Formed in the fall of 2021, Defiant Path is a straight edge hardcore band based out of Savannah, Georgia.
The quartet made its debut earlier this year via their What I Hold Inside Is True demo. "A major influence for writing the demo was definitely Stop and Think and No Tolerance," Defiant Path vocalist Ethan Youth tells me. "Shortly after the demo was released, we added members Victor Balboni (bass) and Jasper Huddleston (drums) to complete our lineup." The group is rounded out by guitarist Grady Allen, who co-founded Defiant Path along with Ethan.
"A goal of ours with this project was to fill a sonic void that we saw within the Savannah music scene," says Ethan. "We saw that there was a lot of potential for hardcore to do well locally but a lot of kids were not engaged with the scene as a whole outside of the city. My hope this band is that we just write good fast hardcore but also put a highlight on a city that has potential to really pop.
"We think it would be so cool to hear about kids in like 10 to 15 years starting bands in Savannah because they saw a video of us playing in the local venues around town. We’re trying to tap in to the rotational crowd of the Savannah alternative music scene, but staying true to hardcore."
Just this month, Defiant Path dropped a new release in the shape of the Spirit of '22 EP:
"We think we’ve pulled away from Youth Crew sound to something heavier," the vocalist opines. "We all pull influence from, power violence, bands like Doom, Infest, Dropdead, Assück, and any other fastcore/D-beat bands.
"We're also heavily influenced by NYHC bands like the Cro-Mags, Breakdown, Agnostic Front, Straight Ahead, Warzone, and Madball. The Youth Crew energy and spirit is still present in a lot of our imagery and how we hope our music affects our local community."
I ask Ethan about some of the other bands in the Savannah region we should be on the lookout for. "Our local scene has been in the rebuilding stage when it comes to hardcore or anything adjacent to that. The scene that once was in the late '90s early '00s is completely different compared to today. Bands like Circle Takes the Square, Damad, Kylesa, Black Tusk, Unpersons, and Vatican/Coast-Lines paved the way for us within the Savannah music scene.
"Currently running the scene within the southeast are bands like Long.Way.Down, Memento, Miracle, Fixed View, Domain, Garlands, Smalltalk, Deal With It, Contention, Point of Contact, Stedfast, Moment of Truth, and Be All End All."
Defiant Path on social media: Instagram | Twitter | Bandcamp
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