This Is Hardcore 2016: Part 2: Live At The Electric Factory


Gorilla Biscuits, by Anne Spina Photography

Gorilla Biscuits, by Anne Spina Photography

Part 2

Saturday at This Is Hardcore was full of kick ass sets, to a “special” surprises. I gotta say check out Ten Ton Hammer as soon as you can. It’s a very heavy band who definitely slays at their shows. They just released an album on Harvcore Records.

But their set blew me away. There are two bands I will never miss EVER at TIHC. The first would be Lifeless. Some of the pain and anxiety I’ve had, my aggression definitely comes out from their music. They are an outlet plus Jeremy Tingle writes a lot of lyrics that I think we all have felt at one point. I honestly can’t wait for their next album. Wisdom In Chains is my second I can never miss. Wisdom in Chains made a lot of people in Pennsylvania to love hardcore. With songs like ‘Chasing The Dragon’, ‘When We Were Young’, and ‘Land Of Kings’ they definitely made me expand my family tree of hardcore. So the other bands that blew me away that night were bands I wanted to see since I was 18. Most Precious Blood is one of my favorite metalcore bands. The fact that I finally saw them play, they played songs I love, plus they were the band I saved mosh energy for, I can now rest easy. But the other band was the Gorilla Biscuits who was Saturday’s headliner. Civ got that whole crowd moshing hard. They definitely brought us a killer set.

This was actually a cool thing to hear. So at the Strife after show there was a killer Swedish hardcore band on tour with Deftones that played a killer set on Saturday. Refused is big into playing surprise sets and they surprised a lot of the attendees at TIHC. And there may be a good chance they want to play again. Which brought a smile to my face.

Sunday came quick. The one thing about that day was it was fun to get there but sad to call it a night. So my first band I watched that day was nearby Doylestown’s own Jesus Piece. They are a band who delivers killer sets. They are a ruthless band that kills. Watching their set I was seeing a future in that band. All Else Failed is that band who I need to get down to every time they are in town. The craziest set plus seeing the TIHC Staff wreck each other it was very cool to see people in PA get down to them. California’s Strife is a heavy band that teaches lessons. They played one amazing set that I’m proud to say a band with that caliber of music that’s inspirational I finally saw. The final headliner of the fest was Turning Point it was a sweet tribute to their frontman who passed a few years ago. The fact that they had Geoff Rickley sing Thursday, the main reason his band got formed I teared up a little. We had other cool guest front men like Tim McMahon of Mouthpiece, and Rob Fish of 108 giving us a killer set, it was touching as well I didn’t want the fest to be over. I honestly am already antsy for next year. And can not wait. What we have in Philly is something I definitely think others wish they had. I also have to say we get spoiled with great bands but at the same time us hardcore kids are grateful. This is definitely a fest that I would know no friends in this scene if not for people like Joe Hardcore and Chris X. Their fest keeps us thirsty for more, but nourished at the same time.

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WORDS BY MATT “O’TONIC” MCGROARTY

PHOTOS BY ANNA SPINNA PHOTOGRAPHY