Taylor Hawkins – KOTA

Taylor Hawkins, like many of the members of Foo Fighters, has kept himself busy with side and/or solor projects. KOTA is his first release under his own name, so in that regard it’s a solo project. He has released material with his other band, Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders as well. If you enjoy any of Hawkins’ other releases outside of Foo Fighters, KOTA is in the same vein, so odds are you will enjoy it too.

The EP was released in 2016, with the vinyl version being released a year later. The 12” only comes pressed on black vinyl, limited to an unknown amount. Housed in a single pocket jacket, there is no insert or download card/code included. Initially it was exclusively available via Taylor Hawkins’ official web site/store. But the store was removed from his site once it was re-designed to promote The Coattail Riders’ latest album; Get The Money. If you bought a copy back then, it came with a free album logo sticker. This sticker is not included inside the record jacket; it shipped loose in the mailer as a separate item.

Eventually the official Foo Fighters web store became the only place to buy KOTA on vinyl. The record is not distributed. In fact, there is not even a bar code anywhere on it nor a catalog number. It was self released by Hawkins on his own label, Shannabelle Records. I mentioned a free sticker above; which was exclusive to Hawkins’ store. If you bought this from Foo Fighters’  web store, the sticker was not included.

Retail price on this is extremely affordable; $12 before shipping. Shipping charges are ridiculous however, as the cheapest option is over $7 for media mail. We all know by this point that media mail should never cost more than $5 for a single LP. Before you complain and say, well it’s only $2. Think of the bigger picture; if you’re routinely ripped off on shipping charges, say $2 each time you order one single LP from wherever, eventually it will add up to the price of another record. That’s money that you’ll never get back. So that $2 extra, if you buy 10 records and get overcharged $2 each time, that’s a $20 record you could’ve spent that money on.

KOTA is sold out and OOP as of posting this. I got lucky and bought a copy at the end of September 2021. So it took close to five years for it to sell out. Mainly because it was not an easy record to find, and it wasn’t heavily promoted. But even before it sold out, it was fetching insane amounts on the secondary market, especially when you consider this cost $12 before shipping direct from the artist (at least to some extent). It most recently sold for $60, and that was when it was still available from Foo Fighters’ web store. The high point was $96. Now the lowest asking price is $75.

Lanemeyer – Stories From The Big Screen

Lanemeyer might not be a name that anyone recognizes, but they were well known in the New Jersey scene in the late 90s to early 2000s. They weren’t a long lived band, but their members went on to other projects, like Day At The Fair. Brian Fallon was even briefly in the band. He is not featured on this EP, Stories From The Big Screen, though.

To celebrate this EP’s 20^th anniversary, I Surrender Records, owned by Rob Hitt of Midtown fame, decided to press it on vinyl. They did an insanely small run, only 250 copies. Released in 2018, it has yet to sell out. Initially only available directly from the label, they have since sent out copies to distros, which is where I bought a copy from. Due to consolidation of entertainment distribution in this country, there is really only one main company left in the game, so if you buy anything from any number of chain stores your order will be actually be fulfilled by this distro.

I Surrender pressed all copies on green vinyl, and since this EP only has seven songs, all of them fit onto one side of a 12” record. Which left the b-side blank, with the label opting to do an etching on the b-side. The etching is a lyric from one of the songs on the EP; “What A Shitty Summer.” Other than the etching, this is a no frills release. It’s a 12” record stuffed into a single pocket jacket. That’s it. No download card/code is included, but if you order direct from the label you will be immediately e-mailed a download. Now I will add that my copy has an inventory sticker on the cover, which is something I highly doubt will come on copies bought directly from the label.

The label is charging $15 before shipping for this. They do occasionally run sales, typically around the major holidays. So you may be able to get this for say 15% off that price. The distro I bought this from routinely runs at least 15% off sales every month, so you can easily buy this for under $15 shipped. You may also be able to find this from one of the handfuls of chain stores or big box stores that have their orders fulfilled by this distro (drop shipping is awesome isn’t it?!?!) for even less, which is where I bought it from for $13 shipped.

Bottom line is this EP is not selling at all. It’s been over three years since its release and the label, while valiant in their efforts for giving a scene EP it’s due on vinyl, severely overestimated the miniscule market for it. It’s one of the most specialized market releases I’ve ever seen, as most people who grew up with this EP, or even band when it was first released, have mostly moved on from pop punk, especially from that era. If I Surrender was hoping for a lot of nostalgic buys, they bet wrong. This EP and band were around before the New Jersey scene really hit its stride and blew up on the national level. You could make the case Lanemeyer, paved the way for the likes of Saves The Day, Thursday, Lifetime, The Early November, and many others in an era before the internet helped spread music, but in the grand scheme of things Stories From The Big Screen did not need to be re-released on vinyl.

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