It's tough to keep up with all of the new hardcore bands dropping demos these days, but one of the ones that stuck out to me recently came from Exhibition. Based in the Buffalo region of New York, the group's ripping and roaring style of the core is the kind that even the staunchest old head can't deny. "Nick, Greg and I have been playing in bands together for years, and Mason plays in The Elite with Nick, so it came together very easy," says vocalist Brett William about Exhibition's formation.
"When we were fleshing out ideas for this band, we kept saying Cause for Alarm-era Agnostic Front meets Best Wishes-era Cro-Mags. I don’t think the final product really sounds like either, but that was the idea," laughs the frontman.
Exhibition isn’t alone on this, but it seems like many of the musicians from the Buffalo hardcore scene play in several bands at the same time. Does that come down to the hardcore community being very close knit there? "I would say yes, I definitely think Buffalo is pretty tight knit. It’s pretty much the same 10 people playing in all the bands here, but it works. We aren’t the biggest scene but we all pretty much ride hard for each other. Shout out The Elite, Final Declaration, Juggernaut, and Healer."
The Exhibition demo just premiered on Bandcamp a couple of weeks back, but the group have already connected with WAR Records, who will be releasing the 4-track collection on cassette. "It fell into place perfectly, actually. We were actually going to email WAR and coincidentally they hit us up first," Brett says about the new partnership.
So, if Brett had to pick one, who would he say is his all-time favorite Buffalo hardcore band? "Okay, so this is a tough question, so I’ll have to give you two answers. The obvious one is Buried Alive. Death of Your Perfect World is a flawless album, in my opinion, and seeing their Buffalo reunion shows was a Top 5 hardcore moment for me.
"The second one is a band called XPlagued With RageX. They have a record called I Won’t Forget that is incredible. If you dig fast straight edge music, you should check it out."
You can pre-order the Exhibition demo on cassette via WAR Records.
Exhibition on social media: Bandcamp | Twitter | Instagram
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