Today In The Mail: More Shirts Then Records

Today I woke up to find four packages for me, went to work for three hours, had a CD player put in my moms car and came home to find another package waiting for me. The first package I opened was my Backtrack - Demo 7" pre-order pack. (Aaron and I will be doing Backtrack's second Columbus show on January 2nd, 2009 (look for a flyer for this soon)). The package was one record short though because with the pre-order I ordered a Rhythm To The Madness 7" (super bummer I was excited to hear it). Second was a package was from Canadian Holy Terrorists Withdrawl. It was two shirts (And three huge vinyl stickers) they sent me to fill the void until the long sleeve I ordered comes in (its been 2 months since I ordered it). I am super excited about these shirts though (even though one has boobs on it). Then I started opening up two small packages that were rubber banded together. They contained three cassette tapes (each of them demos) by Some Kind Of Hate, S.O.S. and Breathing Fire (I've been trying to get a copy of this tape forever). The last package was a copy of the Ray And Porcell 7" that I have never heard. And in the end this haul was so big I had to take two pictures to do it justice.


Some Kind Of Hate - Demo
S.O.S. - Demo (Lockin Out Records)
Breathing Fire - Demo (Painkiller Records)
Backtrack - Demo (Pre-Order) (Clear Orange) (Out Of 90) (Flatspot Records)
Backtrack - Demo Cover (White) (XL)


Ray And Porcell - S/T (Revelation Records)
Withdrawl - Pray As Lamb, Lamb As Prey (Black) (XL)
Withdrawal - Glory (Black) (XL)

Life That's Already Passed Me By

At around 4 AM December 15th 2007, Reid (Driver), Anthony (Co-Pilot), Tucker and I (Weighing down the back) made the six hour drive to Chicago. Our goal was this:


We made it their early so we ate at a Quiznos for breakfast, found a mall (where tucker got an Orange Julius) and Reid and Anthony were too big to ride the carousel.


Then we made our way to the venue (all of this in a semi-blizzard). Everyone else could go straight in but I had to wait for my ticket to get there. When I finally did I had missed almost all of Regret's set, bummer. Convicted played next. This was my first time seeing them but not hearing them. My dude Rob (of Reflect fame) had burned me a copy of their demo and I was almost as excited to see them as The Suicide File and The Hope Conspiracy. After these two the line-up gets a bit iffy in my memory. Ill just skip over Damnation A.D. and Turmoil I've never really been into those bands and I was busy looking at distros and catching up with friends. Blacklisted played one of the best sets I have ever seen them play, it changed my mind about this band. Bernies sound had ruined them for me for a long time. Next was The Killer, who I had never heard before played a pretty decent set. I beleive Ringworm was next and they played one of the best sets I have ever seen them play. People were losing their minds and crushing each other. Now The Suicide File and The Hope Conspiracy, both bands played amazing sets. It was a long long time ago so I don't really exact songs they played but I do remember both bands killing it.


After the show we drove for what seemed like forever (I kept dozing off so I have no idea how long we really drove), and we found a hotel to stay the night. We slept a good amount of time and then hurried into the city. I remember the drive in because It was also the first time I heard the Darvocets. Our targets in the city were all on or around the Chicago Ave. Of course records were on the list but Reid had his own goal, toys. But pizza was to be the catalyst of the day.




Then came the first record shop we hit up, it yielded a repress of the Alone In The Crowd - S/T 7" for me and a random Oi! record. Then we hit up this toy store. Its called Rotofugi and blew my mind. I had no idea anything like this was going on. Artists, independtent designers and toy companies making inventive and very design oriented toys for collectors and normies alike. And blind box toys, fuck my mind was blown. It to me was a throw back to collecting cards as a youth. You never know what you are going to get, weather its going to be some amazing and different new thing or just a double you can toss to the side and hope you can trade off one day. I only bought a few things that day, but toys ever since have become a big interest in my life. Reckless Records was our next stop, and we all found some gems here. Now mine might not seem as mind blowing to you but to me they were amazing. First was a Catch 22 - Washed Up 7" for two bucks. Then came a Bloodpact/Varsity split 12" out of 100 for 3 bucks. And on a whim I walked to the back section and I found a H2O - S/T cassette tape for one single dollar. After all this fun and walking (Reckless was about a 20 minute walk from the car). We drove tucker to the airport so he could fly to Alaska to see his family, and we made our way home. All and all it was one of the most fun trips I have had with my friends. I am very glad I finally got this disposable camera developed so I could relive these memories and get siked for Reid and I's trip to Chicago in May. Peter get siked.

It sucks that my recollection of events is a bit off but its been a week short of a year (And 11 months since I promised to make this post). Maybe some day I'll make a post about the stop we made on the way and were Tucker got a handjob from at a truck stop Asian massage parlor. Ha.

Today In The Mail: Yesterday In The Mail Vol. 1

Well I wasn't home yesterday to open this package so it basically came today. I was waiting for what seemed like ages for this to come up for pre-order, and it came pretty quickly once it was. This tape has exclusive tracks from Hollywood, Moutheater, Feed and The Effort (and a few other bands I have no heard of). Also a few tracks of Thrashed Records related bands such as Lone Wolf, Die Young, Lie And Wait, The Recluse, Kintaro and Hostage Calm. If you have a tape player I suggest buying this, or at least checking these bands out. Oh and to check out mp3s from a few of these band's and some other great bands check out the Thrashed Records Winter Sampler 2008.


Thrashed! Records Mixtape Vol. 1 (Red) (Out Of 50) (Thrashed Records)
Thrashed! Records Mixtape Vol. 1 (White) (Out Of 150) (Thrashed Records)

Today In My Stomach: Yummies

Today was a long LONG long day at work, that started far too early. My lunch was as usual greasy unhealthy crap. So I wanted to eat something a bit better for dinner. The choice was easy, its been a bit since I gorged myself on humus and I still love it. And the coke was a no brainier. A great meal to eat alone as my parents went out to eat for their anniversary (40 years). So I'll just sit here and eat this and enjoy watching The Wedding Singer on Comedy Central. Oh and this won't be an all the time thing, but how good does that look. Fuck I really wish I had more pitas.


Athenos - Roasted Red Pepper Humus
Mini Pitas From Whole Foods
Classic Coke

Today In The Mail: Eight And A Half Feet Of Hardcore

Today two packages came, one was very heavy (from Six Feet Under Records) and the other very light (A389 Records). 8 days ago I made an order on Six Feet Under Record's Black Friday Sale. I have been thinking about making a big order from there for a while now and the deals just sucked me in. I am most excited about picking up the Think I Care - Mongrel 10" (I am pretty sure Six Feet Under is the only place that has copies of this left). I am also very excited to finally hear a new Pressure Point record. Now to the smaller package, last year I saw Pulling Teeth and a band from the UK called Frightener. This band blew me away but I was flat broke at the time so I couldn't pick up a shirt or a record. I ordered this with Pulling Teeth - Vicious Skin CD and Witches Sabbath 7" and it got left out, but today it came and added some extra heavy to my record collection.


Clockwise:

Pressure Point - Resist And Riot (Green And White) (Out Of 103) (Six Feet Under Records)
Dead Nation - Passing Phase (Blue) (Out Of 98) (Six Feet Under Records)
Frightener - Guillotine (Screen Printed Cover) (Black Skies Across America 2007) (A389 Records)
Think I Care - Mongrel (Red) (Out Of 500) (Walk All Night Records)
Dead Stop - S/T (Third Press) (Red) (Out Of 300) (Six Feet Under Records)
Trash Talk - Walking Disease (Clear With Purple Splatter) (Out Of 1028) (Six Feet Under Records)
Bitter End - Climate Of Fear (Brown) (Out Of 520) (Six Feet Under Records)

Today In The Mail: WTF No Records

Today I got an envelope in the mail with a random assortment (or a grab bag if you will) of stuff I saw the last time I was looking at RevHQ. I've been needing something to read and I have been wanting to pick up a copy of Jeff Lasich's Start Today Hardcore Fanzine so I picked up the two issues they had in stock. Also I got a tape of the bass play from Chain Of Strengths band Statue, I have never heard this band but it was a buck so you can't go wrong there. The End Of A Year poster was a big duh, I didn't have it so I needed it.


End Of A Year - Sincerely (11"x17")
Start Today - Hardcore Fanzine #5
Start Today - Hardcore Fanzine #6
Statue - Filter The Infection (Revelation Records)

I'll Breathe Every Breath As A Free Man

One Sweet Day

After a 13 hour work day and Dugg trying to eat my mail (see post below). I drove 15 minutes south to see my baby girl to help her get a project done for art school and get some lovin.

Oh yeah if you haven't checked it out yet... I made her an amazing mix. I love life.

As always great things coming in the future of the blog. Even those long awaited pictures from Chicago last year and that Cleveland show the other week, tons of stuff coming in the mail, another show in early December, uploads and the life I lead.

Today In The Mail: Dog Day Afternoon

So I come home from work today to find one my packages torn open by my brother's dog, Dugg. Luckily he only crushed the Cd case (which was an easy fix, all I had to do was switch the case out). I would have been very annoyed had he hurt the Pulling Teeth - Witches Sabbath IV record seeing that it is decently rare. Only other problem with this package was an LP I ordered with it was not included at all. But that's how it is sometimes and I've only had one problem before so I wont blame it on Dom. I just hope it gets to me somehow Im assuming with the next batch of pre-orders they are doing for the Pala, Oak and Rot In Hell records coming out pretty soon.


Pulling Teeth - Witches Sabbath IV (Out Of 300) (Chainsaw Safety Records)
Pulling Teeth - Vicious Skin (Chainsaw Safety Records) (Weird I bought a CD)

Still Crossed - Unreleased Material

Still Crossed was one of my favorite bands to see back in 2004. They put out a demo and one full length CD (on Indecision Records). It always bothered me that their CD "Love And Betrayal" never came out on LP. These songs were intended to be on a split with Against from Brisbane, Queensland (Thats in Australia newbs).

Still Crossed - Unreleased Material

Download

(Still Crossed's drummer Robbie is now in several great bands including one spotlighted in this blog already, Black Dove).

Today In The Mail: There's Only So Much Time

A package and an envelope today both brought me great joy. The package was A Kind Of Like Spitting 7" I won on ebay the other day for a very fare price. And the envelope was the No Tolerance demo tape. This tape was just a random buy when I saw it on the Painkiller Records webstore, and boy am I happy I bought it. The demo has a very SSD, Last Rights and DYS feel (so it makes a lot of sense they are from boston). Probably one of the best demos I have heard all year. If you get the chance to buy the tape, do it.


No Tolerance - Demo (Edge Day Records)
Kind Of Like Spitting - Birds Of A Feather (Out Of 1000) (Grand Theft Autumn Records)

Recap Of End Of A Year/Defeater/Steel Nation Show

I am not going to get into how much the Columbus hardcore scene is a joke or how disappointed I am in most of my friends. I would rather just focus on a great show that far too many people missed. Reflect opened up, and as usual they were awesome. A lot people sleep on this band or are forced to do so. This was their first time playing at Bernies and Rob's stage presence was great. Empire played next and killed it. When I watch them play I still can't believe they are not huge. Hopefully their tour with Backtrack in January will help that. Unreal City dropped off. Defeater played next and they were awesome. They just got signed to Bridge Nine Records, who will be rerelasing their cd "Travels" on LP I hope I get a chance to see them again soon. Next up was Steel Nation, I have not seen them since they kicked their singer out and became a four peice. They have a very 90's feel now, very Biohazard/Life Of Agony-esque. I am very into this turn for the band. End Of A Year closed out the night and I feel very strongly about this band. They did not let me down one bit, the music live was spot on. I am very happy to have been part of making this show possible.

I finaly was able to get an End Of A Year shirts. I love it because nowhere on the shirt does it say their name, just a live shot. And I picked up a pretty cool Defeater shirt.

Today In The Mail: Today Was A Good Day 2.0

Today I got another package from A389 Records. I love ordering from this label (other then me never getting my Gehenna shirt) I ordered this 4 days ago and its already in my hands. This was just me picking up some cheap records that I have either lost on ebay or flaked on picking up before. The Aloke LP was just a random purchase and from the A side I am into this record. Defenetly weird stuff.


H20 - It Was A Good Day/I Want More (Blue) (Side One Dummy Records)
Redemption 87 - Spidey Sessions (Blue) (Out Of 500) (Breakout Records)
Our Times - S/T (Big Hole) (Out Of 400) (Headcount Records)
Aloke - One Day We Will Kill You (Red) (Gatehouse Anchor Records)

Today In The Mail: The Modern Dogma Is

Another record I have been waiting on for what seems like forever. And its not even the version I ordered first. This Is the Record Release version (the first copy I ordered was a normal version of this but some sort of problems with the covers has it delayed). Arms Aloft is a "punk" band from Wisconsin, and I'm pretty sure at least one of the members was in Regret (a band I couldn't see enough of that just dropped off the map last year). Their music is like faster Jawbreaker/Hot Water Music with the vocal styling's of some of the better Hellcat Records artists (sounds weird but the band is great).


Arms Aloft - Comfort At Any Cost (Record Release) (Grey) (Out Of 25) (Dead Format Records)

This record also came with lots of stuff. Dead Format pin, patch and sticker. Two other Dead Format related stickers (Profanity). And A Arms Aloft sticker and patch. Plus the cover has a sweet cloth Obi and splatter on it that make the whole presentation awesome. You can download their demo off their website. Buy this record from Dead Format. This is easily one of my favorite 7"s that has come out all year. Do not flake on this band.

Forget The World And The Rules

Flyer by Me.

This show seemed like it was ages away, and now its flying up faster than any other. This is the best show I have been apart of doing so far. Its two tours colliding, End Of A Year/Defeater and Steel Nation/Unreal City. And then its two of my favorite local bands Reflect and Empire. This is by far one of the best shows in Columbus all year, and I'm sure the turnout will be great (for once).

Watch Me Sink Like A Stone

For the second time this week I went out of town and saw Have Heart, Ceremony, Blacklisted, Let Down And Convicted. This Show was in Cleveland, Ohio. The local opener for this show was Mad Minds. Oh and two posts in one day, weird.


Now the write up for this show is going to be shorter than the one for Monday's. Convicted opened and this time I didn't miss any of it. Band only gets better every time I see them. Mad Minds played next and even though they're are dudes I never really got into them when I saw them. This time though they were awesome. This was to be their "Record Release Show." Sadly due to something or other they didn't have the records to be released. You can pre-order it HERE (along with the Triceratops LP). Let Down played next, they once again we're really good Kids were moshing hard having lots of fun myself included (durring them and Convicted I really bruised up my forearm). Blacklisted played next and as usual killed it. And now I take back what I said about Ceremony, at this show they were pretty tight and played an amazing set. At some point I allegedly elbowed some girl's face in. Have Heart closed out the Night again. They once again did a great job and played some decent tunes I wanted to hear. All and all the show was great.


This is the first Blacklisted shirt I have ever purchased (for myself). And it has a kitty on it, so I love it.

Today In The Mail: Christmas Came Early

I have skipped over several packages that have come in the past few weeks. Out of pure laziness. But I think this one deserves a post. This sold out in less than a week and that was a week before I even saw it was up for order so when I saw that RevHQ had copies I ordered one for me and one for Reid (He Loves David Bazan/Pedro The Lion).


David Bazan - Jingle Bells (Red) (Out Of 400) (Suicide Squeeze Records)

Been Livin' In The Dark Since April

Last night myself, Jakob and Aaron (Plus two girls) took a trip down to Cincinnati (Covington, Ky) to see a show. The show was one of the biggest/strongest hardcore tours I've seen in a while, and with a added bonus This Is Hell and support (Gravemaker) was added.


We got there late And missed all but one Convicted song. I was very bummed. Its been over 5 months since I saw them last (with Blacklisted) and I was hoping to get my mosh on (ha). Im pretty sure Gravemaker played next they were alright, I just wasn't paying to much attention to them (I know Aaron was into them). Now its been 3 and a half years (+) since the last time I saw This Is Hell. They were awesome. I like the band a lot but don't know their catalog as well as I should but they still ended up playing 3-4 songs I knew pretty well. Oh and I was taller then the guitarist and bassist when they were on the stage (something I found to be very amusing). Let Down played next, this was my third time seeing this band this year. No show will ever compare to the insanity of the Tower show (And they were pretty decent when I saw them in Romeo Michigan with Swamp Thing). But they played a good set. Stage banter was pretty good at points and I love the way they just say their name with straight edge as it goes hand in hand. Also I picked up the Tour version of their LP We're In This Alone (Six Feet Under Records) out of 80. Blacklisted was up next which surprised me because I thought they were bigger then Ceremony but that's a mute point. They were fucking awesome. I think this band gets better every single time I see them. People were losing their minds, it was great. Ceremony played next and though I do enjoy this bands earlier offerings I'm not to impressed by their last 7" and LP. They play sloppy angry hardcore. And at this show it came off very sloppy. Have Heart ended the nights festivities. I like this band. I don't love this band. A lot of people at this show LOVED this band. They were going nuts. So many people on stage singing along. The new record is really good. The last record was really good. Its very understandable why this band is so big. This show as a whole was amazing. I got to see some of my friends for the first time since I moved back from Louisville. A lot of my Cincinnati dudes. And had the pleasure of meeting a few new people. Wednesday I will be seeing this show again, and if In not lazy Ill grab up a disposable camera and snap some pics for the blog.


Oh and I picked up this awesome shirt.

Gorilla Biscuits Vinyl Figure

"We're getting close to the release More info soon. contact me at Alex@super7store.com if you're stateside and are interested in getting one. That's it for now!"

Vote

A lot of people around here at least seem to think that Obama and voting are a bandwagon to be jumped on. A cool thing to throw on a shirt (the H2O shirt was too good to pass up ha) or to put on their myspace. Well I woke up early and went to a church (yuck) a few miles from my house and cast my vote. I've always felt voting is one of the most important rights we have and a lot of Americans like to just shrug it off to the next guy. A lot of my friends are doing this today. I just hope everyone who reads this voted, and pray that cracker loses.