Self Defense Family enjoys a distinct renown within the punk community. Well-respected and critically lauded but difficult and idiosyncratic, the band has done things their way almost to a fault. Eschewing sing-alongs and easy anthems in favor of personal lyrics, Self Defense Family stands apart from their contemporaries in punk and hardcore. Their strangely tense guitar-work framed within otherwise hook laden songs lends the band an unmistakable sound. Opting to be heavy in emotional rather than heavy in sound.

After first gaining attention through a full-length on seminal hardcore label Revelation Records, Self Defense Family took to the 7”EP format with a rare zeal. The result was EP’s and splits from a dozen labels in half-a-dozen countries. Genuinely uninterested in genres and expectations, Self Defense Family released these records on a wide variety of labels while touring the world over.