25 ta Life

25 ta Life is a New York hardcore band that originally formed in mid-1991 and later relocated to Maryland.

History

The band was started by Frank Smarra (bass) and Harry Minas (drums) in Astoria, Queens, New York City. They were soon joined by Fred Mesk (guitar) and together wrote most of the material that would be on their early releases.

In early 1992, they recruited former Agnostic Front roadie Rick Healey who added the lyrics to all the songs. They adopted the name after it was suggested by Freddy from Madball that also helped by giving them guest appearances at the end of its sets. 25 ta Life played their first full show at Studio 1, New Jersey, on May 10, 1993, supporting Obituary. After a few failed attempts to add a second guitar player, Steve Pettit (formally of Dmize) joined the band in late 1993. In January 1994, bassist and co-founding member Frank left the band due to family commitments and was replaced by Warren Lee. Steve was later replaced by his partner in Dmize: Beto Rosario. The band continued to play a large number of shows in the tri-state area and up and down the East Coast. In early 1996, 25 ta Life travelled to Europe, playing in France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium and Poland for the first time. By late 1996, co-founding member Harry left the band and was replaced by Seth Meyer from One 4 One.

25 ta Life opened for Agnostic Front's reunion show at the Wetlands in December 1996 and then played all of AF's East Coast dates along with Madball, Hatebreed and H2O in early 1997. They went to Japan in April 1997. Warren and Beto left in May 1997 after the West Coast tour. Mike H from One 4 One joined on bass in June 1997 and they went to Europe in July 1997. They recorded "Strength through unity..." in July 1997, writing half of it on the spot. "Loyal ta the grave", featuring Freddy (Madball) and Lord Ezec (Crown of Thornz, Skarhead), was written and recorded in less than an hour. Mike left in August 1997 and was replaced by Dave Urban from Faction Zero. Later that month, they went to Puerto Rico and recorded two songs for the second "New York's Hardest" compilation. In October–November 1997, Biohazard took 25 ta Life on a short eight-show tour of the East Coast from Washington, DC, to Boston. Seth left the band in February 1998 and was replaced by Rob Pallotta. The band recorded its first full-length album "Friendship, loyalty, commitment" in 1999. . .

Members

• James Ismean a/k/a "Stikman" - vocals
• Seth Meyer - drums
• Fred Mesk - guitar
• Mike 141 - bass

Former

Vocals: Rick "Rick Ta Life" Healey
Drums: Harry Minas, Seth Meyer, Rob Pallotta, J. Skamz, Justin The Jew.
Bass: Frank Smarra, Warren Lee, Mike H, Dave Urban, Loco Matt, Erick Hernández, Chumley, Dobro Hristov
Guitar: Fred Mesk, Steve Pettit, Beto Rosario, Mark da Fist, Shawn, Ezra van Buskirk, Chris Manning

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Splits

Live album

Compilations

Notes

External links