Well, I learned a valuable lesson the other day. I went to Warped Tour a while back, as you may recall. Had a great time, shot some good photos, met some folks, hung out with friends, and managed to find a couple of good deals on records. Well, those “good deals” on records have come back to haunt me. One deal, specifically.
You ever look back on something and realize with crystaline clarity what a bad choice you made? Yeah, this was one of those times. I’d been wandering around, and it was nearing the end of the day. While waiting for the Architects to play their set, I happened upon the Bridge 9 booth.
I’m a fan of the label. They put out the new H2O record Nothing to Prove, they released the original American Nightmare stuff… good label for hardcore kids. Well, they also recently put out the International Superheroes of Hardcore record. The band is pretty much New Found Glory with Chad on vocals and Jordan on guitar, playing Good Clean Fun-style funny as hell hardcore, posi-core, whatever.
Anyhow, I walk up to the booth and ask the guy about the ISHC record and the H2O release, ’cause I’d like to buy them on vinyl. Well, he tells me that they’re out in the van, and he’ll have one of his guys grab them. He says for me to come back in half an hour. Now, it’s 90 degrees out. We’re in a parking lot the size of several football fields, and it’s July in Kansas. Park a van on that blacktop and stick some vinyl discs in it, and think they’re going to survive?
I did not think about that. I saw the Architects play their set, wandered back to the booth, got the ISHC record (they were out of H2O), put it in my backpack, and headed to the car. Got home, cleaned out my bag, and forgot about the record. I’ve got the ISHC on CD, so I’ve been busting that out in the car. Well, I wanted the wife to listen to the record while we were hanging out the other night, so I pull it off the shelf and drop it on the turntable.
Yeah… it’s so warped that when the autoplay function kicks on, the warp in the record bounces the tone arm right back to its rest. Fucked up. I e-mailed Bridge 9, and it’s been two whole days, and not a goddamn peep. I wouldn’t care so much if it’d been mailorder, or something like that, but I bought it straight from them. At least I didn’t buy the H2O album… although I still don’t even have that on CD, because the copy they sent the station for review was fucked up at the pressing plant.
the International Superheroes of Hardcore live set at B-Sides ‘R Us.