A 20th anniversary deluxe edition of Rival Schools‘ 2001 debut album “United By Fate” is headed for a fall release. Run For Cover Records will be reissuing that effort from the post-hardcore outfit, who were fronted by Walter Schreifels of Quicksand, etc. fame.
That expanded edition of the album will compile the various bonus tracks that have emerged from the album sessions over the years, along with a new acoustic take on the album track “Holding Sand” (stream it below.) The material featured on the band’s 2001 split with Onelinedrawing will also appear on this deluxe edition.
A collector’s edition variant will featured stamped lettering and a hardcover 64-page book sporting handwritten lyrics and previously unseen photos. You can expect the standard digital edition of the set out on October 28th, while the deluxe/collectors editions will arrive on vinyl on November 25th in time for this year’s Black Friday ‘Record Store Day‘ festivities.
Reflecting back on the origins of the album, Schreifels offered:
“There was a compilation aspect to [‘United By Fate‘] because some of these were demos I had done over the years. At some point the label felt that ‘Used For Glue‘ was a single and they could make an album for us. I hadn’t been performing live very much in the years leading up to ‘United By Fate‘ and now all of the sudden we were a band trying to make a record in the major-label system.”
Speaking of where the band fit in at the time, he added:
“I think we were kind of on our own in a lot of ways. We weren’t hardcore, we weren’t emo, we were something else. I think people related to it when they got into it, but it wasn’t like people had seen us come up at the [legendary Long Island venue] PWAC, you know?”
Drummer Sammy Siegler, who also performed alongside Schreifels in Youth Of Today, stated:
“Looking back, we were hyper-focused and we rehearsed a lot and developed our sound and we played shows. We were really scrappy; we had a place in the city on Ludlow Street that we would go and rehearse at and it was a shithole and we would just play.”
He continued:
“I’d played in the UK with hardcore bands before but never had the same success there that Rival Schools did in the sense that ‘Used For Glue‘ and ‘Good Things‘ were on the radio charts over there. It was fun because my whole goal in music is to just move forward and not repeat myself too much. That whole era felt familiar because it was my old friends from back in the day, but it was also new in the sense that the four of us were experiencing things that we had never experienced before.”
Looking back at the album now, Schreifels stated:
“I wish we had that push in the United States because I think ‘United By Fate‘ could have been a more popular record. Because of when it came out and the context of the time, it got overlooked in a way, but on Instagram, I get a lot of feedback from people and it’s obvious to me that the record had more potential. That happens to tons of records. I’m just really happy for this opportunity for people to give it another listen.”
“United By Fate” (Deluxe Edition):
01 – “Travel By Telephone”
02 – “Everything Has Its Point”
03 – “High Acetate”
04 – “Undercovers On”
05 – “Good Things”
06 – “Used For Glue”
07 – “World Invitational”
08 – “The Switch”
09 – “Holding Sand”
10 – “My Echo”
11 – “Favorite Star”
12 – “So Down On”
13 – “Hooligans For Life”
14 – “The Sweet”
15 – “Get Centered”
16 – “Grunge Model”
17 – “Accept The Compliment”
18 – “On Vacations”
19 – “Green Is Good”
20 – “Take One For The Team”
21 – “Where I’m From”
22 – “Contraire”
23 – “Holding Sand” (Acoustic)
Pre-orders for the set can be found here.
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