The label was founded in 1990 and released some New York Hardcore during the nineties. Very underground label with records that have become very hard to find, especially those I will show and discuss here.
The first one is the District 9 7 inch, released in 1995 and called “Schoolahardknox”. It exists on three colors; clear, red and black. The record opens with saying that this is not real New York Hardcore but actually Hardcore from the Bronx. You are probably familiar with the climate of the Bronx or heard stories from the hard life and insecurity in that part of New York. This ep is a mirror of all this. It’s a no frills, factual hardcore reality of living on the streets. With topics like murder, payback and suicide, this is very hard. Expect no love songs or emotions here.
The only pressing info I have is that there was a mailorder version and that it was clear vinyl out of 500, the black must have had 1500 to 2000 copies. I never found any info on the red version.
There was a time when Striving For Togetherness Records had a discography page online but now the domain is taken over by another company and I can seem to find anything. I should have written down the information before the site was taken down.
Another thing that needs to be said is that this ep along with other (live-) songs is available on CD or downloadable from iTunes also. A must have…
The next is the second release of a Long Island New York band called Vision Of Disorder. It is called “Still”. I have it on two colors from which the marbled blue is the most rare one, less than 500 are made. I’ve seen the green in several variations, mine is more transparent than opaque actually.
The lyrics are dark, struggling and plain aggressive. The vocals of Tim Williams are also very aggressive, powerfull but also melodic sometimes. Accompanied by powerful and moshy music, this is truly a gem for any kid and grownup who likes 90’s newschool Hardcore.
They still play but make a more Metal sound than Hardcore. They have become known outside the Hardcore scene by signing on a huge label like Roadrunner Records and releasing a DVD on Koch Records. Although I don’t dislike them for that, the song “Suffer” of the self-titled album is still a killer.
Finally the first release of the band 25 Ta Life from New Jersey. It was released in 1994 after the 1993 demo. Anyone knows this band for good or for bad. Some still love them but many hate them.
Typical tough guy lyrics and down tempo riffs, a band with a high cult level. They did good live shows in Europe on their tour with Morning Again, I attended one. The kids were all over the stage and singing along. So they were popular in the 90’s here in Belgium. But now there’s much hate, I don’t now why exactly…
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