Track Listing

1. Travel By Telephone
2. Everything Has It's Point
3. High Acetate
4. Undercovers On
5. Good Things
6. Used For Glue
7. World Invitational
8. The Switch
9. Holding Sand
10. My Echo
11. Favourite Star
12. So Down On
13. Hooligans For Life
14. Grunge Model

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12183 in Music
• Released on: 2002-03-25
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Includes 13 well written, energy filled, powerful rock songs
Rival Schools was created through guitarist and singer Walter Schreifels who had originally been he guitarist for the ‘80s hardcore group ‘Gorilla Biscuits’ and had then gone on to influence the entire post-hardcore movement with his influential and creative work in the band ‘Quicksand’. The group’s drummer Sam Siegler has played within the likes of ‘Gorilla Biscuits’, ‘Youth Of Today’, ‘Judge’, ‘Shelter’, ‘CIV’ and ‘Glassjaw’. Guitarist Ian Love was a former member of the bands ‘Burn’ and ‘Die 116’. Finally, Rival School’s bassist is Cache Tolman takes experience from the likes of ‘Iceburn’ and ‘CIV’. With their collective talents put together, the emo super-group ‘Rival Schools’ was born, attracting wide media attention and an instant fan base.

The summer of 2001 saw the long awaited release of the band’s debut full length album ‘United By Fate’ through Schreifels’ old ‘Quicksand’ label, Island Records.

The album contains some truly creative and inspirational songwriting and song construction with an explosive energy behind it that clearly floods through from the songs. The guitars deliver a layered and chunky wall of thick riffage that blasts throughout the CD. Schreifels’ vocals are rough and gritty which complements the desperate sound that the group produce.

The album includes the hit single “Used For Glue” that delivers a simple but meaty riff that is the tracks foundation. Awesome in its simplicity, the song is a sing-along anthem even after the first listen. As for the rest of the album, it’s packed with a diverse range of different song styles that still have the same ‘Rival Schools’ seal of quality. The album is definitely a ‘grower’, but persistence does pay off in the end.

A very, very highly recommended album.

Rival Schools...
A fine follow up from former Quicksand frontman Walter Schriefel. If you like this then you will love Quicksand, perhaps one of the finest 90's alternative bands...Emo? I think not. Think Seaweed and Fugazi...Some reviewer compared this to Pearljam...Please.....Know your music before you speak. Six stars.

I am compelled to recommend this to you!
I think it was New Year's Eve 2003 that I saw the video for Used For Glue on TV and I vaguely remembered hearing it somewhere before. So I 'acquired' it from the Internet, listened to it 20 times a day for a week, then bought this album.

I read the Amazon review beforehand, and I HAD to weigh in on this debate: Is United By Fate boring bland US Rock, or is it life-changingly good music?

Definitely the latter - This Is A Fantastic Album. I completely understand the person that says they listened to this so much that they should be bored of it, but they're not. I have not stopped listening to this record since January! I may have bought other things since, and gone back to some old favourites, but this has been in my car, in my hi-fi, on my MP3 player and I get the same enjoyment from hearing the opening drum part from Travel By Telephone every time.

This has become my new Siamese Dream, and that was an album that continues to inspire me more than ten years later. There's not a bad track on this album, even though some are not as immediately obvious as Used For Glue and Good Things.

My Echo, for example, is a bit too poppy and Beatley at first, but I have grown to love it. Holding Sand starts with what sounds like the world's most obvious riff, but after a few listens, the sheer joy of the chorus besomes irresistable and you'll be singing along with 'makes no impression on me...'.

Own this now. Seriously, I cannot recommend this enough. Even my girlfriend is starting to sing along with it, and she's a Bon Jovi fan. Hmm, actually, that might put you of....