Only LPs

So up first, this is a copy of Devotion's LP Bastard Son of Affluence Blues from Rivalry Records. Rivalry has been a pretty inactive label for a few years now. Devotion was the project of former Go It Alone vocalist Mark Palm. Originally this entire record was supposed to be done by just Mark, which is pretty impressive, for him to play all instruments and do the vocals. He ended up having Aaron O'Neil of ON do the drums, which was a good decision because Aaron is a great drummer. This record picks up where Go It Alone left off completely, with the more Blues inspired almost Southern Rock sound. It's still a hardcore record for sure but there are other obvious influences. I really dig this record and this entire release looks great from the layout to the art to the vinyl cover. Kyle from Rivalry went with 1,100 copies on black, and no other versions. Which was a cool change for the label. I really recommend checking this band out, especially if you're in to Southern Rock and Blues. I picked this up when Devotion was on tour on the east coast, they played a show in Trenton, NJ with Outlast. As usual Outlast was great and Devotion killed it. Mark seemed like a really cool down to earth guy. I hope they put out some more releases at some point and continue to tour, I'd be in to it.

Here is my pre-order for the self-titled debut War Hungry LP. It's cool to see that this band finally was able to get around to releasing an LP. They've been around for a while and though they are a great band, there's been other projects that have taken up the member's time in the past. It always felt like this band was not a priority. It's a shame because I always enjoyed this band. This LP does not disappoint, it brings the bands sound to a another level. Six Feet Under also did a great job with the layout of this release. I'm not a big fan of the artwork, but I think for a different style of band it would work. Red is the most rare out of 99, white is out of 305 and black out of 585.

So this makes my third copy of this LP. This is a white copy of Swamp Thing's In Shame LP. This is a decent LP for the band but I still prefer their first seven inch the most. This copy from 6131 is out of 300. I think this band broke up, but I'm not really sure.

So I've always thought I should look more in to this band. I'm still not totally in to them but this is a good record to add to the Youngblood collection. This is Desperate Measures Never Enough Time. Apparently this band was huge when they were active. This copy on black is out of 400 copies. Maybe this band will eventually grow on me.

Here's a copy of the New Found Glory LP that Bridge 9 put out a few years back. I believe this is the copy on green out of 1,500 copies. Nothing too exciting for this one. I think this is the last copy of the normal press that I needed. I'm just missing the copy on pink out of 100.

Continuing with the New Found Glory LPs, here's the more recent record they put out this time from Epitaph. This is a pretty decent release, defiantly not their best material but it's still completely listenable. Epitaph did a great job with this one, the vinyl colors, layout and everything. The Yellow/Pink mix in the middle is the most rare, out of 250. The black is the most common but I'm not sure the number of copies.

Here's my Sacred Love pre-order from Youngblood. This layout and artwork came out great. Red is out of 201 and black out of 265. This record took a while to come out and it has taken even longer for me to post about it. It's a great release however.

A Lot of React

Here we have my React pre order from a while ago. This has to be the best pre order I've gotten from the label. All three records are awesome in every aspect. I was really excited about the Common Cause and Not Sorry records, and not as much for Remission. Remission actually has the best release from these three. Without a doubt this will be one of the best releases of the year. The Common Cause stuff is very similar to their earlier stuff, just a different taste this time around. The Not Sorry record is actually a little more different than I thought it'd be. I haven't given it enough listens to give it a good review, but at this point I think I still like the Demo the most. I'm jaded.

These are two copies of The First Step's Connection which I have no idea where I got from. I think from eBay. The red is pretty common with over 1,000 copies, but the white is out of 270. Both are from the first press. This band doesn't get enough credit.

These are the three other copies of the NFG single that I didn't have. These are not really that rare, I had the rarest. Nothing too exciting, just getting my hands on them.

This is the rarest version of the Pulling Teeth/Frightener split I think. It is out of 150 and is on clear with mixed splatter. I won this on the Bay also. Nice one to cross off the list.

I thought I'd end this post with a bunch of cool rarer stuff from one of the best labels.

So I wanted to expand my long list of React releases so I sent some offers to Aram for some rarities. This is what came as a result. First up is the record release version of Get the Most's LP released at React Showcase last year. This one is out of 133, a pretty odd number. The one below it is the special release as well from the showcase for Common Cause. This one is out of 100 and I was really looking forward to getting it because of the way the cover looks the gold vinyl looks awesome. Up top is Betrayed's 7" on black, I got two copies on white with my pre order. Underneath is Damages on black, I got the transition instead of the black copy with my pre order. Below is two copies of the GBNF demo, both rare copies. Red is out of 100 and white is out of 200. This 7" is great, I wish this band was an active band.

Pre Orders Pre Orders Pre Orders

Here we have the Iron Age LP The Sleeping Eye. This was pressed by Full Tilt Records, I think out of the U.K. This black wax is out of 400.

Here we have the Constant Struggle LP from the 09 Youngblood Showcase. This one is numbered out of 150. I got both of these with my Sacred Love pre-order.

So I got my Mindset Live LP. I was happy to see I got all three copies Gold out of 100 and White and Black out of 200 each. This came out really well. Everything looks great. I liked this even more because I was there, and even better I'm on the back cover.

That's me in the middle with the white hat on, the fist in the air and a windbreaker on. It was such a great set, maybe the best from Mindset, though there are a lot of good ones.

This is my pre-order for the latest Carrier LP from Deathwish. Deathwish did a good job with the One Year Later LP, but when I saw this I was floored, the art, the layout and the vinyl colors are all great. I thought it was pretty ironic I got this around Valentine's Day and the colors are pretty close to that Hallmark holiday. The thing is is that the music is not as good as the last LP or any other prior material. It's not bad and it's defiantly not anything to be upset about, it's just not as good.

Here is another pre-order, the Mother of Mercy latest LP. The most rare is the Seafoam Green, the one in the middle was supposed to be a Blue, Gray and Black mix I think, but it came out really similar to the White and Black Mix. So They stamped the sleeves of the Blue/Gray/Black so that you can tell the difference. This record rips just like the last one, it's hard to pick which one is better, III probably would overall win.

So when I pre ordered the Mindset LP I also picked up another copy of the Youth Crew 09 comp from Upside Down. This is the most common on black out of 300.

I picked these up from a React board poster. This is from the second press on Blue out of 1,270.

I also picked this one up with The First Step record. This is the Inside Out and Youth of Today split. It's a bootleg and has mostly Inside Out live songs, but also has one Youth of Today studio outtakes.

This one I also picked up from Upside Down, it's the demos from what became What We Know. This actually was put out by Bottle Up, white is out of 250. Clean looking record.

Here is the latest Outlast record. This overall is pretty good. The recording and music is great. The layout and design is not my favorite, but it's not that bad.

I'm Moving

So I'm in the middle of a move right now, so I haven't had a whole lot of time to update this or really get pictures and records together. Presently I don't even have my records with me, they're still back home. As I'm typing this, I'm in a hotel because I'm off training for my new job and the wireless internet cuts in and out. This is an example of the reason for why I haven't updated this. Since I've been getting a lot of stuff recently I thought it would be a good idea to get a head start before it just get's out of hand.

Here we have the Summer Tour 2006 version of Bracewar's s/t 7". This is my seventh copy of this record. Other than the really rare ones, I'm only missing the red record release cover. Almost there. This summer tour version is numbered out of 100.


This is the '08 Euro Tour press of The First Step's Connection 7". This was the rarer color of the second press, with 270 copies. The first press also had a red so the labels on this one were changed to white to differentiate.

When Dave of Six Feet Under put out an distro update stating he got in copies of Bracewar's latest 7", I jumped at the opportunity, as I knew this may be the only time I'd be able to get both copies at once at a reasonable price. Clear is out of 300 and black is out of 700.

This is the Pulling Teeth and Frightener split. I believe this is the rarest color, white with splatter, 350 copies.

Here is a copy of Pulling Teeth's Vicious Skin on green with haze. This is from the first press, no idea the pressing info on this release.

When I made the order from SFU for the Bracewar 7"s I also decided to pick up another copy of Common Cause's The Power to Change on what I thought was going to be clear, that's what the listing in the webstore said. This arrived, apparently there is a second press out of 300 on blue. So I got a copy of the record, which is cool, it just means there's another one I still need to get.

So that covers everything I got right before I moved up to PA about 2.5 weeks ago. Hopefully I'll get time to post about the massive amount of stuff I had waiting for me when I went home for Thanksgiving.

About a Week Later

Strap yourself in. There's a lot of stuff in this one.

Here we have my pre order for the Jane Doe reissue from Deathwish. Everything looks very cool and as long as the wait was, I think its safe to say it was worth it. On the left is the big booklet that comes with each copy. The thing is pretty true to the original style of the release, just taken a step further. I was surprised at how simple and straight-forward most of this was. I thought with as much hype as this reissue got naturally, there would be some more baggage per se. Here we have the two most common versions, as it seems I didn't luck out on getting a rarer one. White is out of 2,000 and red out of 1,305. Pretty nuts that they put out 5,000 copies of these, but I guess that makes sense. The reason why I lined up the records the way I did is that the sides of the labels for this double release are J.A.N.E. So as lame as I am I had to lay them out to spell it.

Here we have the fourth press of The Things We Carry. I've wanted to get a copy of this for a little while now, and since I didn't want to pay like $40 for a copy, this worked out for me. I was a little disappointed with how this turned out. Would've been nice to be a gatefold, apparently the third press wasn't either.

Here we have another pre order from Six Feet Under. First is the second press of the Kingston 7", defiantly better colors of vinyl this time around, I'm happy. Also I ordered three copies of The Rival Mob 7", though I got two copies of purple, I'm guessing that the black just sold out that fast. No worries I think I'll be able to trade/sell my extra on purple, as this is already sold out and Dave ordered a second press. 1,500 records gone that fast, impressive. This band is defiantly getting a lot of attention. I'll get to an example of that later.

Here we have another record that I probably didn't really need, but I figured why not. This is a plain version of Down to Nothing's Splitting Headache. By plain I mean, there's no special stamps, like all the other ones I own. This is blank and supposedly out of 225. Not sure, no idea what the full pressing info is on this one.

So I ended up getting an extra copy of ON record that I already had, by accident. So I ended up making a trade with it pretty quick. Here is what I got in return, this is a copy of Go It Alone's Histories with the European tour stamp on it. Pretty nice accidental opportunity. I traded this with clichejon, and the funny thing about this is that it was supposed to go to Seb of Just Another Day Records, from Mark of GIA, but I suppose Seb never got this. He wrote a note on the dust sleeve.

Another funny thing about this trade was that Jon included a copy of De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising, which just made my package. I actually just got it out and put it on the turntable, that's how stoked I am about it. Not to mention there was this like stupid dance DJ LP that was all marked all over it to use as a mailer, because well that's all its good for. Apparently it was meant to be an international exchange mailer. As it started with L.O.James and then went to Jon in the UK, and now to me. The reason why this is even funnier is that James lives in the D.C. area, as do I. So really it just came back to pretty much the same place it started. Anyway, I'll send this out with whoever I next send a record out of the country to.

Here we have my Common Cause pre order from React! This has got to be the best looking React release yet.

The cover is just awesome with the glossy gold accent all over it and as usual the fold out insert is stellar.

The mailer is awesome, I actually want a shirt with this design. I NEED a copy of this on gold from the showcase. So if you got one please get at me. Aram just out-does himself all the time.

This is a copy of the 7" of the same record that I just so happened to get at the same time by chance. As you can see this version is also very cool with the silver accent, but the React version is the winner.

Here is two copies of Police & Thieves' Amor y Guerra from Youngblood. The top copy on green is out of 300, the bottom copy is the Youngblood 08 Showcase version stamped and numbered out of 150. Two nice pick ups around my area, one at a show and the other at a record store.

That's all I can fit in the labels for one post, so you'll just have to wait for the rest. There's plenty more to go.

Some Serious Scores

So the past week or so I've picked up a decent amount of records, but some pretty awesome stuff has made it that much better. First I'll start with what has been a bit of a long time coming.

So a guy on the React! board posted his On Thin Ice collection and mentioned that he'd be willing to part with his Down to Nothing split Test Press from Dead & Gone Records. So I sent him a private message and a price was agreed and shortly payment was sent. Within a few days the dude shipped the record from Austria, and the waiting game started. I thought it might take about 2 or 3 weeks to get to me. It took about 2.5 months to finally get to my doorstep. Several messages were sent about it not yet getting to my house and he kept reassuring that he sent it and offered to send me the scanned receipt. So I knew the guy had to have sent it, and he had good feedback on the React! board. So I just figured I'd wait a little longer, after 2 months my patience begins to thin. So when this finally got to me I was more than relieved. It's limited to 8 copies. Here's a picture of the back:

The first reason why this post is awesome is because there are two tests, Graham over in the U.K. who I've dealt with on past DTN deals sent me this one.

This is the Test Press of the Splitting Headache release. It is limited to 2 copies, so pretty awesome that I have one. Here's a close up of the labels.


Inside the sleeve Rich wrote this message.

Basically explaining how the color of the vinyl came back from the plant and that there apparently is another version out there numbered out of 3...damnit. Anyway Rich seemed like he just wanted this to stay off eBay, no worries Rich. Also this came with plastic inner sleeves but I don't like those and put the two 7"s in paper sleeves, don't worry I kept the original plastic sleeves too.

In yet another addition to the DTN collection I picked up a copy of the 3 song demo, this one is the record release, numbered out of 30.

I picked up my first copy of the 6 song demo from the same guy. Dave sent me an e-mail after he heard from Alex of Grave Mistake Records that I'd probably be interested in some of his records that he was looking to get rid of. Thanks Dave and Alex. This is the clear copy out of 34. Pretty cool looking record. The color of the vinyl doesn't seem like a straight forward clear, it almost looks like a really light colored coke bottle clear.

Here we have the last DTN release. This is the demo tape from 2002 that I also picked up from Graham. Nice to finally have this, I think there are other tapes out there from DTN but I don't know much about them. I think there's a hand drawn cover maybe from a different year and I think a colored cover version of this. If anyone's got details let me know.

ON just recently set up a bigcartel store, so I stopped over and picked up a copy of the LP from Powered. This is on white and limited to 200. Nice to be able to pick this up especially after all of the problems with the pre-orders with this from Powered. Luckily I didn't partake in the pre-order.

Here we have a great pick up. The React! Records Showcase box set. Aram posted these in the store one night and I believe the 20 copies left from the showcase sold out in like 2 minutes. I was happy to be able to jump on the opportunity as I sat at my computer and hit refresh every second.

These are numbered on the back out of 94 and have a 3-side screen print on the box.


As usually Aram loaded this up with quality. You've got a copy of both Mindset releases, GBNF, Praise and Damages all on black and all stamped on the dust sleeve. Each release comes with what it usually would, the download code, sticker and the full page essays. You put all of those essays together and the list of names in hardcore who have contributed are pretty impressive. Also included was a booklet with all of the lyrics from the records and some special notes from Aram. Very cool addition. Overall an incredibly awesome thing to have.

In another React! release, I got a copy of the Praise 7" pressed for the Showcase also, out of 100. Andy put some of these up in Praise's new bigcartel store. Very nice.

I got my first The First Step record, oddly redundant. This is from the second press out of 885. Nothing special but a good start I think. More to come I'm sure.

Here we have another copy of the Swamp Thing 7". This is on gold, so I can now differentiate between the tan and gold copy. Limited to 112.



So my buddy Bobby Egger had a show about a week ago for one of his label's bands, ANS. He had his distro out in full force to help raise money for a few releases he has in the works, including his first LP. So I knew I needed to at least pick something up from him. I picked up a copy of the Iron Boots demo from Grave Mistake, 3rd press out of 500; Iron Age Constant Struggle 3rd press on clear out of 300 and Pulling Teeth Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions on Coke Bottle Clear with regular cover out of 900. Nothing too special, but all solid pick ups from a solid distro. Keep an eye out on Headcount Records.