Rival Schools gave their classic 2001 debut album United By Fate an expanded 20th anniversary reissue in 2022, reunited for live shows in 2023, and toured with Thursday earlier this year, and now they’ve got more plans to celebrate the band’s 25th anniversary. They’re giving their 2011 sophomore album Pedals a deluxe reissue, and repressing its “lost” 2013 sister album Found as well as United By Fate on September 20 via Run For Cover.
The Pedals reissue includes three previously unreleased B-sides, and a “contemporaneous stripped down live studio session recorded in between shows on tour in Germany,” and it features a 2xLP gatefold recreation of the original artwork. Pre-order everything here.
“We made Pedals ten years after United By Fate, so it’s interesting to go back and revisit something—which I’ve done twice with Quicksand—and kind of pick up where you left off,” says band leader Walter Schreifels. “I just really love the songs [on Pedals]. I hadn’t listened to them in a long time and I just like, ‘What was I thinking? These songs are great.’”
“For Pedals, we recorded with this really talented engineer Joel Hamilton (Paul McCartney, Rick Rubin) and I think we were a little tight on budget and we went in one day and recorded 17 songs,” drummer Sam Siegler adds. “Then we went to [guitarist] Ian Love’s studio and finished tracking them. We didn’t want to put all of the songs on the record and ‘You Should Have Hung Out’ was one of those songs for whatever reason we didn’t put on the album that we all really dig. To celebrate the reissue we’re making a video and giving this song a little extra love.”
Rival Schools have also announced East Coast tour dates celebrating Pedals with support from Superheaven offshoot Webbed Wing and Tokyo’s Sunday Drive-signed grungegazers Hollow Suns. There’s additional support on select dates from two local NYC bands, Glom and twowayradio (the latter of whom just released a song produced by Walter Schreifels, “Say No”).
The tour begins at Asbury Park’s Asbury Lanes on October 17 with twowayradio and hits the band’s NYC hometown at Brooklyn Bowl on October 18 with Glom. Tickets go on sale Friday (6/28). All dates are listed below.
Webbed Wing’s new LP Vol. III comes out on July 12 via Will Yip’s Memory Music label, and you can read our review of its single “Further” here.
Pedals (Deluxe) Tracklist
1. Wring It Out
2. 69 Guns
3. Eyes Wide Open
4. Choose Your Adventure
5. Racing to Red Lights
6. Shot After Shot
7. A Parts for B Actors
8. Big Waves
9. Small Doses
10. The Ghost Is out There
11. You Should Have Hung Out (b-side)
12. Arranged Marriages (b-side)
13. Paranoid Detectives (b-side)
14. Wring It Out (St. Paulli Sessions)
15. 69 Guns (St. Paulli Sessions)
16. Small Doses (St. Paulli Sessions)
17. The Ghost Is Out There (St. Paulli Sessions)
Rival Schools — 2024 Tour Dates
10/17 Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Lanes *
10/18 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl **
10/19 Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair *
10/20 Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom *
10/21 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church *
10/22 Washington, DC @ The Atlantis **
* w/ Webbed Wing, Hollow Suns, Twowayradio
** w/ Webbed Wing, Hollow Suns, Glom