Ceremony Rohnert Park LP

Because I am so disorganised at times, I kinda forgot to order the new Ceremony LP from Bridge Nine when it went up for preorder. I think I checked the store once when the preorder was up, and the I thought "nah, I'll order it another day"... and then I forgot all about it. Well, in a fortunate twist of fate, Mike got sent two copies of the clear vinyl, so I said I'd happily take the spare off his hands.

There were 700 copies on clear vinyl. The most limited colour was red, of which there were 300. There was also a blue vinyl of 1000, making a total first pressing of 2000 copies... which believe it or not, sold out in a VERY short space of time. There's already a second press (on white) in the B9 store, and it wouldn't surprise me if there's need to do a third press too.

First thing I wondered was why the record is called Rohnert Park. I looked it up on Wikipedia. Doesn't tell me much. I'm guessing the band comes from this dump. It does sound like a pretty dull place. Also, not that it's relevant, but the house on the cover looks to me must like the house out of the movie 'Paranormal Activity' which I watched recently.

I've said before how I slept on this band for a long time. Their previous records have been ferocious hardcore which at times borders on some of that 90s power violence type stuff. But this record is completely different. I was so intrigued about this change of sound that I decided to read about it on the nerd, which is something that I never do. The consensus seems to be that even the most devoted fans were surprised by this record.

To get to the point, this sounds like something that would have come out in the early 80s. I would say that this is more of a 'hardcore punk' record than a 'hardcore' record, if that makes sense. I can't be specific as to who it might sounds like, but I don't think it matters. It's just a damn good record. People who like stuff like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Adolescents, TSOL and similar should check this record out. Seriously. Even if you are a bitter old fart who refuses to listen to anything new on principle. If you like hardcore punk then you will surely like this.

This, for me, is the record of the year so far, hands down. And this band is fast becoming one of my favourites. Clearly they have a lot more about them than most modern hardcore bands. If it weren't for the fact that it'll be cold, dark & wet, I'd be really looking forward to the UK Tour in October.