I have been a fan of many of the artists on your roster for many years. While I am too young to have really been there for the heights of the Hoboken scene I have loved bands like The Feelies, Yo La Tengo, The Individuals and many more for a very large portion of my life. I am a New Jersey native and take a lot of pride in what this label has done for the state's musical identity. Despite this I feel very slighted by the company.
Speed the Plough has been my favorite band since I first heard them and I have been excited for the release of The Plough And The Stars since I first heard about it. It was their performance that got me to make yet another long trek from Astoria to Hoboken in Maxwell's final days to see the Bar/None event. It was definitely worth it and I was already counting the days until I could pre-oder the band's new release from the source itself. Word has been spreading about this great band and this excellent release and the fact that I still cannot listen to it or hold it in my hands has been bothering me more and more for the last week.
See, I did pre-oder this record almost immediately and dropped nearly thirty dollars, which is a lot for me at the moment. It was worth it, I was certain. However, about a week later, I noticed that I had given the wrong address on me order - number 6500. In the middle of the night with only two weeks until album was to be released I sent an e-mail about this mistake, certain that the problem would be fixed and this anticipated album would still reach my home. Five days later with still no response I sent another e-mail about this error. No response.
These days social media seems to be an even better mode of communication with business so I used twitter to mention my complaint and still I was ignored. Well, maybe they got the message anyway I hoped. I still don't know because I have not received any information about the order. I have never ordered anything online and not gotten confirmation when it was sent, so I have no idea if it even has been sent to the wrong address. All I know is I lost almost $30 that I could really use right now.
Why did I even bother pre-ordering this, I wonder? Maybe because Bar/None has been plagued by horrible distribution its entire life and I would rather not search every record store in New York and probably pay more money. Maybe because I wanted to support this release even before it came out. Maybe I just wanted to know I have it.
Well I don't have it. All I have is a lot of anger towards Hoboken's most famous record label. Maybe Hoboken is even worse than we all think. At that show back in July I saw the artists that made this label great lose the last monument in that city, and now I feel like Bar/None has succumbed to the same monster that has consumed Maxwell's and everything else in that mile square.
Luckily for them I will still buy this record. I will have spent over $60 I am sure on this set because Speed the Plough is that great, and I am still excited to own their music on vinyl. However, there is no love in my heart left for their label.
-Christopher McEneaney
Edit: Finally got acknowledged over Twitter, a few minutes ago, if you can believe that, so there is some hope. Seems raising a ruckus pays off.
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