Rival Schools was an American post-hardcore band from New York City signed to Photo Finish Records. For most of their tenure, the band featured Walter Schreifels on vocals and guitar, Ian Love on guitar, Cache Tolman on bass guitar, and Sam Siegler on drums.
Formed by Schreifels, frontman of the influential group Quicksand, Rival Schools was a hardcore supergroup; its members were alumni of '80s and '90s hardcore bands including Gorilla Biscuits (Schreifels), CIV (Siegler), Youth of Today (Schreifels and Siegler) and Iceburn (Tolman).
The band's name (and that of their first LP) comes from the Capcom fighting game Rival Schools: United By Fate. In their short history, the band toured both the United Kingdom (in support of A) and the United States.
In 2008, the band reformed to play some live shows, including Soundwave in Australia, Rock Am Ring in Germany, Hove Festival in Norway, a headline tour and Download Festival in the United Kingdom.
On November 16, 2010, the band released the deluxe single for "Shot After Shot" on iTunes from the forthcoming record Pedals, which was released March 8, 2011. Rival Schools released their third album, Found, on April 9, 2013. Following a tour in support of the album, the band became inactive once again.