drive thru records

Drive-Thru Records classic compilation available on vinyl for first time

Drive-Thru Records just broke a stint of silence by launching an Instagram account to announce a classic compilation is heading to vinyl.

The beloved scene staple shuttered its doors in 2008 (and briefly attempted to relaunch in 2012). Before closing up shop, the label championed releases from Allister, Midtown, the Movielife, New Found Glory, Something Corporate, the Starting Line and more.

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Many of these artists appear on the 2001 compilation Welcome To The Family. Featuring Godfather-inspired artwork and a pizza CD inside a mini pizza box, the compilation is the ultimate pop-punk package. Now, it’s getting its first vinyl pressing.

“Well hello! It’s been a while,” Drive-Thru Records’ new Instagram account reads. “Excited to announce we’ve teamed up with our friends from @fielddayrecords to bring you the classic Welcome To The Family compilation for the first time ever on vinyl.

“We have 3 different variants on sale, along with a t-shirt and hoodie bundle.
Just like old times, we packaged this in a pizza box. This time it’s full-size, and we didn’t have to spend a week assembling them ourselves. Included in the box is a double-sided vinyl slipmat, and a 12 page photo insert with the original DTR Mob Family photos.”

 

Founded in 1996 by siblings Stefanie Reines and Richard Reines, the duo had an impressive 12-year run. They shared a statement on the vinyl pressing, which you can read below in full.

As we were putting together the compilation, we wanted to do something different and fun. The mob theme made sense to us for various reasons, the most obvious being that our label and bands were very tight-knit, and we were known as the “Drive-Thru Family”. Add in the fact that we grew up in New Jersey with at least one amazing Italian joint in every strip mall, plus our love of mob movies like “Goodfellas”, “The Sopranos” and “The Godfather”, and ‘Welcome To The Family’ was born!

Everything back then was done on a shoestring budget, so in lieu of hiring a model to pose for the cover, we had our accountant at the time assume the role as “The Godfather”. He was this crazy guy and seeing him with the bat posing as a mobster was funny to us. We always liked to amuse ourselves. So many inside jokes appeared on Drive-Thru Records releases over the years.

Read more: 29 songs that defined the Drive-Thru Records era

For the booklet, we took advantage of all of our bands playing at the Skate and Surf Festival in Asbury Park, NJ, and did part of the photoshoot on the boardwalk. Those shoots were fun because we got to mix band members for the different “mob” scenarios.

I believe we ordered 10,000 copies of the cd. The plant wouldn’t assemble and pack it because they said it was too complicated and time-consuming, so we said we would do it ourselves. We had no idea what we were getting into. I remember our entire office including the two of us, and all of our interns spending days putting together those pizza boxes! Our office was FILLED with CDs and pizza boxes, the conference room table piled high. We had to first put together the boxes, which came flat, insert the booklet into the cd, then put in the stickers and whatever else we had included.

More on Drive-Thru Records vinyl

The vinyl version of Welcome To The Family still features the Godfather-inspired artwork and a full-size custom-printed pizza box just like the original CD. There’s also a double-sided vinyl slipmat with that pizza theme and a 12-page color photobook.

The vinyl comes in three variants: 300 yellow and black splatter, 100 yellow and black split and 100 solid black. They’re available as just the vinyl or in two different bundles: One with an artwork-inspired shirt and another with a Drive-Thru logo hoodie.

Welcome To The Family is available here now with products shipping Dec. 18. You can see the full tracklisting below.

Tracklisting

1. “Somewhere Down in Fullerton”– Allister
2. “Stuck” – Allister
3. “3,720 To 1” – The Benjamins
4. “O’Bleek” – Fenix*TX
5. “What It Is to Burn” – Finch
6. “Letters to You” – Finch
7. “Give It Up” – Home Grown
8. “Not Alone” – Home Grown
9. “Get It Together” – Midtown
10. “Hand Grenade” – The Movielife
11. “Come Back Bon Jovi” – New Found Glory
12. “So Many Ways” – New Found Glory
13. “Mastering The List” – Rx Bandits
14. “Analog Boy” – Rx Bandits
15. “Konstantine” – Something Corporate
16. “If U C Jordan” – Something Corporate
17. “Break Up Day” – The Starting Line
18. “Leaving” – The Starting Line

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