Let's talk about Strife!

So I fucking love Strife - they were one of those bands that just excited me when I was a kid and really did influence me to be the person I am today.

I've heard all negative talk surrounding the band, but I can't help but be excited with anything to do with the band. They're one of my favorite bands and I still listen to them all the time.

I guess this is a pretty appropriate forum.. so yeah, let's talk about Strife!

I've accumulated a pretty decent Strife collection too - although not intentially. I think i've got just about everything there is to obtain (aside from a bunch of ancient merch designs i'm sure) but i'd be totally stoked on any live recordings/video that anyone happens to have? There's a few gems on youtube, but i'd love to see some stuff out of peoples personal collections!

I still love Strife...what items have you acquired? I really want the "To The End" shirt design...heres my collection which needs to be updated

Awesome collection! You've definitely got me beat in the tshirt stakes, but i've got a couple of cool extras...

Merch - I used to have the "is this our destiny" design in a hoodie (w/ victory bulldog arm print) but lost it a bunch of years ago and i'm pretty sure i've got that "Strife - One Truth" in the oval shirt as well lurking at my parents house some place...


1998 Australian tour poster...


Signed In This Defiance booklet from said 98 tour...

out of the big 3 at the time (earth crisis, snapcase and strife) id have to say strife was my least favorite. one truth was an awesome record but everything else i was kind of whatever about. that is probably due to the fact that every time they were supposed to come to philly they cancelled without fail.

i did finally get to see them years later when they did a couple shows with PTW in FL. it was kind of weird watching them play those songs after they broke edge. i definitely bummed a cigarette off of rick rodney and we definitely hooked up chad with weed. i always thought that was funny. just a bunch of fucking edge breakers haha.

oh and as a side note, their one truth tour video is still one of the best tour videos/band documentaries ever.

autographs? really? i'm hanging my head in shame for you...

and i'm with joey (WTF?!)... one truth was good, thought the other stuff was meh, they turned into greedy sellout bastards, suddenly asking for far more than their guarantees, mid tour. prompting tad (from attitude shop, if anyone remembers that distro [specialize din shirt making]) to make the $trife shirts.

pretty much hated them since.

To an End/Grey = best 7 inch ever!!! Better versions than on album, which was the last interesting thing from them... They started to listen to Earth Crisis too much

rob mafia wrote:autographs? really? i'm hanging my head in shame for you...

and i'm with joey (WTF?!)... one truth was good, thought the other stuff was meh, they turned into greedy sellout bastards, suddenly asking for far more than their guarantees, mid tour. prompting tad (from attitude shop, if anyone remembers that distro [specialize din shirt making]) to make the $trife shirts.

pretty much hated them since.

Tad was the one who made those $trife shirts? Fucking hilarious...would love to get one of those

no such thing as too much earth crisis : )

rob mafia wrote:autographs? really? i'm hanging my head in shame for you...

haha it was actually my sister who got her copy signed, which I later inherited. Regardless, Strife touring Australia at that time was a huge deal. Before the early 2000's Australia wasn't on the map yet as a viable touring location for many bands (as far as hardcore bands- Madball and Sick Of It All had made it out and that was pretty much it) and everyone was really excited about a band like that touring.

Being so disconnected from all the things you guys talk about is probably half the reason I kept the band in such high regard. If you take the band on face value at least, the overall positivity in their message was something I really appreciated. Combine that with hardcore being something pretty new and exciting for me at the time and they're pretty fond memories.

xchipxsem wrote:
Tad was the one who made those $trife shirts? Fucking hilarious...would love to get one of those

yeah, haha. he ruled. i wonder what he's up to, these days?

rob mafia wrote:

xchipxsem wrote:
Tad was the one who made those $trife shirts? Fucking hilarious...would love to get one of those

yeah, haha. he ruled. i wonder what he's up to, these days?

I have an Attitude catalog at my parents house somewhere. Ill see if I can find it...I still have a few of those designs

There was one of those sellout tour shirts on ebay a couple weeks ago. I was tempted to bid but totally forgot about it.

RickNJ wrote:no such thing as too much earth crisis : )

I had feeling that it was "see how EC got big with their style, let's slow down and add more chugg to songs" deal going on with strife...
I still listen to everything up to, including, In this Defiance (only that last song . . uh.. )

I still listen to 'One Truth' at least once a week, something about that record just works for me (and yes, I love 'Slipping'). Can't say the same about their later stuff... Decent, but doesn't even come close to 'One Truth' for me. So happy I saw em on their '94 and '96 Euro-tours (1st with Sick Of It All and the Spudmonsters and 2nd with Sepultura, tho I saw em on a day-off when they played in Belgium with Facedown, Kindred and Rain, that was the 1st Kindred show after 'File 01' was released).

xbojanx wrote:

RickNJ wrote:no such thing as too much earth crisis : )

I had feeling that it was "see how EC got big with their style, let's slow down and add more chugg to songs" deal going on with strife...
I still listen to everything up to, including, In this Defiance (only that last song . . uh.. )

The word going around at the time was that Tony Brummel actually told Strife that they needed to sound more like Earth Crisis so they could "move more units".
I still really like everything they did up through In This Defiance. The Angermeans stuff was garbage.


"Resistance in a time of mass self destruction makes the few who walk the straight edge a growing force of change"
Whatever...

strife...ugh.

i still <3 strife. i think i'm in denial of the reality that they've sold out so hard. i went to see them @ that crappy lisk fest and still lost my mind when they played. some friends of mine were actually going to jump them when they toured with the business in '00/ '01?

supposedly a few friends of mine did jump them, but i think it might be bullshit. i hope it is, at least.

strife were a band i didnt really get into at first, but as time went on ive actually started to love the band. one truth was so good. the ending to "lift" still snds chills down me whenever i hear it. but i do like in this defiance more. will to die into blistered is just amazing.

I guess that a band who wrote such an album as One Truth will never in their entire life write a better one...
When I saw a video of their 'return' playing their sxe songs with Rick and their moustache I turned so upset...shit! How can they play those songs knowing that those songs wont represent them today...?

I just prefer remembering them as one of the best sxe bands in the past..NOT TODAY.