For The Crown - Blueprint

For The Crown was an amazing and criminally underrated Hardcore band from Walnut Creek, CA. Formed in late 2001 from the ashes of Flinch Factor, For The Crown played melodic Hardcore in the vein of bands like Reach The Sky, In My Eyes and Turning Point. They released a 3 song demo in late 2001, followed by another demo in the spring of 2002. Still in High School, For The Crown played shows all over the area eventually travelling as far as Washington and Arizona.

By the time this cd was released through Give Me Strength in 2003, For The Crown had really developed their sound. Although the cover art is somewhat questionable, I really liked this record. Unfortunately they broke up in the fall of 2003 as some members moved away for college and others began to focus more heavily on their other bands. Members of For The Crown later went on to play in bands like: Gunsmoke, Cross The Line, Lights Out, On, Dispute, Internal Affairs and more. This is an awesome record and I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested in seeing where these kids cut their teeth.

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Towards An End - Chance Of A Lifetime

Love them or hate them, you can’t deny that Towards An End definitely made an impact on the NorCal scene. Considered by many to be years ahead of their time, TAE played tremendously catchy pop punk (a phrase and genre I’ve since come to hate) that was equally influenced by bands like Shelter, H2O and early-Get Up Kids.

Formed in “the valley” around late 1997/early 1998, Towards An End featured ex-members of Straight Edge band Rely who had just broken up around the time. The band released two demo’s before they put this cd ep out on Give Me Strength Records (now defunct) in early 1999. They released a 7” on Lookout Records right before they broke up in 2000. “Chance Of A Lifetime” is probably my favorite release from this band, I would definitely recommend it to fans of late 90’s pop punk (early -Saves The Day, early-Get Up Kids, etc.) so if that's your thing, check it out.

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