Life's Blood

Life's Blood was a hardcore punk band formed by four first year college students in New York City in 1987. It consisted of Adam Nathanson on guitars, Neil Burke on bass, John Kriksciun on drums, and on vocals, Combined Effort promoter and fanzine editor Jason O'Toole. They were part of the scene that grew out of CBGB's Sunday matinees and the long defunct Some Records store, where they all hung out. Known for their sound which blended East Coast hardcore-punk with melodic Oi!, as well as their biting, intelligent lyrics, Life's Blood performed with bands as diverse as Agnostic Front, Sheer Terror, Beyond, Judge, Project X, and Soulside before breaking up little more than a year later. Nathanson would go on to form Born Against out of its ashes with Sam McPheeters on vocals. Burke would go on to many bands, including Born Against, Sinking Body and Men's Recovery Project.

Life's Blood played live on WNYU and WFMU, and played 26 shows throughout New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Ohio. Their songs have been covered live and on recordings by bands from as far flung as Sweden and Japan as well as by American hardcore bands. One notable cover being the version of "It's not in your heart" by MK-ULTRA.

Among Life's Blood's recordings are Defiance originally on Combined Effort, the Vermiform Records compilation EP Murders Among Us, the New York Hardcore compilation Where the Wild Things Are on Blackout Records as well as a rash of bootlegs. Vermiform released a CD containing the original "Defiance" ep along with extra material. Prank Records now has the rights to Life's Blood recordings and a re-release of this hard to find material is forthcoming.