SPEED and hardcore are two words that have become synonymous on a global scale. The Sydney, Australia based band have staked claim on the genre through exhilarating live performances, epic music videos, and staying true to themselves. The five-piece have coined the phrase ONLY ONE MODE, so it’s no surprise it declares the title of their first full-length album. Set for release July 12th through their label homes Flatspot Records (USA) and Last Ride Records (AUS), the debut exemplifies the band’s growth while still delivering the SPEED ethos. This is what they’re about: Hardcore, played hard, played fast, “for us, by us”—explicit, immediate, definitive—hinting at all the crucial bands that have come before them.
The band share “REAL LIFE LOVE,” the first single and opening track on ONLY ONE MODE. The song is about the loyalty and realness they’ve learnt from hardcore, how SPEED connected through showing up; a depth of expression and emotion set against very punishing music. Tough vocals, jolting grooves, pummeling breakdowns, “REAL LIFE LOVE” has everything that makes up the SPEED sound. The video for the track, produced by SPEED and friends Jack Rudder & Thomas Elliot, celebrates the Sydney hardcore scene.
On “REAL LIFE LOVE” vocalist Jem Siow states:
“My time in hardcore has informed the relationships I have with everyone I hold close. An unconditional sense of love and loyalty. A bond that knows no words. Relationships that now span a lifetime. To us, this unique sense of deep-seated understanding is the essence of HC, it's what we're most passionate about and grateful for. Yet there are many in, and especially outside of this space who conflate this idea. If you stick around long enough, you might just get it. Otherwise, what's the point to all of this?”
Formed in 2019, the members of SPEED - brothers Jem Siow (vocals) and Aaron Siow (bass), guitarists Josh Clayton and Dennis Vichidvongsa, and drummer Kane Vardon - never set out for popularity. The band has always done things on their own terms, working with the same collaborators since inception - producer Elliott Gallart and videographer Jack Rudder. When 2021 single “We See U” was released, the song quickly rose to a million streams, unprecedented for a hardcore act from Sydney at the time. 2022’s Gang Called Speed EP became a definitive moment for the band. Global praise poured in from press outlets like Rolling Stone Australia, NME, Kerrang, Revolver, The Fader, Stereogum, to name a few. SPEED found themselves touring across the world - North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia - and documenting it all along the way. 2024 shows absolutely zero signs of slowing down. SPEED is currently at the start of a six week North American tour supporting Knocked Loose, Show Me The Body, and Loathe, the band is slated to open two of the Have Heart reunion shows, and have headline and festival plays, including Download, Hellfest, and Flatspot World, in Europe in-between.
This is a hardcore band from Australia who surpassed what they thought they might do at the start, and has since doubled down, ONLY ONE MODE, as fast and as hard as possible. SPEED are doing what they do for the love of their friends, family and the culture of Australian hardcore. They’re under the global spotlight for now, bright enough that their whole scene’s right there with them.
Preorder here: https://lastriderecords.com/collections/speed