Hear Rival Schools’ Acoustic “Holding Sand” From New United By Fate Reissue

Walter Schreifels was already a hardcore legend when he started Rival Schools. Schreifels was a key part of Youth Of Today, Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand, and about a million other hugely important New York bands. In 1999, shortly after Quicksand first broke up, Schriefels teamed up with a bunch of other hardcore veterans — past members of bands like Youth Of Today, Judge, Iceburn, and Burn — to form Rival Schools, a group that took Quicksand’s post-hardcore songcraft even further into mainstream alt-rock territory. Rival Schools have been intermittently active over recent years, and now they’re getting ready to release a 20th-anniversary reissue of United By Fate, their 2001 debut.

Rival Schools released United By Fate on Island Records, and while the album didn’t really catch on commercially, it remains a favorite of hardcore and post-hardcore aficionados. You could also argue that United By Fate influenced the many waves of part-hardcore alt-rockers who have emerged in the years since. The new United By Fate reissue will include all the album’s B-sides, as well as Rival Schools’ tracks from their split with Onelinedrawing.

Today, Rival Schools have shared an all-acoustic version of the United By Fate highlight “Holding Sand.” The album version of “Holding Sand” is a towering churn. Schreifels recorded the previously unreleased acoustic version on his own, and it offers a very different look at the kinds of melodies that he was writing. Below, check out the acoustic “Holding Sand,” the electric album version, and the tracklist for the new United By Fate reissue.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Travel By Telephone”
02 “Everything Has It’s 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 “Favourite 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)”

The 20th-anniversary United By Fate reissue is out 10/28 on Run For Cover; pre-order it here.