It’s a tricky subject in here, but has anyone heard anything else from Epitaph? We’re at the 7 day mark, are we not? I’m not expecting anything, but they acknowledged it and promised “something” of some sort, so I’m curious.
Since I'm missing them coming through here I bought a regular vinyl copy tonight at bull moose. Take that, bad planning! *shakes fist*
I'm a big fan of Go Farther In Lightness, but I don't hear the Gaslight comparison. Like at all. You talking about their earlier stuff?
Was in contact last Friday. My contact is their director of marketing. Out of respect for their willingness to consistently speak with me directly and their request that I don’t share screenshots or specifics of the information they have relayed to me, I can’t say much. What is safe to say at this point is that they are aware and actively working on it. Also keep in mind that they are on the west coast )so four hours behind east coasters) and also closed on the weekends and, I believe, yesterday for the holiday. Some things to keep in mind... and these are my imaginings and conclusions and, again, nothing said by them. 1) They are actively running their entire scheduled business and this issue is a new, unplanned, and atypically larger than usual issue for them to deal with on top of the regular workload. 2) There appears to be a disconnect with Epitaph and KRM which is creating yet another issue they need to sort out. 3) I’m sure they are trying to figure out exactly how many people are saying that they are having a problem and then making a decision regarding if they want to address all 200 orders or just those that wrote in. There are trade offs to both sides. I’ve had a record pressed before myself and it’s obviously cheaper the more you press. However it may be cheaper to repress only a small handful depending on how small that handful is. And that’s if repressing is even what they are considering. 4) I’m sure their response requires a huge coordination on their part. KRM was in their inventory process last week and unavailable for call up even when I contacted Epitaph and asked them to forward me through directly. Plus I’m sure there is discussion of who will be responsible for the cost of correction since it’s Epitaph’s/Thrice’s product but appears to be KRM’s fuck up. Then if repressing is an option or the final decision, coordinating and negotiations with Wax Mage. And let’s also not forget assessing what caused this and making sure this doesn’t happen again. Especially with the repress if they repress. 5) I would imagine that they are not looking at a refund option as the final solution. Based on conversations I’ve had with other lower level/non-management employees at Epitaph it appears to be they whatever they are planning to do, it’s “something.” I know that’s vague, but what I mean is that based on the comments made by non-management employees and the responses from the director of marketing the plan does not appear to be “We’re sorry, we know we fucked up, and if you want a full refund and want to keep what you received then go ahead and let us know.” The rumors and direct comments seem to indicate that they know that the issue isn’t that people want a refund, it’s that they want what they ordered. They probably also have to consider if they are going to do anything at all for those that ordered package 2 since they essentially received a free upgrade. Epitaph I’m sure knows that the value of any record that is 1/1, regardless of how many are produced, is a hell of a lot more valuable than a /100 record that is the same as another 99. But again, if repress is an option then I’m sure they have to consider adding in those /100 album art splatters since they too are made by Wax Mage and would thereby reduce the cost of a repress since the overall order doubled. Long story short, yes they are aware and actively working on it. Also, a lack of response is probably due to them not realizing the holiday weekend as well as them wanting to sort out all of the logistics before saying anything.
Thank you for continuing to keep us posted on this. I was thoroughly disappointed with my responses from KRM and continued to escalate my dialogue with them. So I’m assuming as long as I opened a case / wrote to KRM that I don’t also have to write to someone at Epitaph? I was about to ...
Now that the thread has kind of settled down with album takes I can finally say I really don’t dislike Hold Up a Light.