Interviewsandarticlesaboutbandsof punkrock,hardcore,individuals whoare part ofthe scene and we also talk aboutourparanoiaand barsin our neighborhood. Sometimesthe content is alittlebizarre. Created for the use and enjoyment of the authors, it contains stories told by drunks in bars, thoughts, a look at neighbourhood pride, reviews of CDs, books, fanzines or movies, pickles, serrano ham, Iberia Jabugo, beer, whisky, gin, potato or tortilla chips, good ribs and first and foremost ROCANROL.
The most important venue in Umeå right now is probably Verket, where anyone can organize shows for free if they want to and the venue provides a basic backline and such. It's all ages and if you're 18 or older you can BYOB. There are shows there every weekend and sometimes weekdays also! The bands that play there are very diverse, ranging from hardcore/punk, metal, acoustic singer/songwriter stuff, pop, hip-hop and everything inbetween. So it's not a strictly punk venue although it was founded upon the punk/DIY mentality which it still runs by today. This has brought all the different genres closer to each other as the lineup at shows often consists of bands from mixed genres, it's probably like this in other cities also, I don't know, I just think it's great because you still have your all-out hardcore punk/pop/metal/whatever shows! So in short: Verket is incredibly important to keeping the underground music scene alive in Umeå.
Charlie is a classic punk/hardcore venue in town but there hasn't been many shows there as of late or I must have missed them so I haven't been there personally and now the venue has to close because of some reconstruction thing. However, there will be one last gig with a lot of local punk/hardcore bands so I'll make sure to be there then. If anyone reading this happens to be in Umeå the 7th of February, go there!
A new venue in Umeå that is very interesting is Kulturhuset located in some old roundhouse. I don't know the exact history behind it but I think it all started last summer when, in their own words "This started because some people saw an empty place,
gathered together and wanted to fill it with life. Spontaneous, improvised and
beautiful. Want to help? Come by and get involved!" This all looked
incredibly promising and everyone was excited for the outcome. People from all
over town got together to help with all the construction and decoration work
needed and then things got started. There were bands playing, art showings,
film showings and all different kinds of cultural stuff! This was supposed to
continue indefinitely, kind of like a festival without an end. However,
eventually politicians and people with money and suits and whatever had to
intervene and now the future is unclear for Kulturhuset, but I remain hopeful!
Nonetheless, big ups to the people involved in bringing this project to life!!
Then there are places like Guitars, which is a club so that means 18+. For the most part they have DJs but every now and then bands plays there, mostly more established local bands or established bands visiting town.
There's also Hamnmagasinet, which kind of is a youth center, located next to the local skatepark. Not too many shows are put up there which is a damn shame because the sound system is pretty gnarly. I guess it's because they have a no-alcohol policy that people refrain from visiting/organizing shows there.
Let's move on to promoters. So, for hardcore we have 090 Hardcore who does a great job putting up hardcore shows and they are also responsible for 090 Hardcorefest which is a two-day festival planned to be held annually. The first 090 Hardcorefest was held in late September last year and it was so much fun with local bands and bands from all over the country on the lineup. It was just amazing.
Another promoter is Umeå DIY, putting up shows for bands regardless of genre!
Although as I said earlier regarding Verket, anyone can put up shows there so most shows are organized by people engaged in and commited to underground music!
Okay, so I'm gonna try and put together a list of bands that are currently active in Umeå. Keep in mind that hardcore is far from the only thriving undeground music scene in Umeå but because this is a hardcore blog I will only mention hardcore punk bands. (sorry, other kinds of music) Here we go!
The list came out a little longer than expected but I hope that's about it. If I've forgotten anyone, sorry, I tried my best!
If you want to play in Umeå get in touch with local musicians/bands and they will help you or try contacting 090 Hardcore or Umeå DIY, I'm sure they will help you! umeadiy@gmail.com
“Mediocracy broke up last year...they had been having
some troubles for some time and around July decided it was over. Radu, the ex
guitar player from Mediocracy, and 2 other friends started jamming and soon
formed Killer Victim.
Killer Victim had their first
show in February 2014. So far they have had had 7 gigs where they played some
shows with local bands in Bucharest, opened for Comeback Kid, I Am A Curse and
a big festival called Rockstadt Extreme Fest.
The next gig is next week in Bucharest opening for
Negative Approach. In the following weeks they will start recording their first
songs, which will be on split EP with Drop out Of Life. After that probably
more gigs and hopefully a tour some time next year.
For the rest of the scene…you still can't say there is
a real hardcore scene in Romania because people still seem to have different
views about what that is supposed to be. But I guess some part of it is there because
bands are really solid with each other and there are mostly the same people in
all of the bands.
The problem is that most bands play variations of
metalcore/post-hardcore, which means there isn't much variation...but some of
them are still pretty good…at least for our scene.
Take No More (hardcore),
who are probably the youngest band we have in our scene, since its members are
all under 18 years old.
This is the event for the concert with Negative
Approach, Something for the Core. As you can see it's a 3 day fest where most of our local bands will
perform.
We have a few clubs where we can book shows almost any
time…the only problem is with the period of the year because it all revolves
around holidays and shit...so summer is pretty much dead here, except for big
shows of festivals...I guess it’s the same as everywhere.
Distroy Booking
and has booked bands like Straight Opposition, Born For Slaughter, Left In
Ruins, Pavilionul 32, Despite Everything, Insane etc. DB is hoping to get more
crust/metallic hc/grind bands because most of the bands are metal core.
VZR Graphics does
artwork from time to time for bands like Corrupt Moral Altar (UK), Macula
(Brazil), H8 (Romania), Born For Slaughter (Macedonia), Pavilionul 32 (Romania)
plus gig posters and other related stuff. Take care!”
Fearless Management seem to be doing a great job across a range of styles too...
Also it's worth mentioning that Cardiff is probably the only city to have three venues that put on hardcore shows in one small street! There's also a 'fashion quarter'...
hcmorethanmusic is now back after an extended break. It is a project about the global hardcore/punk scene. The main goal is supporting DIY musical and political activity in the hardcore community and promoting activism, which takes strong positions on fascism, racism, sexism, homophobia and animal rights.
hcmorethanmusic aims to support all kinds of positive culture, giving bulletins to facilitate positive action against injustice and greed. All reports are made by contributors and are published unedited.
Scene reports are welcome, and I will publish anything that I receive…in other words, if you want hcmorethanmusic to continue then it’s up to you…DIY or die :D Peace&Unity, Brian.
If anyone has a problem with any of the photos/videos that I've used then please understand where I'm coming from :)
I'm not in this to rip off people and anyway I mean it as a form of publicity and credit that I have chosen your work :D
Get in touch with me and I'll put in a link and probably even hassle you to write a report about your work :P
My aim is to share and celebrate all aspects of hc culture...anyone is free to write a report at any time and, if it is for the good of global hc, I'll post it.
Also because I can't keep track of the lyrics/history of all of the bands that are posted, if anyone has a problem with any of the attitudes of bands that are featured (rascist, homophobic, misogynist etc.) then let me know...we gotta stay posi :D
Please read my latest policy about graphics in the blog.
