On January 18th I was lucky enough to see one of the most influential hardcore bands of the 2000s, Bane, at the Nile Theater in Mesa. This was the 2nd date of their West Coast tour with LA hardcore band Rotting Out, another important hardcore act. For this show they were supported by local acts HardLuck.MF and See it Through. Before I begin I’d like to thank Faye for driving me to Phoenix and getting press as well as Kirby and @babyxphoto for letting me use their photos.

HArdluck.MF

The night was opened with Hardluck.MF, a Phoenix band that probably had the heaviest sound of the night with a very thrash influenced metallic hardcore sound compared to the other bands who had a “truer” hardcore punk sound. Being the opening band, I think it’s really important you set the tone for the night, and Hardluck.MF absolutely did that having great riffs and some evil mosh-inducing breakdowns. I was surprised to see how many people showed up early for the first band. Unfortunately that didn’t translate to a bunch of people moshing, rather there was a massive pit with only like 3 people moshing at any given moment. But regardless of that, HardLuck.MF still put on an awesome set and continue to be one of the sickest hardcore bands in Arizona.

See It through

See it Through was the second band up, and despite having seen this band plenty of times now, it felt really fresh seeing them live at a venue like the Nile and not a random DIY spot (not that DIY spots aren’t sick). This band is sonically very similar to Bane and is a style of hardcore I’ve really been into as of late, that melodic youth crew kind of thing.

Each time I’ve seen them, they put on a great set, and this held true this show. The dogpiles of people jumping on each other to sing along to songs like “Enough” always hits so hard. One thing I really appreciate about See It Through is that they do covers like every set they play. This set, they covered one of the most of the most important Straight Edge bands Youth of Today with their song Break Down The Walls. Usually hardcore bands will stop covering bands as they drop their own music, so I really like that See it Through continues to honor the bands that influenced them. During this set, they also played a lot of newer songs, and even with how good their initial release was, they have still found a way to continue evolving their sound. When I saw them live at this show, these songs were yet to be released. However, a couple weeks ago now they finally put out these new songs in their sophomore EP “Together We Can.”

I love bands like these because they’re first and foremost about preaching positivity, and in times like these I think their message is especially important and resonate with lots of people. I mean just look at the lyrics from one of their best songs “Enough.”

“Have you ever felt like you′re not enough?

And all you amount to is a pile of dust

And sometimes it’s just too much

But trust, if you′re feeling low, like there’s

Nowhere to go, you’re not alone“

I can’t count the amount of times bands like See it Through and Bane have helped clear my mind and motivate me to be better.

Rotting Out

Now onto the two headliners. Starting with Rotting Out, they were the second to last band to perform, and despite Bane being the headliner for the show and the tour, Rotting Out really stole the show. I mean none of the sets really came close in terms of the amount of people stagediving and moshing. I don’t really get scared at hardcore shows, but that set felt like one of the more violent ones I’ve seen. One of the most important parts of a good HC band is having a vocalist that brings the energy, and this is absolutely the case for Rotting Out, I mean this dude could probably get me to run a marathon. At times, I almost feel annoyed when I see a band that I don’t know the lyrics to, but the energy in the room was so strong during that set it didn’t even matter that I had no clue how any of the songs went.

bane

Now finally for the headliner Bane. This was by far the band I was most excited to see. When I first got into them last year, I held the assumption that they would be one of those bands that I would just never get the chance to see live, this is despite them having played Within These Walls at the Nile only a couple months prior. So when I saw their West Coast tour announcement and the Mesa date I knew I had to be there.

The crowd had somewhat dispersed by the time the set started and there were less people at the front, which somewhat disappointed me but I was still hyped for their set regardless. I forgot which song they started their set with, but the second song of theirs was Count Me Out, which is probably my favorite song of theirs as I think it’s like one of the best Straight Edge anthems even if they are no longer a straight edge band. The entire rest of their set was awesome too, especially seeing songs like “Calling Hours” and “Swan Song” were genuinely such amazing moments. I will say, many of my favorite songs of theirs are from their first two albums, which they don’t play as much anymore. So there were a lot of songs of theirs that I wanted, and unfortunately didn’t get to see. But regardless, seeing them live was such an important moment for me as it feels like one of the first times i’ve seen one of those bands, by this I mean the bands that have played a massive part in making hardcore what it is today.