Well, friends… we’ve made it to another year celebrating radical sobriety and a positive way of living in a world that we’re trying to make less fucked up by our active participation every single day!
Edge Day began back in 1999, at the final Ten Yard Fight show in Boston where they shared the stage with other straight edge bands that were heavily influential in the States at the time.
Personally, I don’t care much about most of the bands that played at that first Edge Day show in Boston, and it came out eventually that there have been some problematic band members among them, but anyway… since then, Edge Day has become a much bigger, and a widely spread phenomena around the world. And we’re still calling out and fighting shitty behavior among our ranks.
For me, Edge Day is great opportunity to remind ourselves about all the benefits of being sober for all the right reasons and celebrating being a part of the worldwide hardcore punk community at the same time!
And know what? This year marks my ten year Straight Edge anniversary! So Happy Edge Day to me!
I’m not going to explain about all the personal, political or whatever reasons to choose this way of life, but rather share some fresh, inspiring and ultimately sober-living bands that I’ve found recently. It’s kind of a continuation to my previous roundup on straight edge in 2019. So here we go again!
1 Power Alone
A new straight edge band from California featuring three members of the mighty Gather? Say no more. After quitting punk outfit Rats In The Wall, the singer Eva Hall started this new straight edge hardcore band with top peeps from the Cali scene and there’s no better way to begin this article than introducing Power Alone. The LP is in the works and it’s gonna be huge!
2 Eat My Fear
This Berlin-based queer feminist vegan straight edge band released their second “Taking Back Space” EP through Refuse Records in the beginning of 2019. The band’s furious yet melodic take on hardcore punk is filled with a strong political expression tackling on themes like homo- and transphobia, migration, animal abuse, and finding ways to support each other without giving up the fight for a social justice and liberation.
3 Moral Law
Featuring members of Denver’s Faim, Moral Law is a young band with an unstoppable urge to revive the Vegan Straight Edge movement in 2019. Raw sounding metallic hardcore and ultra-militant lyrics about, you name it… Veganism, straight edge, and radical ecodefense. Recommended band for all those XVX kids reading this right now.
4 Caged
Italian Vegan Straight Edge scene has been always strong and it’s no surprise to see some familiar faces in this new band from Bologna. Crushing metallic riffs, heavyweight breakdowns and unapologetic message for human and non-human animal liberation is the order of the day here. Check this out.
5 Class War
When it comes to outspokenly political, left-wing straight edge bands, we usually think of European classics such as Seein’ Red, Manliftingbanner or Nations On Fire. This band, however, comes from Brisbane, Australia and as the name suggests, makes no excuses for the capitalist class either. Raw, aggressive and class-conscious straight edge hardcore at its best. Sober, weβll watch your world burn!
6 F V E G O
Another ultra-political vegan straight edge band, this time coming from Monterrey, Mexico. Collectively engaged in the struggle for total freedom, their ideas revolve around the topics of queer revolt, antispecism, mutual aid and anarchism. Fvego’s music is influenced by a lot of melodic crust, metal and political hardcore bands, but music it’s just a tool in the search for total liberation. FFO: Racetraitor, Catharsis, Zegota
7 Headcount
Fronted by Drug Control’s singer, Danny, this San Diego-based drug free gang is all made up of veterans within the hardcore scene who have played in such groups as Meth Breath, xReignx, and Distressed. Standing on the harder and more stomping side of the Youth Crew sound, their music is immediate and hardβa sharp punch on the back of the head.
8 Rain of Salvation
“Oh, I know very well. How the secrets beckon so sweetly. Only a honest death will cure you now. Liberate you, from your wild curiosity”, begins Rain of Salvation’s EP with a sample from Lady MariaΒ of the Astral Clocktower inΒ Bloodborne game. Actually, I don’t know much about this Long Island hardcore band, but their 2019 debut is clearly a recommended banger. Uncompromising metallic hardcore, super groovy, punchy and straight to the point. Some of the best music to mosh to recently.
9 Kind!
Boston Hardcore: these words evoke an immediate interest and you must pay close attention to even the more lesser-known bands from this city. Actually, I’m not even sure if Kind! is a straight edge band as whether all of their members claim the edge. This band, however, embodies the positive spirit of hardcore and a ton of energy that’s nowhere to be found but in all your favorite youth crew bands. Their “Haven” EP is truly amazing, the lyrics are top-notch and you can’t wrong with the Kind! Crew.
10 makeXpeace
It seems like Czechia and Slovakia are now officially back on the Posi Straight Edge map! This band is clearly inspired by the likes of The First Step, Battery, and all the bands on the React! Records roster. Not a groundbreaking sound but a band featuring some super sweet and active people from the scene that I’m sure you’ve already met if you have been on tour in Bratislava or Prague in the past decade.
