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.

Hey Kool Aid!

The real tragedy is that I didn't pick up the Shepherd to Lost Sheep 7 inch from Cheap Tragedies when Livewire released it about a year ago. I seriously slept on this one. I'm sure that when Livewire originally released it, I was feeling the purse strings tightening, and so I passed on ordering it. Since the band features the singer from Face Value and the guitarist from Right Idea/Committed, waiting on this one probably wasn't a wise move. The two pressings eventually sold out through Livewire, but recently they uncovered a few extra copies of the purple vinyl (limited to 200 pressed). This time I didn't wait and placed my order through Livewire's distro, Merchnow. Very cool record with great cover art of Kool Aid wreaking havoc at the Jonestown party.

Time To Start Trying

I've always loved Fastbreak. I remember ordering their Youth Pride demo tape when it was first released back in 1994. Containing ex-members of Cornerstone, I had high hopes for this new straight edge hardcore band of the time. They did not disappoint. It's a shame that their demo never made it to a vinyl pressing. The kept going strong with the Don't Stop Trying 7 inch. By the time they did their split with Ten Yard Fight, I was starting to hear from some people that the band was starting to head in a less hardcore direction, and the band was refusing to do their Youth Pride anthem live. I got the split and the follow up Fast Cars, but as far as I was concerned, the band was still full-on hardcore. By the time Whenever You're Ready was released you could really hear the more melodic influences in their music, but it didn't matter to me, everything Fastbreak released was perfection. Man, they were a great band. I'm not sure why I haven't made a conscious effort to start collecting their records, but it's something that's been on my mind for a while now. When I won a copy of Don't Stop Trying with the green cover on eBay for $0.99, I figured that it might be a good time to get things moving.

Time To Boil Over

I love finding new music. Some people are content to listen to the same stuff over and over, but I'm always looking to check out the next up and coming hardcore or thrash band. There is so much cool shit coming out these days, and I love getting surprised by a band that I've never heard of before. So drawing from influences such as DYS and Negative FX, Boiling Over comes crashing out of the gates. Excellent, raging hardcore on Lifeline Records. I loved it so much that I jumped on ordering both colors...150 pressed on red and 350 pressed on clear vinyl. Lifeline also included a digital download coupon with the release, and somehow I ended up with an extra one. Sweet, now I can download this three times....ummmm, not sure why they didn't just give me one...oh well.

While ordering from Lifeline, I noticed that they also had the Time To Escape EP available. I want to say that I wanted to order this from Grave Mistake when it was released, but it was already sold out when I tried to place my order. So I took the opportunity to grab it from Lifeline and was surprised that it was the first press, and that mine was number 12 of 500.

While I'm talking about new music, it makes me think about the Album of the Month Club on last.fm. The group was created to share and discuss hardcore and punk music for last.fm users. When we started the group, each month someone would offer up an album of their choice for members to listen to and discuss. We have since moved to a bi-weekly format to cut down on the dead time, and spark more conversations. Some of the suggested albums have fallen pretty flat with me, but occasionally someone will suggest an album that really surprises me. So if you use last.fm to track what you are listening to, feel free to stop by and join our group.

The Dio You Know

Call it Black Sabbath or call it Heaven & Hell, but by either name, this is a great record. The Dio-era Sabbath line-up have been back together for a couple of years now First, they released The Dio Years compilation under the Sabbath name, with three new songs. Then to support the release they decided to hit the road and tour under the name Heaven & Hell. The tour went so well, the guys kept things rolling and released a full album of new material this year. Goddamn, Ronnie James Dio turned 67 years old this month, and Tony Iommi is 61, yet here they are still recording one of my favorite Metal albums of the year with The Devil You Know. I was a little disappointed with my first listen, as I thought it was to monotonous and slow, but after a couple of spins it really grabbed me. Seriously, Bible Black kicks so much ass that it could have been on Sabbath's Mob Rules album.

The packaging on this album is fantastic. It is a double LP with a gatefold sleeve, and to top it off, the album cover is an absolute killer. Some people think that it is too "cartoony" for Sabbath...umm, excuse me, Heaven & Hell...but I love the whole Guillermo del Toro feel. The fourth album side has an etching of the bands logo of the winged devil which also looks amazing.

Getting Everything On eBay

Wow, I've had this one for a while now. I love Undertow, but the real push to pick this one up was an attempt to keep up with Marcus. I knew that Indecision Records was pressing the Everything discography to vinyl, and I figured that I'd pick one up at some point. It was after reading the blog post from Marcus back in May, that I had that uncontrollable urge to buy it....immediately. I took a trip over to the Indecision website, but there was no info on the vinyl there, so I did a search on eBay. Found only one copy for sale, and it had a Buy It Now option for $20. I didn't hesitate to grab it. I later found out that I could have saved a few bucks if I had thought of checking the RevHQ webstore. That's okay, I think that $20 was a pretty reasonable price for this double LP. The packaging is fantastic, with it's gatefold sleeve and combination of colored and black vinyl. This one sits nicely next to the blue vinyl pressing of the At Both Ends LP, that I picked up from...you guessed it, Marcus.

True Blue

The pricing was insanely high to ship overseas to the States, but when pre-orders went up for the new True Colors LP, Rush Of Hope, there was no way that I was going to pass it up. My first order directly from Powered and I was not disappointed. Man, the packaging on this LP is top notch. Everything from the album cover with the beautiful gatefold sleeve, to the printed dust sleeve with the pre-order stamp...even the special issue of the Powered Records fanzine...this thing looks fantastic. But how does it sound?

It took me about 2 weeks to finally drop the needle into the grooves on this one. The delay was mostly due to lack of time, because when I first hear an album, I want to really absorb myself into it. I really prefer to either lock myself away in my Music Room, or give it a first listen in the car, on the way to work. The other reason for the delay was out of fear. Sometimes when I get a new record from a band that I love, I'm really hesitant to give it that first listen. I get worried that somehow it will leave me disappointed. Well, no worries here. This album is amazing from start to finish as True Colors continue to rise to the top of the current Straight Edge Hardcore scene.

While placing my pre-order, I noticed that Powered also had a "special version" of the Rhythm Of Madness LP. I'm not sure why they made this special version, but it was limited to 50, so I decided to pick one up.


Pretty cool alternate sleeve. Mine is number 8 of 50.

I also picked up a copy of the Common Cause LP on clear vinyl (limited to 220). Another amazing, straight forward hardcore band on Powered. Man, I love this album.

Lost In A Crowd

Al Barkley posted on the Livewire messageboard that he was looking to sell a few records at set prices. Seems as though he got himself in pretty deep with credit card debt, and was looking to get out of that situation. Al ran Contrast Records, and in addition to the first Verse record, he re-released the Alone In A Crowd 7 inch a few years back. I only had the AIAC songs on a split CD with New York's Inside Out that was released on the sketchy Lost & Found label. I figured that this was a good a time as any to finally pick this up on vinyl. Man, it doesn't get much better than the one two punch of Is Anybody There and Commitment. Classic.

The original reason for me buying records from Al, was to pick up a copy of Said & Done's 7 inch released on Suburban Voice back in 1991. Said & Done, not to be confused with Said and Done from The Netherlands, were a great hardcore band out of Boston, and I saw them play a few times with other early 90's BHC greats like Eye For An Eye, Kingpin, and Third Degree. Anyway, I thought that I had this record on black vinyl, so I bought the purple vinyl pressing from Al. Turns out that I already had this on purple vinyl, so now I've got two.

After buying these records, I found that Al has a great website at albarkley.com, which has some great pressing info on some classic records. Check it out.

We Will Destroy

The 90's pretty much sucked when it came to Metal music. Early on, it's spirit got crushed by the likes of Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and then Nu-Metal put another nail in the coffin. Hey, who am I to talk? Through the 90's I had lost all interest in Metal, and was only listening to hardcore and punk, I discovered Straight Edge and by the end of 1991 I was X'ing up and looking forward to the next show for stagedives and singalongs. This was as "real" as music got, and as far as I was concerned, Metal was dead. Sometime around 2004, my mind opened back up to this genre of music and it was a lot of fun "rediscovering" all those old Metal records from my youth. In addition to the nostalgia trip of revisiting all those early 80's Metal records, my eyes were opened up to a lot of really cool bands that are putting out some truly ripping Metal in the present day. Dekapitator released one of my favorite thrash albums of 2007, and I was floored to find that they also released another album back in 1999. I had never heard their first album, but I found it on eBay for $17.00, and decided to take a chance and pick it up. We Will Destroy...You Will Obey is amazing, and I can't believe that such a great album was released during one of Metal's darkest times. The album was released on some independent record label that I've never heard of before, Blackmetal.com Records, and was limited to 1,000 pressed on vinyl, so I consider myself lucky to have picked up this gem.

Questionable Idea

I got my Right Idea pre-order a week or so ago, and the first thing that I thought was "Wow, Bottled Up have completely lost it, because these look like shit.". The cover for the record looks like some cheap photocopy job of the original React layout. The lyric sheet looks like some old school cut and paste job, where pieces of the lyrics were slapped on to a piece of paper and then photocopied. Plus the record labels themselves appeared to be the original labels from the React pressing, replacing the React logo with the one from Bottled Up, and X'ing out all other references to the React name. I was thoroughly confused and dismayed.

Figuring that there must be some explanation for such a shoddy layout, I immediately sent an email off to Jeff at Bottled Up to see what had happened. He explained that the look was intentional and was meant to have the look of a bootleg of the original React Records press.

Once I found out that the look was intentional, I was relieved and thought that it was a pretty clever idea. The more I sit on it, the more I wonder if maybe the bootleg layout should have just been used for the pre-order pressing on black vinyl, and the rest of the pressing would have been better suited to a cleaner layout because, really, this looks like shit.

Also with my Right Idea order, I picked up the white vinyl pressing of The First Step's What We Know Sessions 7 inch. I only ordered 2 copies of the record when it was released, but being the total geek that I am, I needed the white vinyl as well....limited to 250 pressed.

Won't Turn My Back

Back in May, after I watched a couple of records that I wanted sell for over $300, I was feeling a little dismayed at the thought of never being able to add them to my collection. I was told that those prices were higher than normal, and that I shouldn't give up hope. Here we are a couple months later, and while this Brotherhood 7 inch is a different pressing than the one I had originally been watching, I was still very excited to pick up this classic Hardcore record...and at what I would consider to be a reasonable price. After asking around, it looks as though my copy is missing the insert/lyric sheet, which was a major disappointment. So if anyone has the lyric sheet that they can scan and send to me, I'd really appreciate it.