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I’m trying to scale it back a little here, sorry for the massive posts… hopefully this will be more manageable for us all.

We got a dude here selling the first Warzone lp on Fist (not Fist/Caroline) with the original handwritten letters on the back. Who the hell told them to change that? It looks much better this way. John Omen’s bass playing on this release never really gets brought up, but I always have thought it sounds great, very full with lots of chords, meaty tone, and after all, played by the guy who drew the sleeve on the Straight Ahead 12″.

Got 3 good compilations for you:

• Look At All The Children Now- In the form of a second, and more common pressing. Best Citizen’s Arrest songs, worst Rorschach songs, and a pretty funny Bugout Society song about the 80’s phenomena of the party line.
• NYHC: Where the Wild Things Are - Don’t have to tell you this is one of the greatest of all time.
• Connecticut Fun- Everyone knows this for the first Youth Of Today songs (which are great of course) to say nothing of the many other decent bands like CIA and 76% Uncertain, but the real attraction for me is the cover art. Look at that punk embarrassing that cop! It’s like a Heathcliff cartoon! “MY UNIFORM! THE CHEIF IS GONNA KILL ME!” Our man Joe Snow was involved in a CD reissue of this recently FYI.

Grab that Poison Idea “Getting The Fear” 12″ while you’re peeping. Maybe my favorite single by them and it looks cool as hell. Though I wasn’t surprised, I was pretty depressed the day Pig Champion was found dead. That was a guitar-player’s guitar player folks.

Here’s a link to all his auctions (some other cool stuff in there too).

I have a big post coming, but before that, please observe a few items in this short weekend post that Reptillian Records of Baltimore is selling. A lot of run of the mill indie store stuff (a clipped Crispen Glover lp, Guided By Voices, Beach Boys, Mr. T Experience…), but there are a few really high demand straight edge hardcore items. BTW: does anyone know if Reptillian still has a street address? I know they shut down, then moved, and I’m not currently sure if they have a store front or are just an online business. Any info would be appriciated. The records:

1) War Zone - Lower East Side Crew 7″ on Orange

2) NYHC - 1987 - Together, standard pressing

3) Judge - New York Crew on Schism records (2nd pressing)

One thing I love is all 3 of these records are raw as hell, and every song is a hit. The War Zone is the big money maker here but Together is probs gonna go for a hundred at least, and the Judge record, though not worth too much in dollars, is valuable at least in terms of the sounds found on it. The thing that really dragged me down to the pit of despair (aka: record collecting) was early rev/schism and related records. Something just looked so cool about the Judge 7″ to my 16 year old mind. After that the seed was planted and the spell was unbreakable. To me these records are great proof that playing straight edge hardcore doesn’t need to be all octave-chord leads, epic tribal drum breakdowns, and grand statements about society and self. Every band on NYHC - 1987 - Together, is basically just scrapping it out, hacking away however they can get the job done. The recordings themselves are not “big”, “clean”, or “huge”, they just sound like some mics pointed at a wall of very fast sound. Timing isn’t perfect, the drumming is primal and simplified, the guitars for the most part sound like beefed up waves of tv static; but every single band delivers in spite of this, and they sound better for it. It’s truely hardcore, “warts and all” as they say, and both the Judge and War Zone 7″s only serve to expand upon, and hammer that point home. Some people, no doubt avid readers of some crap-factory like pitchfork, or buyers of obscure 60’s world music, would protest that this music is juvenile and lacks anything subtle or thoughtful. I on the other hand would like to borrow an arguement from my friend DFJ, that sometimes I still feel the same things I felt when I was but 15, and anyone who says they don’t, is probably a liar. In rememberence, of old New York…

Oh since I wrote this they also added a Unit Pride - s/t 7″ which is neither raw, or New York based but still pretty good. Wide Awake is by far the best song on it though, and I actually don’t love it, but I do love their artwork. In addition, in a pre-emptive Metal Monday note - check the Abruptum 7″ they’re selling which is the first Abruptum vinyl. If you like evil Sweedish black metal made by an actual dwarf, this record is for you. Honestly I’d prefer the War Zone 7″.

Greetings. This is a late post today because I was hardly around a computer at all. Thus it will also be a quick post, which sucks because I’m not going to be able to post the one I was working on, and the auctions it was for are nearly ended. Don’t be bummed though, I’m returning to Jeff Nelson’s Auctions, for a newly listed copy of the Flex Your Head comp, in TEST PRESS form. This is a definitive “scene-documenting” comp, along with jams like Yes LA, Together, and Process Of Elimination… to name just a few. It’s sort of funny seeing who did and didn’t make the comp here (how did they skip The Faith in favor of the worst Deadline songs?). The Youth Brigade songs on here nearly outshine their 7″, the Teen Idles ones feel like table scraps, although that was probably the closest they had to a “name” band at the time. Void - Dehumanized… find the Mudhoney cover - it’s the best. I’ll return tomorrow with a longer post. There’s not too much I need to say about this except that it’s gonna go for at least $300, although I think there’s at least 50 made.

Today shall be part 2 of unionpride69’s auctions, there’s still some really crucial items here. Before that, thanks to everyone for the really good response so far. I’m expecting there will still be a couple things to work out over the next few weeks to get everything looking and running smooth, and when he has the time I’m sure AJ (who birthed this site into being) will be on it, so hang tight, and we’ll try and keep the content coming.

There’s 5 more real cool items that I haven’t mentioned here yet.

• 3 of them are first pressing Minor Threat Records, the Filler 7″, In My Eyes 7″ on red vinyl, and Out Of Step 12″ w/ black back cover. This is it. The best pure USHC around, the best straight edge band. Just the best. I heard Filler when I was maybe 14 and it really didn’t make a bit of sense to me, but a couple years later things really clicked and its been important music to me ever since. I always sound like a douche talking about these records because I automatically revert to like, a 3rd grade essay on my favorite food. You can’t really say why pepparoni pizza is the best because you’re 10 and you just know you really like the taste. There is nothing but delighted bias towards that pie, and any attempt to reason out why purreed tomatos and melted cheese go together so well is swallowed just by the fact that they do. Price wise both of these 7″s are forging on and will probably hit $500 sooner rather than later, then again Nervous Breakdown w/ bricks on the cover was going for crazy ammounts for a minute and now it has cooled off big time. With any luck (for me) the same will happen here. I also feel everything here might go for more than normal because this is such a visibile set of items. When you sell a bunch of related stuff together it tends to go for more than if you sold each item alone. People get into the idea of just winning something from the lot even if it’s not their first choice. So… beware.
• Faith - Subject To Change Lot - Well I’ve never seen this. All four colors of the Faith lp in one place. I’m really interested to see how high this gets. Sami (of www.heatunitreport.com) says there’s nothing like the Faith, and he loves it. Me… I used to love it, and I kind of don’t anymore. This is a forerunner to like Marginal Man and Dag Nasty I guess, and there are some catchy tracks, but I just always wished it would either deliver something a little more complex, or a little more angry and unhinged. I feel it walks a middle ground just too middley for me, although I still have a blue vinyl copy in the archives. I think I definitely prefer their tracks on the split with Void (though it must be embarassing to be so out matched), you can’t deny a perpulsive riff like It’s Time. Btw if anyone has a good quality copy of the Faith demo, that’s another instance of the demo versions being better (rawer) than the re-recordings that made the record. There’s a shitty bootleg of them that the Grand Theft Audio guy did (SOA & Youth Brigade too) but they sound so generated and crappy they might as well be an American Tapes boxset. Here’s part of a Faith interview:

TS: Have you guys ever seen Trouble Funk?
All: Nope.
Alec: Like to. They used to play every Wednesday night a block away at the Paragon II. Ian and Henry and a whole bunch of people went to see them one night and some kid got killed–an 18 year old kid got shot. Shit like that happens.

Chris: I’ve driven through after a show.
Alec: I used to walk through that shit. A lot of those bands, like Mass Extinction, are supposed to be anti-drug in their songs but it’s supposedly a big farce, they’re really into it and shit. They played at my school and like four people got stabbed. So I don’t know, I don’t know what the deal is.

• Where The Wild Things Are test press - totally switching gears here. I actually owned one of these once although it looked like mine had been used to cut lines of coke up on. I traded it and then later took part in reselling it. This comp is legendary if you know anything about New York City Hard Core, or as we like to refer to it NYHC. NYHC: The Way It Is comp (the updated version of the Together comp) did have a little bit of the rougher side of the scene covered (Breakdown, Sick Of It All, YDL), and there were weird flukes (like Trip 6 and Nausea) included, but it was mainly a comp to spotlight the wave of straight edge bands that were coming out of NY (Youth Of Today, Bold, Side By Side, Gorilla Biscuits, sort of Warzone…). Where The Wild Things Are has a totally different side of New York and arguably a more accurate one on display for evaluation. You probably know this already, I’m not sure why I even need to say it, but there it is. The meat of this record is really the Breakdown, Raw Deal, Uppercut, and Outburst cuts (and maybe Maximum Penalty too). Bands that were chunkier, meaner, not straight edge at all, and probably more relavent to the future sound of NYHC. They all have a common sound, the kind of scooped metallic crunch that the guitars on records by Cro Mags, Crumbsuckers, AF already had, but with less attempt to mimic thrashy speed picking big on the crossover circuit, and more of just the musical equivalent to getting a brick thrown at you. It’s a paradigm shift for a lot of people when they get their first dose of Breakdown and Outburst, and many a positive youth never make it back, hate-moshing their way into the future. With all that though, let us not forget the Sheer Terror and Life’s Blood cuts here (frankly if I never had to remember Norman Bates and the Shower Heads or this throw-away Gorilla Biscuits cover, I’d be fine). Sheer Terror, pre-lp I think, still nihilistic, and still with the Tom Warrior crunch, I especially love. Life’s Blood, get a little to oi for me, but their 7″ sort of saves their legacy. On this here test press… well I’d imagine there’s a lot of them because the bands probably all got copies, I’d guess this will run about $150-200. The shreded one we sold got like $100, I bought it for $15 though. Great pick up.

I’m heading home for the holidays this weekend but plan to be posting during the week next week (and beyond). See you then!

Out of 13 auctions from user unionpride69 I can see a mere 3 that are not major marquee items. USHC is the specialty, for the most part Dischord. In fact I’m not exactly sure where to start here, so let me just say, I may end up bidding on at least one thing here. After some thought I may just ride this dude out for the rest of the week.  Here’s Part 1:

• Teen Idles - Minor Disturbance 7″  - not sure if this is the 1st or 2nd press but it is signed by all the members. Personally I’m not a fan of autographed hard core records, I think I’d rather have a clean mint copy. Geordie Grindle isn’t really a celeb, and his note of “why am I signing this” sums it up well. Nonetheless, it’s still sort of cool, and I mean, let’s face it, this is top shelf heat. One of the very first hard core records I ever heard, ”Sneakers” still amps me up, and on a side-note The Misfit’s “Nike-A-Go-Go” has a similar begining. Now that we’re talking about Nikes and Sneakers (well I am), let me mention www.heatunitreport.com. It’s much funnier than this blog, and it reads better too.  Anyhow, this record is essentially when the Teen Idles became a hardcore band, mostly by speeding up and playing about as fast as anyone in 1980. If you listen to their recordings from before then they have a scrappy kind of sub-Dangerhouse delivery, that I’m sure was ditched as soon as they’d seen the Circle Jerks on their notorious cali jaunt. Even though this record is remembered more for the iconic photo on the front, and the bands it begat, it is also remembered for the songs on it, which I think is attibutable to the fact that the music was originally written to be much more bouncy and tuneful, and then simply sped up to double time. This is why so few bands today that attempt to revist this style, can come up with anything worthwhile.
• State Of Alert - No Policy 7″ - Firstly let me note this is a first pressing on green vinyl. Secondly let me note I own this record, but I do not have a sleeve for it. If you have a spare sleeve, even for a different pressing of the record, I would like to trade with you! I have some good stuff, and a paying job. Okay so this record is once again kind of overshadowed by what it begat (namely Henry Garfield’s career as Rollins, but I guess also Iron Cross).  I said this in an earlier post, but I really mean it, the first time I heard this it was just a total paradigm shift for what “hard” sounded like, and it seemed like the coolest thing in the world that there was a lead-off song that was railing against drugs and booze. One thing that still blows my mind today is this music was basically written between 1980 and 1981 (most of these songs appear on their 1980 demo which I think is a better recording btw). There was almost no precedent for music this primal and primative, and this is a lot further removed from the punk before it than The Teen Idles. It’s like the 2 chord riff/1 note solo structure of Discharge, sped up faster, cut down to about 1/3 the length, and then injected with all the raukus knuckle-headed sentiment of British Oi bands, only I kind of think it’s cooler than both. This might be the first time a hard core band seemed to be purely hardcore, without much connection to the “punk sound” although that’s pretty debatable.
• Youth Brigade - Possible E.P. - Man. I love this record. In fact I may throw my hat in the ring here. So I could be blowing up my own spot, but fuck it, there’s a lot of them around I guess - well 1,000 anyway. One thing that always struck me about this record, and I guess the band in general is that it has a really heavy and driving sound, with thiiiiick bass, that’s a step apart from most of the other DC bands at the time, and thereafter (Minor Threat, Artificial Peace, Scream, GI’s, Faith, etc.). Did anyone else notice the Fight Back button on Nathan Strajeck’s jacket in certain photos in Banned In Dc? Youth Brigade tried to go on tour with Minor Threat but had to nix the whole thing a few days in because they had taken someone’s parent’s van without asking. The band disolved soon after, probably for no good reason, I really think they could have been contenders, but aside from this cult classic, the only other thing they can lay claim to are a demo, and a few comp tracks. Btw Cali-Youth Brigade never had anything on “Sick Of Things The Way They Are”. Some of the personel in the group made their way into other also-rans like Double-O, Second Wind, Madhouse (under rated lp!), and so on.
• Government Issue - Legless Bull 7″ - Ah Legless Bull. The John Stockton of the early Dischord “roster”. It’s not that it’s not very good, but when your teammates are Ewing,  Jordan, Bird, Magic, and Barkley, you just can’t expect to be a starter, but you can still make a career out of being on the dream team. Actually, that’s not fair, Stockton already had made a name for himself, if anything, the GI’s would be the Clyde Drexler or Christain Latener I guess (note: after some thought I’m going w/ Latener). I just always remember how short Stockton seemed, but only because he was dwarved by these giants (litterally as well as figuratively). My favorite GI’s album has always been Joy Ride which I have always thought would be good to skateboard to, and it’s at weird time when their Damned influence hadn’t completely taken over, but had been pretty obvious. I think Make An Effort is truely their shining moment though, with the best Stabb vocals, and the most memorable songs.
• Iron Cross - Skinhead Glory + Hated and Proud 7″s - I think if I continued along with the analogy in the Government Issue section above, it would make Iron Cross that Angolan dude that got elbowed by Charles Barkley. Ultimately a footnote, but noted nonetheless. Not known for being very good, but they were known to have been there. Leaving that behind, Iron Cross is one of the shittiest bands of all time. Frequently cited as “too slow” and as a “one-hit-wonder”, and rightfully so, though they’ve basically staked their legend on the fact that they were slow (citing various oi influences) and that their most popular song (Crucified) is still a punk staple today. They’re also a terribly confused mess, switching from a quasi-facist skinhead image replete with lyrics about gay-bashing, to a studs and bristles “look”, half way through their career, union-jack tshirts and all, and at least some attempt at more socially responsible lyrics.  At least YDL had English Nick to front their sketchy slow-core band. Seriously Skinhead Glory is one of the most ineptly performed, idiotic, atonal slabs to be remembered from the early days of hardcore BUT there is something I absolutely love about it. I could never pay the going rate for a copy, because somewhere in my brain I know it’s aweful, but there’s just a certain ignorant charm to the whole thing, although accounting for the wealthy backgrounds the members came from this may be the original suburban “thugcore” record. Hated and Proud finds the band trying to take a sensative stance on issues like… beating up the elderly, which you should NOT do I’ve learned. Also the recording is all treble, it sounds worse than the first record, but their guitar tuning skills have advanced. Still there is a cult around the band for being, I guess the first US Oi band, as well as intersecting with the early DC hard core scene.  Oh also the copy of Skinhead Glory is signed, which I will again note, doesn’t really add anything from my point of view. Is anyone kicking their heels for having Wendel Blow’s autograph?

So here’s a WIDE range of stuff coming from Jeff Nelson’s (of Dischord records & Minor Threat) archives. There is a lot of stuff to cover, but i’m going to lead off with the obvious here:

•  A black backed copy (first press) of the Minor Threat - Out Of Step 12″ that is SEALED and includes a signed (kinda lame I know) 1983 tour poster (but it’s in nice shape). Black back copies of Out Of Step are already dangerously heading towards the $200 mark, and this is one that obviously has a verifiable history (i.e. has not been resealed by some schmuck… unless Jeff is a schmuck). That’s some top shelf USHC. Let’s see who’s a baller…
• Next please turn your attention to some of the stuff like this God’s Favorite Dog compilation, multiple Scratch Acid lps, this limited piclp version of The Jesus Lizard’s “Goat” lp, and Big Black’s promo only interview lp. There’s multiple reasons I’m point this stuff out. First of all I know i can make Sami laugh by calling attention to a compilation called God’s Favorite Dog, as well as an album entitled Goat. The main reason for the rest of the people reading this, is this stuff is in demand again. Pissed Jeans, Snake Apartment, Clockcleaner, and to a lesser extent, numerous other bands, have basically brought, what was once affectionatly called “Pig Fuck” music, back into fashion. I hope I never have to explain that term to my parents. While these aren’t strictly hardcore lps, there is a connection, not the least of which that it’s abrassive and antagonistic in a similar way, whether high minded indie-douches can admit it or not (they’d like to think they’ve moved on from simple minded hardcore). The comp lp is IMO a big sleeper. No one ever talks about it but it has 2 exclusive Big Black tracks, as well as songs by Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid, and Killdozer. That’s basically a who is who right there.  Scratch Acid lps I’ve noted simply for good measure and the fact that they’re top shelf material. The picture disc of Goat is not often seen. I’d imagine 1000-ish were made, and I’d also like to note the opening riff to Then Comes Dudley is lifted off some song on Miles Davis’ “Big Fun”. No one really mentions that. The Big Black interview lp will probably go for $100+, and it’s pretty funny as I recall, I think it has been booted too.
• Back to music that the douche you see smoking cloves on your block every day hasn’t heard of, I give you (continuing the animal theme), a Beaver 7″ and Demo (promo) tape!!! Okay in real life, Beaver are 3rd Tier (at best) DCHC featuring a pre-Government Issue Tom Lyle, however I’m saying, this is kind of cool for a couple reasons. 1) The Beaver 7″ is a cheap genre item. Even though it’s pretty average, it’s not bad and can be had for about $30 which is really low considering that it’s from like ‘80 or ‘81. At this point anything fast and hardcore-ish from that time seems to get at least a partial pass. 2) I’ve never heard of a Beaver demo/promo. This one seems to have tracks that were meant for inclusion on Flex Your Head (of which there is also a copy for sale). You probably know Beaver did not make the cut in the end, but it’s kind of interesting anyway.
• If you scroll through the auctions you’re also going to find cool shit you’d expect by bands like Double O, Scream, Marginal Man, Embrace, Shudder To Think, Void, NOU, Swiz, and so on. There are a lot of cool original offset printed posters getting listed too. I’ll go to the death with anyone for the Crucifix poster so step the hell off please. BTW - You’re going to see a ton of crap too (LOL at the Malestrom lp). Side note on the Void - “Condensed Flesh” 7″ that’s listed… Even though it was pressed in the 90’s, it’s generally considered an official release, and in the last few years prices have started to reflect this. It’s pushing up into the 40’s and 50’s probably mostly from younger folks not aware of when it was made. This one has a high start price, and thus may get only a few bids. If you don’t have it I consider it as essential as their side of the Void/Faith split — A MUST OWN.

Generally most ebayers are unloading at least 50% percent junk. Unwanted split 7″s w/ Napalm Rod Stewart 3000, 6 volumes of common KBD comps, those tour shirts that everybody else bought and wears to every show… not so w/ Seller: fisheggr from the country of Japan. You’re only going to find this dude selling 5 items but each one could be displayed in a hardcore museum (Jesse Standhard’s record museum R.I.P.). Here’s a breakdown of what I’m talking about, in the form of a list:

1. State Of Alert - No Policy E.P. This is looking like a 3rd press copy to me. The photo is small but I think I can see the Black Flag bars that were added to Henry’s arm for this pressing on the front cover (notice that tiny black dot that would probably look like The Bars at full size). At 16 this seemed like the hardest thing I had ever heard, which prior to that was probably either Pantera or Pro-Pain, but this was a different kind of hard. As a side-note, I heard that when Government Issue first made it to Detroit they played with Negative Approach, and John Brannon and some of the local dogs did a band called SOA-Mania which was just an SOA cover band (ala Beatle-Mania duh). John Stabb reportedly said they were better than the real SOA.
2. Youth Of Today - Break Down The Walls (Wishingwell Pressing). This is the most common item on the list here, but it’s becoming more and more scarce with the passage of time. I now sometimes see these selling for around $50 which a few years ago was pretty unheard of. This is definitely the best mix/mastering job on a poorly recorded, overproduced, and nonetheless start to finish CLASSIC lp. The drums are not nearly as FX-laden, the snare actually sounding like a snare, and some of the chintzy reverb that is heard on later pressings isn’t yet present giving the guitars a little more buzz.
3. Unicef - 1st EP.I can’t lie. I had to ask what this one was. My knowledge of Finnish hardcore is pretty lacking but my understanding is this is 1st teir, “top-want” type stuff. The thing to note here is the opening bid is $200, meanign it will probably only get 1 or 2 bids overall. $200 is slightly lower than going rate, which in effect could lead to someone getting a better than average deal. Keep an eye out.
4. Septic Death - Need So Much Attention (Pusmort Pressing). I think that’s the title of this one. Anyhow this is the original version without the added tracks, and revised art. Septic Death being one of the most confusing discographies to get a grip on, I’ll post a beginner’s guide sometime in the future, as ‘ol Pus has a tendency to just constantly reissue the same songs under different record titles.
5. Terveet Kadet - Message 12″ (Test Press). More specifically this is a release that only made it to the test press stage as a 12″. Meaning there were 20 made, and I don’t know how many are accounted for. This is true collector-scum bait. The kind of thing you could con the right someone to jump off the empire state building for.

Dont see these too often. Auction ends Dec 22.

note: this is actually for the lost and found released “No Appologies - The Chung King Sessions” release, not the OG rev “Chung King Can Suck It” lp. This is still pretty rare, but obviously much less interesting. - CC