To Die For band designs from the early 2000's

Right around 2000-2001, To Die For clothing (formerly Die Trying) started sponsoring bands and ushered in a new wave of band merch that revolved around old/new school tattoo designs. I for one got caught up and was totally into the idea. Nice bright colors, traditional designs...other labels and bands tried to emulate it but I always felt To Die For did it best. I heard they are actuually starting to do band designs again...check out their site here

Falling Forward - Hand Me Down

It is a damn shame that this record is not in print. Initial Records closed shop and this is one of the casualties. Great emotional hardcore from Louisville whose members went on Elliot among others.

Falling Forward - Hand Me Down

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DLJBDJET

Culture - Mike Warden Can Suck It (Born of You re-recorded)

Alright a little backstory...Culture re-recorded tracks from Born Of You in response to Mike Warden of Conquer the World Records selling the record and not paying royalties. This was supposed to be released on Toybox Records but never saw the light of day. The title is a take on "Chung King Can Suck It". Great recording and includes a cover of Judge's "Fed Up"

Culture - Mike Warden Can Suck It

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5L3RLETM

Clear - The Sickness Must End

From the Clear Myspace:

"Clear was formed in 1995 and was originally known as XclearX; the letter x serving as a symbol for straight edge. Often associated with hardcore music, Straight Edge (in the mid-1990's) was a fusion of heavy punk and heavy metal, and that's the sound that Clear produced. When the band began, Jason was 21, Sean was 19, and Tyler was just 16. The original guitarists would later be replaced with Mick and Josh, who fall in the same age range.

In 1996, six months after forming, they released a 7" record called The Sickness Must End, which they supported with a national tour. Tyler was 17 then, and, as he explained in a phone interview, it was an eye-opening experience for him. "I was traveling the world and pretty much living on my own with no money, and having these guys look after me," he said. "And they were young, too."

During the time that Clear was at its peak, Utah's straight-edge scene had a reputation as being one of the most violent in the country. In 1998-1999, Salt Lake City was receiving national media coverage for an alleged straight-edge attack on fraternity members. The members of Clear said that hardcore music fans who weren't straight edge were often afraid to come to their shows for fear of being attacked. However, Clear tried to reach out to everyone.

"We always tried to promote an embracing experience and get as many kids out as we could," Sean said. "[When] fights would break out ... we would stop playing. So all the kids that tried to channel hate through hardcore weren't OK with us."

In 1999, the band recorded a full-length CD, Deeper Than Blood, under the name Clear. After two national tours to support the record, Josh decided to leave the band to pursue his own indie-rock project, The New Transit Direction.

"I always felt like we probably could have kept going pretty strong if we'd never lost Josh," Jason said. "Because when this kid came and played with us for the first time ... you know that feeling that you get when everything clicks?" A replacement second guitarist was added, and another tour followed, but then Mick announced that he, too, was leaving the band. He said they no longer seemed to be able to write music together. While things looked great on the outside, they'd only managed to write two new songs in eighteen months. Sean said, "Mick wanted to be more metal, Jason wanted to be less metal, and [Josh] wanted to be more indie rock." Sean and Tyler were gravitating toward stoner rock. Once Mick announced that he was leaving, the rest of the band decided not to continue without him. Tyler said, "I didn't have the energy or the desire to ... find another guitar player and teach him the songs, especially since for the year before that, we wrote like, one song."

Clear played their last show in 2000 in the basement of DV8 to an audience of approximately 300. "It was an amazing show," Sean said. "We had a great time, kids were into it, we played everything we had at the time, and when it was over, it was like ... that's it. It was kind of anticlimactic, you know?"

Clear - The Sickness Must End

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=O9CQ3SQ1

Earthmover - Themes From Everyday Life

Detroit's Earthmover's first full length release (technically an EP but with the live set, it made it a full length). Some of you in the past may have downloaded this at a 128 or 192 rip and the damn thing skips. Well this was ripped by me from the actual CD and at 320. No skips this time and I also scanned the cover to have a nice high quality scan.

NEW LINK!

Earthmover - Themes From Everyday Life

Canon - The Solution

Words by EMS from Coregasm. Also included in the folder is an interview, scans of the insert and an ad for the record

"Canon was a short lived Philadelphia area band, Doylestown to be exact. Vegan straight edge was ascending in status throughout the hardcore scene. These youngsters picked up "Firestorm" and must have been immensely inspired by it. I had the chance to see these guys play a few times back then. I was still in highschool in central PA and would make the trip to Philly or NJ what seemed like every other weekend. Basements, firehalls, & church shows were in their glory. Up and coming local bands at this time for the 215 area were Frail and Canon (who happened to share a drummer). Both were straight edge bands with political slants but extremely different in sound.

Canon drew influences from the burgeoning Syracuse hardcore scene. At times they remind me of Earth Crisis, Green Rage, and what Morning Again would later go on to do. Their live shows were decent and the kids seemed into what they were doing. After a locally distributed demo word on the street was they had a 7" coming out soon. I remember that this 7" took quite some time to be released, like almost a year or so. It was on Chapter Records which was ran by the same guy who did Fade In mailorder. Many people were starting to talk about their sketchy dealings and lack of responsibility & organization. After many months the 7" finally saw the light of day and at the time, the slick glossy 7" sleeve was real impressive.

I'm not too sure how long after the 7" came out that the band broke up or as to why they did. I would have been interested to hear more that came from them. The title track "The Solution" lyrically is something that I have always felt is overlooked in the straight edge scene, promiscuous sex. So having always adhered to this level of responsibility myself I was and still am glad that bands touch(ed) on these subjects. Now whether or not they back these lyrics up is another thing. I'd be real curious to know how many from Canon are indeed still vegan and still straight edge, but that really makes no difference to me. They released a solid 7" and put on a good live set and have a place in my memories from 1994-95."

Canon - The Solution

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JK7FFW1O

Buried Alive - Demo

The demo that got them signed to Victory Records. Buried Alive, in my opinion, is Vogel's best band (which I know some will definitely disagree with me) and this is where they started. Im still crossing my fingers for a reunion.

Buried Alive - Demo

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5KR1SC1J

Unconquered - You Say Moderation, I Scream Prohibition

One of the angriest and most militant straight edge bands to ever walk the Earth. Reno's finest.

Unconquered - You Say Moderation, I Scream Prohibition

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HEK2VCR1

Despair - Kill

Their last release and also one of the last releases on Initial Records before they folded. You can really hear the Buried Alive influence creeping in

Despair - Kill

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1I9BB0YZ

Despair - As We Bleed

One of Scott Vogel's best. Their first release on Initial Records.
I found the scans on discogs.com and I'm pretty sure the original uploaded was xactionjacksonx. 

*NEW LINK*

Despair - As We Bleed