Hot Alachua Music

Hot Water Music is a band that I've struggled with. I fucking love the No Division record, but I've had trouble getting any of their other stuff to stick with me...and it seems that at some point after 2000, their records become unlistenable for me. Still, because I love No Division so much, I want to keep giving their other earlier stuff a chance.

In trying to get into more Hot Water Music, I figured that I'd start with small bites. From 1996 through 1999, the band released eight 7 inches...with half of them splits with other bands...and that seemed like a good place to start. Just a couple songs at a time. I grabbed the two songs from the Alachua 7 inch and gave them a spin. Nice! Taken in this small dose, I found myself really enjoying these Hot Water Music songs.

I wanted to grab the Alachua 7 inch, and Discogs was showing me twelve different options. The record was originally released by Allied Recordings in 1997, and it has seen a variety of different reissues through No Idea. It was tempting to go with one of the colored vinyl reissues, but instead I went with the first press on Allied.

The first press was only done on black vinyl, and they are still very cheap to pick up, so that's the way I went. While I really like these songs, I'm just thankful that I don't obsess over them so much that I felt the need to chase all the different variants. You've got to be insane to collect HWM records. There are so many different pressings for most of their records. Hell, it looks like the band released a new album this year, and there are already around 25 different vinyl options. Do collectors find that fun?

Get Bent Blue

I still get off on new music. Even at my age, I still find plenty of newer bands that give me a charge and keep me excited about hardcore...and 2022, has given me a lot to be stoked about. I've only blogged about a few of those new records so far, but man, there is a lot of good shit coming.

One of the newer bands that I've recently discovered is Bent Blue. I first heard of them shortly after the new Berthold City album arrived from War Records a few months back. I was itching for more new hardcore, and noticed the Bent Blue 12 inch in the War Records store. Even with that horrible record cover, I still jumped into Spotify to check them out. Very quickly, I liked what I heard and within minutes, I was adding the vinyl to my cart and checking out.

Apparently this record is an expanded version of the band's demo from 2020. While I liked Between Your And You're when I first streamed those songs, I didn't really have full appreciation until I put the record on my turntable the other day and sat down with the lyric sheet. Holy fuck. The lyrics cover topics of school shootings, immigration, and the impossible American Dream that older generations expect the youth to still achieve. Those words, combined with music in the vein of bands like Rites Of Spring...I'm just blown away by how much I'm digging this. Very powerful. Bent Blue have a new record out later this year, and I'm already looking forward to it.

Steal The Jet Keys

When I picked up a Shotmaker record earlier this year, it got me thinking of other late 90's records that I loved back in the day and still don't own the vinyl for. The first Trans Megetti album was at the top of my list.

I was a big fan of some of those early Art Monk Construction bands in the mid to late 90's. Samuel, Seven Storey Mountain, Lincoln, Junction, and of course, The Trans Megetti. Those bands were a bit different than the other hardcore records that I was listening to at the time, and injected a bit of variety into my daily playlists. The Steal the Jet Keys record from The Trans Megetti was one of the last things released from Art Monk that I picked up, but it was also one of my favorites. They had this quirky energy that was infectious, and I still get a huge charge listening to it today.

Art Monk didn't play the record collector game. The only options here are black vinyl or a CD. Very happy to finally have one of my favorite records from this era in my collection.

The Unexpected Guest

The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal covers a wide range of styles. From the more traditional heavy metal of Iron Maiden and Tygers Of Pan Tang, to the doomy Sabbath inspired Angel Witch, and the more fast and punky Raven. Then there is Demon, who have more of a 70's rock sound...possibly drawing a bit on Blue Oyster Cult for influences. Not a sound that I'd associate with the NWOBHM, but still, Demon were a British band in the early 80's, so they fall under the NWOBHM umbrella.

The Unexpected Guest was released in 1982, and is Demon's second album. I've heard that the band get a bit more weird and progressive after this record, so all I've ever listed to has been this one and their debut, Night Of The Demon. Both are great rockers.

This was another record that I grabbed from my favorite seller on eBay at the moment. His old metal records are in great condition and start with a nice low starting bid... I assume that not many people bother with eBay much these days for records, so I've been lucky to win a number of things from him at a low price. His latest auctions haven't interested me too much, so I wonder if he is hitting the bottom of what he was looking to sell. If this is the end of his good stuff, it has been a great run this year.

Demon apparently were a bit theatric with their live stage show, and it is cool to have a bit of that captured on the inside of the gatefold sleeve.

Everybody Knows Preorder 2007

Nothing Done were a Dutch hardcore band that released a few records with Not Just Words Records in the mid 2000's. I fucking loved that band's fast and aggressive early 80's hardcore style at that time, and Everybody Knows was one of my favorite new releases back in 2007. I've picked up a few special pressings of the Nothing Done records over time, but it has been a few years since I've collected anything from the band.

I've had this pre-order sleeve for the Everybody Knows album on my Discogs wantlist for years. Nothing Done records don't carry a high price tag, so it wasn't going to break the bank picking up this record. I haven't made a move because I just haven't been too interested in chasing variants for records that I already own a copy of. Recently that rigid mindset has changed a bit for me. Collecting multiple copies of records has proven to be great fun lately, so while I was in the mood, I grabbed this special cover for Everybody Knows from a seller overseas.

Nothing Done have some great looking special covers, and this pre-order one for Everybody Knows is no exception. It is just a single sheet of heavy stock paper that lays on top of the regular cover, but it is still a nice looking design. Number 38 of 100 made.

Six different versions of the two Nothing Done albums. I obviously need to step up my game on the Idiot Stomp 7 inch, as there are a few more special covers that I need for that one.

Death Is Not Glamorous

I've been spending a lot of time in my mid-2000's playlists. I feel like this era is generally overlooked and underappreciated. I know that I've ignored some of those records for years and when I revisit them, I'm amazed at how great this still sound to me. There were also a few bands around that time that I didn't pay much attention to, and it has been fun digging into that shit recently and gaining a new appreciation for them.

Death Is Not Glamorous is one of those bands that seemed like a pretty big deal at the time, but I was in too deep with bands like Have Heart and The First Step, and never really gave them more than a casual listen. As I've been digging into the mid-2000's, Death Is Not Glamorous is one of those bands that I've found I really enjoy. They have a ton of energy, and are a bit poppy but they still have enough hardcore edge to keep me interested...definitely a cool Lifetime influence.

As I've been digging into the Death Is Not Glamorous stuff, I really wanted to throw some money at their records. I wasn't concerned with original first pressings or the most limited colored vinyl...I just needed something in my collection. I found a seller with a couple records available for cheap, including this second press of the demo with the blue sleeve. Great stuff.

The seller also had a copy of the Undercurrents 7 inch that was originally released in 2006. This is the third pressing, and I really dig the look of the orange vinyl. The shark and tentacle artwork looks great. I'm telling myself that this one copy is all that I need, but then I see on Discogs the tour cover and I kind of want one of those too. Hmmmmm...we'll see.

Overall, I'm glad that I came around to this band, even if I'm about 15 years too late.

Four Of A Kind

D.R.I. were a huge influence on me as a teenage metalhead, and really helped to push me in the direction of punk and hardcore. Discovering Dealing With It around 1986 was a definite game changer, and seeing the band live on the Thrash Zone tour in early in 1990 helped to seal the deal. That was the first time that I had been to a show where there was no barrier...it was just the band with the kids right there in their face, and it blew my mind when the singer was sticking the microphone into the crowd to sing along. People were stage diving like crazy and to be there in the middle of it completely changed my perspective on what a live show could be like. This was the real deal.

I definitely need to work on my D.R.I. collection, so I was especially excited to pick up Four Of A Kind. I was even more thrilled at the time when I was able to grab this copy off eBay and not have to deal with inflated Discogs prices.

I remember being initally disappointed with Four Of A Kind when it was released. It certainly wasn't going to compare to Dealing With It, and it didn't come across very strong following up Crossover, so it felt a bit weak when I first heard it. I soon came around though, and while it still comes up short compared to the albums before it, Four Of A Kind is still classic D.R.I. with songs like Suit And Tie Guy, Slumlord, Manifest Destiny and Think For Yourself. Great record.

Not So Common Man

There are times when I really don't see the point in collecting multiple copies of a record. This summer has not been one of those times. I've been listening to a lot of newer hardcore recently, where "newer" is defined as anything from the past 15 to 20 years, and that shit has been hitting me hard. It amazes me that this music can still still excite and move me so deeply. Trends seem to move at the speed of light, but I'm still here getting a charge from a 7 inch that was released in 2008, and for the most part seems to have been buried by time and dust by the rest of world.

Thought Crusade were a band out of Chicago, and they released a couple of 7 inches in 2008 and 2009. They were supposed to have an LP come out on Triple B around 2015, but things appear to have fallen apart for the band before that happened. Either way, those two 7 inches are still fantastic, and when I was recently stuck in my 2008 playlist the Common Man 7 inch was seeing spins daily. I'd been eyeballing the special Dumbface cover for a while now, and while you can pick it up off Discogs for about half of what a new 7 inch costs in 2022, the cover looks kind of dumb...so I kept putting it off.

Like I said, I've been listening to a lot of hardcore lately, and my excitement overruled my temperance enough that I bought this goofy looking cover. Number 7 out of 50.

While I was picking up the Dumbface cover for the Common Man 7 inch, I noticed the seller also had a test pressing available as well. It was listed with a Make An Offer option, so I took them up on it figuring that a Thought Crusade record wasn't seeing a lot of action in 2022, and I walked away with the record for $15. Solid deal as far as I'm concerned.

The Discogs seller for this was actually the label that originally released the record, Organized Crime Records. When the test press arrived numbered 21 out of 20, I had to send them a follow up question to get the story on this. The label confirmed that while they were supposed to get 20 test pressings, the plant actually send them 21. Covers had already been printed numbered out of 20, so they just numbered the extra record as 21 out of 20. Test pressings are cool to own regardless, but having number 21 for this one is even better.

There is also a rejected test press cover that I don't own for Common Man, but this is close enough to warrant a group photo.

Red Front Porch

While I was definitely excited for the Pegboy records that Marcus was selling for his friend, the real treasure that I was able to pick up was the colored vinyl pressing for Avail's Front Porch Stories.

Most of the Avail catalog is relatively easy to pick up because, for the most part, those first pressings were only pressed on black vinyl...and we know that the kids really only like to collect those flashy color vinyl options. Front Porch Stories, however, saw a beautiful red vinyl option. This was limited to 218, so in addition to looking great, it is also kind of rare...and therefore it is one of the more expensive Avail records. I've had this on my wantlist for years, but I wasn't sure that I really wanted to drop the money needed to obtain it. When I saw it on the list of records that Marcus was selling, and having the opportunity right there in my face, I suddenly needed to own it.

Marcus happened to be travelling to the US earlier this year, and brought the records across the Atlantic with him. I'm not sure exactly what he was up to while he was here... although I did see a quick video of him vacuuming the REVHQ office, so I assume the he picked up some kind of janitorial job... but I was happy to take advantage of his low shipping costs. Thanks for the records!

Goodbye Ellston Ave

In recent years, I picked up some Pinhead Gunpowder records... no... check that... it was six years ago. Damn, it feels like I just bought them a couple years ago. Either way, at that time, I grabbed some of their early records and I threw the Goodbye Ellston Avenue record onto my Discogs wantlist. I figured that I'd pick it up relatively quick, but the years quickly passed by and I didn't make a move on it. The first press on Lookout Records was only pressed on black vinyl and it didn't seem very collectible, so I was in no rush and figured that I could grab a copy whenever I wanted to. When Marcus was selling some of his friends records recently, I saw that Pinhead Gunpowder LP on the list, so I figured that it was finally time to get it into my collection.

Pinhead Gunpowder are just a the perfect summertime band. They are upbeat and catchy with just enough snotty attitude to make you want to walk out of your workday and fuck around.

Sure there were plenty of colored vinyl reissues for Goodbye Ellston Avenue, but for me, the first press on Lookout was the only way to go. Man, that font on the backcover for the song titles is hard on the eyes.

Delayed Reaction

Pegboy were a band throughout the 90's, but during that time, as I was transitioning from metal to hardcore, they never commanded enough of my attention to check them out too closely. I'm pretty sure that I saw the Strong Reaction video on MTV's 120 Minutes, but it mostly likely wasn't heavy or aggressive enough to hook me at the time and I quickly moved on. Whatever the reason, it took me 30 years to finally decide to really check them out with an open mind, and holy shit, they hooked me quick. I downloaded both Three-Chord Monte and Strong Reaction and it wasn't long before I was listening to those songs daily. I expected to pick up the records for those quickly at the end of 2020, but trying to find US sellers turned out to be surprisingly difficult. After a few months I was able to get my hands on a copy of Three-Chord Monte, and then Marcus reached out to let me know that he had a friend that might be looking to sell a copy of Strong Reaction.

I am not a person that has a lot of patience. I tend to over-pay just to get a record that I want right now, as opposed to waiting for a better deal to come around. So even though I was very grateful that Marcus was putting in the effort to help me out, it pained me deeply to wait for things to materialize on this deal. Once all was said and done, I was very happy with how it all turned out.

Strong Reaction quickly became one of my favorite new finds of the year in 2020, so I'm very excited to finally own a copy of this record.

Marcus was selling a few other Pegboy records from his friend's collection, and I grabbed everything that I could. There were a couple of Pegboy records that I'd never listened to before, but Marcus took those for himself, but thankfully he left the Fore EP for me.

Released in 1993, Fore didn't immediately grab me like the early Pegboy records. To be honest, I was a bit turned off by the goofy cover art. Still, it is only four songs, and after listening to it a few times it really started to grow on me. Easily as good and catchy as their earlier stuff.

There was one more Pegboy records that Marcus had available and that was the Field Of Darkness 7 inch. I really wasn't to excited to pick this one up since the song was also on the Strong Reaction album, but it was only a few bucks so I grabbed it anyway.

I didn't realize it at the time the but the b-side song her, Walk On By, is exclusive to this record, so I'm really glad that I added this 7 inch to the pile of records that I was buying from Marcus. Great haul of records at reasonable prices, and now I've finally got a respectable Pegboy collection.

Earth Infernal

Satan were originally a part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, and they released a stone cold classic with Court In The Act in '83. I still need to get that album into my collection, and with my push to make a run at some serious NWOBHM records this year, I'm really hoping to cross it off the want list soon. Until then, I've got the latest Satan album to keep me warm at night.

After a number of member changes, name changes, and years of inactivity, Satan came roaring back in 2013. The three albums they released after reforming have all made it to the number one spot in my year end ranking for metal. They have to be one of the better bands to come back and record new shit. As soon I saw they were releasing a new album this year, and preorders for Earth Infernal went up, I didn't hesitate to throw some money to Metal Blade.

The band isn't doing anything new here with Earth Infernal...just another solid traditional heavy metal record. This is exactly what I'm looking for in my metal...sounding like the 80's in 2022. Almost 40 years since the classic Court In the Act, and Satan still bring some quality metal.

I'd Rather Be Alone

I write up my blog posts in the order that the record arrives in my possession. I've been itching to write the post for this Power Alone record for a while, but I've had to work through a considerable backlog to get here. No skipping to the front of the line, no matter how excited I am about a record.

Marcus sent me a message back in March asking if I'd ever heard the Power Alone record before. It was released back at the start of 2020, and I kind of remembered that people at the time were making some strong comparisons to that 90's hardcore sound. If I bothered to check them out back then, I probably only gave them about 20 seconds of my time and then quickly moved on when I heard the vocals. Revisiting this in 2022, I'm blown the fuck away and so glad that Marcus made the recommendation.

This album hits me fucking hard. These songs are packed with rage, and while initally the singer kind of put me off, I've come around and I'm totally sold on her delivery now. There is so much frustration and anger in her words, and they completely hook me into those emotions each time I listen to it. Honestly, Rather Be Alone is one of my favorite hardcore records right now.

When I was looking to buy a copy of this record, there was a Discogs seller that had the pink vinyl available for less than the current repress that's available through REVHQ. Pink is such a great color, and with that price tag it was obviously the way to go. At the time there was a white vinyl copy available as well for a few dollars more, and seeing how much I'm loving this record, I now wish that I'd bought that one too. Tempting to chase multiple copies for this one.

Metallica Vinyl Club #5

The Metallica Vinyl Club got off to a rough start. After things kicked off at the start of 2020 the world kind fell apart and the subscription saw a number of problems and delays as it tried to get rolling. The four records were supposed to be sent over a year long period, but ended up being stretched out for around a year and a half. So far the 2022 subscription seems to be on target, so I'm hopeful that things continue to run smoothly for the rest of the year.

Records released through the Vinyl Club are only available to those that have signed up for the subscription, and the purpose is to give the fans some Metallica songs that have never been pressed to vinyl. The only change for this year was that records would be 12 inches instead of the 7 inch format. Metallica songs tend to run a little long, so they figured that the 12 inch format allowed them a bit more flexiblity with better sound quality.

2020 had everyone locked down, and bands were trying to find creative ways to stay busy. A number of bands did some live Zoom recordings with each member playing remotely. It was pretty cool to see bands getting loose and just having a good time. Metallica wasn't content to just jam out one of their songs. Nope, they had to completely rework one and put a new spin on it. Honestly, I had zero interest in Metallica's acoustic version of Blackened and stayed right the fuck away from the video when it was posted to YouTube. Fuck that. So, I was less than stoked to discover that this song was going to be the first record from the Metallica Vinyl Club in 2022.

I have no problem in being proven wrong, and that was definitely the case here. I don't know why I was so hesitant to this version of Blackened, because I've always been entertained by Metallica's live acoustic stuff. In any case, while I went into this song fully expecting to hate it, by the end of the song, I was fully fucking impressed. I don't know how often I'll need to listen to this, but they still did a hell of a job reworking this song. Over on the b-side, we get a live version of Blackened 2020, plus a live cover of the Alice In Chains song Would. I typically really enjoy Metallica covers, but this Alice In Chains song is kind of underwhelming... but then again, I'm not a fan of AIC, so I guess that is to be expected.

As with all the Metallica Vinyl Club releases, the packaging and presentation has been top notch. This release also includes a turntable slip mat, which I'll never use, but is still kind of cool anyway.

Forget Me Not

I bought a couple of records last year from my old blogger buddy, Chris, when he fell on some hard times financially. Those records weren't anything that I was actively looking to add to the collection, but when presented with the opportunity, I took it...and they ended up being some of my favorite pieces of vinyl that I picked up that year. When he approached me again in March with another offer to buy something from his collection, I was quickly logging into my Paypal account and sending him some money.

The last Shotmaker record, Mouse Ear [Forget-Me-Not], from 1996, isn't my favorite from the band. In fact, when Chris contacted me to ask if I was interested in buying the record from him, I checked my listening stats and noticed that over the past 15 years, I'd only listened to the album once. The Crayon Club, plus the 7 inches and splits have all just been more exciting for me. Mouse Ear [Forget-Me-Not], however, was the only Shotmaker record that I was missing from the collection, so I figured that if I was ever going to pick one up, it made sense to grab it from Chris now.

Revisiting this album with the arrival of the vinyl, I've found that I enjoy these songs more than I remembered. It still isn't as good as their earlier stuff, but I'm still very happy to add this record to the collection. Transparent purple colored vinyl was limited to 500.

Escape From New York

Geddes Axe is a true New Wave Of British Heavy Metal obscurity. The band released three EPs across 1981 and 1982 and then they were gone. They don't seem to get the attention that bands like Savage and White Spirit receive, but man, they are too damn good to be ignored. I was excited to grab their Sharpen Your Wits 7 inch last year, and when I recently had the opportunity to pick up another record from the band, I didn't hesitate.

Escape From New York has just three songs on this 12 inch, but each one is NWOBHM brilliance. Full of youthful energy and song writing chops, these boys should have been bigger. I absolutely love this record.

The back cover photos cover just about every style going. The singer is standing there with his his long hair and denim jacket, looking seriously pissed that his mates showed up for the photo shoot with suit coats, skinny ties, and tiger stripped shirts. He has to be thinking, "What the fuck, dudes."

Give 'Em 7 Inches Of Hell

Witchfynde is a classic New Wave Of British Heavy Metal band, and in my mission to get some of their records into my collection, I picked up the In The Stars single earlier this year. At that time I was really looking forward to picking up one of the Witchfynde full length albums soon, but as it turns out, it was more convenient to just grab another single.

The single for Give 'Em Hell was released back in '79, and the cover looks very similar to the Give 'Em Hell album released the following year. That's okay because the red-eye devil goat is a good look. I imagine that this kind of satanic imagery had parents pooping their pants at the time. Save the children!

While there isn't anything exciting here for this record, as both songs show up on the Give 'Em Hell album, I'm still pretty stoked to pick up this NWOBHM single. The black, white and red design is cool, and complements the In The Stars single nicely. Now I just need to get my hands on the Witchfynde albums.

Fistful Of NWOBHM

Fist were a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal band from the early 80's. It took me almost 40 years to finally hear the band when I downloaded a copy of their Name, Rank & Serial Number 7 inch back in 2018. I was knocked over with how great that EP was. Those two songs captured everything that I love about the NWOBHM sound. When I got thinking about making a run at some NWOBHM records in 2022, I knew that I finally needed to pick up something from Fist.

Despite loving the first Fist 7 inch, I hadn't really spent much time with their two full length albums. The second Fist LP, Back With A Vengeance from 1982, has the reputation of being the heavier album from the band, so I queued up the songs on Spotify and was prepared to give them my complete attention. Hot damn. I was immediately hooked, and soon found myself giving it repeat listens. I obviously needed a copy of this and quickly scooped one at a decent price from a US seller on Discogs.

There are different labels with the Neat Records name in either blue, green, red or silver. I tend to think that the blue labels are the first press, so I was happy to grab one of those.