HOW GUITARIS TS FROM DRUG CHURCH, MILITARIE GUN AND SCOWL ARE LEADING THE MEL ODIC MOVEMENT IN HARDCORE PUNK

By Jim Beaugez

Nick Cogan [the guy with the guitar] in action with Drug Church

PHOTO BY DOOKIE MEÑO

EVERY GENRE OF music has its signature elements. Extreme metal has its blast beats, pop rock follows the familiar verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo formula, and hardcore punk uses bludgeoning breakdowns to give momentary respite from its frenetic assault.

But every so often, the exceptions become the rule. When the Baltimore-based melodic hardcore band Turnstile released their breakthrough album Glow On to acclaim in 2021, reaching the top 30 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart, the dam holding back a new group of outliers in the hardcore scene burst.

The ethos and the attitude haven’t changed — empowerment, independence and camaraderie are still central to hardcore music — but bands like Drug Church, Scowl, Fiddlehead and Militarie Gun are now bringing a much broader range of stylistic influences to the genre. Citing canonic alt-rock and pop-punk bands like Nirvana and Green Day, not to mention OG pop icons like the Beatles, the new breed of hardcore bands treats boundaries with as much respect as a barricade at a Knocked Loose show.