Hardcore is still very much a male-dominated field. But when I saw the final lineup for Spy’s headline show at The Underworld, I didn’t get hit in the face with a whiff of pure testosterone. We had Spaced, Dry Socket, Shooting Daggers, and Bullet which are all repping a diverse roster of musicians. That meant the space in front of the stage was reserved for a diverse crowd too.
I’m not here to throw shade at the men. I feel safe enough in the thick of it when the limbs are flying and feet are stomping. I adore watching the acrobatics, almost daring myself to join in. To anyone watching my back while my eye is glued to the viewfinder, I seriously salute you. But coming from a woman, it feels a million times better seeing other women absolutely rocking the stage, taking charge of the crowd, and watching everyone completely lose their shit to every song. We’re all still trying to unlearn that fear of existing in this scene, and seeing others do it only grounds you more in this space. There’s a lot to be excited about right now, even if you only look at the bands who performed that night.
Each band expressed their version of hardcore in a completely different way, making the evening feel like a showcase of what the scene is capable of. Bullet kicked things off with an unpolished, youthful energy, untamed and totally free in its expression. The London hardcore scene is their personal playground, and promoters are putting them on a lot of bills. Every time they play, they bring something new and exciting. Watching them grow into fully-fledged artists in real-time is a blast, especially since you don’t often get to follow a band this closely at this stage.
Shooting Daggers have a lot to celebrate this year, having dropped their sophomore record, Love Is The Power, a while back. Again, we pivoted into a completely different subgenre, mixing melodic and shoegaze influences with a razor-sharp feminine spirit. Plus, it’s always nice to shove it to the boys for a song or two and take over the center of the pit.
Dry Socket shifted gears again, ramping up the tempo and breaking the first real waves of sweat. It’s politically charged cardio in the pit, a place to unleash your rage against unfair systems. Their record Self Defense Techniques is absolutely brilliant. It’s angry, and it makes you want to join local organisations that fight for a better world. Their lyrics are mature and fearless, exposing the status quo for what it is and shaking out of the apathy coma. Dry Socket is what hardcore stands for: protest and activism. From the stage, Dani Allen scanned the crowd with a laser sharp look in the eye, looking right through you to see if you’re just here for fun or if you’re going to leave inspired to make a tangible difference.
After releasing No Escape which was widely dubbed their best work to date, Spaced went on an extensive tour, finally landing in the UK. The focus in the venue shifted towards heavier sound as we were obliterated by layers of crafty pedal effects. It hummed almost like a war song, getting everyone amped up and ready to fly. I love when tracks have texture, and there was plenty of it here. The fast pace resembled nicely some of the thrashiest rhythms out there, swirling the crowd into swarm formations. It’s awesome to observe the chaos in motion while listening to angry musings. The Spaced logo might be a smiley face, but behind that upside-down frown is a double meaning. It’s smiling through our teeth while everything around us literally burns. It’s facing life’s adversities, but also smiling because we’re surrounded by a now global hardcore community, remembering we are not alone in this. Just like we welcomed them onto our stages, we could travel all the way to Buffalo, New York, and feel that exact same warmth on their hometown run.
Spy, who closed out the night, were something else entirely. Relentless from the second they stepped up, they started abruptly and left the stage just 30 minutes later. Everything in between was a pure, atomic explosion of utter insanity that couldn’t be contained. Nobody even tried. They gave us everything they had, and we returned the favor. It was a massive moment for the band, giving us a chance to finally mosh to their Seen Enough EP era live in the UK. Americans have plenty to be angry about right now, and it shows up in their craft. You could argue the worst things in the world fuel some of the best sounds, sometimes one can’t exist without the other. The pace of the set pushed us to our absolute limits. It was just a constant go, go, go. That Thursday night was flawless from front to back.
