Other than Bane and Cruel Hand, the only other band that really grabbed my attention was Rotting Out from Los Angeles. Incredible punk influenced hardcore...aggressive and catchy as fuck. I can't see why anyone would not like this style. 400 pressed on clear blue vinyl from 6131 Records.


I'll admit it...I got burned out on Bane. I saw them so many times in the late 90's, and as we worked our way into the mid-2000's, thier albums failed to grab me the way thier first 7 inches did. I caught them live a few times over the past year, and while I had a fun time at the those shows, I really wasn't interested in any new material. When Bane released their new 7 inch last year, I couldn't care less and I ignored it. Gearing up for the Triple B Showcase, I decided to finally download the "new" record and check it out. To my surprise, I really liked it...I mean, I REALLY liked what I heard. Therefore, I was planning on picking up the vinyl. The only pressing that they had for sale (amongst the 10 different shirt and sweatshirt designs) was the Los Angeles pressing from 6131 Records. Yellow vinyl and limited to 700 pressed. I'm not looking to collect the many different pressings, from the many different labels...for me, one will do.

*Update* So, 4 days later I was just putting the Los Angeles 7 inch into my record and CD database and noticed that the songs were different than the Boston 7 inch that I had downloaded a few weeks ago. I had no clue that there were different songs on these things. Looks like I will be buying more copies. Ha!

I'm hoping to put more miles on the roadtrip next year, but all in all, this weekend was a lot of fun.

Preparing for the Crusades

One last post for September. Damn, I haven't had over 10 posts in a month since last year at this time. The end of Summer must signal a record shopping spree, as my natural instincts kick in and I start building up new stacks of vinyl to get ready for the coming winter.

This time around we have the first 7 inch from Thought Crusade, Common Man. This weekend is the Triple B Showcase in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and Thought Crusade are on the bill. I loved their Our War 7 inch that Triple B put out last year, and I'm pretty excited to see them live. I had never heard the band's first record that Organized Crime Records put out in 2008, so to prepare for the show, I started scouring the internet to try and find a place to download it. Surprisingly, I came up empty. I would have bought a copy at the show, but I wanted those songs on my ipod NOW. Since I couldn't find a download, I had to place an order with REVHQ to get my hands on a copy (which thankfully came with a free download). This record isn't as tight as Our War, but it is still a good dose of hardcore with some hints of melody...at times it reminds me of Worn Thin, who at times remind me of Dag Nasty. Man, the crowd better be packed up front for this band on Saturday, because when their set starts I plan on kicking things off with a stagedive.

Long Live Ronnie James Dio

There have been a few musicians that have died in my time...Cliff Burton, Paul Baloff, Ozzy's career...but none of them have touched me the way I felt on May 16th, 2010 when Ronnie James Dio passed. As far as I was concerned, everything that Dio touched turned to gold. To lose him while he was still so active in the Metal scene...to know that Magica II will never be completed...it is a sad thing indeed.

Whether it is the memories of playing basketball as a kid in my driveway with Sabbath's Live Evil playing from the stereo speakers, hearing We Rock for the first time when a friend's older brother gave us a ride to school in 1984, seeing him on the Sacred Heart tour as my third concert ever, or being amazed at how great he looked on stage in his 60's for the 2007 tour as Heaven and Hell...it is a loss that I will feel whenever I put on one of his many amazing albums.

Back On Black recently started an offshoot of their re-issue label called Rock Classics which will focus more on the older 70's Metal/Rock albums. Looks like they will be doing the early Whitesnake albums, Thin Lizzy, some Deep Purple, and of course the Rainbow catalogue. Each one is limited to 1,000 on colored vinyl, and when they were first available I immediately ordered a copy of Rising. I was so desperate to get a copy that I ordered it from overseas and paid the shipping costs. For Long Live Rock 'n' Roll, I used a little more patience and was able to pick it up from a US seller on ebay.

From the colored vinyl, to the amazing b-side labels, the packaging on these records is amazing. It is just a matter of time until I pick up other two Dio-era Rainbow albums.

No Control

There was a period of a few years where I stopped buying Crucial Response records. I was loyal to the label from around 1991, when I picked up the first Manliftingbanner 7 inch, through the late 90's. I still liked what the label was doing with bands like Eyeball and Mainstrike, but my musical direction was starting to lean in the direction of bands with a more punk influence, like Good Riddance or Propagandhi. Soon, I stopped paying any attention to what the label was doing and I skipped the era of Sportswear, Damage Control, and Insurance Risk.

While organizing music files on my computer, because everything has a place with my music collection, I realized that while I had never bought the first Damage Control 7 inch from 2001, I had also never even heard it. I enjoy the all the other DC recordings, so this was an immediate hole that needed to be filled. I quickly found and downloaded the mp3's online, and then hit eBay to find a copy on vinyl. Found one copy with a Buy It Now option for $5.00.

Since I couldn't just buy only one record from the eBay store, I checked into what else they had for sale. Good Riddance released their last studio album, My Republic, back in 2006, and while I have loved everything the band has released, I've never bought this album. In fact, I actually found myself in the exact opposite position from when I let the Damage Control 7 inch pass me by 10 years ago. For the past few years, I've been more interested in straight ahead, youth crew hardcore, and I've ignored new albums from Anti-Flag, Good Riddance and Propagandhi. For $10, I took the opportunity to rectify that, because there is no such thing as a bad Good Riddance album.

Razzle Dazzle

I'm not a fan of picture discs, but when you pull it off with the packaging like this RZL DZL album, it is simply amazing. With the record cover designed like a pizza box, and the record itself looking like a pizza, they pull off the packaging flawlessly. There is some serious partying going on within the grooves of this record, and while that generally isn't my style, this comes off as a good time.

The back of the record cover lists the song titles as ingredients, and the b-side of the album looks like the underside of the pizza. Nice job.

Hardcore For Hardcore

"Here's where we separate the men from the boys". The new 7 inch from The Rival Mob absolutely destroys. Hardcore for hardcore indeed. This band just gets better and better. Can't wait to see them again at the Triple B Showcase next month. 150 were pressed on what was supposed to be black with clear green splatter. Too much black was used in the mix, and therefore you can't really see the clear green unless you hold it up to the light...and even then, you can only see a few spots. 350 on yellow and 900 pressed on purple vinyl.

When I pre-ordered the new Rival Mob record, Six Feet Under also had the second pressing of the Hang Your Head 7 inch from Foundation. 500 were pressed on orange/blue/white mix vinyl.

The coolest part of this pressing are the labels showing a kid ripping down a sign outside of a club that states No Hardcore Shows... a great rip off of the Judge 7 inch from Revelation Records.

Golden Mindset

Last month Mindset played in Massachusetts with ON, Get The Most and Hands Tied. The most perfect line up for a hardcore show in 2010. I ended up having plans that I couldn't break with the family, and could not make it. I was depressed, so I went to eBay and bought the Mindset record release pressing for Time & Pressure instead.

100 on yellow with MINDSET stamp on the dust sleeve.

What Was Said

I didn't think that it would ever arrive, but my copy of the new Said And Done 7 inch, Weight of the World, finally showed up in the mail. As soon as pre-orders went up at the beginning of March, I jumped on placing my order. There were a few delays, and months went by before I even gave it a second thought. I sent a note to the singer, Pim, at the end of June, asking if these had been shipped yet. Apparently they had all gone out a while back, and he was surprised to hear that I hadn't received mine. To make a long story short, it turns out that when I placed my order, Paypal had changed my address from the States to The Netherlands. No surprise that my package never arrived. I reached out to the guys at Carry The Weight Records and they confirmed that my package was returned as undeliverable. Like overseas shipping prices don't suck enough, I had to pay the shipping fees again for them to send the record out. Six months from the original pre-order date, my record finally arrives.

Originally this record was going to just have 200 pressed on red and black splatter, and then 300 pressed on black vinyl. Because of the various delays that the label had in getting these records out, they decided to do a limited cover just for the pre-orders. Special limited covers rule.

The whole package is really well done, and once again Said And Done put out a solid hardcore release. Thanks Pim for the offer to send me a copy of the record, free of charge, when mine was seeing delays in getting shipped. More people should check out their Cro-Mags/Leeway/Underdog influenced brand of hardcore. Quality.

Give Me Pink

Seems like everyone it loving the band Give right now. I saw them live in Massachusetts about a year and a half ago with Mindset and Alert. They were just starting to make a little noise at that time, so I was excited to check them out. The first song they played sounded amazing with a strong Swiz influence...unfortunately they didn't hold my attention for very long and soon I was taking a seat and waiting for them to finish up so that I could see The Effort and Mindset play.

Fast forward to today and the band have released a well received 12 inch record, and are set to have a new 7 inch released on REACT! any day now. I've got my pre-order in for the 7 inch, but a month ago the band posted on the REACT! messageboard that they had a few copies of the new record left over from the Sound and Fury fest. It was limited to 125 on pink vinyl, came with a special cover since the regular covers weren't ready on time, and was available only from the band. In order to keep my REACT! collection up to date, I jumped on it and headed to the band's webstore to pick it up.

While I was buying the 7 inch, I figured that I'd give the 12 inch a chance. It was in it's second pressing and limited to 640 on pink vinyl. Damn, some of these songs sound so much like Swiz. Some of these songs grab me immediately, while others may take a little while to grow on me. Definitely worth checking out. The only downside is that it does not come with a download. Such a pain in the ass to have to rip my own mp3s from vinyl.


Okay, the back cover photo creeps me out. Gives me the heebie jeebies just looking at it.

It is always a nice touch when dudes from the band take the time to add a personal touch and include a little note with the record they are shipping out.

Fuck Your Old Time Rock and Roll

Okay, this may be the biggest surprise to regular readers of this blog. It was certainly a surprise to me. Seriously? Bob Seger? What the fuck is the matter with me? Old Time Rock and Roll makes me want to punch old people in the face. I hate that song and never need to hear it again, but my friend, and 70's rock connoisseur, Jeff mentioned that I may like the early Seger stuff...before he got the Silver Bullet Band, and was just a part of the System. I can't remember what finally pushed me to download and check it out, but I was sure surprised when I did. The debut album, Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, from 1969 is killer. If you dig early 70's rock, you need to check this out.

There isn't any polish on this album. The singing is a little off key during parts of Train Man, and the war protest song of 2+2=? is pretty raw. When I'm pulling old records off the shelf, this is the shit that I'll be reaching for. As a side note, Bob Seger has disowned these early recordings and therefore they will never be in print again. Bob Seger is obviously a douche.


I've wanted a copy of this album for a few months now, but I wasn't sure which pressing to get. I think that I had seen three different Capitol labels on eBay at one point...red, yellow and green, and I had no idea which one was the first pressing. I'd seen some early pressings list for $100, and while I really liked this record, it wasn't a record from The First Step, so I wasn't really going to pay a lot for it. In the end, I just wanted a good, clean copy, and when I had the chance to pick up this pressing for $10, I took it. Once I received it, it was pretty obvious that the green labels were from the Capitol Re-issue. The barcode on the back tells me that this must have been from the early 80's.

Effort With A Purpose

This release was a bit of a surprise from REACT! Records. Powered Records released the 7 inch version of Statement Of Purpose from Common Cause back in 2007, so I didn't expect that it would be getting re-issued so soon. In typical REACT! fashion, they released a total quality product...outstanding packaging, and adding on the songs from the Common Cause demo to make this an LP. When I pre-ordered this record, I also took the opportunity to buy the newest issue of Effort Fanzine. I was so impressed with issue 2, that I didn't hesitate to pick up issue 3. Such a great zine.

200 pressed on red vinyl.

300 pressed on blue vinyl.

400 pressed on black vinyl.

The colored vinyl for this record looks amazing.

Dealt A Cruel Hand

I can count the number of cool bands to come from my home state of Maine on one (cruel?) hand. Outbreak, Wake Up Call, and Cruel Hand. Are there any others? Some of the dudes from American Nightmare were from Maine, but they were more of a Boston band. I remember catching Cruel Hand 5 years ago at the Have Heart record release show for the End Of Summer Jam. I didn't think too much of them at the time, but they have sure worked themselves into a powerful hardcore force. Bridge Nine recently put up pre-orders for the band's third release, Lock & Key. I had heard mixed reviews on the album, but I still went ahead and ordered the package deal simply because I love the cover art on this LP. It took a few listens for this to grow on me, and while I don't think it is as good as Prying Eyes, this is still a solid record. White vinyl was limited to the package deal.

In addition to a Cruel Hand t-shirt, the package deal came with a screened print of the album art. Definitely frame worthy for my music room.

I'm not sure how many were made, but mine was numbered 76.

While I was ordering the LP, I figured that I'd pick up a copy of the Cruel Hand single as well. I would have still picked up the record release pressing of this 7 inch, but at the time I had completely forgotten that I'd ordered this. Clear vinyl, but I'm not sure if there were 500 pressed of this, plus 500 on green, for a total of 1,000, or if there were 1,000 pressed of each. Cool record with a bonus track that isn't on the LP.