The Damned Things – High Crimes

Dan Andriano has been apart of many different projects over the years. Probably the biggest stretch that departs from his bread and butter is The Damned Things; a heavy rock super group that also features Fall Out Boy drummer Andy Hurley and guitarist Joe Trohman, Every Time I Die singer Keith Buckley and Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian. Andriano was not an original member of the band; he joined in 2019 for their sophomore album High Crimes.

High Crimes was released on Nuclear Blast Records, a relatively unknown German indie label specializing in metal and heavier music. A big drop from the band’s major label debut album Ironiclast that was released in 2010.  Several band members have voiced their displeasure with how the first album ultimately panned out. Buckley has said in interviews he felt that album was too polished, and that live shows offered a better reflection of the band’s potential. It was no guarantee the band would continue after Ironicalst. Such is the nature of super groups as the members inevitably turn the focus back to their day jobs.

 High Crimes, after some member changes, in my opinion is a better blend of heavy riffs with catchier hooks. In other words, what the band intended to be; a blend of the catchy pop punk of Fall Out Boy and the heavier aspects Anthrax and Every Time I Die. Band members commented the writing and recording process of High Crimes was a much smoother experience.

The record was pressed as a single LP spread across three variants; baby blue limited to 300 copies, yellow limited to 1,000 copies and bone limited to 1200 copies. Baby blue was an FYE exclusive. As far as I can tell the other colors could be bought anywhere. But odds are if you bought this from a distro actually received the rarer yellow variant.

All copies come in a single pocket jacket and nothing else. There is no insert or printed dust sleeves. No download card/code either. Each variant comes with a hype sticker that denotes the color, with the bone and yellow variants have an identical hype sticker in terms of design. The FYE exclusive also has an exclusive, unique hype sticker that differs in design from the one found on the bone and yellow variants. Retail price on this is between $20-25; but it’s tough to get an accurate estimate because technically this is an import release, and as such some U.S. based retailers have used it as an excuse to jack up the price. Prices on the secondary market, even for the sold out FYE exclusive, have not reached ridiculous levels. Don’t let the ridiculous outliers fool you.

Dan Andriano & The Bygones – Dear Darkness

Any time Dan Andriano has a new project or announces a new album with one of his already established acts, I get excited. Pretty much everything Dan touches turns to gold. Many Dan songs are some of my favorite Alkaline Trio songs. So when he announced yet another new band, Dan Andriano & The Bygones, I had high expectations. To sum things up; Dear Darkness was a letdown.

Released by Epitaph Records in 2022, Dear Darkness does have a couple stand out tracks. Namely “Sea Level” and the title track. Musically, it’s not a big departure from his other side projects. I think my lackluster opinion of this album can be chalked up to it not coming close to my extremely high expectations.

Dear Darkness was as a single LP on two different colors; black and what was initially advertised as sandstone, but actually turned out being coke bottle clear. Apparently the label and Dan made the switch due to a lack of material at the pressing plant to press the sandstone variant, and they did not want the record delayed. Which is a shame because the sandstone variant would have matched the cover art (background color) fairly well going by the mock up. The decision to switch the color was made a few months after pre-orders went live (October 2021-December 2021), with everyone who pre-ordered a copy being informed of the change via e-mail.

The now coke bottle clear variant is limited to 500 copies, with pressing info for the black variant never being officially released. All copies come in a single pocket jacket, with the record itself coming in a full printed dust sleeve. The only variant to come with any sort of hype sticker is the coke bottle clear, which simply has one of Epitaph’s tiny white circle stickers saying it’s on “limited edition colored vinyl.”

Overall, this is a cheaply made release. The jacket is thin, with the printed dust sleeve being one made from one of the thinnest paper I’ve seen used for an LP. It’s a small step above picture sleeves used for 7” singles back in the ‘80s. Considering the price of this, around $25, it’s on the steep side. It’s $24 before shipping and taxes (should they apply) from Epitaph’s web store. And for all that money you don’t even get a download card/code with physical copies.

The only variant sold out is the coke bottle clear. So as you’d expect prices on the secondary market are pretty high for it; hitting a peak of $60 to a valley of $30. The secondary market is flooded with copies, most of which are listed for around retail price. If you wait patiently, you’ll probably get a great deal on a copy, as some sellers are getting desperate. I bought a copy in early 2023 for $13 shipped.

Alkaline Trio – Is This Thing Cursed? (1st Press)

Alkaline Trio’s ninth studio album, Is This Thing Cursed?, is a rebound from My Shame Is True, which I think is the band’s worst album, but it’s still pales in comparison to most of their other albums. I didn’t expect much with this album, especially considering Matt and Dan have ventured into so many different side projects of late, it’s amazing they even had time for another Alkaline Trio album. I just wanted a solid Alkaline Trio album, and while Is This Thing Cursed? comes close, it just misses the mark.

Epitaph released the album, and went nuts with variants for the vinyl version. For the first pressing there are eight total variants, which are split up amongst the U.S. and Europe. All copies are pressed on 180 gram vinyl, regardless of variant. Complete pressing info has not been released, only for a handful of variants. First up are the label/Kings Road Merch (KRM) exclusives, which are opaque red limited to 1,000 copies, opaque green limited to 1500 copies and opaque red with black swirl (which turned out more smoke than swirl) limited to 500 copies. Next up is an indie store exclusive limited to an unknown amount on opaque bone vinyl. Lastly are the Euro exclusives; 500 copies on half black/half red and 500 copies on half black/half bone. There is also a black variant that is available in both the U.S. and Europe, with no pressing info released for it as well.

The hype sticker for all the U.S. colored variants says “limited edition colored vinyl.” Each colored variant also has a barcode sticker on the back of the jacket (affixed to the shrink wrap) that indicates color. The swirl variant is listed as “red w/ blk,” while all the other colors lists the color as what I mentioned above. So at least things are made simple for variant collectors. The black variant has no hype stickers or barcode indicating color. The hype sticker for the Euro variants says “180 grams colored vinyl,” and I’m not sure if there are any other stickers anywhere indicating color.

All copies, regardless of variant, come in a gatefold jacket with no insert nor download card/code. The gatefold is rather pointless, as the lyrics aren’t printed inside; it’s just promo photos taken during the recording process and a variation of the cover art, with the telephone being picked up and held by an invisible entity, as if a spirit of some sort was answering the phone. I’d take an insert with lyrics or even liner notes, over a gatefold with no substance like this.

Original retail price on Is This Thing Cursed? was on the high side. The black variant cost $20 before shipping while all the colored variants cost $22 before shipping, at least from KRM. Some indie stores charged more than $22 (before shipping) for the indie exclusive variant, with many distros charging around $25 before shipping for whatever variant they carried. And if that price gouging BS was is not enough, KRM used some more shady business practices. Not sure who is responsible for it, the label or KRM, but KRM waited until one exclusive variant sold out before putting up another, exclusive variant for sale. Undoubtedly a move to sell more copies of that first variant they put up. Not like it was a secret or surprise to the powers at be that the green variant was waiting in the wings.

It was because of the outrageous price tag for this album that I held off on buying it, despite seeing most of the variants sell out. Knowing full well the 180 gram black variant would still be out there. As of posting this the green variant is still available as well, but you’d have to pay around $30 to get it, and I’m not having any of that. I had to wait around seven months after its release before ordering a copy for $16.50 including shipping.

In 2023 Is This Thing Cursed? was re-pressed

Alkaline Trio – Past Live Box Set

Alkaline Trio have been no strangers to epic live shows. Not only that, but also releasing them to the public, even on vinyl. Their latest venture is performing their entire discography (up to My Shame Is True, which was their latest album at the time) recorded over four nights (two albums per show) at The Metro in Chicago. That venue should be familiar to Alkaline Trio fans as the band released a live 7” from one of their somewhat annual Halloween shows at The Metro.

The shows were held way back in 2014, but the band decided to release a vinyl (only physical audio release of the shows) box set in 2017/2018 (I’ll explain later) on their own label, Heart & Skull. This box set is titled Past Live, with all eight albums coming in their own single pocket jacket, which are then placed inside a slip case box. Each of the albums has re-imagined album art, with the color of the record itself matching the cover art. You can see by the photos below, but to sum up a yellow jacket gets a yellow record, red jacket gets a red record, and so on.

All the records are pressed on 180 gram vinyl, and come with both an insert and download card/code. The insert is single sided, which is a bit of a bummer. But it’s my only complaint about this box set, and it’s a minor one at that. The inserts are also all color coded as well. The download card/code nets you high quality 320 kbps MP3s. A nice touch that is thrown in with the box set is an autographed insert, which is screen printed on card stock. This insert comes sealed inside the box. It’s hand numbered out of 500, which implies there were 500 box sets made/pressed.

The only way to get the box set was to buy one of two bundle options; one that included a copy of the show on a four disc blu-ray set and an exclusive t-shirt of the box set artwork, and the other included the aforementioned blu-ray and t-shirt along with a tote bag made out of the stage banner used for the show. The non-tote bag bundle cost $275 with free shipping, while the tote bag bundle cost $315 with free shipping. Each of the live albums were also made available for purchase as standalone options, with each costing $25.

Here is the color beak down: Goddamnnit is pink, Maybe I’ll Catch Fire is purple, From Here To Infirmary is blue (baby/sky blue), Good Mourning is mint green, Crimson is neon green, Agony & Irony is yellow, This Addiction is orange and My Shame Is True is red. While most of the records are completely opaque, From Here To Infirmary, Crimson and This Addiction each have some marbling/smoke/haze mixed in. You can really only see it if you hold the record(s) up to the light, and the mixture is either a lighter/brighter or darker shade of the main color. So baby/sky blue, neon green or orange in these cases. And this is not to say these records for Crimson and This Addiction are translucent, they’re just not 100% opaque like the other records in this box set.

There was a lot of confusion and misleading statements made with pre-orders and the general release of this box set. First off, it was a limited time pre-order, which was only available for a certain period of time with an order cutoff date set. Pre-orders went live January 11, 2018 and the cutoff date was February 9, 2018. Then on Facebook the band announced pre-orders would be kept open for a few more days, till February 14. Not the biggest deal because it meant more people would be able to buy this. But it was the first in a long string of lies and misleading information.

The pre-order page for the box set said that only the amount of copies ordered would be made/pressed, and most of us know that is not exactly how ordering vinyl records goes. You can’t really order say 323 copies of anything as most plants just won’t let you order an odd amount like that. And that is before even taking into account the typical 10% overrun most plants do for quality control’s sake. Basically that wording in the pre-order was a sales tactic; a fancy buzz word used to make this release seem rare/ more limited. . Needless to say pressing info for the box set nor the standalone copies of the albums has never been officialy released, and it likely never will be. Though the autographed inserts included inside the box set are hand numbered out of 500 copies; no official announcement was made regarding pressing info for either the box set or any of the live albums themselves.

It was also implied during the pre-order phase for the standalone albums that they would be exclusive to the pre-order and not available anywhere else. That turned out to not be true as many indie record stores around the world; not just the U.S., had all eight albums available for purchase. Only kick was that pracitcally every store charged $35 for these single LPs.

The squirrelliness didn’t stop there either, as Kings Road Merch (KRM), who handled the pre-order, pulled the free shipping after about one week, and never re-applied it. They never made any mention of the free shipping being a limited time deal, and never answered emails asking about it. When shipping was being applied to orders it was around $20 depending on where you live. That shipping charge is a total rip off as the person I bought it from off ebay was able to ship it for $5 and change.

Pre-orders went live in mid January 2018, with a release date of April. No exact date in April was given. This release date was missed by a wide margin, as there was a delay with everything (shocking, huh). The new release date was pushed back to an unspecified date, and that release date was missed as well, as KRM sent out another e-mail at the end of May saying it was delayed again. With the typical BS excuse of we didn’t expect there to be delays with pressing records, and that “everything was on their way to KRM’s warehouse for assembly.”

June came and went without an update, but KRM sent out digital downloads to everyone who ordered an audio version of any of the album(s) they ordered. Which hardly makes up for the delay as all of the albums were made available for free streaming on Spotify. People didn’t start receiving their orders until July, and KRM didn’t even bother to send them a shipping notice let alone a tracking number; for a close to $300 item.

If you were keeping track of KRM’s “customer service,” they only sent out two generic e-mails about the months long delay, and never told customers their orders shipped. They just started showing up at people’s doorsteps. Sadly this is not surprising as KRM is one of the least reliable distros out there. And their shoddy communication track record resulted in a fair share of people cancelling their order.

Lots of factors contributed to me not pre-ordering this; the price, KRM being involved, the odd phrasing of the pre-order. Least of which was my general stance on not pre-ordering anything anymore. And everything that happened with this box set is exactly why I don’t pre-order anything. I was able to buy the box set on ebay for less than MSRP. It was solely due to a 15% off code. I didn’t get the blu-ray, the shirt or tote bag; but I didn’t want nor need any of those three things. And I know from past experiences it would be tough to sell those items and recoup what they cost. And yes, I did support a flipper (but not a well know one nor one who wanted a ridiculous price like $500 for the box set). But like I said, with the 15% off coupon I was able to get this for a lot less than $275. And I didn’t have to pre-order it and deal with that headache. So I win.

Dan Andriano/Matt Pryor – Tour Split 7″

Whenever a tour exclusive release is announced it always causes a pit in my stomach because there is usually means any collection I have going will likely stay, or become incomplete. Many times these tour exclusives are the lone outstanding item I need to complete a collection. Thankfully Asian Man Records did the right thing with this Dan Andriano and Mat Pryor Tour Split 7”, as they sold some copies online and made them available on said tour.

If you ask anyone that is the way to do it; make a release accessible to as many people as possible. It’s one thing for there to be a tour exclusive variant (I’m not a huge fan of those either), but it’s an entirely different thing for a release to only be available on a tour. People make the argument tour exclusives reward fans, specifically the most diehard or “true” fans in particular. But there will always be circumstances beyond any so called diehard or “true” fans control. For example, what if a tour doesn’t stop anywhere near them? Or they can’t go because they can’t afford to take off work for any multitude of reasons. Or they have a baby to take care of at home. Then there are the unforeseen medical reasons or other life things that get in the way, like weddings, child birth, funerals. Why should someone who happens to live in North Dakota or Alaska miss out on a record based solely on that circumstance? And why should that person be forced to pay $100 for said record on the secondary market if they want it?

Rant over. Back to the finer details of this split 7”. It’s not your traditional split, as both Dan Andriano and Matt Pryor sing on both songs (two songs on this split, one per side) and shared writing duties for one of them (the b-sided is a Paul Simon cover). The 7” is housed in a thin jacket, not a fold over sleeve or one of those paper sleeves 45 singles used to come in. It also comes with a download card/code, which yields you ridiculously large WAV files that are over 2 gigs in size. Those two songs are bigger files than some band’s entire discographies that I have in iTunes, and not bands with 2 or 3 albums either. For example New Found Glory, Alkaline Trio, Against Me! And Circa Survive.

This split 7” was pressed on two colors, white and black, each limited to 500 copies apiece. It cost about $10 if you ordered this online from Asian Man Records. Both colors were available online, with white being the only one to sell out (online) as of posting this.

V/A – Asian Man Music For Asian Man People!

Asian Man Records has done a label subscription the past couple years, where subscribers get every release Asian Man puts out for that calendar year. Also included with the subscription are things like slipmats, t-shirts and sometimes exclusive releases. 2013 had an exclusive release; a vinyl compilation entitled Asian Man Music For Asian Man People.

The comp has Asian Man artists covering other Asian Man artists. I sought out the comp for the Dan Andriano song, in which he covers “Lincoln,” a Mu330 song. Other artists on the comp include Andrew Jackson Jihad, Bomb The Music Industry!, Cheap Girls, Sundials and Mikey Erg. Some of the bands covered include Alkaline Trio, Smoking Popes, Andrew Jackson Jihad and Slow Gherkin.

There was a total of 530 copies pressed, all on random colors with some marbling. The colors range from purple to pink to tan/brown, but most came out pink or purple it seems. Each copy is individually hand numbered in black ink, done with a ball point pen it seems. The numbering is done on the back of the jacket, which is a half fold screen printed sleeve. I bought this second hand off ebay so I’m not sure if a download card/code was ever included. The copy I bought did not have one.

To be honest I had no idea this comp existed, even though I’m a huge Alkaline Trio and Dan Andriano fan and collector. I only found out about it after Asian Man released the second volume in the Asian Man Music For Asian Man People series came out in late 2016. Calling it a series may be a bit premature, as there are only two releases to date with a huge three year gat in-between them, and there may or may not be more planned/coming out. Not like I would’ve subscribed to get this comp, but I might have been able to find a copy a lot sooner than I did. But in the end it didn’t take me long from the time I discovered this comp to the point when I bought a copy. It only took me a month or two without scouring the internet.

Since it was a subscription exclusive release from last year, the only way to get a hold of a copy was on the secondary market. And copies were few and far between. Discogs had copies going for an average of – and before the copy I eventually wound up buying on ebay popped up only – were ever sold/listed on ebay. I bought this comp for $20 shipped. Would I have liked to pick it up for less? Sure, who wouldn’t? But considering the scarcity of the comp coming up for sale and the price being fair based on previous sales, I felt comfortable buying it.

The Falcon – Gather Up The Chaps

The Falcon’s second full length album, Gather Up The Chaps, was released in 2016 by Red Scare Industries. In an odd move, Red Scare didn’t sell any copies of the record themselves, instead opting to give them to distribution and have the band sell copies on tour. Initially the only place to buy the album on vinyl online was Interpunk, but then other distros started carrying the record, which is when I bought a copy. Interpunk’s prices and shipping charges are ridiculous, let alone their business ethics, which are terrible. Within the last year Interpunk started flipping records in a dedicated section of their webstore, holding copies of their regular stock items to sell for hugely inflated prices later on. Even going as far as selling records that were intended to be free promo items given to people who bought a copy of an album. Which is why everyone should think twice about buying anything from Interpunk. But I digress.

Gather Up The Chaps is the band’s first album as a four piece, as Dave Haus joined as a full fledged member of the band. It doesn’t change their sound much, if at all. The rest of the band remained the same; Dan Andriano, Brendan Kelly and Neil Hennessey. The record was pressed on two variants; pink and black. Pink is a tour exclusive and is limited to an unknown amount of copies, but it is apparently “limited.” The pink on the record is darker than you’d expect, and it really stands out compared to the center labels, which are hot pink. Even though the pink was supposed to be a tour exclusive, after the band’s tour was completed after playing a festival in Europe in May, pink copies were given to German distro Green Hell. To have a pink copy to the USA cost about $28 after shipping and conversion. Interpunk was also apparently given pink copies as well that they were supposed to give out in random orders. Can’t wait to seem being flipped by them! Black is available everywhere else, and pressing info for it has not been released.

All copies come with an insert, which has the lyrics printed on it. There is no download card included, which is a bummer. Retail price on this is around $16. The band ws selling pink copies on tour for $15. I remember hearing people brag about buying this for $17 shipped and then other people bragging about $15. Well, I bought this for $11. And I didn’t have to pre-order it.

The Falcon – Hasselhoff Cheeseburger 7″ flexi

Another zine (New Noise Magazine) started a subscription series, and the first release in the series was from The Falcon. The issue of the magazine The Falcon flexi was included with was Issue 23. The flexi disc subscription was not truly subscription exclusive, as the zine put up leftover copies of The Falcon issues for sale individually for $5 (including shipping). The Falcon flexi is white and features the song “Hasselhoff Cheeseburger,” which later appeared on the band’s second full length album, Gather Up The Chaps.

Some people were upset that the flexi was made available outside of the subscription, and rightfully so. If I subscribed to anything in order to get something and later found out I didn’t have to subscribe and spend more money than I had to in order to get said item, I would be angry too. But that is why I didn’t subscribe to the magazine, especially after my experiences with The Gaslight Anthem fan club and from my observations of how these types of things wind up. Inevitably there are problems, whether they be with delays, being scammed out of money one way or another or not having to partake in the subscription to get the so called exclusive items.

To be honest I just planned on waiting to buy one of these Falcon flexis on the secondary market, at a price I deemed worthy all things considered. There was no way I was subscribing and getting a bunch of flexis and magazines I had no interest in and would struggle to unload either through selling or trading. It was my due diligence through a google search looking for a copy of this flexi that I found that New Noise Magazine was selling copies of the magazine guaranteed to come with The Falcon flexi outside of the subscription for $5 shipped. The magazine itself wasn’t that important to me, but if I could get it with the flexi for that cheap I see it as a bonus.

I’ve never heard of New Noise Magazine prior to this flexi series. I flipped through issue 23 after I got it in the mail and it’s kind of a poor man’s Alternative Press. If you remember AMP Magazine, New Noise is basically that but in color, and a lot shorter. New Noise is 70% ads with the other 30% actual content. The feature interviews are terribly short. The Falcon’s cover story was only a two-page spread.

I know some people received damaged copies of the flexi; where they were all torn up, cut or wrinkled up. Damage to the point the flexi was unplayable as the grooves were mangled. New Noise Magazine made good by them by sending replacement copies free of charge. The damage was attributed to the flexi not being inserted into the magazine. New Noise Magazine has since told the printer that the flexis needed to be inserted into the magazine prior to being packaged (magazine comes sealed in a plastic bag) with hopes that will correct the problem. I have included a photo of how I received my copy of the magazine prior to opening it up, with the flexi outside the magazine placed outside the back cover. Fortunately my copy of the flexi didn’t come damaged, but upon close inspection I can see the beginning of similar damage people who received destroyed copies described. It also doesn’t help that New Noise Magazine ships individual issues inside a manila envelope without any cardboard or other support/protection.

 

 

 

 

 

Dan Andriano In The Emegency Room – Party Adjacent (U.S. Pressing)

Dan Andriano released his latest solo album under the Dan Andriano In The Emergency moniker in July 2015, and it’s his best work (solo) to date. Party Adjacent is his second solo full length, and it was pressed on three different colors, all limited to 1,000 copies each. Asian Man Records released the U.S pressing and opted to press it on 180 gram black, white and purple. All copies come with a download code and a fold out insert.

To go along with the U.S. pressing there is also a UK pressing that was released by Xtra Mile Recordings. The UK pressing is on yellow vinyl, but no pressing info has been released for it. However, the UK pressing comes shrink-wrapped with a hype sticker on the cover where as the U.S. pressing does not (for either).

V/A – Red Scare Industries: 10 Years Of Your Dumb Bullshit

To celebrate their 10th anniversary, Red Scare Industries released a comp featuring many of the bands they’ve worked with over the years, including The Falcon, The Lillingtons, Masked Intruder, The Copyrights, Cobra Skulls, Brendan Kelly & The Wandering Birds and Teenage Bottlerocket. Many of the songs are unreleased and are exclusive to this comp (at time of release), which is entitled Red Scare Industries: 10 Years Of Your Dumb Bullshit. I’m not sure if all the songs are unreleased or exclusive to this comp, one song I know for sure is The Falcon’s song, “We Are The Bald,” which is what I bought the comp for, to keep my The Falcon/Alkaline Trio/Dan Andriano collection complete.

Pressing info has not been released, and next to no info has been released in reality. Red Scare can be either great with that sort of thing or terrible. But to my knowledge all copies are pressed on black vinyl, which is very thin. It ranks up there with the thinnest records I own. A full color, double-sided insert is included, but there is no download code included. Prices on this can be a bit high all things considered, especially after shipping. Red Scare charges $6 shipping, which is ridiculous. I remember I was going to buy it during their holiday sale, but even after the discount it was close too close to $20 after shipping. I bought this from a distro and it cost me $12 shipped. It’s ludicrous that a distro can charge a lower price for a record than directly from the label releasing it.