New Found Glory – Catalyst

It finally happened. Catalyst was pressed on vinyl. New Found Glory’s last album to get the treatment, and one most fans cried for relentlessly; was released in 2023. After some slight teasing, it took about a week from when the band said in an interview at When We Were Young Fest that it would be coming out for pre-orders to drop without any sort of announcement. Unfortunately for myself I was on vacation at the time pre-orders launched and missed out on all of the rarer variants, but I did manage to easily snag a copy.

Catalyst was apparently licensed by Mondo (yes, that Mondo) from MCA/Geffen/Drive-Thru. Mondo had a hand in the re-press of the band’s self-titled album a few years ago, so it’s not a complete surprise they helped get Catalyst pressed. What is surprising is the lack of creative details that Mondo is typically known for.

Instead of a gatefold jacket, Mondo opted to go with a oversized single pocket jacket, and a cheap one at that. Now, most of time oversized single pocket jackets are printed on rather thin material, but Mondo should have done better. Another, slightly less noticeable issue with the packaging is that the artist’s name who handled all the art for Catalyst is actually misspelled in the liner notes/credits. Instead of Gunnar, which is how he spells his name and is also painfully obvious as it’s on the back cover for all to see, Mondo never corrected the typo of his name being spelled “Gunner” in the liner notes/credits that are printed on the back of the second printed dust sleeve. So it’s very obvious all Mondo did was enlarge all the artwork from the original release of Catalyst. Since Mondo altered the original artwork on the back of the jacket to include “Gunnar” signature, it’s likely not a contractual reason the liner notes/credits kept the typo.

I kind of hinted at the fact, but Catalyst was pressed as a double LP, coming in the inexcusable oversized single pocket jacket. The records themselves come in full color printed dust sleeves on glossy paper. The artwork used for the dust sleeves is taken directly from the CD booklet from the album’s original release back in 2004. As was the case with some other NFG records, all traces of the band’s original guitarist, Steve Klein, have been removed. His caricature is not presented, and his name is stricken from the liner notes/credits. Though it was pointed on a message board, sadly after your typical internet tough gay name calling, that technically Steve is still getting credit for everything as the band entered into a collective ASCAP at some point instead of giving each individual credit(s). That is all I’m going to say about Steve and any and all associated topics.

Maybe some of the saving grace for Mondo’s packaging choices is the fact that cover art feature glow in the dark effects. It’s not the entire jacket, only portions of it. Honestly, I’m not going to expose my jacket to direct sunlight for any length of time in order to photograph it. I am going to include a stock/promo photo that Mondo used for all their press for the vinyl version of Catalyst. But to put it into words, only the band’s name, album title and all the doorways on the cover art feature the glow in the dark effect. There was some incorrect speculation that only certain variants come with a glow in the dark cover/jacket; but every copy comes with a glow in the dark cover/jacket.

Another great touch Mondo did was to include all three bonus tracks from the various international version of Catalyst when it was first released. The three bonus tracks, “Whiskey Rose,” “Radio Adelaide” and “Constant Static,” are all properly tacked onto the end of the album, appearing on side D. There was some incorrect speculation that only certain variants included these bonus tracks; but they appear on every copy.

Now down to the nitty gritty; pressing info and the associated finer details. The band had three exclusive variants, with one of them only being available in a bundle containing all three aforementioned variants. They had a magenta/yellow/blue limited to 500 copies, yellow/orange/maroon limited to 1500 copies and a glow in the dark variant limited to an unknown/intentionally unannounced amount. The glow in the dark variant was the bundle exclusive one. I typically don’t like to speculate, but there are at most 500 copies of the glow in the dark, which is based solely on the fact there are 500 copies of the magenta/yellow/blue variant.

I mentioned above the simple nature of the band exclusive variants; that is how the band’s web store listed/described them. In reality, the magenta/yellow/blue is a swirl variant and the yellow/orange/maroon is a tri-color variants. The mock ups/actual pictures of each of those variants supported that. So why the web store couldn’t simply put in swirl or tri-color is beyond me.

There were three additional variants available at the time pre-orders/ordering went live. Mondo had an exclusive variant, which actually did not have any sort of description. I kid you not, Mondo now has the balls to just say “on a Mondo exclusive color vinyl” rather than simply state what their variant is. All when there is literally a picture of it posted right next to that text. Because there is no official description, it leaves it open to interpretation. Who/whom ever (yes, it can be multiple users) uploaded info to Discogs has Mondo’s exclusive variant as a color-in-color A-side/B-side variant, with it specifically being “blue in green (A/B) red in black (C/D).” That description is fairly accurate. But I still can’t help to feel the first disc (A/B) is more of a swirl variant than a straight up color-in-color.

Another terrific aspect of Mondo’s variant is that pressing info has not been officially confirmed. But of course, there is someone on a message board making the claim that they know how many copies were pressed for the Mondo variant. But Mondo has not posted that number anywhere, which makes it unofficial. And of course, that fact does not stop people from posting that unconfirmed number on Discogs. So of course lots of people are taking it for fact. I will not post said number here. Because I will not post pressing info that I cannot verify myself, which comes from a confirmed source.

The remaining two variants feature a RevHq (indie distro) exclusive and a wider release variant that is not exactly available everywhere. For whatever reason, the band/Mondo chose to only make what I’m calling the wider release variant available from a handful of retailers/sources in a handful of countries. To keep this entry as brief as possible, the RevHQ variant was limited to 499 comes on “green.” I’m not kidding, RevHQ simply put down “green” for their exclusive. And boy, was it not even close to “green.”

The RevHQ exclusive turned out being a convoluted mess in the end. Despite there being a picture/mock up of their exclusive variant, Rev decided to just put green. That did zero favors. An actual description would’ve been very beneficial, as it once again leaves things open to interpretation. For whatever reason, who/whom ever submitted info to Discogs claims the Rev exclusive is “green cloudy;” whatever that is. Where I have problems is multi-fold: A; this variant does not much green. My best description is that it’s a mustard puke nonsensical mixture that has elements of everything; swirl, cloudy, marble, splatter, swirl. Honestly, the finished product looks like someone ate a soft pretzel with lots of mustard at a sporting event of some kind, had too much beer, and wound up puking somewhere on the concourse mid walk without missing a step and just continued on without so much as a second thought.

The mock up shows a nice “green” variant that was clearly a clear with green/yellow swirl/splatter. What actually shipped to people was what I described above. I’ve seen pictures of a solid army drab green/olive/mustard with slight hints of blue splatter. There are even literally puke chunks thrown in for good measure. Some people have also described the RevHQ exclusive as snot, which is also apt. Bottom line is this variant is a mess.

The remaining variant, which is the somewhat widely available one, is very straight forward. It’s limited to 1,472 copies on clear with pink and purple splatter. It has an actual description, the description is accurate, and it matches the picture/mock up used. That’s the trifecta, and all you can ask for. RevHQ is the only place in the U.S. selling the clear w/ pink and purple splatter as far as I can tell, and there are several retailers/distros in Europe selling this variant as well.

Something most people can agree on is that the vinyl version of Catalyst is overprice. A single variant cost $40 before shipping and taxes (should they apply). I don’t know what the bundle cost because like I stated above, I missed out when pre-orders/ordering went live. Whioe some of the band’s exclusive variants found their way to be available for purchase again, the bundle never did. And because I’m the way I am, I won’t necessarily take anyone else’s word for granted unless I can back it up with visual proof I can get for a verified source. I screenshot everything as soon as I come across it for the sake of writing this blog.

As of posting this the only variants sold out are all three of the band’s exclusives and the RevHQ exclusive. The secondary market will need some time to settle into a going rate for many of the variants. But there were lots of copies pressed, and despite this being the first time Catalyst has been pressed, it has yet to sell out. Granted, the recent re-pressings of Sticks & Stones were far more limited in terms of numbers; there really was not a legitimate reason for it to receive three different pressings since 2022.

One of my favorite aspects of Catalyst that gets overlooked by pretty much everyone is the fact that Andy Jackson of Hot Rod Circuit fame, another of my favorite bands, does guest/backing vocals on the song “Over The Head, Below The Knees.” Other guest vocalists are Toby Morse of H2O and Freddy Cricean of Madball, who both appear on “At Least I’m Known For Something.”

New Found Glory – Make The Most Of It

New Found Glory’s latest album, released in 2023, is actually their first acoustic album. Make The Most Of It was released by Revelation Records; the legendary hardcore/punk label. After getting out of their deal with Drive-Thru Records and major label MCA/Geffen, NFG has partnered or signed with a lot of different labels; Epitaph, Bridge 9, Hopeless, Triple-B, and now Rev. Some of those partnerships seemingly make no sense to the unacquainted, but they go back to Chad Gilbert’s hardcore days when he was in Shai Hulud.

I’m not sure what happened with NFG, they’ve always been a very popular band; practically mainstream at some points in their career. But their recent vinyl releases have sold better than some of their past releases. I’m not talking about the long overdue re-press of their s/t album or even Coming Home. It all started with the pandemic boom of everyone going out of their way to spend more money on band merch (includes music) and Forever + Ever x Infinity was released at the height of it. For what I felt was subpar album, it sold very well and variants sold out at a much faster clip than I expected. That trend continued with their Christmas album and now with Make The Most Of It. Meanwhile, older records like Resurrection / Resurrection: Ascension and Makes Me Sick / Makes Me Sick Again can still be bought from Hopeless Records’ web store.

Make The Most Of It is currently in its second pressing. The first pressing, which was put up for pre-order in November 2022, has four variants; translucent violet limited to 300 copies, translucent green limited to 300 copies, “natural” clear limited to 500 copies and translucent yellow limited to 3,000 copies. The translucent violet, which turned out more maroon than any shade of purple, was a RevHQ (Rev’s label store that also happens to be a distro) exclusive, and it sold out in under 15 minutes. By the time I saw the band’s post on social media about it it was already sold out. The translucent green, which was a Brooklyn Vegan/The Hard Times/Revolver exclusive sold out in less than 24 hours (not exactly sure how many hours it took, but it was in the first day). Rev has “natural” clear listed as a retail store exclusive on their web store, but on social media that have said it’s an indie store exclusive. Slight confusion there, but since they listed a bunch of well known indie record stores that would be getting copies, the “natural” clear is 99% assuredly an indie record store exclusive.

The second pressing is limited to 2500 copies on opaque turquoise. It was put up for sale in March 2023. Was a second pressing needed? Maybe, maybe not. What I do know is that Rev sold out of all their variants, or at least however many copies of the whopping 3,000 on translucent yellow they kept to sell, sometime in February 2023. Now with that said, some places like Target, Amazon and even other distros have been selling copies for quite a while. So who knows what pressing you’ll get if you order from any of those places; it will either be a copy from the first pressing on translucent yellow or a copy from the second pressing on opaque turquoise.

What makes things a lot easier is that every variant, regardless of pressing, comes with its own hype sticker on a certain color. I didn’t say color coded because the “natural” clear variant comes with a black sticker. But other than that variant, the rest of them come with a color coded hype sticker. Even the translucent violet that turned out maroon; it too has a maroon/dark red hype sticker.

All copies are pressed as a single LP, come sealed/shrink-wrapped, and included a fold out poster. There is no download card/code included with physical copies, and I’m not sure if Rev supplied one to people who ordered directly form them. One interesting tidbit about this record is that the artwork for the center labels was done by bassist Ian Grushka, which were taken from painting he did of the band while they were in the studio recording the album.

A key aspect of the vinyl version of Make The Most Of It is that is excludes four tracks; live takes of previously released songs “Understatement,” Failure’s Not Flattering,” “My Friend’s Over You” and “Hit Or Miss.” These songs are mostly at the end of the album (digital and CD versions. Which lends credence to my theory that that were cut from the vinyl version due to special reasons. But I have not seen anything official as to why. Some people thought at first it was a licensing issue regarding physical formats, but considering all the omitted songs from the vinyl version are on the CD version, that theory doesn’t hold water. Considering the prices being charged for this single LP, it would have been better had Rev just went ahead and made this record a double LP.

With that said, let’s get to the pricing on this. It’s all over the board. Rev charged a reasonable all things considered $22 before shipping for the first pressing no matter which variant you bought. However, for whatever reason, they jacked up the price of the second pressing to $25 before shipping. Controversial? Absolutely. Especially without any sort of explanation. It’s like they hoped nobody would notice. Stuff like this is just another sad reason I’m being driven away from collecting/buying vinyl these days. It’s just too damn expensive.

And with that said, let’s move on to cost of the translucent green variant. It cost $30 before shipping. Despite that ridiculous price it still sold out in a day simply because it’s rare. This is the biggest reason why vinyl prices are climbing. Sure, inflation, supply chain issues, etc.; they are all legitimate reasons. But the underlying reason is greed. Labels and retailers see the trends; they’d be idiots and irresponsible business owners not to. So as long as people keep buying overpriced variants/releases, the prices will continue to climb because they know they will sell at least 7 out of 10 (for argument’s sake, but the ratio can be extrapolated to your heart’s desire) copies priced at $30, $40 even $50 before they possibly have to start marking things down. Even then idiots will still buy it thinking they’re getting a deal because look! It’s on sale now for $25 when they it used to be $30!!!

With all the ranting out of the way, here are some pertinent details about the variant featured here; the Bridge 9 Records Warehouse show exclusive alternate cover. In support of Most Of It, NFG did an acoustic tour at small theatre type venues with seating only, which had a stop in Boston. Before that stop on the tour, the band did a full plugged in live set at the new B9 Warehouse in Beverly, Mass. Aside from the secondary market, it was only available for purchase at the B9 Records physical store leading up to that show, which acted as your ticket for entry. In plain English, you had to buy a copy of this record/variant in order to get into the show. The show was widely advertised, so at least it wasn’t a secret/surprise show with a corresponding secret show variant. Granted, for anyone living outside driving distance of the Boston area, it would be a tall order trying to get a copy if this B9 variant.

I’m not sure if the B9 warehouse show sold out or not, but copies have not been up for sale in B9’s online store since it was held on March 16, 2023, unlike the new B9 store exclusive cover variants of Tip Of The Iceberg. As of writing this I have only seen two copies pop up for sale on the secondary market. The first of which I was planning on bidding on, but the price jumped to ridiculous amounts. The second copy I literally stumbled upon a few hours before the auction ended simply because I didn’t search for it on ebay for a few weeks. I’m fairly confident the only reason I won it, let alone for the price I did was because the person selling it had the auction end at 4 am EST. So I put in my bid, went to sleep at a reasonable hour and woke up the next morning to discover I actually won it for below my max bid. For those crying hypocrite at this point (because you can easily look up what this auction sold for), just know I purposely save up cash back bonuses I earn for cases just like this, so my out of pocket expense was literally zero on this record. Did I support a flipper? Yes. Did it sell for a lot of money? Yes. Did it sell for more than the $30, $40 or even $50 I ranted about above? Yes.

The B9 warehouse show exclusive variant comes with a copy from the second pressing on opaque turquoise. All copies are hand numbered in blue sharpie on the back of the fold over sleeve. The foldover sleeve, which is a quarter fold, is screen printed. The alternate cover art is inspired by the cover art for Judge’s debut album Chung King Can Suck It, which was released by Revelation Records in 1989. So this completes the trifecta of B9 exclusive alternate cover variants inspired by past Rev releases for NFG releases that came out in 2023

One last tidbit about B9 warehouse show exclusive variant, which was something I was not aware of so I would be none the wiser had the seller not included it; the B9 physical storefront placed all copies in a paper bag that was also hand numbered with the corresponding number on the sleeve. Since I’ve yet to visit B9’s storefront in Massachusetts, I can only assume this bag, which is screen printed with their logo, is what the store uses for the bulk of customers after making a purchase.

Made available for that performance only (until copies hit the secondary market, which has yet to happen as of adding this portion to this entry) was an exclusive alternate cover variant of Make The Most Of It, which was widely advertised and promoted

Absolutely no reason the label can charge $22 but other retail outlets with an exclusive can charge almost $10 more. This is what places like Newbury comics, urban outfitters and in this case Brooklyn vegan/rock sound charge what they do because they know idiots will buy it. And if by some chance it sits around and doesn’t sell, they’ll simply mark it down slightly to what the actual going rate is/what other retailers charge, and once again,

For whatever reason the vinyl version omits 4 songs. The songs are randomly scattered throughout the album and we’re all previously released songs, just obviously reworked in an acoustic styling. These songs are on the CD version, so it would be an odd, but not unheard of, contractual stipulation for it to not be on vinyl yet on other physical releases. Could also be a space issue, and rev chose to keep actual new songs on the vinyl version and omit songs that have already been released, some of which have also been released acoustic.

Blackbear – In Loving Memory

Blackbear might not be a lot of people’s cup of tea, myself included, but as a collector and completionist I felt compelled to buy his latest album, In Loving Memory for the simple fact the New Found Glory lead singer Jordan Pundik is featured on a track. Despite the entire band being listed as being featured in the title of the song, it is only Pundik who is featured when reading the credits.

Pundik lends his vocal talents to the song “Nothing Matters,” signing a couple verses; the bridge through to the end of the song. For those curious Travis Barker plays drums on the entire album, so if you’re looking at the album cover and thinking to yourself that guy looks familiar but it can’t be him; well, it is him.

Thankfully there are not variants for this record; it was only pressed on black vinyl. But with that said, pressing info has not been released for it and likely never will be seeing as this is a major label release. All copies come in a gatefold jacket, with the record itself housed in a full color printed dust sleeve on glossy paper. The dust sleeve has the liner notes printed on it, which is where you discover that the track listing is a bit misleading.

I mentioned above how the song “Nothing Matters” says it features New Found Glory and that aspect is flat out false. Well, the same goes for the rest of the album where there is a guest appearance. The Used and Bayside are listed as a guest appearances according to the song titles/track listing, but once again it’s only lead singers Bert McCracken (The Used) and Anthony Raneri (Bayside) actually featured on those respective songs. For what it’s worth Machine Gun Kelly is also listed as a guest spot on one song, but he is not actually credited in the liner notes as providing anything to the song (vocals or instrumentation).

Retail price on this record is around $30. Thankfully I was not foolish enough to pay that much for this record, especially for just one song. I bought this during a indie record store’s insane 50% off sale, so I wound up spending $14 all said and done. My best advice is to just wait this record out. It’s not going anywhere so odds are more and more places will mark this record down in an effort to clear shelf space and/or clear out old inventory. Only problem with that approach I can find is the fact that this is not a Led Zeppelin, Taylor Swift, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam, etc. release. So retailers might not be able to take as big a hit on this Blackbear record because they simply haven’t sold many, if any copies of it to make up for the profit loss.

New Found Glory – Coming Home (1st Press)

One of only two New Found Glory albums yet to be pressed on vinyl finally saw the light of day in 2022. Coming Home was licensed by Take This To Heart Records and Parting Gift Records, who have teamed up in the past for joint releases of sorts. Sadly though, neither party learned their lesson from previous releases, as the same exact issues plagued the launch of Coming Home.

Where do I begin with this debacle? Short story long; it was a clusterfuck to say the least. Both labels, and even the band (who was somewhat on board for this licensed effort despite being against a similar attempt for Catalyst: read further down) promoted the release. Giving a time it would go live, which is always appreciated. You can make the case for or against surprise releases, but announcing a date and time gives everyone a fairer chance of at least attempting to get a copy instead of having it sell out without even being aware of the record existing. I was ready and waiting at the time the labels said it would go live, and struggled mightily to check out; as did 99.9% of people.

The site pretty much immediately crashed due to traffic volume. It took me 11 minutes to get through the checkout process after multiple error messages like “queue full,” “something went wrong” and a bunch of random code across the top of the Paypal checkout page. It took multiple attempts at reloading the Paypal checkout once I got through the cart page to add shipping info, before being able to complete the order. I had no issues adding the rarest variant (color in color) to my cart (both variants actually, as I had a second page open in with the splatter in case the color in color sold out). But actually getting through the checkout process took 11 minutes of frustrating waiting. But even after seemingly paying for my order, there was still issues.

I never received an e-mail confirmation from the label nor the company hosting their store, as is typical with 100% of e-commerce. The only thing I received was a Paypal receipt, which had a transaction ID. That transaction ID came in handy, as I had to e-mail the label the next day to check and see if my order actually went through. Thankfully it did. The label had to manually go through and verify my order, along with many other peoples’ orders, as they faced the same receipt/order confirmation issue I faced. And if you thought things couldn’t get more unprofessional, the label couldn’t even send me or forward me the actual order confirmation; they simply sent me a screenshot of it.

Regarding the site crashing. Eventually the label just took down their store. The tab for it said “Maintenance,” with a “Sorry we’re not open for business” message on the web page itself. It was like that for hours. Eventually the label made the claim that Limited Run (who hosts their web store) shut down their store so the item would not get oversold. Highly doubt Limited Run would do this on their own accord. I’ve run web stores before that were hosted by a second party, and it’s very easy to close your store down and put it into maintenance mode, which is typically used when taking inventory, adding items, changing layouts/design, etc.

This is not the first time Take This To Heart Records had server issues, it’s not even the second time. This was the third time. Clearly the label is inept. At the very least they definitely don’t learn considering their Saves The Day release was the first to have server issues, and then it happened again with their Every Time I Die release. Thing is the demand for Coming Home was far larger. The label should have easily anticipated this. The fact that their web store is a joint venture with Tragic Hero Records (my payment went to Tragic Hero, not Take This To Heart) implies Take This To Heart does not have the means to run a web store on their own.

When similar issues happened with their Every Time I Die release, they scrubbed social media of comments and disable future comments. Eventually they did the same thing for Coming Home. Taking down their entire web site, and as a result, their web store, after all the issues with this NFG release, means they were trying to hide from all the negativity.

Needless to say, because of the server issues, it left countless people unable to even get their web store to load, let alone be able to buy a copy of either variant. It’s one thing for a pressing, or even certain variants to sell out immediately. It’s an entirely different thing for server issues to cause many people to not be able to purchase something. While it’s frustrating, or even upsetting (not being able to buy a record is never tragic, devastating or a necessity) to not even be able to add a variant or a copy of the record itself to your cart before it sells out; it’s an entirely different thing to never be able to have a web store load, and that be the reason for not getting a copy.

Like I said, this is not the first time this has happened to this label. Site crashes are unfortunately common with lots of limited edition, collectible, hyped up commodities. This instance won’t be the last time it happens generally speaking, but hopefully it’s the last time Take This To Heart Records/Parting Gift Records/Tragic Hero Records have server issues. While they use Limited Run to host their web store, which is not a dedicated server on the label’s end, they could easily switch hosts. Which is exactly what another label, Field Day Records, did in anticipation of high demand for one of their releases, a few weeks after the debacle Coming Home was.

Things were so messed up that Chad Gilbert from New Found Glory eventually got involved to a minor extent. He checked in with the label to see what was going on, because apparently his phone was blowing up as friends were sending him screen shots of all the error messages people were encountering. This is where the label sent out conflicting statements, because on their Instagram they said about 5,000 people were trying to access the web store. But Chad posted a story on Instagram saying he was told 10,000. I get that information can be fluid, but in this instance the site traffic is a known commodity after the web store was taken down. Chad was also very vocal about flippers and not to indulge them on ebay, also going on to say the band had almost nothing to do with the vinyl release of Coming Home and there wasn’t much they could do about all the issues with the launch.

Which brings up another interesting, semi-related topic of discussion. If the band was not informed about Take This To Heart/Parting Gift Records licensing Coming Home for a vinyl release, but were willing to work with them to some extent. What was all the fuss about Catalyst when Enjoy The Ride Records did the exact same thing; not asking the band for permission. Legally, a label does not need a band’s permission to license a release so long as the label it’s being licensed from owns the rights to said album. But ethically/morally, it’s taboo not to inform the band and get their blessing first.  You can read about the dog and pony show involving Catalyst here.

The first pressing was done on two variants; 800 copies on custard and evergreen color in color, and 1,200 copies on custard w/ black and evergreen splatter. The color in color is an evergreen base with a custard smear around the center/middle. My copy has very little custard. It actually looks like a water stain that smeared. All copies are housed in a cheap gatefold jacket. The jacket is one of the flimsiest in my collection. To the point where it can barely hold its shape. Likely, as a result, my copy arrived with a nasty seam split across the top, on the front pocket. There is an insert included, but it’s not full size. So yet another corner cut in order to cut cost but pass a premium price on to the consumer. For those curious, all copies also come shrink wrapped, but neither variant has a hype sticker.

All copies cost $35 before shipping. Which sadly is the new norm for double LPs. I remember when I thought $25 was too much for double LPs. Shipping was an additional $7.50 for media mail. I honestly can’t remember if there was only one shipping option, but I always choose the cheapest shipping option to save money. I’m willing to wait however long it takes for media mail to arrive because I’m rarely, if ever, in a true rush to receive a record in the mail. I’ve found that there is little difference in terms of shipping damage if you opt to spring for priority mail instead of media mail; if the USPS mishandles your package it doesn’t matter how long it’s in their hands. From personal experience, I’ve also found that records that have shipped via priority mail arrive damaged at a higher rate, likely because postal workers carelessly sling them around in the rush to meet delivery requirements. Same goes for UPS and FedEx shipments. Shockingly, I received my order for Coming Home in two days after I received shipping notification; for media mail. And to illustrate my point, it arrived with a seam split.

After the dust settled, the labels announced a second pressing. But in another questionable move, they will be doing the second pressing on the same exact color as one of the variants from the first pressing. While they did tweak the description of the color for the second pressing; doing so is a blatant slap to the face of everyone’s intelligence. The first pressing had the splatter variant on custard w/ black and evergreen splatter; while the second pressing is on custard with evergreen and black splatter. The pictures/mock ups match.

Ironically, or maybe not, the second pressing took days to sell out. And there were zero server issues when the pre-order for the second pressing was launched. So I have no idea what happened. Clearly there were more than 2,000 people who wanted a copy of Coming Home on vinyl, but not 4,000. My stance is that this somewhat proves, though not conclusively, that bots were at play during the first pressing. Sure, lots of people were trying to check out all at once, but considering how quickly the first pressing sold out, and how long the second pressing sat around; something fishy happened.

New Found Glory – Makes Me Sicker 7″

Sometimes it’s absurd how long you have to wait until a record becomes not only somewhat readily available, but also for a price that is not ridiculous. This is the main reason why I am not a fan of not only tour exclusive releases, but even more so VIP ticket package exclusive releases. It’s one thing for a variant to be exclusive in this fashion, but an entire release can often times be a middle finger to some of your biggest fans.

New Found Glory has done this twice, and it has nearly kept my complete (what I choose to collect) collection from being complete. And while it’s not the end of the world, it can be incredibly frustrating. Their most recent VIP ticket package exclusive release was put out back in 2018, which seems forever ago by any standard, but even more so considering the last two years the world has endured. And it wasn’t until early 2022 that I was able to finally add this 7” to my collection.

This VIP 7” is even more of a slap to the face of fans as it features three songs that would later be released on the re-release of the band’s album Makes Me Sick Again, thus making it an irrelevant release and a painfully obvious cash grab. The band even had the audacity to advertise this 7” as having “unreleased” songs, despite the fact that Makes Me Sick Again would be released literally one day after the tour started, and it was even included in the VIP ticket package. This 7” is entitled Makes Me Sicker, and was pressed on black in yellow vinyl. Pressing info has not and likely never will be released.

A little more details on the VIP aspect of this. VIP ticket packages cost over $100. It included the aforementioned 7”, a signed poster, a copy of Makes Me Sick Again on CD, a sound check party, a general admission ticket (which cost around $30) and a vinyl slip “cover” (which never materialized and was actually a slip mat. The ‘cover’ part was an egregious and misleading typo that legally was false advertising). So you factor in say $15 for the 7”, $30 for the GA ticket, $10 for the poster,$12 for the CD and $15 for the slipmat, and you’re left with paying around $18 for watching sound check.

Something suspicious happened in 2022, as dozens of copies flooded onto the secondary market. Some people even had multiple copies listed for sale. There was no announcement or chatter about copies appearing in the band’s own web store, like what happened with their previous tour/VIP exclusive release a few years ago. I’m pretty on top of things; I would’ve at least known about leftover copies going up for sale to the general public. So the question begs… where did all these copies suddenly come from?

V/A – Drive-Thru Records Welcome To The Family

If you grew up listening to pop punk in the early to mid 2000s chances are you were in love with Drive-Thru Records’ roster. It was home to many of the scene’s favorite bands including New Found Glory, The Starting Line, Fenix TX, Finch, Midtown, Something Corporate, RX Bandits, The Movielife, Senses Fail and The Early November just to name a few. The label was also famous for releasing great compilations. This is one of them, the classic Drive-Thru Records Welcome To The Family. 

When the comp was first released on CD back in 2001 it was packaged inside a mini (CD sized) pizza box. With the CD itself featuring a pizza as the artwork printed on it. Fast forward to December 2019 and out of nowhere the label, along with Field Day Records, re-released the comp, marking the first time it was pressed on vinyl. Pretty much everything from the CD release is replicated on the vinyl version, save for the pizza media disc (which gets replaced by a pizza slipmat, minus the sausage) and the hand numbering on the back of the pizza box (not done with the CD version).

Drive-Thru Records Welcome To The Family was limited to 600 total copies spread across four variants; 100/300 copies on split (half black/half yellow), 100 copies on solid black, 100/300 copies on splatter (orange w/ black splatter) and 100 copies on yellow. Only three of the variants were made available during the pre-order phase (split, splatter and black), and the yellow variant was of clusterfuck. Which I will get into later. Along with a debacle involving blatant false advertising regarding the pressing info.

Along with the option to buy the comp on its own, there were options that included the classic DTR logo t-shirt and hoodie, for an additional cost of course ($56 for the shirt and $76 for the hoodie, both before shipping). The stand alone record cost $36 before shipping, which was apparently a flat rate of $7 for media mail.

All copies are hand numbered on the back of the pizza box, with the /600 also being printed onto the back of the box as well. They all come shrink wrapped too, without any hype stickers. A full size, 10-page booklet is included, which is an enlarged version of the one that came with the original 2001 CD release.

I will first go into the pressing info nonsense. When pre-orders first went up the split variant and the black variant were both listed as being limited to 100 copies each, with the splatter being listed as limited to 300 copies. Turns out, for whatever BS excuse the label wanted to give, the splatter was actually the one limited to 100 copies, with the split being the one limited to 300 copies. In the grand scheme of things is this a big deal? Yes and no. Many people, myself included, were angry not only about this mixup, but how it was handled as well.

The label said nothing. They simply changed the pressing info in the web store hoping nobody would notice. When the label was called out on a message board, their response was basically that they were bummed it happened and it’s not how they wanted the release to roll out. Not even an actual apology. Also, no reason was given for the switching of the numbers, say like a plant error or anything actually out of the labels’ hands.

One aspect lots of people overlooked with this situation was that it resulted in the splatter being oversold. So this mix-up went beyond just some people being upset they didn’t get one of the rarer variants and/or that they were lied to; some people did not get what they wanted to buy in the first place. The resolution for anyone who bought a splatter and it was sold out was to either swap it for a copy on the split variant, or simply get a refund.

Regarding the yellow variant, it eventually went up for sale (actually turned out to be a defacto pre-order) in April 2020. And to make matters worse, the only way to get the yellow was in a t-shirt bundle. At least when this comp first went up back in December 2019 people had the option of buying a bundle or not in order to get the record. Adding more insult to injury, everyone who managed to snag a yellow copy, because at this point there were a vast amount of people after a copy of it, the records were delayed despite them assumingly being in hand. Only the t-shirt shipped. The shirt had a note hidden inside the shirt apparently saying there was a delay shipping the actual record; you know, what 99% of people who bought the product actually wanted. The yellow variant did not actually start shipping out to customers till pretty much one month after it was bought. It went up for sale April 20, and didn’t start shipping till around May 20. My guess is that the delay was a result of the pandemic, because at that point in time the pandemic was at its height. But the delay in releasing the yellow variant itself was because it was intended to be used for something else according to one of the labels. That something else is still a mystery that will likely never be revealed.

Just to add more hilarity to this. One of the labels also was misinformed with when it would go up for sale too, telling people the day before it went up that it would be available one hour after it actually did (said 12pm when it was actually 11 am) So overall this release was poorly handled, with information not even being appropriately shared with those who had a hand in releasing it.

As of posting this Drive-Thru Records Welcome To The Family is OOP, and according to one of the labels there are no plans to re-press it. But with information regarding this release being so easily confused and miscommunicated, I doubt either label actually knows their ass from their elbow. Copies on the secondary market are going for ridiculous amounts. Retail price on this was $36 regardless of variant.  Yes, so that cheesy album art t-shirt that was forced on everyone who wanted/bought a copy on yellow vinyl cost $29.

The lowest this record has sold for is $48, which is a copy of the splatter variant. But that figure is deceiving because it’s just for the record itself; it didn’t include the pizza box or slipmat. In actuality the cheapest this has sold for is $65, and oddly the color of the record was not revealed since the record itself was still sealed at the time of sale. Which is likely the reason for the low selling price. The yellow variant has sold for as high as $200.

New Found Glory – December’s Here

One of the few things New Found Glory has not released on vinyl is a Christmas album. They’ve released them before, but only on CD and cassette. That previous album A Very New Found Glory Christmas, was comprised mainly of Christmas classics. In other words; cover songs. This new album, December’s Here, is composed entirely of new, original songs written by NFG (yes I’m counting the reworked version of “It Never Snows In Florida” as new and original). Oh, they did release a lone Christmas song on vinyl before, “Snow,” which was a 7”, and is featured on this album.

December’s Here is surprisingly good. I didn’t have many, if any, expectations going into this album. I assumed it would be bad because most Christmas albums featuring original material by released by any modern artists is 99% of the time awful. It’s like reinventing the wheel. But then again I’m a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas music. Give me Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby singing the likes of “Jingle Bells,” “White Christmas,” “Deck The Halls” or “Silent Night” and I’m set.

The songs found on this album were first performed for a Christmas live stream event the band did in 2020. This album marks the first time they have all been available on any audio formats. Vinyl is the only physical format, with streaming and digital downloads also available. The vinyl release was surprisingly not delayed, even with pandemic issues still wreaking havoc on the vinyl industry and pushing turnaround times out past a year from ordering.

But with that said, there was one glaring issues many people took exception with. When the album was put up for pre-order in early November 2021, only two variants were available; red & green pinwheel limited to 750 copies and pink limited to 750 copies. Both of those colors were exclusively available via Hopeless Records web store. A week later, after the pinwheel variant had already sold out, the band put up their own exclusive variant for sale, which is white and red “candy cane” limited to 500 copies.

Say what you will about releasing variants gradually over time, in whatever fashion; whether it’s immediately after one sell outs or it’s simply done weeks after a pre-order is launched, it’s shady. Some people may not think it’s an issue at all while others are extremely angered by it. In the grand scheme of things does it warrant an extreme reaction one way or the other? No. But it does warrant head shaking and some amount of contempt. This is not an unheard of tactic, but it’s picking up steam and more or more labels/bands are doing this. We’re not talking about a tour exclusive variant where the tour starts months after an album is put up for pre-order; we’re talking about a calculated move by the powers at be, to release are more limited variant long after a pre-order was launched.

Personally, I only bought this after the pinwheel variant sold out because I saw the writing on the wall and didn’t want to miss out on this record altogether. It’s happened before, with NFG in particular, where I didn’t want to pre-order out of principle, with some assumptions/predictions/hopes/thoughts made that panned out wrong, and I missed out on getting a copy. And now I’m likely going to have to pay flipper prices in order to get it. And I given this is a Christmas record, the odds of it being re-pressed are slim because it’s such a niche album.

Back to the finer details of this record.  All copies come sealed and come with what is now Hopeless’ signature hype sticker that denotes the color of the record. The record is housed in a full color printed dust sleeve on card stock. A nice but somewhat unnecessary touch is a fold out poster. A download card/code is also include will all copies, which will net you high quality 320 kbps MP3s. But there was a glitch with it at first. Pink copies started shipping first and thusly being received earlier than the other variants. When the download was redeemed everyone was met with an error stating there were no files to download and to try again. Mind you the album was released on December 3 and zero physical copies were in the hands of customers prior to that.

When I tried back the next day, it told me my code was expired. So a lot of good trying again did. After contacting the download provider they gave me a new code and said the files were now there to be downloaded.

Prices on the secondary market may be tough to predict on this one. None have sold as of posting this. What I will say is that prices on this record will climb the closer it gets to Christmas of next year. So if you’re looking to re-sell this in the summer, the smart move would be to wait till the week of Thanksgiving, at the earliest, to put this up for sale. That is, of course, if you want to maximize profit.

New Found Glory – Forever And Ever x Infinity (1st Press)

New Found Glory’s latest album, Forever And Ever x Infinity is a step back in my opinion. After finally seeming to figure things out with a lone guitar player on their previous album; Makes Me Sick, this effort, their 10^th studio album, is just not that good of an album. Lyrically this is probably the band’s worst album to date, and musically it’s not much better.

Apparently that opinion is in the minority, as it sold extremely well. Hopeless Records opted to do a boatload of variants, which is par for the course for them, and most not only sold out, but did so relatively quickly compared to some of the band’s previous albums. You can still readily find copies of Makes Me Sick (along with the re-release version Makes Me Sick Again) and Resurrection (along with the re-release version Resurrection: Ascension). Copies of Resurrection were literally being sold for under $4 at one point. The only reason I can see for the first pressing of Forever And Ever x Infinity selling so quickly is the pandemic. This album actually leaked, and not only that, leaked extremely early due to an egregious error on Apple/iTunes’ part. And with people forced to stay at home under various orders and mandates, apparently people had nothing to do other than buy NFG records online.

I say that in jest, but I noticed the pandemic has sparked a surge in vinyl sales, especially pre-orders. Things have started selling out faster than I ever expected. Whether it’s in part to more people having the free time to sit and wait to play the fast finger contest when things go live, or people wanting to support bands and/or labels when they may be struggling due to lost tour revenue, my money is on a combination of the two; records have been selling not only well, but fast.

Forever And Ever x Infinity has already received a second pressing. It’s not formally announced as such, but I doubt the label was sitting on three variant for eight months. Pre-orders for the album went live way back in February 2020, with a release date in May. The first pressing has seven variants. The second pressing has three, which were released in October 2020. Here is the pressing info:

For the first pressing there are 300 copies on orange/blue mix, 300 copies on orange, 500 copies on red/white/black tri-color (known as the G.O.A.T variant, those colors were chosen because they are the Chicago Bulls’ colors), 500 copies on purple and yellow half/half (hype sticker says purple and yellow split), 500 copies on clear w purple splatter, 700 copies on white w/ red and pink splatter and 1500 copies on translucent green. The orange/blue mix, which is an orange/blue swirl according to the hype sticker, was a Smartpunk exclusive, which came with a unique hype sticker where every copy of the variant was hand numbered. The red/white/bacl tri-color and purple and yellow half/half were Hopeless Records exclusive sold by Merchnow. The clear w/ purple splatter is an Urban Outfitters (UO) excxlusive. The white w/ red and pink splatter, which is also known as cotton candy swirl, was initially intended to be a tour exclusive, but because of the pandemic and said tour being cancelled/postsponed, it was sold online by the band. The green is a mass retail exclusive, though Hopeless is/was selling copies of it.

Hopeless and Smartpunk both relentlessly advertised that their exclusive variants were close to selling out on social media, which also probably fueled them selling quicker. It’s a smart marketing strategy, especially if the amount of copies they said were left were actually the truth. As of writing/posting this there is only one variant left from the first pressing; the green and And I say that before delving into the second pressing.

The second pressing, as aforementioned, has three variants thus far. There is a Newbury Comics exclusive limited to 350 copies on green/black/white tri-color, which costs $26 before shipping. This was dubbed the Boston GOAT version (colors were chosen because they are the Boston Celtics’ colors, and Newbury Comics is a Massachusetts store founded in Boston). A “Voorhees Blood Edition,” also known as the blood variant, limited to 300 copies, which is on red w/ black splatter/swirl vinyl. This variant was released in conjunction with the music video for the song “Scarier Than Jason Voorhess At A Camp Fire.” The third variant is a Looney Tunes (Long Island, NY indie record store) exclusive on yellow with either red (most likely) or orange splatter limited to 300 copies. I have not actually seen an official description of this variant anywhere, I’m basing the colors on the mock ups released. The Looney Tunes exclusive cost $22 before shipping, which they routinely charge way too much for ($8 for media mail is the cheapest option) and rip people off.

No matter the variant or pressing, all copies come in a single pocket jacket with a full color dust sleeve printed on card stock. A download card/code is also included. All variants, not matter the pressing come with a hype sticker that denotes the color. Retail price is around $20, but the price is actually pretty varied. Lots of indie record stores were charging under $20, while Hopeless themselves were also charging $20.

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New Found Glory – From The Screen To Your Stereo 3

Nobody really asked for it, but nobody really complained when New Found Glory did it either, as the band released another installment in their From The Screen To Your Stereo cover EPs in 2019. This, being the third one, was aptly title From The Screen To Your Stereo 3. Keeping in line with the vinyl releases for this series, III was pressed as a 10” just like From The Screen To Your Stereo.

The track listing is truly hit or miss (no pun intended) with these cover EPs, as you either love the song or hate it. Maybe even love the film they’re taken from or hate the film. I tend to really enjoy only a couple songs off of them, but I still applaud the effort and ingenuity on the band’s part. Part 3 has the least amount of songs I like however. But with that said it’s still a crucial piece to any and every NFG collection.

There is some debate as to whether there is a second pressing of this EP or not, as one of the variants was released quite some time after the EP was released. If you believe there is a second pressing, there is only one variant for it, which is “popcorn butter flavor” limited to 500 copies. This variant was put up for sale only after another variant sold out. When it was first put up for pre-order/order the mock up looked awesome; a clear base with lots of various shades of yellow splatter. How this variant actually turned out left a lot of people disappointed, as it’s white with faint yellow splatter. I’m including photos of these mock ups in the gallery below to illustrate the drastic difference (mock up is first, followed by actual pic).

If you don’t think there is a second pressing, then consider that variant part of the first pressing, which has an additional three variants. First up is the band/label exclusive limited to 700 copies on half turquoise/half light yellow, next is an Urban Outfitters exclusive on turquoise limited to 300 copies, and an unknown amount on black vinyl. If you buy this EP anywhere other than from the band/label’s merch store or Urban Outfitters you will receive a black copy.

All copies come in a single pocket jacket with a full color insert and download card/code. Every variant has its own hype sticker indicating color as well, which makes them easy to track down if you be looking to pick up every variant on the secondary market. It’s important to note that the half turquoise/half light yellow hype sticker says the variant is half blue/half yellow.

Retail price on this is around $20. Urban Outfitters, as expected, is charging more for their exclusive for absolutely no reason; $22 before shipping (should it apply) and tax. Most indie record stores are charging closer to $18, and the band/Hopeless is charging $18 before shipping and tax (should it apply).

New Found Glory – Makes Me Sick Again

In keeping with a lame tradition (that I hope would stay buried in the past) Hopeless Records released a special edition of New Found Glory’s latest album Makes Me Sick, with a poor pun for a title; Makes Me Sick Again. But it’s not all bad, as Hopeless didn’t go overboard with variants like they tend to do with their releases.

Makes Me Sick Again was only pressed on two variants, with both being limited to 1,000 copies each. The first variant, which appears to be a Hopeless exclusive (only basing this on the fact it’s not available anywhere else; it’s not explicitly stated in their web store) on blue with yellow splatter. The second variant, which is widely available, is on “hot pink” with yellow splatter. I say “hot pink” because the color the record actually turned couldn’t be farther from hot pink. It’s straight up red. All copies come with a download card for high quality 320 kbps MP3s.

As with many special edition re-releases, there are some exclusive bonus tracks on Makes Me Sick Again, three in total. But it’s not what it seems, as only two of them were not released in some form prior to the re-release of the album. The three bonus tracks are “Heaven Sent,” “Vacation Day” and “20 Years From Now.” The last of which is the song that was previously released, albeit in acoustic form. The version of “20 Years From Now” found on Makes Me Sick Again is full band with electric guitars.

Somehow Hopeless squeezed all these tracks onto a single LP, but altered the track listing of the original studio album (Makes Me Sick) in order to do so. So “Heaven Sent” becomes the lead song (track 1), “Vacation Day” is track 7, while “20 Years From Now” slides in at the end as the final track. So basically what happens with Makes Me Sick Again is that all the songs found on the original release of the album get bumped down one track or two tracks depending on where it lands on the album. Not the end of the world as this album does not have the greatest flow, so not much is interrupted.

Other key differences with  Makes Me Sick Again compared to Makes Me Sick are the obvious cover art change. But only the background color changes from white to yellow. Gone is the insert from Makes Me Sick, but the exact same imagery/layout etc. was moved to a printed dust sleeve.  Save for the additional tracks and accompanying lyrics.

Retail price on this is around $20 depending on where you buy it. A ridiculous price for a single LP that is essentially a re-press of a still in print record. My advice is to wait to buy this is you’re planning to, as prices will inevitably go down. Hopeless pulled this same stunt with NFG’s other album on the label (Resurrection & Resurrection: Ascension) and it’s still readily available with prices steadily falling. There were simply too many copies pressed of Makes Me Sick Again. And before anywhere says why didn’t you take your own advice; I bought this for $12 shipped using a coupon code.