Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl newsletter!  We have a stacked line-up, so let’s get straight on it:

• Featured New Arrivals from Spirito Di Lupo, Discreet, Median Rot, and Tramadol
• Foundation and the Death of Tradition
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon including some cracking new releases from Crew Cuts, La Vida Es Un Mus Discos, Scene Report, and Upset The Rhythm

Specific emotional itches demand certain musical responses.  And on Sunday, I was rather in need for something angry.  Not unhinged, chaotic rage, but rather focused, enunciated fury to cleanse the aftermath of a frustrating few days.  At such moments, there are a shortlist of bands who I know will hit the necessary spot and, in this instance, I reached for Turncoat by Foundation.

Foundation were a metallic hardcore band from Atlanta, who were active for a decade from 2006.  They were in many ways the archetypal hardcore band, or at least the embodiment of what we might think that is.  They progressed through demos and a couple of relatively low-key 7-inches before the excellent Hang Your Head EP (Six Feet Under, 2009) saw them propelled to greater prominence.  They had a huge appetite for touring, which reached its zenith with the release of their absolutely crushing debut full-length, When The Smoke Clears (Bridge Nine, 2011).  And they then bowed out with their ferocious final EP, Turncoat (Jawk Records, 2015), which heralded a set of worldwide farewell shows.

Foundation never soared to quite the prominence of some of their Bridge Nine predecessors, but they did forge a remarkably committed following during their lifespan and were an undoubted favourite of mine.  So, what defined their appeal?  When you appraise any hardcore band, there are perhaps three fundamental characteristics that for me demand to be assessed – music, message, and attitude – and I’ll take each of those in turn.

‘You sing the same song your parents sang about their unflinching devotion to everything, everything sick and wrong with yesterday and today’ (A Thousand Ways)

Musically, a single word comes initially comes to mind – monolithic.  Foundation’s riffs were simply monstrous (the opening riff to Purple Heart still never fails to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up), a reimagining of their 1990s forebearers, Indecision and Unbroken, that brought a renewed shuddering velocity to bear.  But power alone is, of course, rarely enough.  Foundation also brought great craft to their song writing – almost from day one, their song structures were developed to maximise the band’s attributes.  The quintessential Foundation song would open with a riff of dark ominous, menace before segueing into a galloping, subtly reworked variation as the fierce, guttural vocals erupted.  The song would reach an emotional peak with a crushing breakdown – but with Foundation, these cathartic moments were almost always partnered with vocals that lent them amplified impact and evolved organically from the song itself.  This also speaks to how integral the vocal delivery was to Foundation’s sound.  While the emphasis lay on almost primordial roared power, Tomas Pearson’s delivery was also emotionally nuanced, ensuring that the required sense of rage, frustration, regret, and also hope was accurately evoked.

‘Conditioned to drag our fingers through the soil, hands caked black with dirt of a ground long made sour by a disease of generations that came before us’ (Failure Breeds Failure)

As regular readers will know, message holds an equal importance to the musicality in my own appreciation.  I need both to work in tandem for my engagement to be piqued.  As such, I’m often lured to bands who engage with political ideas, that develop lyrics that add semantic substance to their sound.  Foundation were definitely a band with lyrical substance, but theirs was a politics with a small ‘p’ – rather than grander political exposition, their emphasis was on exploring ideas through personal experience and reflection to inform how to lead day-to-day life.  As a straight-edge band, sobriety was clearly a central formative pillar.  The sense was that their commitment was initially shaped from exposure to family addiction and their treatment of the related issues displayed a subtlety and awareness that is not always evident.

‘Because there’s no perfect tomorrow that I would not trade for just one more chance to right the wrongs of today’ (Silence Above, Quiet Below)

However, perhaps, even more central to the band’s worldview was the exploration of themes around tradition, primed by the thinking of English writer, Somerset Maugham: ‘Tradition is a guide and not a jailer’.  Foundation’s view was not a simple one of casting aside tradition in its entirety, but rather identifying and, in the words of vocalist Tomas Pearson, ‘striking down the traditional values that keep us separated, scared, and second class’.  The band were committed to a view that hardcore can function as a vehicle for helping people to build ‘a new tradition not built on the truth of our parents, preachers, and peers’.

‘I will give every breath to this, will not hang my head, I’ll keep fighting for every inch, will not hang my head, I won’t let this become another place to hang my head’ (Hang Your Head)

The other defining characteristic of the band was their decidedly unassuming attitude.  I had the pleasure of catching them live four times – twice in 2011 (The Purple Turtle, The Bowery) and then in 2013 (The Black Heart) before their brilliant final London show in 2016 (T Chances).  On each occasion, they put together a performance that brimmed with authenticity.  It really did strike as five mates just delighted that people wanted to see them doing what they enjoyed doing most – playing hardcore.  And there was also a sincerity to their interactions with the audience.  Yes, Foundation had views they wished to share, but my sense was that they were very much people wanting to explore these ideas, rather than assuming that they had all of the answers fully worked out.

So, if you have not previously encountered Foundation, and have a taste for thoroughly well-executed and thoughtful metallic hardcore, then I would highly recommend exploring their catalogue.  You will probably need to do some Discogs digging, although I believe Bridge Nine still have When The Smoke Clears available on CD.  Foundation – a band who quietly yet passionately made their mark.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

4^th August Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

13^th August DRI plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

23^rd August Bad Egg, Rough Gutts, Do One, Prey and more (New Cross Inn)

28^th August Slutbomb, Frisk, Frantic State plus more (New Cross Inn)

5th September Raw Brigade, Flesh Creep, Rifle and more (New Cross Inn)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

14^th – 17^th September Static Shock Weekend (Various Venues / including Belgrado, Es, Indre Krig, Poison Ruin, Spirito Di Lupo, Tramadol and many more)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

20^th September Angel Dust, Powerplant and more (New Cross Inn)

22^nd September Morus, Haavat, Disciple BC plus more (New Cross Inn)

3^rd October As Friends Rust, Don’t Sleep plus more (Boston Music Room)

26^th October World Peace, Xiao, Trading Hands (New Cross Inn)

18^th November Axegrinder, Civilised Society?, Zero Again plus more (New Cross Inn)

24^th November Bob Mould plus support (The Garage)

Cloud Rat ‘Threshold’ 12-inch (Artoffact)

Gimic ‘Defer To Hate’ 7-inch (Crew Cuts)

Godflesh ‘Purge’ 12-inch (Avalanche)

JJ and The A’s ‘Self-Titled’ 7-inch (LVEUM)

Me Lost Me ‘RPG’ 12-inch (Upset The Rhythm)

Prey ‘Unsafe’ 12-inch (Scene Report)

The Toads ‘In The Wilderness’ 12-inch (Upset The Rhythm)

Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl newsletter. I’m finalising this week’s edition having just caught an utterly brilliant Diploid show at New River Studios, so forgive me if I get straight to it!

This is the line-up:

• Featured New Arrivals from Parallel Worlds, Rat Cage, Enzyme, and Gel
• Trains, Ferries, and Water Fountains
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon including some cracking new releases from Alerta Antifascista, Convulse, La Vida Es Un Mus Discos and Scene Report

I have a little ritual every time that Catharsis announce a European tour.  Firstly, I excitedly check the dates.  Secondly, I realise with growing disappointment that once again their definition of Europe does not extend to these shores.  Thirdly, I start exploring to see whether I can make one of the other dates, only to realise that the logistics are not going to work, even if the costs could be justified.

Of course, I appreciate that this lifecycle also speaks to the relatively privileged life of a London hardcore fan – most tours reach our city and even if they don’t a jaunt to Sheffield or Leeds hardly compares to the trips faced by many on the continent and in the US.

I realised that, as a result, I have only ever enjoyed two gigs overseas.  One by good fortune in the US, and one by design in Germany.  The US show was back in 2009.  My partner and I had gone to the Pacific Northwest on holiday, where we were travelling on the train from Vancouver down to Portland via Seattle.  You can imagine my delight when I realised that Keep It Clear were due to be playing a show in Seattle, supporting Soul Control.  I tracked down the West Seattle American Legion Hall and, in hindsight rather foolishly, decided to take the ferry across the harbour to the show.

We soon realised we were very much on the wrong side of the peninsula for the venue and time was running very fine if we were to catch Keep It Clear’s set.  As we sat gasping after a frantic chase for the bus, we consoled ourselves with the thought of a pint when we got to the gig.  This was to prove a vivid example of how two institutions founded with the same core mission can evolve quite differently.  While the British Legion charity maintains a welfare mission, its halls are primarily membership social clubs (although I can’t ever recall seeing one host a hardcore gig).  It would seem that the US equivalent have developed rather differently, remaining specifically focused on veteran welfare and so the West Seattle branch was a much more austere affair than a UK counterpart.

So liquid refreshment was confined to the, unsurprisingly, extremely popular water fountain in the entrance hall and my domestic popularity was at something of a low ebb.  On the plus side, Keep It Clear had arrived late (which was not an unusual occurrence from chatting with some of the locals), so we had got there in plenty of time for their set.  The function hall itself was pretty spartan, brightly lit (until Soul Control’s set in any case), with no stage, but a healthy crowd in place.  And our various travails were soon forgotten as they unleashed an utterly blistering set ahead of a Soul Control’s intensely accomplished closing performance.  We didn’t take the ferry home.

Our second overseas venture was in 2015.  Now regular readers of these notes will know, I am something of a Trial fan and when they announced a European tour with another personal favourite, By The Grace of God, I was gutted to realise that we would be sunning ourselves on the Welsh coast when the tour hit London in mid-August.  My attempts to make one of their Central European dates floundered because of work commitments, but we could definitely get to Köln.  So, we hopped on the train for a weekend in Germany and on the Sunday evening I headed off for the show.

It was in basement venue, MTC, and by the time By The Grace of God took to the stage it was jammed to the rafters.  But while the crowd for both theirs and Trial’s sets were clearly deeply engaged with the material, it was perhaps the least animated crowd I had ever seen at a packed show.  Not in any sense apathetic, indeed intensely focused, but certainly surprisingly restrained.  The show was a great experience but undoubtedly a quite different one to the couple of times I had seen Trial before.

I still rather regret not being able to make one of the Central European dates, but perhaps that’s one for the future.  And in the meantime, I can content myself with revisiting perhaps my favourite tour diary, though that is barely doing it justice, The Humourless Ladies of Border Control by Franz Nicolay (for the uninitiated, formerly a member of the wonderful World/Inferno Friendship Society and now a thoroughly engaging solo artist).  This is a wide-ranging travelogue on the life of the touring musician that specifically explores the past and future of underground punk in the Central and Eastern European region.  Its concluding thoughts tie in with some of the themes I recently explored in respect of ‘The Lost Art of the Spoken Word’:

‘I found something life affirming in the opportunity to play for people for whom music and politics were meaningful in a concrete way, for whom the act of congregating and the investment of feeling in performing music were all serious business’.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

26^th July Current Affairs plus support (The Lexington / UK Tour)

4^th August Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

13^th August DRI plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

28^th August Slutbomb, Frisk, Frantic State plus more (New Cross Inn)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

14^th – 17^th September Static Shock Weekend (tbc)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

3^rd October As Friends Rust, Don’t Sleep plus more (Boston Music Room)

26^th October World Peace, Xiao, Trading Hands (New Cross Inn)

18^th November Axegrinder, Civilised Society?, Zero Again plus more (New Cross Inn)

24^th November Bob Mould plus support (The Garage)

Discreet ‘This Is Mine’ 12-inch (Convulse)

JJ and The A’s ‘Self-Titled’ 7-inch (LVEUM)

Median Rot ‘Exit’ 7-inch (Alerta Antifascista)

Prey ‘Unsafe’ 12-inch (Scene Report)

Spirito Di Lupo ‘Vedo La Tua Faccia Nei Giorni Di Pioggia’ 12-inch (LVEUM)

Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl newsletter!  I’m afraid that this week has rather got away with me, so I have not had a chance to put pen to paper as I usually do.  Thankfully, the week has not been entirely music free, as I did manage to catch the Fuse / Dregs show at New River Studios, which was an indecent amount of fun for a Monday night.

So, bearing in mind that we’ve reached the mid-point of the year, what better time to consider the best new releases that I have so far had the pleasure of stocking in 2023?  Not an easy task bearing in mind just how much good music has already been released this year.  The criteria though are as simple as the challenge is difficult – records that have had their first vinyl release during the first half of this year, have been carried by Foundation Vinyl, and have rarely strayed too far from my turntable!

The line-up, therefore, looks as follows:

• Best of 2023 so far…Part I featuring Slow Ends, A Culture of Killing, Morrow, Neolithic, and Tulips
• Best of 2023 so far…Part II featuring Geld, Fairytale, Sial, Deathfiend, and Litovsk
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon including some cracking new releases from Convulse, La Vida Es Un Mus Discos and Scene Report

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Bleakness, Finit plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

26^th July Current Affairs plus support (The Lexington / UK Tour)

4^th August Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

13^th August DRI plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

28^th August Slutbomb, Frisk, Frantic State plus more (New Cross Inn)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

14^th – 17^th September Static Shock Weekend (tbc)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

3^rd October As Friends Rust, Don’t Sleep plus more (Boston Music Room)

Discreet ‘This Is Mine’ 12-inch (Convulse)

Enzyme ‘Golden Dystopian Age’ 12-inch (LVEUM)

Gel ‘Only Constant’ 12-inch (Convulse)

JJ and The A’s ‘Self-Titled’ 7-inch (LVEUM)

Parallel Worlds ‘In The Comet’s Path’ 12-inch (Scene Report)

Prey ‘Unsafe’ 12-inch (Scene Report)

Rat Cage ‘Savage Visions’ 12-inch (LVEUM)

Spirito Di Lupo ‘Vedo La Tua Faccia Nei Giorni Di Pioggia’ 12-inch (LVEUM)

Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And this is what we have lined up for you…

• Featured New Arrivals from Geld, Unified Action, Poison Ruïn, and Rank
• From Black Flags To Corpse Paint
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon

The first six months of this year have felt like the first time that the hardcore punk touring circuit has fully returned to its groove following the pandemic disruption.  So, what have been my highlights here in London?

I think the stand-out performance for me was Dawn Ray’d at The Lexington in March for the release of the new album, To Know The Light.  I wrote a little more widely on Dawn Ray’d back in May – they are a band I have loved since their earliest incarnation as We Came Out Like Tigers.  While this isn’t always the case in such instances, they are a band whose recorded output and live performances have gone from strength to strength.  And the intensity of their show that night was immense – visceral musicianship (not least a drumming performance of utterly remarkable velocity and subtlety) skilfully entwined with passages of violin-driven melancholy and delivered with an undeniable political conviction.

That same show also saw a great performance from crossover thrash exponents, Pest Control.  As I explored when discussing their thrash metal roots a few weeks back, the pleasure was in seeing how they revelled in the call backs to their inspirations, not as pastiche, but as a vivid reimagination.  But, perhaps, the most notable ‘feel good’ gig was a couple of weeks earlier when Gel headlined a sold-out show at the New Cross Inn.  Now Gel are a band very much on the up and it felt like this was possibly one of the final times we would see them in more DIY circles.  The next phase is always a difficult transition for hardcore bands, but that night there were no such concerns.  They are on the crest of a wave, delighted to be playing packed shows on the other side of the world, and their raw enthusiasm for doing so was infectious.

Aside, from Matthew Broadley’s drumming for Dawn Ray’d, what have been the other musical highlights?  Two stand outs came at the Savageheads’ show last month. The guitarist from the rather brilliant Permission is now working his magic with Subdued – fast, frenetic, and always just about reined in.  But, perhaps, my greatest insight came from watching the Savageheads’ drummer.  On their new release Service To Your Country, his drumming is clearly integral to the band’s searing effectiveness, but  just how integral is much more vividly revealed in the live setting.  The clarity, discipline, and intensity of his work was a pleasure to behold.

The lowest point came at Godflesh’s show at the 229 in January. No, obviously, it wasn’t Godflesh themselves.  They were utterly, bone-shudderingly brilliant as always – as hypnotic as they were pulverising.  However, I must admit that the support act, Zetra, were not for me – corpse paint, monk’s habits, chain enveloped synths, and electronic-metal ballads.  I still shiver involuntarily even now. But no need to dwell, each to their own!

But the best overall gig…I think that would have to go to the Punitive Damage headlined show at the New River Studios in April.  An up-for-it crowd, a diverse bill, and some brilliantly high-energy performances.  You can’t ask for much more than that.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

9^th July One Step Closer, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Imposter, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Bleakness, Finit plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

26^th July Current Affairs plus support (The Lexington / UK Tour)

4^th August Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

13^th August DRI plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

28^th August Slutbomb, Frisk, Frantic State plus more (New Cross Inn)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

14^th – 17^th September Static Shock Weekend (tbc)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

3^rd October As Friends Rust, Don’t Sleep plus more (Boston Music Room)

Discreet ‘This Is Mine’ 12-inch (Convulse)

Gel ‘Only Constant’ 12-inch (Convulse)

Parallel Worlds ‘In The Comet’s Path’ 12-inch (Scene Report)

Prey ‘Unsafe’ 12-inch (Scene Report)

Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And there is plenty to enjoy…

• Featured New Arrivals from Isolant, Savageheads, ICD10, and Consolation
• The Lost Art of the Spoken Word
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon

A few weeks back, I touched on the recent Napalm Death / Dropdead show in London, and Barney Greenway’s courageous (and surprisingly successful) attempt to deliver the Napalm Death set while confined to a chair with a broken ankle.  Another aspect of the gig that stayed with me was that, of course, Greenway and Dropdead’s Bob Otis are two of life’s great in-between song speakers.  Very different in style – the former a cheerful raconteur, the latter rather more deadpan – but both committed to articulating their thoughts during a show.  That said, the pleasure I derived from Dropdead thematically grouping their songs is more my problem than yours…

This all served to remind me how this type of interplay has become something of a dying art.  Many shows now flash by often without pause, and while band-crowd interaction remains high, it tends not to take the form of between song dialogue.  Does this matter?  In many respects, no.  Good shows remain vibrant collective experiences.  However, I can’t help but feel that communicating ideas and shared values remains an important part of a hardcore show.  And while the diminishing of this does not necessarily compromise gigs, I can’t help but feel that when it does happen, it enhances the live experience and reinforces why we are all there.

In his highly recommended book The Poetry of Punk: The Meaning Behind Punk Rock and Hardcore Lyrics, Gerfried Ambrosch (guitarist with Carnist and Momentum) explores the centrality of lyrics to the hardcore community.   This stems in part from the explicit function of the lyrics to share political ideas, to challenge social conventions, and to help nourish community identity.  It also reflects what is referred to as the ‘inarticulate articulacy’ of the lyrical delivery, its distortion is a physical representation of dissent.  And as Ambrosch explores: ‘It’s important for the audience to know that there is semantic substance behind the noise, because a big part of the connection they make with the artist and each other, especially at live shows, is lyrical’.

In the often-febrile environment of the live show, I have always felt that between song dialogue serves the same purposes as the lyric sheet at home, strengthening the communal bonds being forged.  So, why has it seemingly fallen out fashion?

For some bands, I suspect it is simply that they don’t feel that the nature of their live delivery affords time for such interactions.  Take the blistering delivery of Permission – I’m not sure their vocalist would have had the physical capacity to speak such was the frenetic nature of their live performances.  Or perhaps it could fracture the efforts of a band who seek to create a more all-encompassing atmosphere.

For others, I sometimes sense that there is a latent tendency to not want to be seen to be preaching, least of all to the converted.  I must admit that this is a view for which I have less sympathy.  While no one enjoys being lectured, the very underpinnings of hardcore are political.  That is not to argue that it is by any means a coherent political ideology. But it can be convincingly argued, as Ambrosch does, that ‘most punks hold “progressive” – culturally liberal, socially egalitarian – views’.  And while this progressivism spans anti-capitalism / DIY ethics, social equality, and animal rights, it would be wrong to assume that even within punk communities that these issues are necessarily understood (and practised) with equal clarity.  In any case, the aim is not to tell people what to think – but rather to ferment debate and encourage people to investigate issues for themselves.

The final contributory factor I suspect is confidence.  I speak as someone who has complete admiration for anyone prepared to throw themselves into the limelight on a stage.  It clearly requires a level of confidence (or at least an ability to conquer fear!) that I would find challenging to muster.  But to speak publicly issues about social and political concern, even to a sympathetic and engaged audience, does demand a particular level of self-confidence.  Thinking of the frontpersons who have perhaps most engaged me over the years – Greg Bennick (Trial), Damien Moyle (As Friends Rust, Culture), Sean Murphy (Verse), and Dan Yemin (Paint It Black) – there was certainly an impressive level of eloquence and empathy in evidence. And when you consider the professions of Bennick (a motivational speaker) and Yemin (an adolescent psychotherapist), there perhaps lie some important clues.  These are, clearly, both individuals who thrive on human interaction and who are not afraid to explore issues publicly, which may in turn speak to their skills as a frontperson for a hardcore band.

It could be that levels and types of on-stage dialogue are cyclical in much the same way as the music being played – emphasis changes, evolves, and reinvents itself.  But I do hope that it’s not lost completely.  As with the lyrics themselves, such interactions build connections and encourage reflections, which is never a bad thing.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Bleakness, Finit plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

26^th July Current Affairs plus support (The Lexington / UK Tour)

4^th August Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn / Gag are to be rescheduled for next year)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

13^th August DRI plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

14^th – 17^th September Static Shock Weekend (tbc)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

3^rd October As Friends Rust, Don’t Sleep plus more (Boston Music Room)

Geld ‘Currency // Castration’ 12-inch (Relapse)

I Recover ‘Until I Wake Again’ 12-inch (Crew Cuts)

Poison Ruin ‘Harvest’ 12-inch (Relapse)

Rank ‘Brave New Lows’ 12-inch (Scene Report)

Unified Action ‘Unified Action’ 12-inch (Scene Report)