A simple Instagram post has ignited a wave of nostalgia and detective work across the South Jersey hardcore community. Shared by @xnjstraightedgex, the message is a deeply personal plea from a woman searching for a lost piece of her mother’s musical past — a straight-edge hardcore demo recorded in 1993–1994 by a little-known band called Seed.
Her mother performed alongside Shannon, Pat (also from Point Of View), Hallsley, and another unnamed member. The band recorded at Wildfire Records in South New Jersey, a studio that served as a hub for local hardcore acts during that era. According to the post, the demo originally came with two different covers — one showing a girl in a striped shirt on a playground, the other resembling a Monet-style painting.
The daughter has spent four years trying to track it down. After her father and grandmother discarded all her mother’s high-school belongings, the tape vanished completely. She has never heard it, never held a copy, and now hopes someone in the old scene still has one tucked away in a shoebox or milk crate. She lists one surviving lyric:
“In the wind of the AM shadows cling to nearby trees as season shifts to satisfy the light from above.”
The post stresses that the band sold out cassettes at every show, yet today:
“NO TRACE OF THIS DEMO ONLINE.”
The comments reveal how deeply the story resonated. One user suggests posting it to the Lostwave subreddit, known for solving obscure music mysteries. Another recalls owning something by a band stylized as S.E.E.D., raising questions about alternate spellings or releases.
But at the core is a daughter’s hope to return something priceless to her mother — a piece of identity erased by time and circumstance.
The final line of the post delivers a direct call to the community that once supported Seed:
“ANY SOUTH JERSEY HARDCORE FANS FROM THE 90’S — CHECK YOUR CASSETTE COLLECTION.”
Whether the demo surfaces remains to be seen, but the search has already rekindled memories of a vibrant scene and reminded many how much punk history still lives only on tapes, flyers, and fading recollections.
If Seed’s demo exists in someone’s basement, this may be the moment it finally comes back into the light.
