Converge / Drop Dead split 7"

Even though I am old as dirt, I still love me some hardcore festivals. Seeing that time, money, work and family commitments pretty much eliminate the ability to go to as many as I would like, I was still able to hit up Chaos In Tejas 2011 a couple weeks ago with my buddy Al from the awesome Hardcore Shirt website.

This festival was really appealing to us because of the wide range of hardcore bands that were playing. Converge, Touche Amore, Trap Them, Ceremony, Free Spirit, The Rival Mob, Unbroken, Tragedy, Burning Love, Omegas, Mind Eraser, Rampage and Title Fight. Old, new, crusty, straight edge, reunions, etc. You get it all.
In the end though, the real reason we were going was to see Youth of Today.
At the time the lineups were released back in the winter, this was the only show Youth Of Today were booked for. We figured we may never get another chance to see them. Little did we know they would be playing 1000 times this summer!

We ended up spending three great days and nights in Austin, Texas eating too much food, drinking water from a communal thermos and catching some great bands.

Highlights

1. I love the format of seeing a few different 4-5 band shows on consecutive days and nights instead of the war of attrition with one venue, 40 bands a day. I am too old for that crap.
2. Headliners are headliners for a reason. Converge, Unbroken, Tragedy and Youth of Today were truly amazing.
   
3. Talking with Dave Claibourne the singer from Unbroken. He asked us a lot of questions about getting older and staying involved with hardcore and also having a real job with money and responsibilities. He genuinely seemed happy and excited to be talking to a couple guys who had done it. Dave ended up giving us a shout out on stage. Cool.
4. Powertrip. This Dallas band opened the second Mohawk night and just floored me. 80's thrash mixed with hardcore and a singer who didn't sing like cookie monster. They reminded me of Leeway. That's a good thing. Check them out on the BBB America's Hardcore comp.
5. An unannounced, impromptu set from Step Forward. Since every Boston hardcore band was already there (Rampage, Mind Eraser, Rival Mob, Free Spirit) they jumped up and played four songs between the Rival Mob and Rampage sets.
   

Lowlights

1. 300 crust punks and beardos in one small cramped venue in 100 degree fahrenheit heat and no air conditioning. The smell was enough to cripple your will to live.
2. Having to move indoors at the Mohawk because of 11:00 PM noise curfews. The indoor shows were nowhere near as good.
3. Zero Chaos In Tejas fest vinyl presses or covers. Nothing. Nada. Nil.

With that said, I was able to pick up one record. The Converge / Drop Dead split 7" celebrating each band's 20th anniversary.

The record is self released and is being distributed by Deathwish and Armageddon.

There are a total of three different versions available. One color from Deathwish, one color from Armageddon and then there is the tour version.
The best I can describe it is that the tour version is a mix of a lot of different colors. A lot.

Converge completionists are freaking out on the message boards because there is no way they can get them all. There may be as little as 42 or as many as 450 different colors!
Personally I love it. If you can't get them all, you just need one. But me being me, I asked for four. Luckily the four I got were all very different which shows you just the randomness of the
combinations.
Good times.