THE REBIRTH OF HARDCORE

This is a great compilation, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I only got wise to it like a year and a half ago. Consider me poser exposed. Anyway with bands like Shelter, Ten Yard Fight, In My Eyes, Battery, Better Than a Thousand, Saves The Day, Sportswear, Fastbreak, Mainstrike, Rain on The Parade and other how can you go wrong. Throw in the fact that this was put out by Supersoul with the jacket folds out into a HUGE poster featuring an energetic live shot(shocking, I know!) and you have the makings for an awesome release. This thing came with some old mail order cards, do you think I will still get an embroidered supsersoul hat if I mail $16.00 to the address? I hope so.

We all know that Swiz ruled, but did you know that Swiz stickers also ruled? when I got this record I found 2 of them inside. I think Hell Yes I Cheated is my favourite Swiz record but Reject does not disappoint! Look at that shade of green, it reminds me of another classic record....

Our Turn - Step Aside "test press"

Last weekend I met up with Aram to pick up some records to help fund future releases by REACT! RECORDS. One of the records that I grabbed was this Our Turn ep. When I opened it up I found a test press sleeve inside. Turns out Aram purchased a test press of the record but by mistake it was just the stamped version in the wrong sleeve. A cool looking record with an even cooler story!

These are the lives of others.

Circles are one of Vancouver's best kept secrets. Members of Blue Monday, On & Damages coming together to play great revolution summer inspired hardcore. The demo was awesome and this record featuring Lay of the Land and Lives of Others is amazing. To the best of my knowledge they are working on an LP right now and I cant wait to hear it.

Attaining the supreme t shirt

FACT: I love shelter. Despite some of their garbage records they wrote a few amazing records. They also made a lot of horrendous shirt designs. This is not one of those, I actually like this shirt. that back design looks glorious! and whats up with that awkward side print? I don't know but I'm feeling it.

"Faded tattoos on our legs & backs and our feet are buried in the sand""

Life of a Spectator, by far the strongest record that Silent Majority wrote. I can't get sick of this record. From start to finish it is perfect. The second to last track on the A side, Polar Bear Club gets me so stoked on hardcore. Tommy Corrigan has a unique style and writes incredible lyrics, has he ever been in a bad band? I have never heard a band he was in that I couldn't get down with.

Where do I begin?

Welcome to NO MORE PAIN! My good friend Chad Mackenzie and myself have decided to start a blog dedicated to the bands/records/music/ideas that we love, we are both very excited about this. Now that we finally took the plunge into actually doing this rather than just talk about it I found myself not quite knowing where to begin. What better way to kick thing off then with a first post about the first record I ever bought?

The Answer - You Had Your Chance
About 7 years ago I was at a show almost, I cant remember who was playing but I ended up looking at a distro that was set up in the back of the room and one cover jumped out from the rest of the hardcore/punk records. A white sleeve with a crudely drawn sailboat colored in with crayon and the caption "I hate girls, I love tugboats". What can I say? I felt compelled to buy it. later that night when I got back home I through it on my parents turntable and put on the headphones, about 5 seconds into the first song I was sold! Fast, angry & straightedge, what more could a 15 year old kid ask for? Since then I have taken it upon myself to try and collect every record the answer put out, It's been about 7 years and I'm still working on completing the collection but thats a whole other post in itself.