In a Facebook group about hardcore that I’m a member of someone posted Into the furnace by Existence with the comment that this was a great release. I gave it a quick listen, searched for the record on Spotify and added it to my very long playlist of releases to check out. I quickly forgot about it afterwards. But then a week or so later the record came by in my playlist. I listened to the 4 songs, and immediately started listening at the beginning again. (something I normally don’t do, because otherwise I never make it through my 40 + hours of music to check). The groovy NY style hardcore was really well done and even had an original touch. Check out this interview and listen to their record if you have any love for bands like Crown of Thornz, Breakdown, Killing time and off course the Cro mags.

Can you introduce the members of Existence? I’m also interested in their age and hobbies besides hardcore.

Our band consists of vocalist Linus, bass player Leonardo, guitar shredders LK and Simon, and Anton on drums. We are all between the ages of 23 and 25 at the moment, and besides hardcore we’re into somewhat stereotypical stuff: weight lifting, playing video games, graffiti, martial arts, politics, and hanging out with our mothers.

Here in Belgium we have the issue of not enough new blood in the hardcore scene. Since you are all quite young I want your opinion. How did you get into contact with hardcore, and what made you stick with it?

We got into hardcore in similar ways but in different places – Leonardo and Linus are from two smaller towns nearby each other, west of Stockholm, and got into punk at a young age, and later on found straight edge and hardcore. They didn’t have much to do with their free time so instead of playing sports or drinking, they got into hardcore, playing in bands and booking shows. Anton is from another smaller town further west, and he and LK, who is Stockholm born and raised, were into metal originally, and got into hardcore through going to local shows with friends. Simon is also from Stockholm and got into the scene through our mutual friends that got him into playing in an old band with Leonardo, and then he got stuck in it. To sum up what makes us stick with hardcore: Friendship. Loyalty. Commitment.

So far you have released a demo and a 7” on quality control records. What would you say is the main difference between those two releases

the biggest difference would be the production: we had way better quality and a lot more work put into the 7”, with way more pre-production and writing. the demo also had songs written with our old guitarist and the sound was more inspired by alpha omega-era cro-mags and heavy metal, where the 7” is a bit heavier and we tried to find a more original sound with a broader variety of inspiration leading up to it.

I think that also partly answered my next question. On the demo, I indeed hear a lot of Cromags influences, while on the 7” the music shifted slightly towards Crown of thornz and Breakdown. Was that a conscious decision, or more something that just happened? Would there be some less obvious influences to point out?

We basically tried to do something a bit more original than on the demo. Obviously, you’re not wrong about those bands having an influence on our sound, but we have always been more about finding a certain vibe rather than having a list of bands to use as a template. We want our music to be heavy, groovy, and infused with dark and dystopian vibes.

Except for Thirst for blood, Your lyrics seems to be quite personal. Is there a message that you want to convey with Existence?

No message in particular. Writing lyrics and performing them in a hardcore punk context is very cathartic for me. Writing allows me to go places and explore feelings and thoughts in a way that I haven’t before in my life. It’s a privilege that I try to make the best of.

Thirst for blood is about the rise of neo Nazis. Or alt right, or whatever they are called this week. Do you have a theory why this dangerous ideology rears its ugly head again these days?

It’s hard to give a short answer to such a complex question, since the rise of extreme right-wing politics can’t really be answered without a multiple of explanations, and they vary depending on country and context. Some of the main reasons, at least from our point of view, are the total neo-liberal control of economics and the breakdown of European welfare systems and the the rising economic inequality and larger gaps between social classes that comes with it. This, together with a normalization process that makes right-wing parties socially accepted, pushes the political landscape even further to the right and gives actual fascist organisations space in the political arena, both physical on the streets and as representatives in the ”democratic” parlamentarism.

You are from Stockholm in Sweden which is a country traditionally known for delivering good hardcore bands. Besides you, what other bands should we really check out from Sweden?

There are lots of bands doing cool things right now, but some of our current favorites are Give Today, Lowest Creature, Hag, Outstand, and Blood Sermon (which features Linus on the bass).

I saw you just announced a tour. What are the other future plans. Are there plans for an LP?

That’s right, lots of new territory will be explored this summer together with our brothers in Blood Sermon. Yes, new material is currently our main priority whenever we manage to get together and practice, and by the looks of it we’ll be doing an LP next.

Thanks, any final words?

Cro-mags

 

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