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.

This Will be Updated More

I've been slacking a lot recently and I just got around to trying to catch up. I'm trying to be more up-to-date with this blog. Currently I'm posting records I got sometimes two months ago. Expect some more updates soon.

So Time Flies was a band from Virginia in the late 90s. They shared members with Count me Out and Cloak/Dagger. This is the only LP they put out, on Indecision Records. I picked this up a few months back at Celebrated Summer in Towson, MD. The black is out of 1,105. I actually had never listened to this release before buying it. I had heard Can't Change the Past and was digging it so I thought this would be a good purchase. I was right, I'm listening to this for the first time and it rules, hard.

So way back when Bridge 9 put up there Black Friday sale, I decided to pick up some more New Found Glory records. I ordered these two copies of the latest LP and the second press of the Tip of the Iceberg 7". They sent me a copy of the first press on the White with splatter. I sent them an email and explained what happened. Matt in Mail Order offered to send me a picture disc to make up for it. I didn't understand this as I wanted the 2nd press, which I said in the e-mail and ordered originally. Not to mention picture discs are dumb. So after more than necessary communication, he said he would send me a copy on black. So here we are. I offered to send mine back for free, but he didn't want to do that. I'm guessing they're looking to get rid of these, as I know the NFG releases haven't sold as well as they planned.

Puffer of Alert put out his zine, which had been over-due for a while from what I remember. It's a pretty simple zine with interviews with three great bands, Stick Together (current hype), Face Reality (soon to be hyped) and Thought Crusade (are they still together?). Not sure if he still has copies, but this is worth picking up.

With my Black Friday Deathwish order, I picked up two copies of the latest Alpha & Omega LP, which rips. This thing looks amazing too to top it off. I didn't hear much about this band for a while and then all of sudden they put out this LP and it was worth the lack of attention. This honestly was one of the best releases of 2010. The bottom is on Green with Black swirl, a very dark green pretty much. The top copy is supposed to be on black, but it isn't.

This is the copy of Green/Black. It looks much more green when held up to light.

Here is the "Black" copy. It is green with a lot more black in it. Now this isn't as noticeable unless it's held up to the light, but if you just glance at it, you'd probably think it was black. To me this means I have two copies on Green with Black. Can anyone else elaborate more on this? Are all of the "Black" copies like this?

I picked up this React! rarity off of eBay. This is the special press of The First Step's Connection 7" originally pressed by Rivalry Records. For those that don't know, Aram pressed 88 of these and handed them out at the React! Showcase last year. This was not available anywhere else. I was lucky enough to be able to add this to the React! collection, which is getting pretty big at this point. I was a little bummed, this showed up in the mail with the top of the cover damaged and some creasing, which sucks even more because this is screen printed and any damage is more noticeable. It is what it is. This is more reason why I wish people would be more careful when packing records, and when you see someone who can do it right, you appreciate it that much more. By the way, this thing looks awesome, so clean and mean looking.

I picked up my third copy of Right Idea's Our World in my Deathwish Black Friday order. It's nice to have all three copies, and I didn't have to pay anything ridiculous for them.

Also with the Deathwish Black Friday order extravaganza, I thought I was due to pick up my first Minor Threat record. "What took you so long?" I know, I know. Either way this is the s/t release with the two 7"s on it. I have no idea what number press this it is, but I know it's the most recent.

I picked this up while I was in Lancaster, at the record store of the label that put it out, CI Records. This is August Burns Red's Messengers. This is one of those bands that I listened to years ago, and I still give them a listen from time to time. This record still does it for me. It's something that's hard to get rid of.

This is another guilty pleasure from back in the day, but even better. This is the legendary Zao album, Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest. This was the first release after the band essentially restarted, with all but one new member. This was essentially the start of what is considered the real Zao. This honestly may be one of the best metalcore releases ever. Now keep in mind this is more metal, with a strong Death Metal influence, but it owns on every level. When I found out Broken Circles was putting this out on vinyl, I wanted to pick up a copy for a long time. I never got around to it until I saw it at CI Records. I'm very happy I did. This copy on red is out 400. I hope to be able to pick up more copies of this one.

I picked this up at Celebrated Summer. I had heard a lot about Justice, and I figured as much as I liked True Colors, I should give Justice a try. For those that don't know, Justice and True Colors shared members. So after purchasing I gave it a listen, it's not really my thing. It's not bad, just not my style. Oh well. It's something cool to have.

I'll finish this post with the updated Down to Nothing stupidity. Merch has started to get more serious, and I'm starting to run out of records that are probable I'll ever get my hands on. I just realized I didn't put the demo tape in this one, oh well. If you've got a test press, I want it.

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.

Weekend Posts are a Must

Here is the new Hands Tied 7" from Livewire Records. The red is out of 300, gold out of 200. Apparently this is an active band again. Not sure how long that will last, but this 7" is pretty good.

This is a copy of the Bracewar Juggernaut LP on clear out of 650.

I got this in a trade. It's the Swamp Thing In Shame LP United Blood version.

Numbered out of 30, pretty limited I have to say. The cover is pretty cool, nice old school tattoo design.

I traded my copy of The Rival Mob HC4HC SFU showcase version for the Swamp Thing LP and this Mindset 7". This is the Winter 2009 Tour cover, limited to 110 copies. I was very happy about this trade. I think I got the better end of the deal, but that depends on who you are I suppose.

I've been meaning to get a copy of The First Step's Open Hearts and Clear Minds. This is one of the best records in the past 10 years I'd say. This thing is just so incredibly raw, fast and refreshing. This is clear out of 400.

This is another Down to Nothing record I probably didn't need to get. This is Grey/Red mix and Blue/Yellow split. I think it's out of 225. I'm kinda lost on the pressing on this record. Hopefully Rich of Speedowax will hook it up.

I finally got a copy of Focus on the Light, the Powered pressing. Hopefully more to come. This is out of 510.

I picked up a few Effort records on eBay. This is the record release version of Iconoclasm with the special screen printed sleeve.

Numbered on the back out of 50.

Here we have the pre-order version with a special screen printed sleeve as well. This one is numbered on the front out of 75. I've been meaning to get some more versions of this LP. This is the best output by the band without a doubt.

This is the pre-order version of From Our Mistakes, with a numbered cover out of 100. This I believe means I have all of the first press.

Here we have three copies of the first Fired Up 7" that I picked up from Kyle Whitlow of Rivalry Records. From top to bottom this is Purple on 300 from the 3rd press, Black out of 400 from the 1st and Blue out of 250 from the first. I think the only one I'm missing is the regular version, not tour version, on clear.

Well I'm almost caught up, a few 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.