Along with Raid, Vegan Reich were one of the most well-known bands to identify with hardline. Vegan Reich created the founding statement for the movement, in which they write of their attempted break with the straight edge and hardcore scenes.[3]
Members
Sean Muttaqi – lead vocals, guitars, bass (1986–1992;1999)
^Rettman, Tony. Straight Edge A Clear-Headed Hardcore Punk History. Sean Muttaqi: I can definitely say that the process of physically forming the "hardline" movement from a lifetime of influences and experiences began at the 1986 anarchist gathering... Two years later, the excessive behavior we witnessed at the 1988 Toronto anarchist gathering was the nail in the coffin. We realized that we needed to form some new construct. Within the next few months, hardline was born. Vegan Reich began as an idea and as a crew, before becoming a band. As militant animal-lib activists within the anarchist community, where the majority were carnivores, our ideas were constantly derided as being fascist. The label was applied albeit somewhat jokingly by those who felt we wanted to take away their rights to eat meat... At a certain point, we decided to further promote our ideas via music and Vegan Reich recorded our first song in 1986.
