Band: Impact Driver
From: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Their formation story:
(Ryan Gorham, vocals): "We all came together because we wanted to see more Oi! in Philly. There’s always been some phenomenal bands in the area, but around the time of the pandemic a lot of their members started families or moved out of state. So we decided to step in and fill that vacuum and have some fun writing songs with our friends in the process."
Their sound in their own words:
"Our sound and approach is heavily influenced by the current wave of Oi! music in general. As a devout fan of the genre, I’d been bored in recent years listening to stuff that sounded derivative, unimaginative, and just kinda lazy. When bands like The Chisel, Conservative Military Image, The New York Hounds, Claimed Choice, Home Front, Liberty & Justice, etc, burst onto the scene, it was this whole breath of fresh air that really inspired me.
"Suddenly, there were bands gaining traction who were actually putting effort into their musicianship, their lyrics, carving out their unique style. The cookie-cutter mold of rhyming 'braces' with 'laces' over the same 4 chords started becoming less common and suddenly Oi! and Oi-adjacent music was awesome again.
"This new crop of bands is embracing elements of hardcore, glam, darkwave, ska, you name it, while still embodying that skinhead mentality in a new and revitalized way. And we were like, 'hell yeah man, this is a musical movement we want to be a part of.'"
Latest release info:
"The Hustle and Muscle is comprised of 5 originals and a cover, and Dismantled Records is releasing it as a full-length LP with our debut EP as the B side. It was a heavily collaborative effort; our drummer Joey plays every instrument and brought a lot of his hardcore chops to the table.
"Our bassist Julian and guitarist Josh both come from street punk backgrounds, and our second guitarist Travis brought some really cool synthed out rock n roll licks to the new record as well, particularly the second track 'Up in Flames.'"
Future plans:
"We’re playing Studzilla in Syracuse in September, which is our de facto record release show with a whole grip of awesome bands. And we’re writing new material every week at practice, our goal is to put out a full-length next."
What other bands from their region should we check out?
"I would be remiss not to mention our members’ other projects: Minefield, Fucksake, and Brainwashed. All nepotism aside, if you’re not listening to Intimidation then you’re fuckin up."
Impact Driver on social media: Instagram
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