The London Issue will be distributed exclusively to Living Proof Members. Sent to our members for June, 2026.
After having spent about two weeks in London, it became a daily routine for our team to head over to Manor Place to hang around. Sitting around one day, a mutual friend of ours introduced me to the guys from Dynamite. Big up to Louis Dobson. We sat down and began talking about their lives, growing up in the United Kingdom and getting into hardcore music. Loosely inspired by the “New York Hardcore Chronicles” interviews that we all came up watching, we discuss the best venues for hardcore-punk shows in London, the bands they grew up on and who is dancing the best in London’s hardcore scene. After taking a flight back to New York, while browsing my phone I come across a video of Graham from High Vis speaking on Dynamite when asked on his favorite new band. He described the band as “proper hardcore” and “straight-up hardcore”. Speaking with them reminded me of fond memories growing up frequenting shows in the Massachusetts area. I could feel the passion, respect and energy with which they approach what they do. Enjoy.
Angel
First hardcore show you went to and what got you into it? How'd you figure it out?
Logan
Have Heart's final tour with Cruel Hand, 2009.
Cheung
My first hardcore show was actually a Desolated and Demoraliser show. I'm from Norwich, and it was at the Marquee. And that's where all hardcore existed at the time. At the time, it was more about the local bands, really, like that. We were super stoked on Crooked Minds, a band from Norwich that we sort of were all into at the time.
Nick
I feel like mine is just so similar to yours. Like, we grew up in the same place. We grew up in Norwich together. It was shows in 2010, 2009, 2008. Bands like Desolated, More Than Life. Mainly local bands around Norwich that we were seeing. But I can't remember a specific show.
Alex
The first hardcore show I associate with now was probably an Abolition show. And I think it was the back of Nick's or Charlie's Garden. They had like a little outhouse, and it was in the back of there with a band called Stab. I think it was a one-man band. And the guy had like a bag of tricks. He'd pull out chains and shit. Also, Violent Reaction’s first show at the time, before it was really, fully Violent Reaction.
Angel
Dope, what put you guys on to it? How'd you guys figure out that it was like a thing at all?
Nick
For me, it was like hearing all the US bands before discovering that it existed where I was from. It was like hearing bands like Have Heart, and it was like, damn, this thing exists so far away from me. And then it's like, oh, there are people that are doing it here where I am. And then it was like, “Oh, it does happen here. How do I make it happen around me more?” So that was it for me.
Cheung
I had almost like a Big Brother type situation. Like a friend who showed me. I was into punk rock and stuff like that. And he showed me some hardcore bands, and it just triggered something in me that I was like, this is definitely what I'm into. I remember specifically, sort of hardcore adjacent, I guess, but with like Title Fight and stuff like that. Hearing those sorts of vocals and stuff like that is kind of exactly what I was trying to find in music. And then when I heard it, I was like, this is where I want to be.