No Tolerance - Discography 12"

What I am about to say should be taken with a grain of salt and is not intended to insult or disparage anyone in particular or personally. The sentiment is more a reflection on my neurotic need to collect everything associated with a band or label to feel "whole" or "complete". I guess I have such little control in all the other aspects of my life that I use this forum to give myself a sense of purpose and peace. I have issues, obviously.   With that said;

You fucking Euros and your fucking represses!

Somehow, some way,  a Euro label called Quality Control HQ was able to get all parties on board, band and labels, to repress the first two No Tolerance 7"s onto a 12" in celebration of the No Tolerance European tour back in the fall. So in addition to the seven or eight 7"s I have with these songs, now there are a couple more 12"s to add. Great.

These versions were sold at shows and I heard sold out pretty damn quick - which is to be expected.

There were a total of 500 pressed with only 100 on this awesome looking green.

The record also comes with a large, two sided, black and white foldout lyric sheet/credits page.

Now I just have to track down the black vinyl which won't be an easy task. The Quality Control HQ website says they are all sold out, even though I never knew they were ever made available to the general public! If anyone has a line on where a neurotic brother from Canada can score one, it would be appreciated!

Give - Singles Going Confetti + A Couple Other Ones

Well here I am another month later and still dragging ass when it comes to posting. I really have to pick it up as I see so many great record collecting blogs consistently bring the content and quality. Have a quick check of my blog list and you all know who I am talking about. Inspiring.

I have been on board with Give from day one have been collecting everything I could get my hands on.  The more I listen to them the less I think of them as a Swiz inspired band (which they most definitely are) and more of a band with a general DC/Dischord/Revolution Summer influence.
As new 7"s came out I would pre-order everything available. That temporarily stopped with the announced release of the Singles Going Confetti lp.
I mean I figured I had all the 7"s, there was no need for a "compilation" let alone one from Europe that would cost me dearly in postage.
Well I was able to stick to that responsible train of thought right up until I saw a post showing off the color version of the album. Aw damn! I had to order. Luckily there were still copies available directly from Assault so I didn't have to hit ebay.

There were two colors available, the rarer one being solid yellow. This was limited to only 160 copies. I am stunned I was able to get one this late in the game.

The other color is of course black vinyl and at only 260 pressed isn't exactly common. Although it is being stocked at RevHq now.

The layout is top notch with great artwork throughout. I am particularly impressed with front cover incorporating the 7" band member format.

The insert is cool too.

At the same time I ordered the Singles Going Confetti from Assault, I was also bidding on a pair of alternate cover versions of Petal Pushing and I Am Love. Luckily they were being offered by the same seller at the same time, so I was able to score both of these in one shot.

The alternate cover versions are limited to 100 a piece. The Petal Pushing cover shows Doug Free and the I Am Love has Austin Stemper who I can only assume played with the band to fill in on tour for the permanent members. Hell how the fuck should I know?

I think at this point my Give collection is complete. I was going to take a picture of the whole thing but then I remember how much fun it was doing the Have Heart demo layout and decided against it. Mike has a cool picture you can check out instead.

Ceremony - He-god-Has Favored Our Undertakings : S&F 2011

Two weeks ago, I never knew this existed.

I used to pride myself on my knowledge of pressings, colors, variants and all things nerd when it came to hardcore record collecting. This goes double for bands and records I actually love. Well as it turns out I suck.
It's not often when I am surprised about seeing something on ebay. Sure, I can raise an eyebrow when there is a super rare and expensive record that pops up once every few years, but at least I knew it existed. When I saw this Sound and Fury 2011 version of  the Ceremony - He-god-Has Favored Our Undertakings 7", I did a double take. Then I proceeded to to try to win it at all costs. Damn, a Ceremony record I didn't know about. I feel shame.
The funny thing is I still don't know much about it at all.

The band used the common grey color that was out of 700. I guess there were leftovers.

The sleeves are hand numbered on the back bottom corner. I got #5, so either there weren't many done up or I got a low number. Either way, cool.

There was no regular sleeve that came with this like a lot of other alternate cover pressings. Maybe it was like that for all of them, who knows? At least for this copy, the foldover white cover is all that you get. No download code, no insert. No frills.

My only defence when it comes to my ignorance with the existence of this record is that Ceremony used a 2008 two song 7" for a festival three years later. I didn't get the memo.

Step Forward / Waste Management Edge Day 08 Two Pack

There aren't too many records left out there that really make me excited. You know, the ones that jump to the top of your want list for no rational reason other than you WANT it. Well, this just happens to be one of them.
I have had this Edge Day Two Pack on my want list for years and FINALLY I was able to pick it up on ebay. When I saw it listed, I took measures I usually never take when it comes to ebay. I used a sniper program for the first time and I also entered a price that rivaled the amount people pay for a Chung King. Look, I know it wasn't going to sell for that much or that it is even worth 1/500 of the cost of a Chung King, but there was no way in hell I was going to get outbid by five cents or some shit that I would regret forever. Well, at least until the next one would pop up. In the end, I got this for a pretty decent price.

It's no real surprise to anyone who reads this blog or my posts for Vinyl Noize that I love Step Forward.  Their 10 Song ep is one of my favorite hardcore records ever and according to itunes, my most listened to record as well. So the fact there was a version out there that I didn't have plus it just happened to be in the coolest packaging ever, well it was a problem.

The set itself contains both the Step Forward and the Waste Management - Get Your Mind Right 7"s in a pseudo-gatefold sleeve. When you take the records out there is a picture of the SSD The Kids Will Have Their Say album cover. Iconic to say the least.

The front and back cover is a collage of gig posters of the biggest and best Boston straight edge bands. The Japanese style OBI strip is a cool touch too.

Each set was numbered out of 100. I got my favorite number, lucky 13.

Each record was also pressed on black vinyl with blank white labels and stamped with the Edge Day date and band name. The b side labels are Painkiller ones. I lost whatever natural light I had left so I couldn't take those pictures. I swear, it's like 30 Days Of Night up here in Canada right now.

It feels good to finally have this in my collection. Now the only thing left is a cherry on top. Anyone have a Step Forward "Loud and Clear: This Is Boston" record release they want to get rid of? No?

Striving Higher - This Is Hardcore

Oh, hello. Long time no see.

I have to be honest, I forgot for a few weeks there that this blog even exists. I have been pushing out 20-30 posts a month on Vinyl Noize and that seems to be eating up most of my computer time. I guess it's just easier to talk about other people's records.

On the positive side, I actually have a few records that should be coming in that may be worth posting about. Fingers crossed, there may be some actual content in the future.

So a few weeks back, (or was it a few months? Who knows?) an update was sent out from Six Feet Under Records that leftover copies of the This Is Hardcore 2012 press of the Striving Higher comp were put up in the webstore. I was looking at buying the Wolf Whistle MA Glory 7" so I figured it would be cool to grab this as well.

For being quite sparse, I quite like this layout. A glued on photo taken from the back page of the insert booklet on untreated cardboard. It's different enough from the original to stand out.

Plus I never had the black vinyl of this comp either, so win/win!

Here is a close up of the back cover design. If it is a stamp, damn, it sure turned out great. No smearing at all.

I like that the threw in the Blacklisted flexi like they did with the regular versions that came out earlier. It would have been very easy to just leave it out as this was a fest press. On the other hand, I will never play this. Flexi's can fuck up your stylus needle pretty bad.

The same full size booklet as the original press was thrown in as well. These are such a great touch. I have loved huge inserts ever since the Peace/War comp.

I was pleasantly surprised and happy to get this SFU poster thrown in. I can't recall if it was included in the regular Striving Higher comp, but I dig it. Obviously it is a "tribute" or homage to the Revelation Records posters of their current discography at the time. I threw up a picture of the Rev one I have for comparison.

The last I checked, there were still copies of this available. Check it out. Well worth the $15 in my opinion.

Wolf Whistle - MA Glory

In my feeble attempt to keep up with the kids and new (new-ish?) bands I decided to jump at the Wolf Whistle - MA Glory 7" when it was released. Except I didn't. For whatever reason, I thought it would be a good idea to go for the more "exotic" versions of the record instead of the ones Six Feet Under Records had up for preorder. Now I am playing catch up again. Great.

I guess most people are down with Wolf Whistle by this point. They may not be breaking new ground, but what they do is tight. Fast, raging hardcore venturing on power violence. There are worse things in the world than sounding like Infest. I love Infest. 

People were initially attracted to the band because of who was singing. I guess that's kind of unavoidable not to name drop the biggest band of the 2000's. So anyways, Pat Flynn sounds like Pat Flynn, but this definitely doesn't sound like Have Heart.

The band released a couple raw demos a few years back. The first one is near impossible to find on vinyl, but the second one on Triple B Records was pretty easy to track down. I only have the second press of that one, so hand me a late pass. Again. At least I'm doing a little better with MA Glory.

First up is the Sound & Fury 2012 sleeve version. I guess these didn't sell out at the festival, so Six Feet Under made the leftovers available through their webstore. At first glance they don't look too different from the regular cover except for the black border and the color contrast with the regular cover. Not too sure how many of these were made up.

It looks like they used the common solid blue vinyl from the regular first press.

Of course once I got this version, I wanted the others so I made a SFU order and picked up the common solid blue. Somehow I missed the clear blue version out of 250 that is still available. Doh! The most rare version, black vinyl is long gone. The way ebay is these days, maybe I can find one for about $160. 

A big difference with the regular sleeve compared to the S&F version is that it is printed on the inside with lyrics and credits. Download code comes with it as well. Good stuff.

One day I was checking out the Vinyl Collective board and saw a post that MA Glory would be released on cassette from Working Man Records. If I'm not mistaken, Working Man is a label run by the bass player in the band. Regardless, I jumped at the chance of scoring one. There were very limited numbers made and this green one was limited to 50 copies.

 There were different color cassette tapes made as well. A red one limited to 20, which was a label exclusive; a clear with blue stripe out of 30 which was a band exclusive, and these green ones. All 100 of the tapes sold out quickly, but there is a "second press" up now on white out of 50. Act fast and all that.
Damn, I love cassettes.

Sinking Ships - Disconnecting: Record Release

Things have been pretty quiet for me on the ebay front this summer . For whatever reason, I have decided that I am not going to try so hard to outbid people anymore. For six solid years I rarely lost an auction as I would be the idiot sitting in front of the computer at 3:30 AM waiting to make a last second bid at an inflated price I knew couldn't lose. 

I guess my "passion" for overpaying has waned quite a bit these days as now I simply put a bid in that I am willing to pay and walk the fuck away. If I win, great, but if I don't - whatever. Plus, I'm kind of at the point where my want list consists of records that are either insanely rare, popular and expensive to buy or are ones that I couldn't be bothered to bid on because shipping would cost as much as the damn vinyl.

I guess that is why I was pretty happy to finally track down the record release version of the Sinking Ships - Disconnecting album. When this album first popped up on my radar it was an easy $80 - $100 seller on ebay. I tried hitting up some of my west coast contacts to see if I could score one and they were more than willing to sell theirs to me, for $100.

Yeah, that pretty much put me off the record and I let it drop to the bottom of my want list for a few years. When I stumbled on it last month, I put in a low ball under $50 bid three days before it was over and forgot about it. Surprise, surprise I won the thing.

Nothing to really write home about with this once you get it in your hands. Half clear, half green vinyl with grey splatter. No labels. I know this is one of Marcus's favorite color records ever. He just raves about the combination of colours and overall aesthetic of how it matches the artwork. Isn't that right my man? ;)

The outer sleeve is a silk screen cover that obviously can be smudged pretty easily.

Each sleeve is hand numbered out of 75. I have either 54 or 64. If you have either one of the numbers, let me know so I can get it straight.

I'm not sure when the next post will be as the only things I have coming in the mail are 80's era thrash metal cassettes and the same pre-orders that you all have coming. Hey don't scoff, I picked up Slayer - Haunting The Chapel for $2. That's awesome.