May 30, 2010 Contra the Band, Not Contraband

As I've stated many times, my goal is to collect every LI record ever made. And I have most of the non test presses. Which is about 10% of the battle. Many of my friends know this, and they're always keeping their eyes peeled for me. Especially my buddy Brian. He texted me last week saying he was going to record fair in brooklyn after work. I couldn't make it because of emails. Emails are my new ball and chain. Well later that day Brian sent me another text saying he found the Contra LP off of Traffic Violation on black but their was nothing on the labels. Then he followed this text up with another saying he found the same record with the label printed on. SCORE! I immediately told him to buy that cause it must be the test press. I already had the standard release on black, but no test. In fact I don't have any Traffic Violation records test presses. This was a pretty good sized label back when they were around. They released a lot of cool albums like Latterman and On the Might of Princes. They also hail from Setauket NY, home of the greatest deli on the planet Se-Port Deli. My brother and I have gone to this deli for dinner every friday for the past 7 years. And I've been going every week since 1997. It's one of the few things left from the 90s that I still have. So back to vinyl. BLAMO!

Some very cool things to point out about this test is it came with a sleeve. Solid. And it was only 5 bucks! Even nicer. Brian comes through in the clutch.

Here's the original release, and all the ridiculous stuff that came inside the sleeve. Yeah I have no idea.



Tom - "Contraband? Wasn't that the band Serena was in?"

Nick - "yeah but this is the band Contra, not Contraband."

Tom - "ohhhhh right gotcha."

May 26, 2010 SHUTUP!

About 3 weeks ago I was having a top 5 worst day ever at work. I mean it was bad. One of those, "The seajet leaves in 1 hour, I think I can make it." type of days. And whenever I think that sorta shit, I buy stuff. So to cushion the blow of this terrible day I decided to message a dude I know that has a ton of victory test presses. I asked him if he had shutdown against all odds. Immediately I got a message back saying that he did in fact have a couple shutdown test presses, but wasn't sure which ones they were off the top of his head. A COUPLE?! Ok even if he doesn't have against all odds, he could still have both Few and Far Between and Something to Prove. Later that day he got back to me and confirmed exactly what I was thinking. He had both those tests, and most of those colors. Now I needed Something to Prove on White and Red, and I think there's Few and Far Between on white which I didn't have, but neither did he. So here's what I grabbed...

Shutdown - Something to Prove - VR 113 - Red, White, Orange(previously owned) and Test Press


Shutdown - Few and Far Between - VR 132 - Test Press


Cool shutdown sticker on the cover. Here's the colors I have for this release.

Now I'm not going to lie here. Few and Far Between, not that great. I mean it's decent, and I'll totally take it, but it's no against all odds. AAO is one of my favorite hardcore albums of all time. Something to Prove though is a good 7" for sure. I'm definitely happy to have that one.

So where do I go from here? I'm going to try and stick to homerun vinyl blog posts when I do them. I get tests in a lot, but nothing worth talking about. I don't know, we'll see. Shirts are still fun. I just picked up a pretty sick Cannibal Corpse LS from the 91 butchered at birth tour. OH and I got a real nice Indecision Unorthodox shirt with the Exit Records logo on the back. I'll do that one next. see ya

May 22, 2010 Danzig - Yep Another One

About 2 weeks ago I saw an XL Danzig long sleeve come up on ebay. That's pretty much music to my ears. XL Danzig long sleeve. Wow. Now when I saw the shirt I thought, "Ok it's not bad looking, but it's not the best I've seen. And it has a $45.00 starting price." Which really isn't that bad actually. If you read my post from a month or so ago I talked about the Danzig 4p LS I got. That one cost me about 90 shipped. This one happened to be older. It was from the Danzig III album, How the Gods Kill. So I waited till the end and bid like 80. I was the only bidder, which surprised me. I figured someone else would try to pick this thing up. Usually that makes me nervous. Like someone knows something I don't. So I was excited to get the shirt in the mail, but I was reserve at the same time.

Now that I have the shirt though, I'm positive it's real. And not only that, but I actually like it more than the 4p LS. Why? Cause of how it fits. The 4p fits good, but the neck is slightly weird. This shirt is perfect. And I think it looks good too. I was scared that the purple was going to make me want to ban it to the retired pile immediately. But I actually really like it.

Check the sleeve prints. The Giger dagger is totally sick.



Now another interesting part of this auction was seller having a second Danzig shirt up for sale. This one was short sleeve. And I really only wanted it because I knew for sure it was the real deal.


How did I know it was the real deal you ask? Oh hahah this is why....


Nobody in their right mind would boot a Blackacidevil shirt. Waste of ink. And if you're wondering, yeah, instant retirement.

May 16, 2010 Danzig - Satan's Child Tour 99

So about a month back I spotted this long sleeve on ebay. It's from the Satan's Child 99 tour. Now let's be honest here, after 94/95 Danzig's sound went into the crapper. I mean Circle of Snakes isn't terrible, but Blackacidevil is about the worst album I've ever heard if you compare it the album right before it Danzig 4p. I mean it's like 2 different worlds. And the world that Blackacidevil came from, I don't ever want to visit.

I think I need a new camera. The flash on this thing is like one of those light grenades from Mom and Dad Save The World. I'll work on that.


The back is looking solid too! Only issue is it's a large. The guy listed it incorrectly. Luckily large isn't so small now a days...yeah I'm working a lot.

On a side note, I was really looking to do a vinyl post today but unfortunately the monster package I have coming in...well...it just didn't. Hopefully soon though. WOW it's a good one.

May 7, 2010 Squeal Like a Pig

Back in 1995 Stuck Mojo put out a RapCore album called Snappin Necks. It was a decent album. It was definitely more rap than core. But it was good. I still listen to it every now and again. Then in 1996 they changed up their style a little and, in my opinion, put out one of the greatest RapMetal albums ever called Pigwalk. Now I've mentioned this before, but let me reiterate. If you have a band, and your genre is either RapCore, or RapMetal, I like you. I don't even have to know what you sound like or who you are. I like you. And I most likely like you a lot. Why? I have no idea. I don't like one popular band, but I like Rage Against the Machine. I mean who doesn't? I like Downset. I like F451. I like....well you get the idea. It's like vampire movies. I don't know, I just like them. If there's vampires in it, I'm totally down with it. Ok enough of that, let's get to the reason why I'm here.

About 3 weeks ago a Stuck Mojo 96/97 Tour long sleeve popped up on ebay. There was a catch though. Starting price was 10 bucks and there was a reserve. I hate reserves. Just start the damn auction at the price you want. What are you trying to generate some action with people bidding? Come on, it's a 30 dollar tshirt, not a 20k car. K enough of that. So I message him and ask him the reserve. He says 40 bucks. Now look, this shirt is sick, I'm not going to even lie. It's got that 80s metal feel to it, it's got the sleeve print, it's got the tour dates on the back. It's sick. But I don't think it's worth 40. Would I pay 40? Sure. But no one else would. And I knew that. So I just let it end. And of course, it didn't meet reserve. I think it got to 15 bucks. So I messaged him and told him I'd give him 25 + shipping. No reply. Ok, no problem. Then the next day he relists it. I message him again and ask him if the reserve is still 40. Yep it's still 40. Ok hey no problem. I let it end at 10, no one bids. I message him again(haha) and say my offer still stands. No reply! Ok, ok, I gotcha bro, you're going to stick to your guns. I'm cool with that. He relists it again. I message him again. Still 40? This time though, he smartens up. "Make me an offer an I'll take it down." ok buddy, 25 shipped HA! He takes it. You mess with the bull, you get the horns.

Gotta say, I'm actually kind of scared to wash this thing. It doesn't feel as crisp as some of the other mid 90s shirts I have. This one feels like it was made in like 86 and then religiously worn to every concert on the European Hysteria Tour.



Really loving this thing. I want to wear it. Like bad.

May 6, 2010 Rev Distro Order

So like a month back my buddy Justin from Unrestrained and of course the great 90s hardcore blog Stuck in the Past, tweeted about this 50% off sale over at RevHQ. Now I don't know about anyone else, but I feel like Revelation has the most underrated distros ever. I never hear people saying they order from Rev. Maybe I guess because I hang out with my brother, and all we do is work...none the less, I shot over there cause they always have good stuff. Lo and behold I find a sick Mouthpiece long sleeve for 10 bucks!

I mean two sleeve prints? Are you for real right now? Gold on black? There is zero wrong with this shirt. How about the back you say?


ACTION SHOT! You can't beat this shirt. Only came in XL though....oh wait, I WEAR XL! While I was there I picked up a few records too.




Not for nothing but that Swamp Thing - In Shame lp isn't cheap. I've seen it go for 20-30 bucks. It cost me 7. Grabbed a This is Hell lp and VOD for the bleeders, which I didn't have. Total price, less than 40 shipped. Really great pick up.

On a side note, I'm over flowing with long sleeve shirts right now. I should make a list and put it on HYE!