From Connecticut (US)

Formed in 1991 by former Youth of Today and Shelter vocalist Ray Cappo, Equal Vision was initially conceived as a home for Cappo’s Shelter albums as well as a variety of other Krishna Conscious influenced artists within the hardcore scene. Due to the interest focused on Krishna Consciousness in hardcore at the time, the self-funded label soon found it difficult to keep up with reprints, orders for tulasi beads and fan correspondence. Also, as Shelter toured and recorded, Cappo found himself busier with a bevy of projects, so it wasn’t long before he decided that Equal Vision would best be served under the reigns of someone who had the ability to devote 100 percent of his or her time to the label. In turn, Cappo immediately thought of one person who would be a perfect fit to manage the day-to-day aspects of operations in an efficient manner—namely, his longtime friend, former Youth of Today roadie and Krishna Conscious devotee, Steve Reddy.

“After the last Youth of Today tour, Ray moved to India for a while and I lived in a Krishna temple,” Reddy recalls. “I wanted to get married, and I was going to have to find a way to make a living for myself. In the meantime, Ray started Shelter and while they were making their second record, they came up with the idea of having me run the label so they could focus on the band, and that’s pretty much how I got involved.”

After successfully helping Equal Vision get off the ground, Reddy bought the label from Cappo in 1993 and ran it out of his apartment in New York City. Staying motivated with a passion for music as their impetus, Reddy and his wife – former 108 guitarist, Kate Reddy – stuffed envelopes and put out some of the most intriguing hardcore and post-hardcore/rock records of the early nineties–everything from Shelter’s Attaining the Supreme and 108’s Songs of Separation to Shift’s Spacesuit. In the process the label started to expand from its Krishna-core leanings into a place that fostered passionate music regardless of genre