Texas has long been one of hardcore’s most consistent strongholds, producing bands with a deep sense of groove, aggression, and history. Drummer Ely Castillo has been part of that lineage for years. Best known for his time in Bitter End, he currently holds down drums for Merauder and Hardside as well. Now, Castillo is back with a new project called Order of Living, a band born quickly and naturally out of longtime friendships and shared influences.
Castillo explains that the lineup came together almost by accident. “The band is called Order of Living and features me on drums, Jake on lead guitar, Ezra (It's the Limit, War-Lord) on rhythm guitar, Isaiah (It's the Limit, War-Lord) on bass, and Zach (Freeze Out, Gang Busters) on vocals,” he says. “I’d been meaning to jam with Ezra for a while, so I asked Jake if he’d hop on guitar and write some demo tracks. Isaiah came in on bass, and I asked Zach if he’d do vocals. We did a couple practices and—bam!—the demo was created.”
The spontaneity of the formation shows in the raw immediacy of the recordings, but Castillo emphasizes that nothing about the project feels thrown together. “We’re all well-rounded musicians, so it kind of became what it is now that Order of Living sound.”
Order of Living's influences run deep into hardcore’s earliest roots. Castillo mentions True Blue, Bad Brains, Discharge, and The Icemen as guiding forces when the songs began taking shape. To bring it to a more recent comparison, fans of Ekulu and Illusion should also take note of what the San Antonio outfit is cooking up on their demo.
Influences aside, the goal was to channel the urgency and explosiveness of those artists without sounding derivative. “It all came naturally,” Ely says. “That feel, that energy, that no-bullshit approach—we wanted that in there.”
Order of Living recorded their demo with Philip Odom at Bad Wolf Recordings in Austin, a longtime friend of the band. “Me and Jake knocked that shit out of the park,” Castillo says proudly. “And we did it without clicks—mind you, I usually record to clicks.” After the instruments were wrapped, vocalist Zach headed to San Antonio to track vocals, which came together shockingly fast. “Didn’t take much for Zach to track vocals either—one-hit takes!” Castillo says. “I envisioned Zach having these hard, no-shit-taking lyrics. In-your-face type stuff. His style really brings this demo to life.”
Even as Order of Living gets underway, Castillo remains deeply plugged into the San Antonio and South Texas scenes. He’s quick to shout out the current wave of local bands carrying the torch:
“In San Antonio there’s a sleuth of bands all around,” he says. “Nemesis is really good. Limit of Destruction is good. Open World is pretty good. Scarred Reality is doing cool stuff. War-Lord! is good! There’s too many to name.” He also gives credit to the foundational acts that laid the groundwork for the city’s hardcore identity: “Shout out to the OGs: Hardside, Teardrop, and fucking Bloodhound!”
Before wrapping up, Castillo offers a piece of advice aimed squarely at the next generation of hardcore kids, and it's delivered like someone who’s earned the right to sound like an “old head.”
“If you want to start a band, go to the roots,” he says. “Don’t just start riffing and think your shit is cool, because 95% of the time it’s garbage. Listen to Agnostic Front, Bad Brains, Cro-Mags, Madball. Take your time to be inspired by the greats. Go to shows! Support your scene, start a label.” And then, with a laugh, he ends with one more message: “Adam—finally HARDCORE!”
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The Order of Living demo is available on cassette via Rebirth Records.
Tagged: bitter end, order of living
