Be vewy vewy quiet I’m Hunting Hollywood – a year long saga

2004 – I remember being at a red light and our spaz of a merch guy jumped out of his car and threw a CD-R in my Jeep window. He shouted “Mandatory auditory listening” and he sped off.  It was a burned pre-release copy of Wilmington, NC’s own HE IS LEGEND.  I had mp3’s of their original project The Uriah Omen. I also had their debut EP entitled “91025” released on NC’s Tribunal Records. But this was “I am Hollywood” … their Solidstate Records full length debut. In my personal opinion it was very standout from everything coming out at the time. A nice mix of metalcore with southern vibes. However the lyrical content was very well written and the hooks were undeniable.

Fast Forward to 2008 – Their relationship with (christian based) Solidstate/Tooth & Nail had gone sour. The singer of my band was doing production work on their 2009 release “It Hates You” which was released on Tragic Hero Records. We were also on that label at the time and I was stoked when we got to play a few shows with HIL. Adam, their guitar player is a super nice dude and we nerded out over guitar gear. Got to drink some beach beers with Matty (bass) and the Idea of Beauty dudes.

2021 – Furnace Fest, Alabama. There were copies of  “I Am Hollywood” hidden around the festival grounds, and no I didn’t find one among the organized chaos. The limited blue 500 run was sold out by that point. I ran into Adam and I was trying to score an elusive copy of “I Am Hollywood” … hell, the band didn’t even have copies.

See, the music industry is an EVIL business. I’ve seen it with my own eyes in the past 20+ years. Record labels are horrible! Those contracts have every loophole in THEIR favor, not the artist. From what I gathered (through the grapevine) Solidstate pressed the LP, the band had to buy the records and re-sell them. Record labels just tend to do whatever the hell they want. Victory Records (was) notorious for this.

June 19, 2022 – The band was self-releasing limited signed copies. I set an alarm to remind me. The online processor was all waky, my payment would not go through. Once again, the vinyl gods failed me.

July 2022 – I tried to snag one on eBay. I lost the winning bid with 3 seconds left. Again, thanks vinyl gods!! This past week, one of my friends on a glassJAw forum was able to score me a copy. FINALLY!!  These vinyl scalpers were ridiculous. $200+ is the going rate for this LP. I know the band was actively trying to thwart those assholes.

So, here we are a year later and my search is happily over!  ps… Maybe the butler did it?

 
 
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