Continuing my posts from my visits to record stores in the States in December last year, and even though I went to a couple of other stores in Florida, I didn't end up buying anything. But as is the case most years, we had a day in Boston at the end of the trip, and so I took the opportunity to visit a couple of record stores.
The day we had was a nice, bright day, but was absolutely freezing. In the morning we caught the train to Cambridge to check out Big Dig Records.
One of the owners of the shop is Chris Minicucci, owner of Painkiller Records, so I was kinda hoping that there may be a few 'sold out' Painkiller releases in the racks. The store carried a lot of different genres of music, but had a healthy hardcore/punk section and it was good fun flipping through, wondering what I was going to find.
The first thing I found was the Boston Strangler demo 12". I was never overly fussed about this when it came out. It came out after the two LPs and at the time felt like a bit of a cash grab. The fact that the second LP was a bit of a let down, plus lack of a colour vinyl option meant that I never bothered with this. But here I was in Boston with this in my hand for $10. I basically had to buy it.
The next thing I found was this gold vinyl copy of the Think I Care 'Singles Collection' 12". I remember when this came out and I was surprised that it sold out quite quickly given that I had always assumed nobody ever really liked this band that much. But its a nice looking record, and the price was pretty good too at $15.
After this I then moved onto the 7" section. I immediately found another Boston hardcore classic I was missing. This is the first of three 7"s by Close Call, a Boston band who were around in the late 90s / early 00s, and which had Chris Minicucci in as well as Nick who was also drumming in Bane. This actually sounds very similar to Bane too if that interests you. I have their other two 7"s, but never got around to picking this one up for some reason.
The dude on the counter was keen to point out to me that one of the owners of the store was in this band and pictured on the back of the record. I was like 'oh, ok', but of course, I already knew. I mean, come on... give me some credit. As if I'd be buying this in 2024 with no clue what it was, haha.
Next up I found two super cheap R'N'R records. I picked up a couple of R'N'R 7"s last year which were pretty cheap, and I just love buying multiple copies of records that nobody else really gives a fuck about anymore, so these two copies of the split with Fit For Abuse for $4 each were right up my street.
I bought the red vinyl copy of this back when it came out and then a few years later ended up with a red vinyl test press, so it was cool to pick up these and complete the set.
So i took the above records to the counter and the dude was like 'oh, you're into Boston hardcore. I have another box of 7"s that you may be interested in'. Sadly, this box wasn't packed full of original Last Rights 7"s or In My Eyes demo 7"s with Lil Wayne covers, but instead it was records that were $8 or more. I found three items in there that I felt obliged to take away...
The first find was this white vinyl copy of the Dump Truck demo. I've had this in digital format for years, and even though this is a later pressing, I figured I should probably have one in my collection. Such a great demo, especially the first song 'Suckerpunched'. One of the absolute best things to come out in that 2003/4 Lockin' Out period.
Next up I grabbed this 7" by The Flex. This came out in about 2015 and I bought one from the label at the time, but it ended up going missing in the mail and I never got it. So it was good to finally pick one up all these years later for a very fair price.
And finally, I picked up yet another copy of the Build & Destroy demo 7". This is in my opinion one of the best hardcore records of the 2010s, and its such a shame that they only ever released two 7"s worth of material. There is a lot of variation in the colour of these 7"s, and I knew that this copy was different to the two that I already had, so I couldn't resist it.
Here's a shot with all three of my copies of this record. The new one is the one in the middle. Technically the only colour of this 7" that was pressed was purple, but as you can see, 'purple' comes in many shades.
Overall a nice little haul, and not overly expensive either. I don't think anything here is particularly mindblowing, but it felt kinda cool to pick up some of these records in Boston on a freezing winter's day, and once again I managed to find things that were already on my discogs want list at much lower prices than I could have bought them through the mail. Definitely a fun time.
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