Focused Minds - The Fact Remains

Here is Focused Minds' debut LP "The Fact Remains" on 6131 Records. This thing has been on some stupid heavy rotation for me for the last few weeks. I have always thought Focused Minds was criminally slept on, and this release absolutely proves that. The picture for the cover was taken in Santa Cruz, CA. I was at that show and it was the one and only time I've ever seen them. And no, I'm not in the picture. I'll let the youngsters do all that crazy stuff, I like to kick it in the back with the other old folks haha. Above is the rarest press on white out of /100.

The green pressing out of /300 is by far the better looking of the pressings. They also had a black pressing out of /600. The back cover reminds me of the Iron Boots "Easy Green" ep. If you're a straight edger and your not bumping this then you're all fucked up. This LP really does rule.

What's up with the dude with the sticker butt cheeks? 

So, this is my first post in over a month. That is by far my longest drought ever for posting. I apologize for the delay everyone, sometimes shit happens in life and records have to take a back seat. I'll try to keep this shit up more. I just took over a hundred pictures of back logged records so that should hold me over for a while. Stay tuned goons.

Violent Reaction

Violent Reaction is one of my favorite bands as of late, but I seem to have been caught dead asleep every time some important vinyl comes out. When I heard 6131 and Mind Rot were repressing the bands modern classic 7" for a US release, I was all over it in hopes of scoring some limited edition vinyl. This was the rarest of the pressing, white out of /100.

I think it looks great on red out of /300 though. This pressing is still available over at Mind Rot.

Last week the homey Jake from Screaming for Records sent me an awesome care package that I will be posting more about soon. This was included, an earlier pressing of the 7" on black vinyl released by Quality Control and Static Shock Records. As you can see, the layout for this is far superior to the American release. This comes on a huge fold out, that at first I thought was a cross. I'm so fuckin stupid, I had to flip it over to realize it was a giant X. Straight edge... X... Ok, I get it. Awesome lay out. I'll be posting more soon from Jake's package that he sent over. It is great having met awesome people all over the globe through this blog. That alone has made all this hard work worth it. 

Rotting Out - The Wrong Way

Here is Rotting Out's latest release "The Wrong Way". I knew the hype would be pretty big around it considering Rotting Out has officially blown the fuck up, and with good reason. I got on there about a half hour after the pre orders went up since I was busy at work, and the most limited version of gray/black out of /100 was out. I ended up getting the white/black copy pictured above out of /400. Pretty bummed, I was hoping to get something a little more limited. The light blue/green copy of /1000 sounds like it may be the coolest press out of all of them, and I'm considering getting a copy.

As for the record itself, it is really outstanding. I actually prefer it over "Street Prowl". I feel like Rotting Out really found themselves on this release and honed their style to perfection. They knocked it out of the park in other words. You already know this is going to be on a whole bunch of top 10 lists for the year.

The record came with one sheet with a band pic and lyrics on the back. Not quite the packaging treatment that Street Prowl got, but that's okay. If you haven't picked a copy of this up yet then quit messing around and get on it.

My 2012 Top 10 list just got BENT (Life)

So this is a record that I've had for months and I'm upset with myself that it wasn't until recently that I pulled it out and gave it a few spins. Holy shit, what an incredible fucking record! Definitely going in the top 10 for the year.... well, shit. My top 10 list is starting to get pretty long. This is one of those records I knew I would love right away after the first track. Great vocals and music, bringing a kind of metal style hardcore like Terror but with a much fresher sound. Angry as fuck and totally awesome. 6131 Records really has it going on right now between this release and Ill Intent's "No Masters".

I pre ordered this from 6131 after taking one look at the incredible Spoiler art on the cover. If you didn't know by now, I'm kind of a fan of anything that Spoiler does for hardcore bands record covers. Here it is on a very nice purple but I'm not sure how many were pressed. I would assume this is the most limited version since it was a pre order. Apparently these guys are from Nebraska, sweet. I love seeing bands killing that aren't from big cities. 

This won't take my "#1" spot for 2012, because that is going to go to Sydney Ducks or Shipwrecked most likely, but this does take my #1 spot for cover art for 2012. I can not think of a record that has a better cover than this released this year, Spoiler strikes again! Check out "The Hard Way" from this release below and get ready to throw some shit around your house:

Labels behaving badly! (Pt. 1)

Months ago I ordered a package from Hellfish that had all kinds of records, and one of them was a copy of Focused Minds' "Stay Focused" 7". When the package came to my house, the FM record was not included. I notified Hellfish and some guy named "Agi" told me that he would throw a copy in with my next order, and just to email him before I ordered again to remind him. Ok, no sweat. A few months go buy, a place another order and remind him that they owed me the FM 7". Order comes, again no 7". I sent atleast 10 emails with no response. Ok, fuck you then Hellfish! How does it make sense to screw someone for a $5 record when they have placed multiple orders that were almost $100 each? Good job.

Luckily, I was able to email Joey at 6131 Records and explain the situation to him. Wouldn't you know he not only sent me a white copy but also the clear "subscription" version out of /200. Hellfish lost a customer, and 6131 Records gained another loyal customer. Just a little bit of respect goes along way, Thanks Joey. This is a solid record from a Midwest youth crew band. However, I don't feel this record fully captures just how good Focused Minds is live. I hope they can capture some of that magic on their next release. Is this a good 7"? Yes, it is. However, after seeing this band live it left me expecting more. I'll be anxious for their next release and see this bands full potential!

So where I got the name for this post was from a local news station segment with Stanley Roberts called "People Behaving Badly", one of the most popular news segments in the Bay Area. Some of them are just so hilarious and unbelievable. So yeah, from now on I'll be going all Stanley Roberts on these record labels and distros that are fucking people over. Watch out shady labels, a post could be coming your way!

ILL INTENT - No Masters

Once again I'm lagging on my posts. Now that I've run out of free space for my pictures, maintaining this blog has become quite cumbersome. Some photo hosting sites don't seem to work when looking at the pages on a mobile device (atleast on my android phone), so I've been having to try different sites. All in all, it makes it a pain in the ass for something that I'm doing for free! But the show must go on, or so they say...

Lately my two most played records have been that PEACE s/t 7" with the goofy cover, and this 7". This is an absolute BRUTAL ripper. I feel the music really reflects their Northwest style hardcore, I picture them recording and it being all dark, depressing, cloudy, wet and rainy outside. That's the feeling that shines through on this thing. Like Rakim said "Ain't Nobody Smiling", and the sheer brutality of the lyrics and vocals are what make this such an amazing release. I'm totally into it and I can't wait to see them when they come through San Jose on tour. This pretty much blows away almost every other release I've gotten lately, hands down one of the best releases of 2012. Check out "No Masters" featuring the singer from Rotting Out:

Rotting Out 2nd Press

So when I heard that 6131 would be repressing Street Prowl I was all over it. The first press sold out pretty fast, and I only managed to get a red copy and black copy with printed labels. I've seen the clear copy of the first press go for over $60 on ebay, so I may have to wait a few years before I acquire that one. I headed over to the 6131 store and saw that there were only two colors pressed, so I put in a pre order for 2 copies. The layout was slightly redone, obviously its in black and white now and different back picture. You can check out my old post on this album for more info.

The colors were a kind of whitish gray marble and a reddish black swirl. I'll go ahead and coin them "bone" and "blood red" marble. The red actually looks very nice when held up to the sunlight. I'm not sure which one is more limited or what the pressing info on this is. One thing I found interesting was that the blood red version came with the "Rotting Out" sticker on the polybag, while the bone marble version had no sticker. I'm not sure if it is like that for all copies, but that may possibly be a way to tell the colors apart if it is sealed?

Another big ass poster, though not quite as big a poster as the first press, still pretty cool. The lyrics are on the back. I've been listening to this release alot lately and it is really quite excellent. However, some bands are better on record than they are live, and some bands are better live than they are on record. Rotting Out is better live than they are on record. They are one of the best live bands I have seen in a long time, and I'm hoping that they can find a way to channel that live stage presence and energy into their recordings a little bit more for their next release.

Focused Minds Sound and Fury 2012

I just took over a hundred pictures of new records (that I've been lagging on taking for almost a month), and I don't have much time so I'll do a quick post. I didn't make it to Sound and Fury fest this year. There just wasn't enough bands that I really wanted to see for me to justify the cost. I was happy when I saw that 6131 was putting up their remaining copies of their Focused Minds "Stay Focused" S&F2012 press. I quickly headed over and ordered two copies, since one side says "Focused" and one side says "Minds", I figured I would get one of each. Unfortunately I received two copies of the "Focused" cover instead. Focused Minds is another one of those bands that I never was that into until I saw them live and was blown the fuck away. So don't get it twisted, these guys are really good. Now I'll have to be on the look out for the "Minds" cover on ebay. Stay tuned for a bunch new stuff in next couple weeks!

Alpha Omega - Life Swallower

As I keep going through my old inventory of photos, I came across the pics of my Alpha Omega "Life Swallower" LP. This was the most generic press of /600 on Purple smoke. It also had /100 on orange and /300 on green. I actually had downloaded this a while back and wasn't too impressed with it after a few listens. It is definitely more metal than hardcore. I ended up catching them live earlier this year though and was really impressed though and picked this LP up at the show. Alpha Omega is way better live than on their recordings. Now that I have seen them live though, this album has grown on me more. As far as the layout goes, I absolutely hate the lay out. Talk about a major snooze fest. Atleast they made up for it with this amazing looking purple and black "splatter" vinyl (which is really a smoke, or swirl maybe, but definitely not splatter as 6131 claims). This is a solid release worth checking out. 

Disappointment of the Year goes to....

Damn, I really tried on this one. I know this post may be a bit controversial to some, since I have read some posts praising how this is a "top 10" record of (last) year and all that, but maybe you guys got a different recording than I did. What a fucking let down. I downloaded the "Welcome to Hell" EP a while back and thought it was pretty good, so when this came out I ordered it as well as a "Crucified" sweatshirt. But fuck, this thing is just horrible. I actually had to do a double take when I first heard this and check if it was the right record. Hardside tries to do all the little singing parts similar to how Take Offense does, but they really can't pull it off. It reminds me of some mainstream rock that you would hear while you're trying to play "Madden". Really disappointed Hardside, you guys need to come correct on the next release and just forget about that corny melodic stuff. The actual vinyl looks really good though, on a mustardy gold marble with blank labels. The artwork on this thing is bad ass with pimps, cops & robbers, grim reapers, and all the cool stuff. Either way, if you were thinking about buying this, give it a good listen before you throw down your five bucks.

Tonight I'll be Rotting Out

Since I am going to see Rotting Out and FocusedxMinds tonight in Santa Cruz, here is my 2nd pressing of "Vandalized" on blue /400. I always flip flop on which singer I like more from Rotting Out, the original singer or the one on Street Prowl. The original singer is very good (Mike) with a more traditional hardcore sound. Mike's vocals remind me more of Chain of Strength. The new singer (Walter) is very good as well, sounding a bit more punk rock. Walter's vocals remind me more of  Youth of Today. Keep in mind these are just broad generalizations of singing styles, so don't get all pissy about it. Since I have only seen the new singer live though, I'll have to give Walter the slight edge due to the stage presence he has and the live show he puts on.  This is a really great release though, and a quick search shows that some are still available at RevHQ.

Also, a while back I posted this long ranting article about how I didn't get a red copy of "Rotting Out" when I thought I did... long story short, I finally tracked one down. Now I just have to track down the clear, and black with no label I guess? I'm halfway there...

Street Prowl on Red.. Wait its BLACK vinyl!?! WTF

So now that I'm done ranting about not getting the red vinyl on the Stick Together "Surviving the Times" pre order, I figured I'd give another story on how I missed out on some Red vinyl. This past December I saw Rotting Out with Madball and Take Offense in San Francisco. I knew before the show that their new "Street Prowl" LP had copies on black, red and 200 on clear which sold out pretty much immediately. At the beginning of the show I asked their merch guy if they had red copies, he said yeah they had a bunch. I asked him to hold onto one for me until the end of the show, and he said "no problem".  

Ok, so Madball finishes and a rush is underway for the door/merch tables. I had a long night of drinking and was feeling pretty good by then so this next part of the story is my own damn fault. I go to buy my copy of Street Prowl and I ask the guy if its on Red vinyl, he looks at me and says "Yeah". My friends are in a hurry to go so I grab my record and Rotting Out "Raiders" shirt and get the hell out. Now keep in mind, the record isn't even SEALED. I could have easily pulled it out and looked at it. It's not until the next morning when I go to check out the record that I realize I had a copy of it on black. Fuck. I really doubt the guy did it on purpose, because he was trying to get a few people their merch all at the same time. It's really my own damn fault for not taking the 2 seconds to look at the vinyl. And even more my fault, I should have just gone online that day and picked up a red one because they were still available. You live and you learn, right?

So onto the release. This is a really quality album, and they did a really nice job with the layout, cover art and big ass poster. I really like Rotting Out, they play fast ass hardcore punk with no frills.  I've seen them live a few times now and their singer always has great stage presence, jumping around and getting crazy as well as interacting with the crowd in between songs and telling little stories. If you haven't had a chance to check these guys out yet I would definitely do so. I'm anxiously waiting for a 2nd pressing and hoping to scoop this on some nice colored vinyl, but until then this will have to do.

Stick Together - Surviving the Times Pre-Order

So I pre ordered the Surviving the Times 7" a little while back from Triple B and I am very disappointed. I know Stick Together is really big on hand numbered and limited sleeves, so I was hoping for some kind of special pre order sleeve... No such luck. They couldn't even give me the red vinyl... Really? It's 165 on Red, 406 on Clear grey, and 906 on Black. I highly doubt that I didn't get my pre order in fast enough to get in on the red copies, but who knows. Maybe they only give you Red if you ordered multiple copies. 

Besides that this is a really good release. It comes with a digital download so I've been bumping it on the Ipod for a few days now. Triple B did a good job with the layout and art work on this release. I don't know if I like it as much as "No More Games" yet but time will tell. 

Before I leave for Backtrack...

...How about some more Backtrack?

Here's my copy of "Deal with the Devil" on Red, a fantastic release. In some ways I like this release more than "Darker Half". I know this is a second pressing but I'm not sure how many were pressed on red. This 7" has awesome artwork, I mean can you really go wrong with any Spoiler art?