Volume 20

3/20/2026

Just over a year ago in here I posted a video of the first START TODAY show, it was something that as soon as I saw it I was hooked and gave me hope for the direction of hardcore.I had no idea who the kids were or anything about them other than it was something that’s been missing for a minute in the scene-fast forward a year and a full US DIY tour+an EP + countless shows at home+a few fest appearances and I’m siked to be able to put out their debut LP “Nothing To You”. I love the record and they have gotten better on every release, they have a lot of plans for 2026 so I hit up Tate and Angus to answer some questions about the band and release

What’s up how’s everything going with the Start Today crew?

Yo what’s up, shit is awesome. Can’t wait to get back on the road

For those who don’t know what was it like getting the band together when you started?

Hudson goes to school w angus and we all linked up through mutual friends. Shout out Coleman original singer for the band

What can people expect from the LP?

Platinum. More records sold than you’ve ever seen. It’s on rebirth, enough said.

Did you do anything different from what you did on the EP?

Everything’s harder, faster, and more fun. Feels like a proper step up, and we’re all pumped on it

You’re doing a month and a half with Terror soon,how did that come together and what does it mean to be able to support a legendary band like that?

We can’t believe it, that’s a staple band for all of us. Huge thanks to all the homies behind the scenes setting that stuff up especially Scott and Vitalo.

What’s the next year look like for ST in a perfect world?

3 shows in one night. Unfuckwithable…

You’ve done a full US last summer with the Stand Tall squad,started a venue and booked sick shows,played a few fests coast to coast….what’s the thing you’ve done so far as a band that you’re most proud of?

We took a shit while driving our van around a Starbucks.

Best early 00s band/shirt?

Carry on is the best band from the 00’s. Stop and think longsleeve.

If you could do a 5 band show with bands from any era that Start Today could play who’s on the bill?

Stop and think, carry on, floorpunch, youth of today, DMX.

What current bands are you fucking with the most right now?

Sold short, scarab, steamroll, bloodshed, wrecking unit, anything off of total supply/rebirth records.

Thanks for doing this,any other things you wanna talk about/shout out?

Bob Wilson is the man, if he can’t do it no one can… shoutout Lucas as well

Next up the HINDSIGHT LP “Some Things Never Change”came out last week, I was worried that people may have forgotten about them after the demo dropped and Dylan “got a real job”so they went dormant for a little while but the response has been overwhelmingly positive which is sick because I think the records great. Perfect blend of bands like Carry On and Count Me Out for an easy comparsion. They’re gonna be doing way more this year than 2025 so expect to see some straight edge hardcore in your town soon. The color version of the vinyl is sold out but still some copies left in the store if you missed out

Writing all this makes me feel pathetic I can’t believe how long it’s been since i made a post,in the meantime Flip The Switch,Posición Unida, and The Difference all released 7 inches.Posición crushed it at the DC show the week after FYA, FTS is currently on a weekend with more to follow, and The Difference are fresh off a sick set at the Soul Search show last weekend in Cali.Every one of these records is great so if you didn’t check any out yet do that immediately

A couple weeks ago I took the trip out to Minnesota for the first time since an underwhelming show on a tour I did 15 years ago,if I remember right we played a house in Fargo the next night and it was fucking -30 degrees out and there was icicles in the van, the heat didn’t reach the back of the van and we had to pull over to go in a gas station to attempt to warm up, with the only saving grace I think a TGI Fridays that was the only thing open after 9 pm.Needless to say the Everybody Takes One record release was way better than that, I’ve said it to others already but it truly was hardcore narnia.Kids in youth crew shirts everywhere you looked,all making zines there or dropping off their one pagers for the show,great moshing and incredible vibes.I don’t wanan take up too much space so I asked Frankie to give a weekend recap, s/o to the Minnesota crew

Face The Pain x Statement of Pride x Everybody Takes One Midwest “WHO CARES!” weekend tour recap

It’s been 2 weeks since the FTP x SOP x ETO weekender and I’m still running off the high of it. I truly don’t know if I have ever anticipated something more than this weekend of shows.The fun began the day before the first show of the run. (ETO record release in Minneapolis) That Thursday was my last day of school before spring break, and Of course I had a final for my Journalism class that morning. With people starting to fly into town, and the million logistics I needed to figure out. There was a lot to do, I couldn’t get out of that classroom fast enough, I think I did ok on the exam though… I met up with Carter for lunch and we went to this completely empty Indian spot by his hotel. He convinced me to get ‘dosa’ which I had never had before. Take a huge thin savory crepe served with chutney and. It was great. I went straight to Fed-Ex to finish up my contribution to the one pager zine swap that took place at the Record Release show. Did mine on breakdown, hit me up if you wanna read it! Went straight to ETO practice after that to make sure everything was tight, and then Maddie and Nicky from ETO and I met up with Carter, and John and Alec from SOP who had flown in that afternoon. We went to ‘Shish’ which is probably the best Mediterranean food in the Twin Cities. We obviously had to grab a slice of cake afterwards, because what’s the point in hanging out if you’re not eating sweets? We then all drove to Insomnia Cookie since Carter, (the only vegan of the crew at that point) needed and deserved his sweet treat fix too. Ruby from Get Wise fanzine pulled up and chilled with us as we all watched the drunk college kids celebrate the beginning of spring break, popping jokes of beating them up.

The next morning after putting the finishing touches on my one pager and printing out the record release exclusive covers, Maddie, Ruby, and I met up with 4/5s of SOP, at the glorious Mall of America, as Face The Pain (and the Rebirth CEO himself) began to trickle in to the airport, which is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the mall. They obviously wasted no time and immediately came straight to meet up with the crew. The neon 95s had just been re-released the day before, so as one would expect, the whole group of hardcore kids were fiending for a pair. I was too broke unfortunately. If you’ve never been to the mall of America, I don’t believe you can truly comprehend how large it is. People ended up getting split up because of how many different sights there are to see. We ended up chopping it up in the food court for a bit, even Jack Steamroll made an appearance! Most of the non-minnesotans ended up getting fast food in a food court full of every kind of food you could imagine, I was fully judging all of them. It was here that I did an impression of Lennon for the man himself, he was not pleased and thought I made him look a little too special.

I left from the food court to head to the venue to begin to load in the million things needed for the show. The Record Release show was at Familia Skatepark. A place I grew up skating since I was genuinely 8 years old, Familia had live music events in their space but never a hardcore show. I wanted to have the show here for two reasons. 1. This local skatepark 3rd Lair had some legendary hardcore shows there in the 90s, including the last Harvest show.

2. Hardcore and skateboarding have historically had an incredibly intertwined history, which I don’t see as much anymore. I vividly remember skateboarding with headphones in after hearing Minor Threat and Void for the first time, I felt that I had discovered the intended soundtrack for skateboarding. I wanted some young skater kids to show up, witness the overlap in style and energy, and discover an excitement for hardcore. Until music started I felt like I was running around like a headless chicken. I could not believe the amount of people who made one pagers for the show, I counted at least 35.

By All Means opened the show, Local kids that are all 17 year old and quite literally look like THE youth crew. The vocalist was wearing a backwards ‘Our Gang’ trucker hat, a heather gray champion reverse weave crewneck, and Air Max 90s, tells you everything you need to know. Their demo came out on Physical Therapy last year, check it out if you haven’t. They opened with More Than Fashion by DYS. a classic.

Sleeper Cell played after BAM. The local Unity Schizo band, every member is a different archetype. A punk, A skin, a HC kid, and Gabe the singer who was wearing a tinfoil hat before their set, probably to protect his thoughts from some government sensors or something. I always say that Sleeper Cell sounds like the early Cold as Life demos, ironically they covered “How Much Longer” which is my personal favorite CAL song and the track that I think sounds the most like them. Sleeper Cell’s reaction is always bonkers, It always feels like every person in the room is moving and singing along.

Frenzied State from Fargo, North Dakota played next, This band is truthfully maybe the most underrated band in the entire midwest. If I played you their demo without telling you what it was, you wouldn’t be able to tell me those songs weren’t from a lost late 80s NYHC demo. Sonically and production wise it sounds like Breakdown and Dmize, I know people say that but I’m serious. If you are a fan of the New Breed comp, you’ll be all over this. They opened with Safe In A Crowd, The crowd sang the chorus, chill out!

Then Lead Spirit from Omaha, Nebraska took the stage. From Within Records royalty! They had only played Minneapolis once, so it was great to have them back. Kids really popped off. They covered No Choice by Outburst and when they did the room exploded. I was stoked to have them on this show. They have ridden for ETO since day 1.

When Statement of Pride got on stage, everybody but their drummer Hudson had on an identical Maroon original Conviction shirt, with the exception of Johns being tan. I was particularly excited to see how kids reacted to SOP. Minneapolis has always been a scene that has leaned towards the metallic side of things. Statement was the only truly heavy band on the bill, so I knew the kids into heavier stuff would be excited for their only chance to get their spin-kick jitters out. They opened with the Juggernaut Intro, and then went straight into ‘Is Anybody There?’. Which blew me away how many people knew it. If 10+ kids are singing along to an AIAC cover, HC is in a great place. At one point in the set, this random kid I’ve never seen before decided to climb a pole towards the back of the pit in between songs and I had to yell at him to get down. They closed the set with an attempted cover of Get Lost of Stop and Think.

I couldn’t have been more stoked to see Face The Pain at a home show. Something I don’t think would have ever happened if we didn’t make it happen for this show. A band with every member living in a different state on the east coast, besides Derick, even him, Detroit is a 10 hour drive away. FTP is truly such a fun band, the dudes, the vibes, everything. It felt like everyone in the room was having a blast. They covered Break Down The Walls which is maybe the best song you could ever cover? It felt like every person in the room was singing along. The only thing that could’ve made it better is if Matt K. was there. (Josh SOP filled in)

Some random dudes who said they were from Switzerland, just showed up and demanded they play a few songs. They convinced me because they said they sounded like No For An Answer, Mainstrike, YOT, 7 Seconds, Vision, Mouthpiece, and Mindset. Somehow people knew their songs. Something about having a spirit? Didn’t pay it much mind.

The ETO set was dope, My drum stick bag disappeared and I couldn’t find my kick pedal which threw me off but it was a blast. We covered Too Deep Until Now with my old head Mean Pete from Holding On, on third guitar (legacy early 00’s MPLS band on B9) Bob Wilson was moshing super old school in the white 80s Judge tee with visible holes in it. Incredibly risky but I don’t think it was damaged. Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better show.

We left early the next morning towards Springfield, IL. All 14 of us packed into a 15 passenger sprinter van. With quite literally zero trunk in the van. With Ruby Get Wise following us on the run in her car with Liam and Cooper from xSeraphx, we put all of our merch into her car to save us the little room we already had. About an hour and a half into the drive, we got a call that her car had broken down. On top of that there are two ways to drive to Springfield. Ruby happened to take the other route that we did, so we had to drive about an hour out of the way to get our merch and somehow fit it in the van. Truly felt like trying to get out a foam-pit every time we all emptied out of the van. 4 people in the back row was rough I will say. But besides that, all the hangs were crucial, There was never a dull moment in the van the whole run. Maybe besides everybody roasting me for my gas station snack choices. Somewhere on this drive, Eliott ETO adapted the nickname Poptart. I think from getting a Poptart at a gas station, I believe this was Lennon’s doing.

We rolled up to the Springfield show which was at a Unitarian Church, right as music was about to start. Awesome spot I had only been to once. Totaled opened the show, Total Supply Straight Edge, in the vein of Think I Care. They covered No Choice, which was cool to see covered two nights in a row. Volition from St. Louis played after them, they are doing the Strain/Strife thing which I think they do well. They opened with Not For Me, and closed with Break Down The Walls. Shoutout Teagan for doing double duty for both of those sets. ETO played alright that night. Both the Statement and Face The Pain sets went over really well. Kids were singing along to both bands. It was funny when FTP did Break Down The Walls too. Shoutout Ethan, Sage and Posi Liam for driving up from Chicago. Crucial fellas. The tour package went to Buffalo Wild Wings after the show. I could tell the server was not stoked to see 14 people walk through those doors at 11pm. Side note, what the hell is up with ‘spicy garlic’ sauce on those wings being literally just buffalo sauce. I was not stoked.

We then realized that not only was Detroit on east coast time, but that night was daylight savings, so we jumped forward an hour. So we were losing 2 hours, plus the show was a matinee. We drove for like an hour and a half to get a head start, Lennon was playing this dude Konix the whole drive on full volume who makes these beats that sound like classic music, true goofball ass music. Check out ‘Here Ye Here Ye’ for a taste. We got to our hotel which was this ginormous castle- like building with bright solid LED lights along all the edges. We rolled in at like 1:30am and some random lady was walking around the lobby with her phone on full volume, I caught a glimpse of her screen and it looked like no joke 30 people on a facetime call, she then walked up to one of us and said “im on tiktok live, I wont include yall though” It really sucked seeing the clock turn from 1:59AM to 3:00AM that night. The next morning at the hotel complimentary breakfast Lennon traded Josh a Knockdown tee for a Far From Breaking tee. `

We had to make a 6 hour drive in 4 hours, which would explain why we were 2 hours late to the show. We played at this awesome skateshop called Refuge. Apparently Mental played there among a bunch of other cool bands in the early/mid 00s. We missed the opening band, I can’t remember who it was, Pluto’s Kiss was supposed to play but they ended up dropping. So people were just hanging out waiting for us to show up. Statement played first out of the package, then ETO, and then Face The Pain. The Sissy Boys played after FTP, with the least amount of pranks I’ve ever seen them commit. There were definitely the least amount of people moshing at this show but it was still dope! I could mosh it up to SOP and FTP every day of the week. Apparently there were two bloody noses caused separately during SOP and ETO. A few folks from the crew had to fly out that night, so we then dropped em at the airport, got this bomb Chinese food, and then ice cream and then got to Mr. Harold Total Supply’s house, where the remainder of us were staying. We chopped it up talkin core and watching youtube all night and I got probably 4 hours of sleep for the third night in a row, but you know what they say… WHO CARES!

Got coffee the next morning then drove back home in the van with an entire row to myself. Truly one of the best weekends of my life. Did this need to be this long and detailed? No, but will I be thankful in the future? Yes

Go grab a copy of the incredible GODSPEED zine Frankie did, one of my favorite bands ever https://www.shininglifepress.com/product/godspeed-zine

This announcement took way longer than expected but the second annual “balancing the scales of hardcore” weekend finally got announced, huge thanks to the legend Ruby for this incredible flyer after I gave zero help on what it should look like.If you’ve seen videos from last year’s Breakdown set or the YOT show I did here you know how sick the venue is and how great this is gonna be.I’ll do a more detailed band by band breakdown at some point but COLD WORLD closing out day 1, the modern Goats FURY ending the weekend by playing the generational Paramount LP straight through+BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT from Japan who i’ve been trying to see for years and begged them to come do FYA, and this was the only time that worked for them to come over so come show them some love for making the trip. Here’s a clip from my trip with the legend Scanlon and his little friend AV to the greatest place on earth a few weeks ago

Had to go across the world to get some respect^^

the first KNOCKDOWN show in 25 years etc…. it’s gonna be a weekend to remember.Already have some surprises lined up so don’t miss any bands..last year I feel like many friendships were formed with like minded people from everywhere and I hope that continues this year.Tickets are still up for now, if you’ve never been here the venues not that big so i’d recommend grabbing one before you miss out.

couple demos on the way..couple records…all good shit.I’ll be set up at RBS and sending my minion Kevin “Killer” Hare to UB to do the same so feel free to punish either of us with some core talk or tell me about your band

THINGS I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO FOR THE LAST ALMOST 3 MONTHS

new ETERNAL CHAMPION

Burning Lord “Ambush” truly can’t believe this track

The Many

Massacre System

Blood And Tears

Mr Radical

Lose Sight EP

the new WORM LP

Killing Pace LP