Here it is folks. The most biting and engaging commentary on the internet. Fetching not only to the imagination, but to the soul.

...Well, perhaps not. But here's your chance to voice your thoughts and opinions as a collector, trader, or just a fan about the current state of bootlegs. So enjoy. And if you have anything to add -- why not submit it in for the world to see?

-The Editors




by Mark Andrew Hamilton


Z E R O - N A D A - N O T H I N G

Jackboot colluder Mark Andrew Hamilton speaks his mind about the fall of the famed Kiss The Stone Records. A vital source for bootlegs of all bands -- busted, shut down, and born again. This time, headquartered in Singapore and under new management. Read on, to find out what this means to you the collector.

I remember loading up the 'Coming Soon' page at Kiss The Stone's site, and hoping that there would finally be a new listing for yet another Smashing Pumpkins disc. Lo and behold, there was Zero Zero Zero.

The wait was usually a month or two before the listings would move from the 'Coming Soon' page to a full page of it's own and ready for business. The regular line of events. As the majority of bootleg collectors everywhere know, something else happened instead.

The biggest unofficial recordings bust in history occured on American soil, when the biggest players in the field were invited to a phony convention in Florida. When the ships arrived, stuffed to the brim with over a million bootleg discs, the police appeared en masse and made the catch.

Good bye bootlegs. Good bye Kiss The Stone. Good bye Zero Zero Zero.

Prices zoomed upwards, and quantities fell through the floor. Boots previously as rare as sand in the desert, became as hard to find as an oasis. And any hope for major new releases of notable quality disappeared.

Of course, the usual defenses were lobbied -- people buying live bootlegs are the true fans of the bands being recorded, so sales aren't directly affected; so few of each bootleg are sold that the sales wouldn't even register on the charts; it's all for the love of the music. But nothing. Bootlegs were out of commission.

For a good six months, new bootlegs were an extremely rare find. Kiss The Stone released nothing, and other major companies lay dormant as well. Somehow, Moonraker managed to keep up the pace and leaked out low numbers of some excellent discs (notably Children Of Gotham and 1997). And finally the field began to gain new players, such as Thunderball and EXP, both of whom appeared with Adore boots such as Transmission and the 17 Seconds series. Kiss The Stone eventually reappeared, now based in Singapore and controlled by new owners.

But Zero Zero Zero still remains a mystery. Whatever was intended to be on it is still unknown, and an eventual release seems doubtful at this point. The Adore tour is finished, and the Infinite Sadness World Tour was two years ago. There's still a chance that some of the Zero Zero Zero material finds it's way out, but who's to say? Why couldn't the feds have held off for a few weeks?

Darn.