Band: Anchorite
From: Austin, Texas
Their formation story:
(Chris, vocals): "Up until May of last year I was playing in two projects (Easy Prey and Mall Walker), Easy Prey came to a halt and Mall Walker had fallen to the wayside after our drummer, who played in both bands, had moved across state (Texas is too big!). We tried to keep going with Mall Walker with a different drummer but it kept stalling and Easy Prey was done-done, so I shared a post online to my friends about starting a new band.
"I was surprised at how quickly a core group of folks reached out and expressed interest. Sam was one of the first people to respond. I’ve known Sam for around 6/7 years now and our friendship has always revolved around going to shows, sharing music and I knew he'd played in Great Reversals back in Michigan before he moved to Austin, I coaxed my buddy Matt into drumming, he's been in a handful of bands in Austin over the years, so I was stoked to sort out the drummer position quickly. We started out with former Easy Prey guitar player Cole, but work/life commitments meant he couldn't stick with it, so I asked my work buddy Robbie if he wanted to jump in.
"We're all in our late 30s and early 40s at this point, we've all been in bands all over the punk/hardcore/indie spectrum and honestly, so it's nice to find people who want to put their energy into something. For the last 20 years I've wanted to play in a straight-up hardcore band, and now I get to do that.
"We started talking about what the band could be and about getting together to play at the end of July 2023, and started playing together in August. We wrote a bunch of songs and played our first show in March of '24 (shout out Philly Pat and Bad Kids Presents/Mugger)."
Their sound in their own words:
"A friend described it as 'burly hardcore,' and I've described it to friends as 'knuckledragger hardcore/punk,' it's straight-up hardcore with more punk influences than metal. Ignorant but not stupid, angry but informed, I think there's beauty and effectiveness in a stripped back hardcore song.
"I personally love the 2000s-2010s Boston/New England thing; The Rival Mob, Boston Strangler, No Tolerance, Think I Care, but there's some TXHC and UKHC in there too and older, classic stuff like Negative Approach.
"I'm trying to channel bands that play hardcore that's also very punk. Sam is always trying to make us do a Ringworm cover, so I don't know what that tells you? But between us there's influences all over the map, Matt is a skate/fast punk guy, Robbie's a punk dude with super eclectic tastes and Sam's a hardcore dude who listens to a bunch of death/black metal too but usually turns up to practice blasting Jimmy Buffet."
Latest release info:
"We really wanted to get something recorded quickly, to get out there, help us book shows, we weren't too precious about it because it's a demo; it's so people have an idea about how we sound, and we also recorded the first 4 songs we wrote, like we could've picked our 4 'best' songs, but wanted it to be representative of the band at this early stage.
"We played our first show and the following weekend spent a day with my buddy Stuart Sikes to record some songs here in Austin, he mixed it and then we sent it off to Will Killingsworth to master. We're self-releasing a limited cassette which should be in our hands pretty soon, and I'm stoked about having something to show people. Sam drew the image that we used on the art and fixed it up so we could use it for the demo, and I did the layout. It's nice to have our own little inhouse art team curating a visual style for the band."
Future plans:
"At this point, we're just trying to play shows, get out of Austin, write more songs, go to as many shows as we can connect with other bands. I don't think we'll ever do full-on touring, we're all adults with big boy jobs and families/partners, Matt's expecting a child very soon, Robbie and I work at the same place so two of us taking off a bunch of time together would be tricky, but I wouldn't say no if it was something really cool.
"I'd just like to be playing in a band that gets asked to play shows and connect with other bands and folks from other scenes and build, and be an active, visible part of, that hardcore community."
What other bands from their region should we check out?
"Texas is fucking cool at the moment, DFW, Houston, San Antonio and Austin all have cool shit happening. DFW's got Ozone, Grimoire, Ballista, Spit My Rage. Houston's got Skourge, Strange Joy, Liberty & Justice, Juicebox. San Antonio's got Joust, Future Shock, Inner Self.
"Austin's got Mugger, Just Sayin', Dewormer, Saintpeeler, Bosh, Nerve, Portrayal of Guilt, Virtue, Drip-Fed, Slow Pulse, Votive, and hardcore adjacent; Tied Up, Porcelain, Fawn, Feed Your Body To The Void, Glassing. Texas is looking healthy at the moment, going to the shows that Parade of Flesh and Bad Kids Presents is putting on in Austin shows there's a tonne of good stuff happening here."
Anchorite on social media: Instagram
Tagged: anchorite
