Get Another Oxygen Tank!

Another band that Sweet Pete turned me on to. He roadied for Mental for a while, and had high praise for this Boston Straight Edge band. They were opening for an Insted reunion show in Rhode Island that I was going to, so I picked up their CD. It took me a while to fully appreciate this band...the singers voice was unique and I wasn't immediately drawn in. The first song to really grab me was Growing Pains, which stands as my favorite song by them. I saw Mental at that Insted reunion show. The singer came out dressed totally in hip hop style, and the band just seemed to really have a good time up there. I was impressed and started getting into them more and more.

This entry is for their Get An Oxygen Tank 7 inch on clear purple vinyl. Limited to 300. Got it off eBay for $16. I was trying to get the Posi-Numbers pressing, but I missed out on trying to bid at the last second. I was pissed because the auction ended at $12, and I would have bid higher than that. I looked at what else the seller had out there and won this pressing on purple.

More Rivalry Pre-Order Splits

In addition to the Champion / Betrayed split 7 inch, I also pre-ordered the Go It Alone / Blue Monday split. I only ordered one copy for this record. I've been thinking that someday I'll try to collect the Rivalry Records library so I ordered one copy, hoping to get the rare pressing. I got it and, damn, look at that vinyl! It looks so sick. The Rivalry Showcase pressings look so amazing as well, and I can see that I'm going to need to get those too.

Completed...Again

Got my pre-order from Rivalry Records of the Champion / Betrayed split 7 inch. The red with orange splatter is limited to 320, and the clear vinyl is limited to 980 pressed. This pre-order sold very quickly, and I was relieved to see that I got both pressings when I opened the package from Rivalry. That splatter pressing looks so awesome. These two records complete my Betrayed record collection, once again.

Iron Age

I received my Iron Age pre-order from Youngblood records. It is on yellow vinyl with the deluxe embossed cover. Pretty slick looking. I saw them open up the Planet Mental record release show. The singer used to front Far From Breaking, and a friend told me that FFB were better, with more of straight forward 'youth crew' hardcore sound. I had never heard either band. Iron Age bored me at the show, although this album rocks a damn good hardcore style with some touches of early Metallica-type metal. I bought a Far From Breaking 7 inch at the Posi-Numbers festival, and I would agree with my friend and take FFB over Iron Age. This is still a good album though, and since I've been entertaining the thought of collecting all Youngblood releases, it made sense to get the pre-order.

Count Champion's Numbers

Counting my Champion numbers, I am up to 28. Here we have Champion 'Count Our Numbers' on white vinyl. Limited to 384 pressed. Picked it up on eBay for $20. I still have yet to get my hands on the record release pressing of this record. Every time I see it on eBay I get outbid.

I saw Champion in Bucksport, Maine with Rob and Paul. It was a long drive, but the three of us always have a good time on road trips. Since it was such a long drive we left right after Champion and missed Agnostic Front. During the show, the guitarist, Chris, noticed my Undertow t-shirt and came over to me while they were setting up. Talked about how he liked the shirt and has one like it at home. He mentioned that he was thinking about making a Champion shirt that ripped off the design. Since they are breaking up, I doubt that will happen. I wore that same shirt to the Posi-Numbers festival and bumped into Chris again. We talked for a little bit, and he seemed like a really genuine dude. I ended up trading that shirt after the Betrayed set to some guy for three new t-shirts (Have Heart, Triple Threat, and Gorilla Biscuits). I was reluctant to get rid of it since I had traded some Sandman comics to a guy in Undertow for the shirt long after they had broken up, but I figured that $30 in new t-shirts was a decent enough deal.

Reason For Collecting

This is why I collect records. I thought that I knew of every pressing of the In My Eyes records, then I saw a picture of this one posted on the Bridge Nine messageboard. I had no idea that the demo 7 inch was released with this Welcome to California tour cover. This is why I collect records. I collect so that I have some kind of documentation of music history. Looking back, I guess I've always been a collector. Collecting Star Wars trading cards when I was a kid...buying packs of those cards trying to get the entire series. Going over the checklist to see which ones that I needed. Collected smurfs for a while too. I remember going to the Hallmark store and digging through the bin of smurfs, pondering which one I would buy next. I even tried collecting stamps when I was I kid, but stamps didn't really excite me. Then, a little over a year ago, I first saw other people's record collections posted on the B9 messageboard. It all clicked. This is what I was born to collect. I collect records because this music means so much to me.

I picked up this record through eBay. Got it for only $33. I thought that it was a great price since I had seen it sell a couple weeks before, grouped with some other, less rare, IME records for over $90. This record is numbered 26 of 50 pressed.

This Is Our Time

Another version of the demo 7 inch from In My Eyes. This one has the Springsteen cover that was made for their tour. Hand numbered 67 of 400 made. Picked this one up for $25. Got it from the same guy that sold me all the Live in Philly records.

The demo has my favorite In My Eyes song...The Is Our Time. I saw IME in Portland with Right Brigade and American Nightmare for the Boston Invasion weekend. The last song that In My Eyes did was This Is Our Time. As the song breaks into the line "We'll look back on these days as the best times of our lives...", I ran up on stage and Pete handed me the microphone and I sang out the rest of the song, diving on people. Pete ended the show with "That was Mike Preston, the most Straight Edge guy in Maine.". The words to that song mean so much to me, and that memory makes it mean even more.

Courage To Care

When someone is down on their luck, and looking to get some fast money by selling some records, I'm happy to make the sacrifice and help 'em out. I had purchased records from this guy before, and when I heard that he was having money problems and was selling records from his collection, I quickly emailed him an offer. He accepted my offer for $40 for all three pressings of the In My Eyes 'Live in Philly' 7 inch. Recently I had seen the clear and white pressings going for around $20 a piece on eBay, so I thought that it was a fair offer. Even though In My Eyes remain as one of my favorite bands, I never really liked live recordings, and I avoided buying this record when it was released in 2002. Of course I needed to get it for my collection, but reading the liner notes from the guitarist, Anthony Pappalardo, made it a worth while release and made me miss this band more than I already do.

Bring Your Daughter...

There is something about Iron Maiden that is magical to me. They were my favorite band while I was growing up. Piece of Mind was one of the first Metal albums that I bought. Iron Maiden on the Powerslave tour was the second concert that I went to. As a kid, I spent so much time listening to this band, reading interviews, posting their album covers and pictures on my wall. I had a book about them that I read over and over again until the spine broke and the pages fell out. Before I had even listened to any of their songs, I remember walking through Spencer Gift's and being completely in awe of the Maiden posters and t-shirt designs. Magical. During my years in Thrash/Speed Metal and Hardcore/Punk, I lost interest in Maiden. At some point a couple of years ago I found that lost love, and once again found myself listening to all of their albums, reading the new edition of Run To The Hills, and once again being drawn into the artwork from the album covers. I had recently started collecting records and Maiden was re-releasing the single for The Number of the Beast on colored vinyl, and I thought that it would be fun to collect the albums and singles of this band.

There are a few versions of the single for Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter, but this is for the 12" version (which has different artwork than the 7" pressing). I picked this one up on eBay for $5.50. I don't usually buy from overseas sellers...postage is too expensive...but for this record the price was low enough that it didn't bother me.

Going The Distance

Completing my Bridge Nine Records collection for The Distance, we have the pressing on red (limited to 150). Picked it up on eBay for an unbeatable price of $4.75. At some point, I got it in my head to collect the entire Bridge Nine library...and considering the number of limited pressings that B9 has done, that may not have been a very smart decision, but I'm into it and I'm not turning back now. While The Distance isn't necessarily a band that I like enough to really collect, B9 did release it, so I needed it.

Completely Betrayed

All 6 pressings of the Betrayed 7 inch. The blue one is a "Friends Press", limited to 60. I never thought that I would get my hands on one, but then by chance I had the opportunity to purchase one. How much did I pay? More than you probably would have. Who did I buy it from? I'm sworn to secrecy. Seriously, one of the best releases from 2005.

Rivalry Showcase

In keeping with the Champion and Betrayed theme this week, I received the Rivalry Showcase pressings of the split 7 inch. Two of the best Straight Edge Hardcore bands these days. Champion is breaking up, but Betrayed has recently been in the studio recording their full length. These two records were pressed for the Rivalry Showcase out in California, one for each band. Both are limited to 135 with the Betrayed one being on orange and brown mix, and the Champion one being on orange and red split. Of course I wasn't at the Rivalry Showcase, and got my hands on them through a "friend". $20 a piece was a little pricey since the show was the week before, but I figured that they would go for more than that when they hit eBay. Once I receive my pre-order package from Rivalry Records later this month, I should have the complete collection.

8 Down, One To Go

Let me start by saying that I LOVE this album. I bought Champion's first record when it came out and I wasn't too impressed. I wasn't collecting records at the time, so I bought the CD version. Their second 7" came out on Bridge Nine, and while I thought it was better, it still didn't do much for me. Champion played a show in Portland, and I skipped the show. Sometime after that I picked up Promises Kept, and was completely blown away from the first song to the last. Every time I listened to it, I liked it more and more. Promises Kept is just a perfect album. This copy is the grey pressing on Dead & Gone records, making that 8 copies of this record that I have in my collection. There were 300 pressed on grey vinyl, with 100 of them getting blank labels for their European tour. The Euro tour press is the only one I am missing. I won this copy through eBay for $14.68.

Stand & Fight

Ten Yard Fight broke up, and Wrench and LaCroix moved to California. LaCroix broke his edge, and Wrench fronted the straight edge band Stand & Fight. With Wrench on the mic, you couldn't help but compare them to TYF. Similar music and and the same message, of course I loved them. I saw them play three times. The first time was at the last Back To School Jam during their Edge Week tour. Their Demo hadn't arrived from Revelation Distro yet, so I only knew one song. I kept waiting for the Ten Yard Fight cover song that never came. Next time I saw them was in Boston with my brother. They played with Internal Affairs, Blacklisted, Drug Test...a bunch of up and coming bands that I had never heard before. Have Heart was handing out free demos to people, but I didn't get one. I brought a CD-R of a Ten Yard Fight show from the New Bedford fest and gave it to Wrench...it was awkward, but he seemed to appreciate it. The last time I saw them was in Portland. Another show that introduced me to a bunch of bands that I hadn't heard before, like Lights Out and Blue Monday...Desperate Measures played that show as well. Haven't heard any news about them for over a year, and I assume that they have broken up. I picked up the white pressing of the self-titled 7 inch (limited to 700) on eBay for $9.99. The only Stand & Fight record I need is the Impact Demo on red vinyl. Then this collection will be complete.

The Pack Is Back

Pure impulse buy. I lost an auction for a Record Release pressing of a Champion 7 inch, and was feeling like I needed to buy something (anything) to console my loss. I was browsing through the Heavy Metal records on eBay and came across a seller that was unloading a bunch of Raven albums. I figured that if I could pick up a few of them for cheap, I'd be happy with that. I threw in a bid for a handful of them, when I checked back later, these were the four that I won....$20 total. The classic albums went for more than I was ready to spend, but I'm happy to add these to the collection. The Pack Is Back was the low point in Raven's career, pressure from the record label for a more commercial sound killed one of the great bands from the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal era. But even with with the commercial leanings, when the album was released in 1986, I still loved this record (cheesey horn sections and all). After the album flopped and drove away more of their fanbase, Raven tried to regain their original sound with the Mad EP. With that EP, and all the albums that followed, Raven have stayed true to their original formula.

Too Good To Pass Up

It took me a long time to finally listen to Bones Brigade. I remember Sweet Pete telling me at a Stand & Fight show in Boston that he thought they would be a band that I would like. I thought that he would be right, since they shared the same singer with Cut the Shit (another band that I really enjoyed). It took me a while to finally pick up their first album, but once I did, I really loved their style of hardcore thrash. After that first album, the singer left Bones Brigade to focus more on CTS. They got a new singer, and released their second album, Focused. New singers always make me nervous, and I kept passing on opportunities to pick up the new album. A few months ago, I was looking around at other peoples files on Soulseek and saw this album, so I downloaded it. I really liked it, and kept it in my MP3 player for a while. A couple weeks ago, I saw a post on the Bridge Nine messageboard from someone that had an extra copy and wanted to get rid of it for $10. I jumped at the chance and sent the guy $10 cash without even seeing what the record looked like. Sure, I had already spent my monthly dollar limit for records, and it was risky dropping ten dollars in an envelope to a kid I didn't know, but I took the chance. It arrived the other day. Clear blue vinyl...hand screened cover...numbered 4 out of 400 pressed. Sweet looking record, and after checking eBay, I see that they typically go for around $20, so I'd say it was a sweet price too.

The Soft Parade

If you had told me years ago that someday I would own a record by The Doors, I would have laughed. I grew up on Heavy Metal and Punk Rock, no way would I listen to something as "mainstream" as The Doors. My oh my, the times have changed. Something happened over the past couple of years, and while I haven't lost any love for the squealing guitars of Metal, or the attitude of Punk, I have found an appreciation of straight-up Rock n Roll. A while ago, my friend, Rob, introduced me to The Doors In Concert CD, telling me that I needed to hear the guitar during the first song, "Who Do You Love". I was blown away by that song...such energy and passion. Months later, I was flipping through my Aunt's record collection, trying to see if there was anything worth having, and I came across The Soft Parade by The Doors. How could anything titled "The Soft Parade" have enough Rock to keep my interest? Weak album title...I put it back. A few months went by and I find myself hanging out with my friend, Jeff...flipping through his record collection...and we come across The Doors. Now Jeff has always impressed me with his knowledge of Rock, so I figure that I need to give The Soft Parade a decent shot. After pulling the album from my Aunt's collection and dusting it off, I give it a listen. I'm not blown away, but this is a solid album, and the fact that it has a place in my collection is impressive.

In My Eyes

In My Eyes stand as my favorite Boston Straight Edge hardcore band. I can't count the number of times that I saw this band live. For numerous shows I would end up on stage and the singer, Sweet Pete, would hand the microphone over to me so that I could scream a verse or two. One of my fondest memories was from a show in Boston...it may have been the record release show for Nothing To Hide, but I can't be sure. I got up on stage during the song Lasting Values, and Pete handed the microphone to me. I was singing along and I looked out and saw this sea of people...all watching me on the stage. Since the chances of me ever really fronting a Straight Edge hardcore are pretty slim, it was always a charge to have Pete place me into that position. Years after the band had broken up, I got interested in collecting records, and since the band meant so much to me, In My Eyes was one of the first bands that I seriously set out to collect every pressing that they put out. This post is about the two copies of the demo 7 inch I received yesterday. Some kid on the Bridge Nine messageboard posted that he was looking to sell what he had of their demo, so I picked up the Euro Tour cover for $15 and the black vinyl pressing on Grapes of Wrath Records for $8. This may complete my collection for the Euro pressings of the demo.

You Can't Stop Rock n Roll

Twisted Sister. You Can't Stop Rock n Roll. This arrived in the mail yesterday. Got it through eBay for 99 cents. Couldn't pass this up. I started listening to Twisted Sister back in 1984, when Stay Hungry was released. Soon after, I picked up You Can't Stop Rock n Roll on cassette tape. The tape is long gone...I think I may have recorded something else over it at one point, before it probably went into the trash. I downloaded the songs some time ago, and was reminded how much fun this album is. Twisted Sister played a huge part in introducing me and my friends to Heavy Metal.

A Document of Nothing

What am I doing here? I'm not sure. Today I found out that a friend has a blog to document his time spent getting into stand up comedy. A great idea for him, and it got me thinking of creating one, but what would it be about? I could document events and thoughts from my life, but that would be a little too personal, and too creepy to have strangers read it. Right now my biggest interest is collecting vinyl, so I figured that I would simply document new records that I received. Lame? Possibly. Fun for me to occupy my time with my vinyl addiction? Definately.