Band: Compete
From: Vienna, Austria
Their formation story:
(Jonas, guitars): "Back in spring 2024, I got together with Quentin, and our first guitarist at that time, to write some fast but catchy hardcore tunes without any harsh restrictions besides keeping it real [laughs].
"After some sort of summer break, and a few lineup additions, the current gang including Christina, Cyrille, and Viktor found itself last fall. We immediately started practicing way more and everyone was down to record those little songs as well.
"We all know each other from a pretty diverse Vienna DIY scene since most of us played in various emo, punk, and hardcore bands like Knifelong, Monokay, Scuffle, Tonal Shift., and Va Fa Napoli, plus being involved in booking local shows for years now."
Their sound in their own words:
"We play faster hardcore with a Youth Crew-y touch, kinda aiming for that 2000s Lockin' Out sound and mixing in some UK stomp inspirations here and there. We're hoping to get stuck in your head we're trying to focus on songs that are simple but effective."
Latest release info:
"The demo came together pretty quickly, most of those songs' instrumental basics were written before the full final line up was on board but they all brought their perfect personal touches to it. We think Christina wrote some great lyrics and everyone aimed for that one minute of sweet balance between angriness and pure fun.
"We recorded all four tracks on a weekend in December 2024 with our talented friend Felix (hell of a young gun) and luckily STTW Records from the infamous Rhineline approached us about a tape version which got released via both STTW and Quentin's fresh Vienna collective. Leechpit."
Future plans:
"At the end of January, we're finally playing our first show at Vienna's new hardcore fest Take a Stand, with a whole lotta amazing bands like Sidestep, Chemical Threat, Phase, Preemptive Strike, Blockage, Thrufall, Bajo Control, Bicycle Terror, and many more. We're pretty excited for that one and some other shows that are currently in the making.
"Check the Leechpit and STTW social media pages for upcoming dates. Hopefully we can announce something soon for Germany and Austria plus we got some new songs ready to record as soon as possible."
What other bands from their region should we check out?
"2024 brought some Vienna hits:
"The Scuffle demo is sick, NYHC vibes all around.
Tonal Shift's EP is simply mind-blowing stuff, fast af '80s DC-style ardcore.
Monokay (grooving Hardcore) and Sicaria (power violence) are taking amazing steps as well, and you check out their latest releases!
"More cool stuff hitting the Austrian streets by current and I think active bands like Autor, Backyard, C.A.M.O., Combat Beach, Cryptal Echoes, Dice Throw, Dregs, Ghost Ambulance, Hase, Hyperdog, Kettenhund, Opioid Crisis, Parole80, Parasite Dreams, Pressure Drop, Ritualize, Rolltreppe, Stumbling Politely, TimexTrial, and many more bands."
The Compete demo is available on cassette via STTW Records.
Tagged: compete
