I agree with Tony..

Yes, it is true!!! However! And that is a big fucking however!

A lot of people disagree with me but I am convinced that the international D.I.Y. hardcore punk scene in 2010 is in extremely good health. There are amazing records being released all the time! Bands like Herätys, See You In Hell, Destino Final and System Fucker are proof of this. I don’t think there could be a better time to get involved in D.I.Y. punk than in 2010. So you can take your 1983 and shuvit it straight up your sXe arsehole, for this fucking DIY Hardcore scene is still a raped ass!

Jokes aside though. Despite the great enthusiasm I feel about hardcore punk in 2010 I often realise I have a feeling that something is missing. Something important. Hardcore punk music is something I feel very passionately about, and I have tried to formulate what it is that is missing. On the internet I have gone on about the need for people to get more involved, to get back to DIY. As a blogger I have observed the enthusiasm when it comes to sharing hardcore files, and if you know me you'll know that there is absolutely nothing wrong with making full use of the internet in DIY hardcore, however I have argued that there must be more than files.

In my zine Mor eNoize, I have praised bands that I think are doing something new, or pushing hardcore in new directions. Meanwhile crust is now DEAD and d-beat is very close to following suit. But this is actually a red herring, for there are more than enough bands out there that are playing the type of hardcore that I like so there is no need for me to critisise bands that don't play a type of hardcore that I like.

More recently I have realised that most review I write follows a formula that broadly is concerned with name dropping bands that the band being reviewed is trying to sound like. For example: System Fucker = Shit Lickers & Disclose. Heratys = Rattus. Bog People = Lunatic Fringe. Isterismo = Wretched. You could make equatations like this for almost every band around today, sadly.

Now, Tokyo Damage Report have (nearly) perfectly formulated all this in a blog post. It sets out some of the things I think are the most important wrongs of hardcore (and music in general) today.

"Yes, D-Clone are a fun band, however: Discharge was about the world’s horrendous problems, and d-beat bands are about . . . Discharge.

[...]

If a band wants to have a lasting effect or bond with its audience, the band needs to be inspired by real life, not just self-referential music about music."

EXACTLY! YES! THIS IS IT!

In the last issue of my zine, I wrote a rant about stupid things in hardcore like ironic-hardcore etc.

Ironic hardcore is stupid because from where I am sitting I can see that there are a lot of fucking scarey things going on in the world today. I am refering of course to all the obvious things that hardcore bands should sing about such as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, or the coming war with Iraq, and 10,000 other things like this, as well as the blatantly corrupt Western "democracies", the armstrade, the meat industry, the investment banking system, about the mass media, about hardcore distros not selling fanzines etc etc etc.

Please please please my ears deserve something a little bit more engaging that rehashed Discharge lyrics. You vocal chords deserve to be used to spread messages that are connected to your heart. Your mind deserves intellectual stimulation, not stagnation. Arthrgrhgrhgrhgrhgrhrhgrhgrhgr.

T.G.

London
11:00-11:50
08 June 2010.
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