Just a few months back I admittedly had never heard of Southern California’s Human Issue. A seemingly random email showed up with band info, photos and the music to their now released album “In Flesh” put out by Smart Punk Records. Their sound is diverse going from more hardcore style to more punk vibes from song to song and there even may be a song played on a piano as well. Visually they dropped a few cool music videos and they were out there hustling on tour with a lot more in store as 2026 rolls along. With each passing ...

Start Today out of Los Angeles are taking the modern day hardcore scene by storm with their charged Youth Crew style of hardcore and consistently playing out. They are currently in the midst of playing a 36 date tour opening for Terror, Pain Of Truth and End It. The average age of this five piece band is a little over 18 years old and they just put out the 9 song “Nothing To You” record on Rebirth Records this past March. You will see more of their commitment when you read this interview which took place with the entire band ...

Recently, Light The Fuse Records out of The Netherlands re-released the “Drowning Room” EP by the Brooklyn, NY band Lament whose roots date back to 1990. Lament’s early lineups had members that came from bands like Maximum Penalty, First Order and Social Disorder. Lament would release the 4 song “Drowning Room” EP in 1991 on Inner Journey Records and “Leviate” in 1994 on Too Damn Hype Records before ending in ’95. A couple of local reunion gigs would pop up years later but the name Lament had been regulated to "remember those guys?" status before Light The Fuse dropped this ...

I don’t recall my first in person interaction with photographer Carl Gunhouse but my guess would be it happened either in or outside of a early to mid-90’s hardcore matinee at CBGB’s. Over the years Carl has been a solid contributor to the hardcore scene through his photography and has an amazing knack for showing up to a show you would never have expected him to be at including Long Island VFW’s or New Jersey basement shows. In pursuing this interview I found out he has even traveled as far away as Colombia and Japan to shoot hardcore shows. He ...

Vile Mind out of Huntington, West Virginia released their debut EP “Endless Suffering” last May and have not looked back having a busy run ever since as they build up their local scene along with the recently formed Huntington Music Collective. One might not think immediately of hardcore when you are talking about the Appalachian Mountain region but when you are done reading this interview with Vile Mind’s lead singer Nate Holley you will see that they are dead serious about the music and message they put out and it seems like nothing is going to stop them. New music ...

It seems as if the history of Seattle’s Chopping Block is broken up into two parts with their first show in January of 2020 being the un-official start of this band and the end of 2022 being the end of that first phase. September of 2024 saw the release of their “Seattle’s Hardcore” EP that had many like myself saying or thinking “Wow, these guys have really taken this band to another level…” That EP came in at only 7 minutes in length though… kind of like having a half a piece of pizza when you are starving! Chopping Block ...

All 4 All out of Syracuse NY had one of the sickest releases of 2025 with their “Refuse” EP. Raw, old-school style hardcore but also original in that you could feel the passion coming out of your speakers. “Refuse” is/was definitely NOT one of those releases that just grabs a bunch of riffs and throws them into a blender…. It was definitely on repeat for most of the second half of 2025 for us here at In Effect. It was also their third release and showed a lot of improvement over their first two releases. I can’t wait to hear ...

Up next in our “20 Questions With…” series is Carlos Chavarriaga, lead singer for Raw Brigade who were born in Bogota Colombia in 2016. In the last 10 years this unit has become a force in the worldwide hardcore community with members spread out between the USA and Colombia. The drive with this band and Carlos is undeniable. They always seem to have an upcoming tour… a new release… just always something. Their latest is titled “100%”, a full-length release on Flatspot Records that comes in both English and Spanish versions. We caught up with Carlos shortly after their US ...

Straight Ahead were a short lived NYHC band that featured Tommy Carroll on vocals, Craig Setari on bass, Rob Echeverria on guitar and Armand Majidi on drums. They got their start in 1986, released a handful of songs and played a small amount of shows during their short-lived run which ended in 1988. There has always been nostalgia surrounding the hardcore bands that came out of NYC during the late 80’s and Straight Ahead are no exception. As the years moved further and further away from the 1980’s many of these bands would reform for reunion shows and in some ...

New York's Point Blank are a hard-working blue collar hardcore band who have been at it now for 11 years. Their new full-length album "Back To Square One" is out now on WTF Records (NL) on vinyl as well as CD. We caught up with their guitarist Danny Derella and vocalist Ken "KWE" Wagner to talk about the new album, Danny's days in NYHC legends Underdog as well as other aspects of this duos decades long involvement within the NYHC scene. The current Point Blank lineup also consists of bassist Chris Cappello and drummer Gary Martinez. Interview conducted in early ...