Tracking & Hunting Stories by request (Dan)

[ION BRITTON]

Roman, have you ever thought of shooting a movie of this? Metal records + mysterious guy who wears gloves + bad hangover + house with closed curtains are more than enough to make it cult i think

The most interesting story i've read so far.

[daniel]

Totally surreal, and great story!!! Haha

[OmenOfSteel]

Roman, have you ever thought of shooting a movie of this? Metal records + mysterious guy who wears gloves + bad hangover + house with closed curtains are more than enough to make it cult i think

Haha, great idea!

The showdown of the movie will reveal where his brother really is:

IN THE FRIDGE, HACKED IN PIECES!!

*shivers*

[Helm]

Omen of Steel that is an AMAZING story. Awesome quest for metal, although super-creepy

MassOfCthulhu, I bet there was a great but really emotionally draining feeling when you saw that record and up to the point where you had legally bought it. I mean that feeling when you know what a STEAL it is to buy such a record for pennies, waiting for it to be yours before you can tell the seller how much he's been had.

[nightsblood]

The guy that runs that store has no idea, whenever I've been in & he's just got some cool stuff in he never has a price, he has to "look it up, and see what it sold for last time" (in other words, check finished ebay auction prices )

I hate stores that do that. There used to be a small record shop in North Carolina and the guy did that. He rarely got any metal vinyl in, and he never had a clue what it was worth, so he wouldn't price it until he could check ebay b/c he was always afraid of selling something too cheap. Of course, he'd take forever looking stuff up. More than once i ended up leaving the record on the counter and walking out, telling him, "y'know, if you can't price your records, don't put them out on the shelves for sale". He was another weird one; younger hippie dude and very obsessive collector of random things, like trying to get autographs from all the survivors of the Titanic. He still shows up at some flea markets and record shows driving an old school bus. Strange guy

[ION BRITTON]

very obsessive collector of random things, like trying to get autographs from all the survivors of the Titanic

Need a wanker emoticon as soon as possible.

[The Sentinel]

Great story Roman, haha. This would indeed make a nice short film.

[humus]

A question for Glockose: is there any US metal vinyl that you know exists, but which you have never owned/seen available?

[Glockose]

Good Question

This is a hard one, I dont think there are many Lp,12,EP's that I know of and have never had. A few test press only things(ex Thynn Ice)

I am sure there are still a few out there I never heard of though.

7"'s are a differant story YES there are a lot I know of that I have never owned, Some I have never even seen or heard. I would say at least 50-100

[MassOfKthulu]

Tilemaxe,it was a great feeling.too bad that elderly chap selling it was too cool and too depressed,bah it didnt feel too thrilling
best of my finds have been online though,decoy paris for $5,rellik for $1,original graven image ep for free etc

[Astaroth]

A few years ago (before Ebay took over) I often had „wanna buy records“-announcements in metal mags here in germany. One day I got a letter with a list with oddly priced records, some usual Maiden/Metallica/Slayer stuff for 10 – 15 DM (5 – 7,5 Euro), some WARLORD/RAZOR etc records for 5 DM (2,50 Euro), the whole list just looked like prices were given randomly. There were only around 20 – 30 records on the list, but the guy mentioned he has thousands of LPs and CDs for sale.
There was no phone-number on the list and only a first name (Toni). Address was given, but under this address I couldn’t find out the phone-number.
The sender was from Klagenfurt, Austria, about 3 – 4 hours drive for me. It was Friday afternoon, I had no important plans for the weekend, so I called up a friend and asked if he wanna join me on a spontaneous metal-crusade. He said “sure lets go!” so I picked him up with my old rusty camping van and we were on our way.

We arrived in the evening around 17:30 o Clock, and after a little search we found the address given on the sales-list. I still remember it was “Gartenweg 4”.
We rang the doorbell and some old lady opened. “Hello, we come for the Metal records!”. She looked at us without understanding, and said “You are wrong, goodbye”.

DAMN!

I was much too excited about that possibly great collection, so no thought about giving up yet. We went to the nearest mail-office, but that damn thing was just closing when we found it. So we waited 15 min until the postman finally came out, we showed him the address and the name, hoping he could solve the mystery. But he said he never heard the name, no help.
I said: Ok, I’ll not drive home without trying everything we can, lets ring on every fucking door in this bloody street and ask for a guy called “Toni”.
So we started ringing at “Gartenweg 1”. No luck. It was already getting dark and after ringing up EVERY house in the whole damn street without finding the right one or even anyone knowing a guy called “Toni”, we were about to give up finally.

We were at the last house in the street (Gartenweg 44), rang, and some woman opened the window. We said our text “Hello, we are looking for a guy called Toni selling his records”. We already turned our backs expecting the usual “no idea, sorry”-Answer, but she said “Oh, yeah, he lives in the flat right below me. But he’s not home. His name is Anton XXX”. YEAH!!
We asked if she could tell us how to reach him. She said he is working as Taxi driver and just started his nightshift, but she has no phone-number.
We thanked her and got to the next phone-cell, calling up all taxi-companies in Klagenfurt, until we found the right one. The lady at the central connected us, and we finally got him on the phone, ha! We told him how it was a mess to find him, cos he had written Gartenweg 4 instead of 44. He said “why didn’t you just ask, everyone in Klagenfurt knows me”. Haha, yeah exactly...
However, he agreed to meet us after his nightshift at 7:00 in the morning. So we went out to get drunk for the rest of the night, happy we finally found him and that we were about to see his mysterious record collection the next morning.

He met us as agreed, we were dizzy and had a real bad hangover, he took us to some taxi-driver-pub for a morning coffee, than told us we should follow his car, because its not his own collection but the one from a friend.
After a little drive thru Klagenfurt he stopped at some house. It was around 8 or 9 in the morning, summer, and already freaking hot.
We followed him inside the house, 1st floor, and he rang up his friend. The door opened, and we were not sure what we were seeing. It was a guy dressed and styled like a girl, wearing pink plastic gloves, long blond hair, lipstick…
Outside it was hot and sunny, but all curtains in the smelly room were closed. And the room was FULL of metal records! Not sorted in shelves, but on the floor, in piles along the walls, totally chaotic. On the walls hung some record covers (I remember RAZOR and CIRITH UNGOL) and lots of porn-pics. One wardrobe was also full of ugly privately looking pornvideos (“want some? I can sell them too!”). Toni said goodbye and left. The girly-guy with the pink gloves told us too many strange stories to remember, for example that he was playing drums in an “all-girl-band” in Switzerland.

I asked about the record collection, and why he is selling it. He said “it’s the collection from my brother. He is soldier and had to go to some foreign country to serve. I am selling the records in his name cos he don’t need them anymore”. Hmm, okay…

Record-wise, he obviously had NO idea about what he was talking about. He praised the Roadrunner pressing of BONDED BY BLOOD as some mega-rarity, and didn’t give a 2nd look at the original MAYHEM “Deathcrush” on Posercorpse.
We were sweating in the room, it must have had 40° Celcius, and it took us hours to look thru the piles and piles of records.
My friend searched thru the CDs, I focused on the vinyls ofc. I found around 400 records, no super-rarities, but still some obscure private pressings, semi-rare Speed/Thrash LPs, US Metal, lots of brazil imports (hard to get before the internet-times) it was amazing! He asked 2000 DM (1000 Euro) for everything we had chosen. (no, there were none of the private porn videos included).

When we were finally done and ready to go, he said:
“Okay I will open the door, you go down quietly, and come back in to get the next bunch of records you can carry. Remember, be QUIET on the stairway.”. So we did. Every time we left his flat, we heard the sound of the key turning in the lock.
After we had all 400 records and the CDs carried to the car, we sat there for a few minutes and talked about his strange behaviour. I wanted to go back in maybe 5 minutes later to get some paper signed confirming I paid for the records. But he didn’t open again….

When we thought about everything on our way home, and after the brain started working again more properly after the bad hangover and strange experience, an uneasy feeling was setting in: He had all curtains closed in brightest summersunshine, he wore gloves all the time (“I wear gloves cos I burned my hands while cooking”), he locked the door everytime we left the flat for 2 min to go to the car and back, and he asked us to be silent in the stairway.

In my soon 20 years of collecting records, that was by far my most mysterious experience.

...ok...this story is completely fucked up...

Pink gloves...

*shudders*

[deathster]

Yeah, big fuck you to OmenOfSteel for this story
I have been in Klagenfurt too in 2004... maybe the records` owner played in Disharmonic Orchestra because this band is also from that town?

[bigfootkit]

Not really a "hunting" story, but it's close enough & i thought it might amuse you.
About 25 years ago, (my god i'm so old), we had a little record stall in a local indoor market, the guy who owned it sold mostly mainstream stuff, but had great, if small, Metal & Punk sections too.
I'd turned up a few gems there including Anvil & Riot albums on import, hard to find in Scotland in those days, so was always checking in to see what new records he had in stock.
One day i stopped by as he was just putting his new stock out on the shelves, and seeing me coming, he ducked under the counter and reappeared brandishing a record.
"This ought to be up your street", he said as i approached the counter, and handed me the record. It was "Evil's Message" by EVIL on the Rave On label.
Now i'd never heard of them, but when i saw the cover and the song titles, this 16 year old knew he had to have it. When he told me that the band were connected to Mercyful Fate in some way, that totally sealed the deal for me.
Then i saw the price, £8!
This was in the days when a new album retailed for about £3:99 or £4:49, and he wanted £8 for an EP?
If i'd had £8 this may not have been much of a deal breaker, but as i was still at school at the time, that was more money than i was likely to see any time soon, so i reluctantly handed the record back to him saying i'd maybe get it when i got my pocket money, but knowing it would take several weeks to get the cash together.
"Best be quick pal, this is the only one i've got", he said, as i headed for the door.
The only one.
I was back in the shop every day for the next fortnight, checking to make sure it was still there, hiding it at the back of the reggae section to prevent anyone from buying it beforei had the chance, but it always seemed to make it's way back to the front of the rack the following day.
The pressure really seemed to be on, in my mind it was only a matter of time before someone else walked off with my precious prize, i could not let that happen.
That Saturday i was round at my cousins house and we wound up getting shit-faced drunk that afternoon, drinking his father's home brew.
As i staggered home later, i resolved to check in at the shop to make sure the record was still there and took a small detour to get there, arriving just before they were due to close.
As i walked through the door, i saw that tantalising cover still there, front & centre in the rack, beckoning me. Approaching the counter, i realised that there was no-one else in the market and that all the other stalls had closed up for the night. There was no sign of the stall owner either, but as i reached the counter i could hear his voice, he was talking on the payphone at the rear exit. It was then, in the blink of an eye, that i decided that the record would today be mine, i would steal it. He couldn't see the stall or the front entrance from the phone, all i had to do was pick the record up, put it under my arm & quietly walk out the door with it. The perfect crime.
Next thing i knew i was out in the street, running like a madman, my prize clamped tight under my arm, and my legs didn't stop pumping til i reached my front door. I got into my bedroom and flung myself down on the bed, exhausted but exhilirated and lay there a few minutes basking in the glory of my perfect crime. Metallic larceny pays!
Upon regaining my composure and strength, i lept to my feet & switched on my hi-fi, eager now to hear my ill-gotten booty. I picked the record up from the bed & looked finally upon it.
"What the fuck?" i thought, "these aren't sinister hooded figures on a castle battlement doing god knows what with a comely wench"! "These are dodgy looking blokes in eyeliner & lace up leather vests standing in a dimly lit alley trying to look mean".
Yup, i'd stolen the wrong record in my drunken haste, and was now the "proud" owner of "Violent Breed" by Manchester Glam band ROX.
As the realisation, disappointment, guilt and hangover began to kick in simoultaneously, the true magnitude of what i'd done dawned on me.
I'd be the obvious suspect in the case of the disappearing Rox album caper & couldn't ever show my face in the only decent record shop in 30 miles again!
And thus, would never lay my hands upon the unholy grail that was "Evil's Message".
Ladies & gentlemen, let my cautionary tale warn you away from the criminal path which i took, Metal crime does not pay.

[MassOfKthulu]

haha clap clap excellent!
that story will bring the panters back for more

[The Sentinel]

Great story!!