Provoke is a newer metallic hardcore band from Southern California. Citing influences like Sanction and Recon, the quintet made its recording debut last summer via a 2-track demo.
"Our style and sound is a good mix of all the things that we like," bassist Chris tell No Echo. "We love groovy riffs with heavy, old-fashioned metalcore-leaning breakdowns and catchy 2 step parts. We try to keep it pretty unique in those aspects."
A couple of weeks ago, Provoke dropped the Fall EP, a 5-song collection that No Echo first came across while updating the New Hardcore Releases playlist. "Lyrically, it’s different from our demo because I was writing a lot of it as I was going through things personally," says Provoke vocalist Andrew.
"The song 'End' is describing someone who up until they did what they did, was one of our friends. They ended up doing some morally wrong shit and thus the song was written. I feel as if it’s self explanatory even if sounding a tad bit vague."
Andrew shares some more about his lyrics on the Fall EP: "'Roots' is my relationship with myself. It was the first song we wrote as a band It’s a very negative song of how you can let your thoughts overcome you. On one hand, it’s a reminder to not let yourself forget from where you came from and not to be ashamed of your roots. On the other hand, it’s about all the shit that life can throw at you and how it can just overcome your thought process in everything."
Provoke bassist Chris is psyched on the regional hardcore scene Provoke is part of:
"We are lucky to have so many great locals in SoCal. Big shoutout to our friends in Smoked909, God Awful, Auditory Anguish, Big Ass Truck, Avulsion (Fresno) and last but not least, our brother band RuinOC who shares 3 members with us."
Chris and his Provoke bandmates are picking up the pace now that the EP is out/ "We just wrapped up a weekend run in the Bay Area where on Day 1 we opened up for Mindforce, big shoutout to RNRG for that, that was something really special to us. Day 2 and 3 in Sacramento and Bakersfield was equally just as awesome. Our next show up is San Diego with Scalp and our friends who are featured on the EP, Auditory Anguish - June 6th.
"We are looking to start the writing process again and play any shows that may pop up and be offered to us. We have a few tracks to on the back burner to look at and maybe release a single or small promo. So, mostly just writing, playing shows, and hitting the road again soon."
Provoke on social media: Twitter | Instagram
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