Hardcore is more than music

Saturday spontaneously I got invited to visit a concert. Lionheart, Terror, Get The Shot and Dying Wish here in Leipzig. A concert that has been postponed since 2021. A concert I would have not known about.

A friend reached out. A friend from the Erzgebirge (the ore mountains) a beautiful area, where I come from, a place filled with nostalgic memories of concerts in Johanngeorgenstadt. The bands filled the little room at a train station and made people jump from PAs and wildly swing their arms and legs. People screaming, shouting, getting bruises and just having a great time.

It was also a time when a threat was imminent. Visits from the local neo nazis could, in seconds and at any time, turn the fun into dread. Sometimes this ended in fights. Fist fights. Sometimes with blood and even hospital visits. Sometimes it ended with a few of them staying and drinking beer. Telling other people that they are not that much of a racist.

The Erzgebirge is a bit like Texas or any other pretty backwards place that you can imagine, not technologically, but in the heads. Nowadays some ‘big brains’ there wave Russian flags, deny Covid and are a couple of brain misfires short of believing in a flat earth. Some of the hardcore kids (now adults) turned full-on neo nazis. A lot moved away. Some gave up music. Some started their own families. Some are still actively fighting Racism, Fascism, and Sexism, but mostly from afar.

I grew up a Metal kid, friends with a lot of Punks, Hardcore-Kids and everything in between. Music was always there. Music made me learn English. Manowar to be completely honest. I had dreads, I had long hair, and I visited insane concerts with a tight group of friends that I still have around.

It’s 2004. We are at my favourite concert. Heaven Shall Burn, Caliban, Deadsoil, Fear My Thoughts and Destiny in Chemnitz. The world is whole. No threat of nazis in the venue, my friends, all the people, smiling, sweating, stage-diving, high-fiving, dancing, two-stepping and just having a great time. Nothing exists, but great music, great people and bands that have something to say.

2022 - last weekend. I help a friend to move a kitchen to his place. His friend, the one supposed to put the kitchen back together drops randomly a ‘Sieg Heil’ into a random sentence and smirks. I leave since I have more stuff to carry. When acquaintances and friends from the Erzgebirge arrive for the concert, they tell me about their families. Their kids. Some of them have racist friends. One says ‘… this whole anti-fascist talk annoys me, can’t the bands just play?’ - I shake my head.

Dying Wish was intense and sounded great. Get The Shot would have made me grow more hair on the chest if I wasn’t already covered like a bear. And they are the ones that start shouting in between songs that fascists, sexists and racists can go fuck themselves. Everyone has a great time. Terror was great. Old school, they started the set with ‘Overcome’ - amazing. No memorable shoutouts in between songs. Then Lionheart. I have heard songs before. I found them to be great, but also somehow filed them under hyper-masculine shallow bands. They tore the place down, they sounded fantastic, it was almost more rapping than shouting, a great dynamic. A great band. Then 3 songs before they called it a night with a Beastie Boy cover: ‘I don’t usually talk much on stage. But we do live in difficult times. We all have our cross to carry. I struggled with bipolar and mental health issues. I have a son I want to see grow up in a loving world, without fear, with a stable dad. If you have thoughts of suicide or struggle with depression. Reach out. Talk to people, to your friends, and help them find someone to talk to. Or be that person that listens. Music saved me. Thank you all!’ - something similar. Then clapping, light illuminated the room more and then there was not just masculinity and hardcore tough guys in the room. A lot of women, girls, female read persons and boys, kids, adults, men, anyone in between and suddenly fragile people, people with problems, people that need an ear, a hug, a friend. The music they needed and they got that night.

Hardcore is more than music. It’s always been political. It’s there for you if you need it. And if you have problems reach out.

Fuck Fascism!