strength 691

...and so it was, late in the spring of 1991 in a musty basement in colonia, what was to become one of jersey's most underrated hardcore bands was borne into existence. consisting of justin flemm on drums, john stanley on guitar and eric tisch sharing 2nd guitar and vocal duties, they borrowed good friend dan sobon's bass player nate gluck to round out the line up. 2 months, 7 songs and 1 demo later they began having trouble with justin blowing off practices and showing a lack of interest. they quickly replaced him with pat tanzola whom john and eric had previously been in bands with. eric dropped playing 2nd guitar, concentrated on his vocal stylings and in april 1992 they recorded a 7 song cassette called "viewpoint" which they released on their own label, re-action records. as time passed they began to realize that having a 2nd guitar player would beef up the sound, so the decision went through to pick up long standing friend and fan dan sobon, resulting in the musical reunion of dan and nate. having come from the wrong side of the tracks in the burgeoning central hersey hardcore scene, so to speak, they constantly fought hard for shows to play. in the early days they threw shows in the basement at john's house and affectionately dubbed them "terror in the basement". later days showed nate and john setting up weekly shows at the down under in new brunswick for a solid 10 month period. they began to build up a strong following by bringing in all different kinds of kids, people who were not concerned with who you knew or how cool you were. playing shows in the tri-state area and watching the scene begin to flourish and thrive once more, having themselves played an integral part in the rebirth and refortification of the jersey scene, they decided to head westward to play shows with new friends unbroken and outspoken. they found the west warm and inviting and revisited there a few more times. with failed attempts at finding the right record label, they continued to release their own material. they finally came into their own with "hold on" and the self-titled 5 song 7 inch on orphaned records, winning over even their harshest critics. people began to realize the emotion, persistence and potential they possessed. they proved time and time again their dedication to the scene. throughout their 5 year existence they have shared the stage with likes of sick of it all, the bad brains, leeway, d.r.i., vision, outspoken, shades apart, h2o, unbroken, shelter, dog eat dog, breakdown, the cromags, lifetime, mouthpiece, ressurection, strife, warzone (r.i.p.-raybeez), ignite, function, blackspot, farside, 108, bloodlet, coalesce, crown of thornz, bulldoze, murphy's law, 25 ta life, ashes, slapstick, christie front drive and countless local bands across the united states. as the days turned into months and then to years they slowly began to destroy themselves from the inside out. with the problems revolving around the failed attempt to release their cd, they called it quits in june 1996, almost 5 years to the day. on november 9, 1996 they played a final show at middlesex county college. from the few kids at their first show to the nearly 700 at their last, they proved you can do it your own way without anyone's help. they reunited in january 1999 to play a benefit show for good friend and big fan matt leveton.

as for the members and where they are now...

dan sobon went on to form for the love of... and currently plays in a band called she's still breathing.

john stanley also played in for the love of..., ex number five and is currently rocking out in my shining one.

nate gluck played in for the love of..., vision, weapon x and is currently playing in ensign and the fire still burns.

eric tisch is a union ironworker.

pat tanzola is a postman.

"we don't need you cause there are some still true. the feeling burns inside, something called hardcore pride" (hold on)

Influences:
Related Bands ENSIGN (nate)
FOR THE LOVE OF...
(dan, john & nate)
EX NUMBER FIVE (john)
MY SHINING ONE (john)
SHE'S STILL BREATHING (dan)
THE FIRE STILL BURNS (nate)

Discography
straight out live demo - cassette
in the flesh live demo - cassette
viepoint - cassette
out to bomb - cassette
will time tell - cassette
the other side - 7 inch
hold on - cassette
self-titled - 7 inch
means to an end - cd

strength 691 - 1993 - the other side 7'' (re-action records)

Download:
http://www.mediafire.com/?be1y8na0rvb0pnq