New Jersey hardcore band DUEL have spent much of this year taking their music outside their home state, including a 5-day run through the South and Midwest, along with recent stops in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.
If you aren't familiar with them, DUEL cite influences such as early Ceremony, Warthog, and G.L.O.S.S., and released an EP (Vs. the World) and a 2-track single, Counting Sheep/Cost of Living, both in 2025.
Influences aside, DUEL's road work inspired the band to push its songwriting in new directions. The results can be heard on Necessary Evil, their forthcoming third release and what guitarist Kate describes as a “cover-to-cover project” meant to be heard as a complete work. Across six songs and 12 minutes, the band moves beyond the bare-bones approach of its earlier material while vocalist Lauren turns frustration with herself, society, and circumstances beyond her control into something more cathartic.
With the band dropping the first taste of Necessary Evil today with the track "SCYTHE," I caught up with Lauren and Kate to discuss the EP, DUEL’s evolving sound, and their recent time on the road.
It’s been a little while since I last spoke with you, but 2026 has been a busy year for the band.
Lauren (vocals): Our main focus since speaking last has been writing and recording our new EP, Necessary Evil, which we’re really excited to release with RTF Records this November. We’ve also been playing a bunch of out-of-state shows this summer, including a five-day tour through the South and Midwest with Lehigh Valley hardcore band Controller.
We also recently made it out to Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. We’re just hyped and grateful for the opportunity to travel to places we’ve never been and share our music. We’ve met some amazing people and bands along the way, and we hope to do it again soon.
Looking back at “Counting Sheep/Cost of Living” and where the band is now, what do you think has evolved the most? That could be musically, lyrically, or even in the way you approach the band.
Lauren: Since releasing the single, I’d say we’ve been utilizing our creativity more and experimenting with different sounds. We’re not expecting ourselves to fit so rigidly into one specific subgenre, and that mindset has kept us inspired and excited to write. Our mentality right now is like: If it resonates and makes us feel something, we should lean into it unapologetically.
Kate (guitars): The focus has been on pushing ourselves to make something that sounds different from what we’ve done before. We weren’t really going for a specific sound; we’re more interested in seeing where our sound can evolve. Everyone contributes pretty equally to the songwriting process, and it’s been an incredible experience working off each other to build each song.
We share a lot of frustration and anger about our world; coming together to turn it into music has only made our songwriting process stronger.
Tell me a bit about the material on Necessary Evil. What did you hope to do differently this time around, and what influences or ideas shaped these songs?
Lauren: When it comes to influences, we have so, so, so many. The first that come to mind are Gulch, World of Pleasure, Das Oath, Watts, and Inclination.
The ideas that shaped these songs all come from times of heavy, inescapable emotions. Writing through them has helped me a lot. The songs reflect what bothers me most about the world, myself, society, and the things we can’t control.
Kate: We definitely wanted to focus on stronger songwriting. Our earlier music is very bare-bones, raw punk, and we wanted to push ourselves to see what else we could do. We also thought of this as a cover-to-cover project to listen to and digest in full, rather than just a compilation of songs we wrote.
I’m really stoked about how the EP starts and ends. Shoutout to Matt Degnan of Flatwounds; he sent me an old recording of an unused idea he’d had, and I immediately heard it as the perfect outro for this project, and he agreed to let us use it. I think it ties the whole EP together in a very interesting way.
What newer bands have been getting you excited lately, either in your local scene or elsewhere? Feel free to shout out anything you think No Echo readers should know about.
Lauren: There are a lot of very cool bands popping up everywhere. We’ve been especially excited about these:
- From NJ: Headcheck, Lucky You, 50 Days at Iliam, BALLISTIX, Eyelid, Disobey.
- Not from NJ: Step 2 This (FL), Pound For Pound (NY), Gassed (NY), Mightor (PA), Totaled (IL), Soul Purpose (MD).
What’s next for the band?
Lauren: We’d love to get back out on the road, so we’ll be trying to book more tours and weekenders. We also plan to start the writing process again soon.
Kate: We’re just going wherever the wind takes us.
I love the energy. Anything else you'd like to share before we close this one out?
Lauren: Huge shout-out to Pat Gerity (RTF Records) for all his help with the physical distribution process and promoting this EP. We couldn’t have done it without him!
We’d also like to shout out Mike Morello for all of his hard work recording, mixing, and mastering this project for us. We had a great experience and highly recommend him.
One last shout-out to Ryan Evans, the genius artist behind our album cover. Everyone should go check out his art, @rydeas on Instagram.
Kate: Shoutout to Mikey Sanchez (Defy You, Buffout) for working with me to improve on guitar. I’ve been trying to challenge myself to become a better guitarist, and I’m having a ton of fun. Hit him up for music lessons!
Lauren: Be the beacon of hope within your hardcore scene. Be the change you want to see. Hold yourself and your friends accountable.
Kate: Always remember the feeling of discovering the music and shows that you love. Never let anybody take that from you. Everyone has their own reasons for being here; stay true to what's inside you. No one owns this space.
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Necessary Evil will be out November 2 via RTF Records.
DUEL on social media: Instagram
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