The Trouble - Nobody Laughs Anymore

In celebration of my wife getting us tickets to the American Nightmare show on New Years Eve in LA, I decided to post up my favorite piece of AN vinyl.  Then I realised that I don't actually own any AN vinyl.  Oops.  I love American Nightmare, but I haven't had the chance or cash to start collecting their records.  When AN was still an active band, I was at college studying my brains out, and didn't have time to go to many shows..  So needless to say I missed the boat the first time around when their records were still in print.  Maybe someday I'll search them out, but for now I think I'll just stick to the represses that B9 and Deathwish are doing. 

So since I don't have any AN records, I give you... The Troubles "Nobody Laughs Anymore".  American Nightmare covered a Trouble song on their "The Sun Isn't Getting Any Brighter" 7".  See what I did there...

The Trouble were a punk rock band from Boston, MA.  They lasted from 1995 to 99, then front man Gibby went on to sing in Panic.  I discovered The Trouble through Panic.  I'm a big fan of their first two 7", and when I found out that Gibby had a band before Panic I tried to track some of their stuff down.  It wasn't until years later when Painkiller and B9 repressed their LP that I actually heard them.  And when it's all said and done, I ended up liking The Trouble more than Panic..but just barely. 

Black out of 920

Here is the link to the other versions on Painkiller records site.  



Carry On - A Life Less Plagued (2nd Press)

When Bridge 9 posted a while back that they were going to do a second press of Carry On's "A Life Less Plagued" I thought... It's about time!  Why there was only one pressing of this record until now is beyond me.  Sure Carry On broke up soon after this record was released, but this record and band were huge!  And you can't tell me that there wasn't a demand for this record.  So here it is 10 years later.

This record will forever be one of my all time favorite hardcore records, I would go so far as to say it is one of my favorite records of any genre.  Not only do I love the music, but it has very sentimental meaning to me as well.  This record will always, always remind me of my wife.  She listened to this record almost nonstop when we first met.  I can't think of Carry On and not thing about my wife.  So for that reason, "A Life Less Plagued" is quite special to me. 

The original pressing of "A Life Less Plagued" was supposed to have a gate fold, but B9 didn't have enough funds so they scrapped it.  This is was the record was intended to look like 10 years earlier. 

Gold out of 500

White out of 1,500

The pre-order package deal came with a new Carry On T-Shirt, and a huge poster that was to big for me to take of picture of on my iPhone. 

Post Edit: 10/20/11

I managed to pick up the other color since writing the original post.  I found a copy on white at Boo Boo Records in San Luis Obispo, CA. 

Mental - Get An Oxygen Tank

Get An Oxygen Tank was the first Mental record that I listened to.  I remember the first time that I heard this record I thought I was playing it at the wrong speed when the vocals kicked in.  It took me a second to realize that I was in fact playing it on the correct speed, that's just what dudes vocals sounded like.  It grew on me very quick however, and I ended up listening to this record all the time.

I picked this record up at a show in Chicago from Joe Lifeline's record distro soon after the record was released.  Mental went on to play a handful of great shows in Chicago, until the bands demise.  Well, all of their shows were great except the last show they played in Chicago.  This was just after the edge breaks, and people were already bagging on them for their change in sound.  Anyway, the show was super awkward.  Most of the kids bailed before they played (alot of kids who LOVED them the year before) and there were defiantly some home made shirts that read "Mental Boston Straight Edge....SIKE".  Granted that's funny...but yeah, really awkward vibe at the show.  

700 pressed on Yellow 

Mental will always be a favorite hardcore band of mine.  I don't care what happened towards the end, or all the hype surrounding the band, I just love their music.