The Sound Of Animals Fighting – Apeshit

The Sound Of Animals Fighting (TSOAF) returned from their hibernation, offering up their first new music in roughly 15 years in the form of a four song EP entitled Apeshit. The EP was released by Born Losers Records, who also released another of Anthony Green’s many releases this year. Odd thing is, it’s licensed to Born Losers from The Sound Of Animals Fighting. Which likely indicates the band owns and therefore controls the rights to the EP.

The EP starts out great, with the opening title track featuring Anthony Green on vocals and an ethereal music experience; but then immediately goes steadily downhill to the point where it abruptly plunges off a cliff.  Track two is a big letdown as it’s pretty much an EDM mess. Track three has some redeeming qualities, but not enough to save the EP from its coda. The final track is literally four minutes of uninspired sampling after one minute of spoken word-esque ramblings. So in my book, that turns this four track EP essentially into a three song nightmare. I understand TSOAF is an experimental, or even prog rock band; but this EP for anyone expecting, or maybe hoping, the band would return to their Tiger And The Duke sound on this EP, especially after hearing the lead single; you will be terribly disappointed.

Thankfully, there are only four variants for Apeshit, but unfortunately only three quarters of them actually have pressing info officially released. After announcing their return, the band also announced a tour, which has an exclusive VIP ticket package variant. This variant is on purple w/ white splatter limited to possibly 650 copies or 750 copies. I say possibly because neither number has been confirmed as of writing this. I came to 650 because the band has said VIP tickets would be limited to 50 per tour date, and there are 13 stops on their tour. But I came to 750 after doing the math when the band posted on social media that the entire pressing is limited to 3,000 copies.

 In order to get this variant you had to buy a VIP ticket, which is on top of a general admission (GA) ticket if you wanted to go to see the actual show. While I’ll never be certain, I’m assuming based on the wording that a person could conceivably just go to the VIP event. A VIP ticket $99 before any additional fees (if they applied), which on top of the VIP variant also got you a button set, Q&A with the band, photo(s) with the band, early merch access and early entry. Though obviously you won’t get early entry to the show if you did not buy a GA ticket, and I’m not sure you’d get early merch access either.

So basically you’re paying $99 for an exclusive variant. I remember the days when at smaller clubs/venues band members would hang out in the crowd before or after their set, or simply hang out around their van or tour bus before or after shows; which gave ample opportunity for what amounts to what people call selfies these days. Oh, and you’d get to talk with the band too. Granted, a formal Q&A has some appeal, personally I’d prefer to save my money and simply buy a different variant for $20.

The three remaining variants are fairly straight forward. There are two label exclusives; clear pink w/ orange swirl/ clear pink & orange swirl (featured in the gallery below) limited to 750 copies and “natural” w/ pink splatter limited to 1,000 copies. The clear pink w/ orange swirl is the description the label gives on their web store, meanwhile, their Bandcamp page gives the same variant the description  of clear pink & orange swirl. The remaining variant is a retail variant on transparent orange/solid transparent orange limited to 500 copies. The fact that the transparent orange/solid transparent orange is a retail exclusive (no mention if it’s indie record store or mass retail) came from the band’s social media, which may or may not be run by Rich Balling (he at least has access to the account – which is a hell of a story that I’ll get into once some other records come in).

All copies come sealed and none of the variants have a hype sticker or anything else that may indicate color. The single LP comes in a single pocket jacket, with the record itself being housed in a full color printed dust sleeve. There is no download card/code included with physical copies. Retail price on this record is around $20. And for whatever reason(s) it has not sold well, as none of the variants have sold out as of writing this.

Pebaluna – Carny Life

Matt Embree is one of the handful of musicians I will always support. Admittedly I don’t go the extra mile and buy everything and anything he puts out. But if it’s released on vinyl I will almost certainly purchase it. Latest example is one of his side projects; Pebaluna, which mainly features Laura Coleman on vocals. Matt does sing a bit though.

Pebaluna is not my cup of tea. If Matt was not involved I likely would have zero interest in the album Carny Life, the bands’ lone release to date. But this album is a good example of the pull of music. The fact that some extraneous factoid drew me to the band that I would have otherwise ignored, and the fact that factoid doesn’t play as big of a role as I’d prefer, and I still enjoy the music, speaks volumes. Carny Life is a solid album.

Matt released it on his own label MDB Records. He did a small run; only 300 total copies spread evenly across two variants; orange and white marble, and purple and white marble. The album artwork was re-imagined for the vinyl release. Personally I prefer the vinyl artwork to the original artwork that was used for the digital release. The album was re-mastered for vinyl and is cut at 33 rpm. 45 rpm would be ideal, but take what you can get with a release like this.

The single LP comes housed in a single pocket jacket; and that’s it. There is no insert or printed dust sleeve. There is no download card/code, which is something that I was really hoping for with this release, as I don’t have good quality MP3s of this album. My only gripes with this release is how no frills it is, with the biggest underlying issue being no download card/code. The price; $21 on sale or an apparent $25 not discounted, is hard to swallow as well. But knowing the money goes directly to Matt makes it a bit easier to deal with. He also hand packs every order, with the help of his mom sometimes. And he rides his bicycle to the post office to mail out orders, which he occasionally posts videos of on his social media.

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Love You Moon – Waxwane

This is an album I asked Matt Embree a handful of years ago if he had any intentions of getting pressed, and he said yes. But it never came to be for whatever reason. That is until 2020 when his debut solo album released under the moniker Love You Moon finally saw the light of day on vinyl.

Waxwane is a fantastic album, even more so when you consider it’s Embree’s first steps as a solo artist. It does have RX Bandits vibes, but in a stripped down way. There are 10 songs on the album, and my personal stand outs are “Screams In A Vacuum,” “Brown Shingle Berkeley” and “Why Pop Stars Sell Silicone.”

There were 500 copies pressed, all on 180 gram “tri-color” vinyl. I put “tri-color” in quotes because it’s not the traditional idea or what most people think when they hear ‘tri-color.’ This record is simply three colors; there is not pattern or sectioning of the colors. It’s a white base with swaths of blue and baby blue. The album was re-mastered for vinyl by Matt’s friend Marcel Fernandez, whom he previously collaborated with on his Macaracuay and 2019 records. All copies come with a double-sided insert that has the lyrics printed on it, along with a download card/code, but it’s for poor 192 kbps MP3s.

By no means was this a cheap release. Retail on it is $25 before shipping. Granted this was released during the Covid-19 pandemic when pretty much every artist was struggling to some degree, but I have always had the stance that $25 is too much for any single LP release. This is also not a widely distributed release, as a result there are only two options to buy this from; Matt himself in his label’s web store, or via distro Hello Merch. If you buy this from Matt you will save yourself 50 cents in shipping; so $31.00 instead of $31.50.

Matt Embree – 2019

Matt Embree released his third (second under his own name) solo effort, entitled 2019. Since there are only six songs and it clocks in at under 30 minutes, 2019 is technically an EP. But Matt occasionally calls it an album though. There are some jams on this, and if you’re a fan of RX Bandits you will enjoy this EP. Just not as much as an RXB album. The influence of his more recent musical endeavors, including his time spent with Dispatch as a touring member, can be heard.

2019 was only pressed as a 12” picture disc. It’s mastered at 45 rpm however, so that makes up in the sound quality department a bit. A picture is still never ideal for sound quality though. Pressing info has not been released, this record is being advertised as being “limited.” The image on the picture is basically the same on both sides of the record, which is a letdown. The B-side image is inverted and is a bit lighter/blown out compared to the A-side. It’s not even artwork; it’s a picture of Matt from his childhood. All copies come housed in a picture disc sleeve with a flap, which has the artist name and release title printed on the front, with the track listing printed on the back. They’re not stickers. A download card/code is included with copies as well.

The price on this record depends on where you buy it from. This is not a heavily distributed release, some indie stores are selling it, but if you buy from them you will pay more. My advice, buy it straight from Matt. He is charging a bit less for shipping than his label’s web store hosted by Hello Merch. If you buy this from or the label’s Hello Merch store the price is $20 before shipping, if you buy from an indie store or other distro (if it has it) you will find a price closer to $25 before shipping.

Aside from the savings, I advise buying straight from Matt because the money goes straight to him. He ships orders himself out of his mom’s garage too, and you’ll get some freebies like stickers and hand written thank you notes.

The Sound Of Animals Fighting – The Ocean And The Sun

Sometimes it’s nice when things happen out of the blue. The Sound Of Animals fighting reunited to play a multi city, coast to coast tour, so I seized the opportunity to see them live, and to coincide with it Epitaph finally pressed The Ocean And The Sun on vinyl. Up until now it was the only album of theirs to not be released on vinyl, with the tease of having an insanely rare 7″ being the only vinyl release of material off this album. Ironically this 7” was also the band’s first and only vinyl release for many years.

The Ocean And The Sun was pressed on two variants; “sunburst” limited to 700 copies (not including the odd 150 copy overrun the band admitted happened as overruns are typically only 10% of a run. Also, the band initially said those 150 copies of the “sunburst” did not sell on tour when they were put up for sale online, then later said it was an overrun.) and black limited to 500 copies. The “sunburst” which is a red and orange marble, was a tour exclusive of sorts, well, at least it was intended to be, but Kings Road Merch (KRM) took pre-orders on some copies online via their merch page for the band/label. This error was quickly remedied though, as it was pulled for the black variant. This release never saw physical stores or distributors. It was sold exclusively via the band/label’s web store and on tour.

It was interesting how the band handled the tour exclusive, because since the record was not physically available when the tour took place, they took pre-orders at the show. So your record would ship out to you at a later date. It also cost around $5 more to buy on tour than what the variant cost during KRM’s mistake of putting the variant up for sale online to the general public. The black variant cost $20 before shipping, and the “sunburst” cost $31 at shows after shipping was factored in. Not sure if the shipping price the band charged at shows was higher, or the cost of the actual record was higher.

All copies were pressed as a double LP housed in a gatefold jacket without a download card/code. However, if you ordered a copy from KRM, you were e-mailed a download code ahead of the record’s ship date (if you pre-ordered). The download nets you high quality 320 kbps MP3s. Black copies don’t have any stickers indicating color of the record, but the “sunburst” has a barcode sticker on the back of the jacket saying “sunburst.”

Matt Embree – Macaracuay

Completely out of the blue, Matt Embree released his first true solo album, entitled Macaracuay on August 9, 2017. Yes, I’m aware he released solo stuff under the Love You Moon moniker, which is why I tab the Macaracuay album as his first true solo album, because it’s the first released under his own name.

Matt posted on his Instagram that the album was available for pre-order on August 9, but it actually started shipping immediately. My order shipped the same day, as did many others’. However, at some point something changed and a later ship date was posted on the web store (hosted by Hello Merch).

I’m not quite sure on the pressing info for this record. Matt said only 300 copies were available, and there are two variants for Macaracuay. There is no word on exactly how many copies were pressed on each color, so you can’t assume it’s an even split, or if it’s 300 copies per color. I got the impression that Matt meant there were 300 copies total available, but even that is not concrete. To add another monkey wrench into the pressing info, it seems the first batch of records sold out, and another batch was put up for sale.

At this point the web store posted that there were 250 copies available for each, meaning each color. That information was not posted in the web store when I placed my order during the first batch on August 10. So the pressing info is completely up in the air. How can there only be 300 copies available when the web store now states 250 copies per each color. One is left to assume that Matt meant that only 300 copies were initially available, and that more copies would be available at some later date and ship later, without explicitly stating that.

I mentioned it a few times already, but here are the two colors; bone and blue/violet splatter, and clear and violet splatter. What is pictured below is the clear and violet splatter. The web store actually lists the colors with a ‘+’ instead of an and, when it should really be called ‘with.’

When I placed my order, one of the variants was sold out (the bone and blue violet splatter). Which is why I placed my order when I did, as I feared the pressing was selling very quickly. But it turns out that I rushed for no reason, because as of posting this on November 7, 2017, there are still copies available. The misleading advertising saying 300 copies definitely led to people rushing to buy the record, which is why it sold out initially. Another reason I planned on holding off on buying this is the price.

This single LP, without a download card nor an insert or printed dust sleeve, cost $25 before shipping. After tacking on shipping, the total came out to $31. That is a ridiculous price for most records, be it a single LP or double LP. The records are pressed on 180 gram colored vinyl, but that is the only thing that would drive up the cost. Other than that, it’s just a single LP stuffed into a thin single pocket jacket.

There are 10 songs on Macaracuay,  with only one of them being a new, original song. The rest are all covers or RX Bandits songs, which are borderline covers in and of themselves. The album is also an acoustic album. Matt does cover some classic songs though, like Jimi Hendrix’s “The Wind Cries Marry” and “I Second That Emotion” by Smokey Robinson. The album was recorded in Venezuela, and was released on Matt’s own label; MDB Records. The original song is “Morning Sun,” and the RX Bandits songs are “My Lonesome Only Friend” and “March Of The Caterpillar.”

If you want to hear this album you have to buy this record. It’s not streaming anywhere and it’s not available for digital download or as a CD anymore. I say anymore because Matt was selling copies of the full album on CD on one of his solo tours and one off shows here and there a few years ago. Matt said on Instagram that the entire recording session lasted four hours, and as we all know only so much music can fit on a LP, and even CD for that matter. He also said that there are a possible five or six different songs found on the vinyl version that weren’t on the CD.

Matt Embree – Rare Breed Flexi 7″

And thus ends one of the longest pre-orders I’ve ever foolishly bought into (more details later). Paper + Plastick Records (P + P) partnered up with Obi Fernandez (Westbound Train) to form Rare Breed Recording Company and subsequently release a flexi series. The Rare Breed Flexi Series features one artist per release, usually the lead singer of an established band. They even did a subscription where all the flexis would come in a box set. Thankfully that box set/subscription was sold out before this Matt Embree flexi was announced. Not that I would’ve been stupid enough to go for any subscription series, but the temptation wasn’t there with the subscription sold out already.

There are two variants for the Matt Embree Rare Breed flexi; white limited to 250 copies and black limited to 135. White is a subscription exclusive and black is the ala carte variant. The flexi comes in a ply sleeve with a white square sticker affixed to top right corner of the poly sleeve indicating artist and track listing. Earlier flexis in the series apparently use to come with the artist and track listing printed on the actual flexi. The flexi cost $5 plus $3 shipping.

The two songs on the Matt Embree flexi are a cover of an Ellie Goulding song entitled “Guns And Horses” and an original song entitled “Dehumanizer Dub.” Both songs have a reggae vibe to them, which is the theme/vibe for this flexi series, which is right in Matt’s wheelhouse. If you didn’t know it you’d think these two songs were RX Bandits songs and not Matt solo.

Now as promised, here is more details about the insanely long pre-order for this flexi. P+ P launched pre-orders for the ala carte Matt Embree flexi in December 2015 without announcing a release date. That should have been the second red flag to not pre-order this. The first should’ve been P + P. The label is notorious for atrocious customer service and length pre-orders that border on ridiculous. The label also seemed to branch out into other, non music related ventures, like making plastic toys and comics. And it seems like they’re focusing on those things because they churn out a new plastic skull every month is seems without shipping delays.

I got a bit off track there. So let’s try that again. From past experiences I should have known not to pre-order, let alone buy anything, from P + P. But I bite the bullet because of the limited nature of the Matt Embree flexi, fearing it would sell out before it actually started shipping. That fear turned out to be no concern, as this flexi is still available. I contacted P +P back in March 2016 asking if there was at least an anticipated release/ship date and was to my surprise received a response two days later saying “they have a couple weeks left on them.” Fast forward to the end of July 2016 when I contacted P + P again asking about this flexi because it was well past “a couple weeks” and was told “we’re trying to get an updated ETA, as last I heard they should be on their way to us.” You should see a common theme developing here; no concrete answers or any sort of actual information being provided.

About a month after my previous email I was shocked to see an unsolicited email from P + P in my inbox, and it said “just got word we are receiving this next week!” That exclamation point was put in there by them, I didn’t add it for sarcasm. That email was sent on August 24, 2016, and it apparently went out to everyone who pre-ordered or subscribed to the flexi series as I wasn’t the only one to receive it, as several people chimed in on a message board to say they got the same email. Needless to say I wasn’t holding my breath to see if that timeframe would hold up. And wouldn’t you know it, P + P was full of crap again.

I waited a little over one month to contact P + P again about this flexi because it obviously did not ship. I never received a reply to that email. On October 25 everyone who pre-ordered or subscribed to the flexi series received an email saying their flexi shipped along with a download link for the digital version of the flexi. Despite getting that email my flexi didn’t actually ship until November 5. Unbeknownst to most customers, P + P shipped out the subscriber flexis first, then waited about a week to ship the ala carte ones. Not the end of the world considering I already waited 11 months for the flexi, so another week was nothing, and it’s fair to ship out the subscriber’s copies first. But you should never send out a shipping notice without actually shipping the order. It a big pet peeve of mine, along with many others. I never even received a tracking number either. I only know when it shipped after checking the ship date on the mailer once it got here.

RX Bandits – V.I.P.E.P. aka Covers EP 7″ flexi

For the 10^th anniversary of their album, The Resignation, RX Bandits went on tour where they played the entire album start to finish (plus an encore of some of their other songs). The band offered up a VIP ticket bundle, which included an exclusive 7” flexi disc comprised of three cover songs. The track listing for the flexi is a cover of The Police’s “Can’t Stand Losing You,” Weezer’s “Surf Wax America” and Blonde Redhead’s “Falling Man.” The flexi is red and is limited to 600 copies. Each copy of the flexi is numbered /600, but it is not individually numbered.

The VIP ticket, which cost $40, was limited to 30 per show, and along with the exclusive flexi it also included a meet and greet with the band, a private show (which took place prior to the public performance), CD copy of the Covers EP and exclusive tour poster. The CD version features all the songs found on the flexi plus two more songs; Fugazi’s “Cashout” and King Crimson’s “21^st Century Schizoid Man.” Those two song are exclusive to the CD version, which was also a tour exclusive. One interesting note is that despite practically identical track listings, the CD and flexi’s titles are different. The CD’s title is Covers EP while the flexi’s title is V.I.P.E.P.

Prices for this vary, and since not many copies have popped up on  the secondary market it’s tough to gauge an average. I have seen copies go for as low as $15 (what I bought it for) on up to $71. Considering the fact there were no tour dates near me, and the cost of a ticket had I been able to go to a show, I am very happy to score this flexi for what I did and think I got a great deal all things considered.

The Sound Of Animals Fighting – Lover, The Lord Has Left Us (1st Press)

In 2014 the first The Sounds Of Animals Fighting releases were pressed. Yes I’m aware of the 7” single released, but that does not really county as a release in this case. In this case I can’t say albums because The Tiger And The Duke is an EP, so this release covers both EP’s and albums. Equal Vision Records released The Tiger And The Duke and Lover, The Lord Has Left Us on vinyl at the same time, which was nice so people who wanted both could save on shipping.

The vinyl version of Lover, The Lord Has Left Us has alternate artwork, which apparently upset a lot of people. I will get into those people later on after laying out the details of this release. There are three variants for the first pressing; 300 copies on black 180 gram vinyl, 700 copies on white and 1500 copies on clear, which is a $hit Topic exclusive. The$hit Topic exclusives did not come out till well after the record shipped to people who bought it from Equal Vision, let alone after it went up for pre-order.

Lover, The Lord Has Left Us comes in a gatefold jacket, which has a spot gloss finish in some parts. The spot gloss is minor in terms of how much it covers on the jacket. It’s only on the lines that appear on the front and back. It is next to impossible to capture the spot gloss in a photograph and have it be obvious that the photo is of Lover, The Lord Has Left Us jacket, otherwise it could be of any jacket. There is no insert and no download code is included despite the fact this is an Equal Vision release and is not licensed out. A download card/code would have been a nice touch.

The black 180g and white copies each cost $20 before shipping, however, the $hit Topic exclusive clear cost $26 before shipping. The black 180g copies lasted a few days, while the green copies lasted a few weeks. I opted not to pre-order this record because I fully expected Equal Vision/Merchnow to put up more copies after the record was released, which I was spot on with expecting; it just took a lot longer than I expected. In September 2014 Merchnow put up more copies of both colors. So about three months after the records shipped.

Along with offering up the two colors (black 180g and white), Equal Vision also had a test press bundle, which included a test press, obviously, and your choice of color. There was some issues with the test pressings though, as there were more than the advertised 20 copies pressed. Either Equal Vision flat out lied about how many tests they had, or it was simple miscommunication in that they were only selling 20 tests out of however many they had made. With Lover, The Lord Has Left Us, some people also didn’t get a complete set. They either got two A/B sides or two C/D sides.

As stated earlier there was also a $hit Topic exclusive color for Lover, The Lord Has Left Us (clear /1500). Why there were so many pressed is beyond more, it’s almost double the rest of the pressing. Apparently this is now sold out online (as of writing this), but don’t expect that to be true. $hit Topic is notorious for using every kid of sales/marketing tactics to drive up sales and maximize profit. They limit the flow of product, mark things up ridiculously high and exclude items from sales promotions just to name a few. I fully expect there to be more copies put back up online at some point, and since there were so many copies pressed, expect these to wind up on clearance at some point. I was banking on that until I saw more black copies were put back up, which wound up being cheaper than what it would be sold for on clearance at $hit Topic.

Now back to the people who were upset with the choice of artwork for this. They were so upset that someone decided to capitalize off them. It started out as simply making jackets for the test presses, something that is not a new practice, but something I view as a complete waste of money. It then snowballed into making jackets for people who just wanted the original release artwork to go along with their copy of the record. The guy charged $15 for a regular jacket and $20 for a gatefold jacket, the same price if not more than the record (plus, you know, the real, official jacket) itself. So quite a few people wound up spending about double on one record, for no reason really.

This custom jacket operation then continued to snowball, as the guy began to make jackets for any and all records anyone requested, even stealing artwork from reputable and legitimate artists in the process. There was some backlash towards him for attempting to/considering doing it, rightfully so, and of course with the typical side taking and bickering that always happens on the internet. The person making the jackets, and making a profit doing so, saw nothing wrong with what he was doing, and neither did countless other people. Lots of people defended him and what he was doing, and lots of people complained towards the people pointing out what he was doing was illegal. In the end the guy decided not to steal a legit artists’ art, which was the right decision.

The Sound Of Animals Fighting – The Tiger And The Duke (1st Press)

In 2014 the first The Sounds Of Animals Fighting releases were pressed. Yes I’m aware of the 7” single released, but that does not really county as a release in this case. In this case I can’t say albums because The Tiger And The Duke is an EP, so release covers both EP’s and albums. Equal Vision Records released The Tiger And The Duke and The Ocean And The Sun on vinyl at the same time, which was nice so people who wanted both could save on shipping.

The vinyl version of The Ocean And The Sun has alternate artwork, which apparently upset a lot of people. I will get into those people later on after laying out the details of this release. There are three variants for the first pressing; 300 copies on black 180 gram vinyl, 700 copies on green and 1800 copies on red, which was a $hit Topic exclusive. The $hit Topic exclusives did not come out till well after the record shipped to people who bought it from Equal Visions, let alone after it went up for pre-order. The Tiger And The Duke comes in a gatefold jacket, which has a passage/story entitled “Charlemagne And Penelope” written by Chris Haynie printed inside.

The black and green copies each cost $15 before shipping, however, the $hit Topic exclusive cost $21 before shipping. The black 180g copies lasted a few days, while the green copies lasted a few weeks. I opted not to pre-order this record because I fully expected Equal Vision/Merchnow to put up more copies after the record was released, which I was spot on with expecting, it just took a lot longer than I expected. In September 2014 Merchnow put up more copies of both colors. So about three months after the records shipped.

Along with offering up the two colors (black 180g and green), Equal Vision also had a test press bundle, which included a test press, obviously, and your choice of color. There was some issues with the test pressings though, as there were more than the advertised 20 copies pressed. Either Equal Vision flat out lied about how many tests they had, or it was simple miscommunication in that they were only selling 20 tests out of however many they had made. With The Ocean And The Sun, some people also didn’t get a complete set. They either got two A/B sides of two C/D sides.

As stated earlier there was also a $hit Topic exclusive color for The Tiger And The Duke (red /1800). Why there were so many pressed is beyond more, it’s almost double the rest of the pressing. Apparently this is now sold out online (as of writing this), but don’t expect that to be true. $hit Topic is notorious for using every kind of sales/marketing tactics to drive up sales and maximize profit. They limit the flow of product, mark things up ridiculously high and exclude them from sales promotions just to name a few. I fully expect there to be more copies put back up online at some point, and since there were so many copies pressed, expect these to wind up on clearance at some point. I was banking on that until I saw more black copies were put back up, which wound up being cheaper than what it would be sold for on clearance at $hit Topic.

Now back to the people who were upset with the choice of artwork for this. They were so upset that someone decided to capitalize off them. It started out as making jackets for the test presses, something that is not a new practice, but something I view as a complete waste of money. It then snowballed into making jackets for people who just wanted the original release artwork to go along with their copy of the record. The guy charged $15 for a regular jacket and $20 for a gatefold jacket, the same price if not more than the record (plus, you know, the real, official jacket) itself. So quite a few people wound up spending double if not more on one record, for no reason really. This custom jacket operation then continued to snowball, as the guy began to make jackets for any and all records anyone requested, even stealing artwork from reputable and legitimate artists in the process. There was some backlash towards him for attempting to/considering doing it, rightfully so, and of course with the typical side taking and bickering that always happens on the internet. The person making the jackets, and making a profit doing so, saw nothing wrong with what he was doing, and neither did countless other people. Lots of people defended him and what he was doing, and lots of people complained towards the people pointing out what he was doing was illegal. In the end the guy decided not to steal a legit artists’ art, which was the right decision.