There's 'Only One Mode' For SPEED: A Scene That's 'Accessible & Without Ridiculous Hierarchies'

SPEED is the real deal. An Australian hardcore band committed to their scene and building something for the next generation.

The Sydney quintet are nothing less than a worldwide musical juggernaut. In a few short years, the group has rocketed to the top of the hardcore pile with a ruthless commitment to their culture and craft. You can’t fake their enthusiasm, and despite their own runaway success and imminent debut album release, they were excited about a resurgence in the local scene.

“Feel The Pain from Newcastle are fucking awesome,” says guitarist Josh Clayton, who goes on to wax lyrical about the Steel City’s resurgence on the scene. “Some years ago, when we were first getting into hardcore, it was bands like Ill Natured, Downside and Mauler.

“Now, there’s a new generation of kids all in their early twenties under the ‘Steel City Terror’ banner – Feel The Pain, Skorn and Splinter. It’s an incredible scene that is also being matched in other places across the country. Australian Hardcore is really healthy at the moment.”

Over the years, Australian Hardcore has churned out a heap of incredible bands that often make a great record before disbanding and, indeed, disappearing. Is this a reflection of hardcore’s transient nature or just a fact of the music industry?

“Not many hardcore bands have been able to have a full-time career over decades,” agrees Clayton, who cites Agnostic Front, Madball and Sick Of It All as obvious examples of bands who have bucked the trend.

“But we also have to remember that involvement in hardcore doesn’t necessarily mean that you play in a band,” chimes in vocalist Jem Siow, who is very keen to note that putting out a record isn’t the only way you can contribute to the scene.

“If you’re a hardcore kid, you are going to shows, you are booking shows, or you are hanging out. People sometimes take a break; life gets in the way – it’s understandable. But overall, I think people are very loyal to the scene and, on the whole, stay involved.”

Say what you want about SPEED, but no one could ever say they aren’t 100% loyal to Australian hardcore and are making every effort to promote the scene.

“We all went to our first shows when we were 12 or 13 years old,” explains Siow. “We’re in our 30s now, and it’s all we know. As a band, everything we do is driven by one question: Is this good for Australian Hardcore? We want to promote a scene that is accessible and without ridiculous hierarchies.”

Siow adds, “We are really aware that in 2024, the avenues that people use to find out about hardcore are really different to when we were coming up. I didn’t find out about bands via a viral TikTok – I got a flyer from someone for a local show.

“For a band like ours that is always looking to promote hardcore culture and the local scene, we have to understand that things have changed. The good old days aren’t coming back – and that’s fine – but we want to make sure that every new listener that finds out about SPEED – gets – and I mean really gets hardcore – and how great a culture it is.”

To say that SPEED’s debut LP, Only One Mode, is keenly awaited would be a huge understatement.

It was the Gang Called Speed EP that shot the band to international prominence, and I’m pleased to report that their new material is just as urgent and powerful, with not a moment wasted across ten tracks of catchy and visceral hardcore that blends the best of Madball, Merauder, Terror and Trapped Under Ice before spitting out something totally unique. The band puts that down to keeping to a tried and true process.

“With the success we had, we could have gone to a new studio or a ‘name’ producer, which is a huge privilege,” explains Clayton. “But in the end, we went back to Chameleon studios in Annandale and our friend Elliott [Gallart], who has been such a huge part of the SPEED sound.”

“Nobody understands our version of hardcore better than the person we grew up with. We got into hardcore with Elliott all those years ago, and he’s the one in the friendship group who got the skills to produce music, and he’s never let us down. We have our own language with him, an intuitive feeling that ensures the music comes out right.”

“He gets us on a personal level,” adds Siow. “For example, one of the breakout tracks for us was We See You, and there’s an air horn in it that seemed to ruffle some feathers. That airhorn is actually a joke between us and our friends. He used to put an airhorn in all the tracks he mixed for different bands as sort of a watermark – and to make sure they couldn’t just run away without paying him [laughs].”

SPEED have been in the news recently for something other than their crushing breakdowns.

Due to play at the Download Festival in the United Kingdom, the band pulled out, citing one of the major sponsors’ “involvement in the war in Gaza”. This episode is nothing new, as there has always been a healthy (and at times extremely passionate) debate within hardcore about the role of corporate sponsorship. What say SPEED?

“It’s a very fickle line for hardcore bands to tread,” admits Siow. “We turn down 99.9% of the opportunities that come our way because it all comes down to the mission statement of this band from day one: ‘What does this mean for Australian Hardcore?’ We want to promote Australian hardcore culture positively in everything we do.”

“We have done collaborations, of course, and sometimes people get confused. Take the thing the band did with Nike as an example. We did it, but we did it on our terms. We refused to get flown to some fancy destination with a film crew we didn’t know.

“Instead, we had the people we’ve always worked with film the video, which itself was a representation of pure live hardcore. Nike has been a big part of our aesthetic and culture for years, and a lot of friends in hardcore wear Nike products, so we took this as a big win for our people. 

“I get some people will look at the aesthetic and not agree with it - and that’s fine. But for us, we are reinvesting into our culture.”

“As a band, we are always seeking to find ways to help our community and enact personal and direct positive change for the people around us,” finishes Clayton. “Hardcore has given us community, and we are always looking for ways to give back and ensure that it not only survives but grows.”

Only One Mode is out now via Last Ride Records. You can catch SPEED on tour next month.

SPEED

‘ONLY ONE MODE’ AUSTRALIAN TOUR

WITH HIGH VIS (UK) + PAIN OF TRUTH (US) + FUSE (SG) + SPECIAL GUESTS TBA

Thursday August 22 – Meanjin/Brisbane, Princess Theatre (AA)
Friday August 23 – Eora/Sydney, Enmore Theatre (AA)
Thursday August 29 – Naarm/Melbourne, Stay Gold (AA)
Friday August 30 - Naarm/Melbourne, Northcote Theatre (18+)
Saturday August 31 – Tarntanya/Adelaide, Uni Bar (AA)
Sunday September 1 – Boorloo/Perth, Magnet House (18+)

Tickets: linktr.ee