Rivalry Records has signed The First Step. The band, which formed in 2001, recorded their debut full length, What We Know with producer Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits) and plans to release the album in April 2006.

The label describes the band as "the urgency and intensity of Youth of Today, the positive delivery of Insted, and a strongly rooted foundation in old D.C. and Orange County hardcore." They previously released an EP on Livewire Records.