While Boston Hardcore certainly gets a lot of the spotlight in the underground scene for pioneering so much and for its members having their finger on the cultural trigger, the city’s punk scene has been just as legendary and forward thinking.
With names like Dropkick Murphy’s, The Ducky Boys, Darkbuster, The Trouble, and Showcase Showdown it’s surprising that Boston’s punk scene doesn't get as much shine as it used to. There are plenty of people who still draw from that classic sound though and make some energetic-sounding bands.
One group that’s caught a lot of people’s attention, from both the punk and hardcore persuasions, is The Blind featuring Joe, Mitch, and Anders from Hate Still Burns.
After Hate Still Burns’ incredible run that culminated in the release of their EP Underworld and its subsequent touring, the members took a break and decided to focus on some side projects which led to Joe, Mitch, and Anders looking outside of the heavier influences. While they were listening mostly to proto-punk classics like The Heartbreakers, The Stooges, and other hardcore bands that emphasize the punk side of the stylistic spectrum, they decided to follow in that direction.
Recalling a previous conversation I had with Joe, he stated he always preferred to go the “Fuck you” route when it came to writing music and it always worked out for him. He doesn’t like to give people what they want, he gives them what he wants and lets everyone decide whether they like it or not, either way he doesn’t care.
When talking about their shared influences for their more hardcore punk-focused project Joe stated, “I love The Unseen, The Trouble, and The Explosion, and Anders is into early Dropkick Murphy’s stuff with McColgan, and Mitch is really into Total Abuse for that more modern punk side of hardcore. I’m also a big Danzig and Misfits guy so that was also in there.” It’s pretty easy to get a feel for what kind of sound they wanted to go in and it’s a refreshing take.
The Blind jumped into things pretty quickly, dropping their demo on Halloween 2024. Joe described the recording as pretty streamlined, saying, “I wrote all the guitars, had Anders come in and finish the drums and Mitch laid down the vocals. We did all that live and then I added the bass tracks. Things moved pretty fast.” It seems they had this idea kicking around for a while because the demo does not shortchange the listener, complete with nine tracks, featuring 2 covers and seven originals by the band. It’s as punk rock as can be, giving everyone their money’s worth.
Starting off with a spooky sounding intro before jumping into ripping guitars on “Matter of Splatter” this is where the Misfits, AFI, maybe even some Samhain, influences shine through the most. Mitch’s lyrics sound a lot more carefree than he did on Hate Still Burns, talking about death and dancing in the moonlight with a damsel in distress. “It’s a matter of splatter! Baby I’m the best. I hope you got your dying shoes and wore your little red dress” he howls.
Quickly we get into the more straightforward hardcore punk stuff with the 27-second “Living in the Sewer.” All the songs are buried under grimey guitar tones that sound caked in dirt and mud. Close to the halfway mark you reach the first cover on the demo, the classic “Chinese Rocks” by Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers. The best way to make a cover is to inject your own style onto the track and make it distinctly yours and they do that here with their thick guitar work and speedy delivery. The Blind are able to make the track just a bit more hardcore than the original.
The second cover they have on the demo differs drastically from the old school punk of The Heartbreakers but shows an appreciation for Boston hardcore/grindcore scene by covering Disrupt’s “Domestic Prison.” This cover works simply because the production on the demo sounds right in line with the production of Disrupt’s Unrest album that housed the classic track. So it’s clear there’s no corner The Blind won’t hop to in their pursuits of some of the hardest music known to man.
The Blind most recent release was a two-track promo for streaming services like Spotify. Providing listeners with the speedy “Last Chance” and a re-recording of “Sense of Dread” from their demo. The production on these tracks, provided by Jason Tucker, are right in line with the street punk sound they’ve wanted to go with as the guitars cut right into your eardrums along with Mitch’s even snottier delivery.
The first track, “Last Chance,” is another blasting hardcore punk-influenced ripper with lyrics written by guitarist Joe who explained the song was written about his time in the music scene and witnessing people abandoning their passionate pursuits in order to conform to society.
“We’re all pretty young but we’re watching people drop off and making these arbitrary decisions for themselves like ‘I can’t do this anymore, I have to get a job and move on with my life’ or ‘I graduated college and now I gotta go work full-time and can’t play shows on the weekends.’ I get that there’s a lot of pressure in life to do all that but the point of hardcore was to go against all that shit. Yeah, get your life together but you can still make time for other things in life.”
The back side to “Last Chance” is a rerecording of a song off their demo called “Sense of Dread” which Joe also wrote the lyrics for. “It’s pretty much just about struggling to get through your days while everything is piling up on top of you and struggling to make sense of a world you don’t feel like you have a place in,” he explained. The track sounds even beefier on this promo with its two-step geared guitar riffage and Mitch’s vocals elevated in the mix, really bringing out the energy the song contains.
Sticking to their DIY nature Joe, Anders and their friend Seth have been developing their own label to distribute physical releases. Agartha Records Magazine is part distro label, part zine that Anders has been working on and will distribute the bands two song promo on flexi discs. “We got a plug for physicals and so they’ve been working on that behind the scenes. They just put in an order for 7-inch 45RPM flexi singles, so this’ll be the first physical release for the label and us. We’re hoping to get that all out in the next couple months and we’re also thinking of putting out a cassette tape with some songs from the demo,” said Joe.
The Blind have just played their first show opening for New Hampshire’s Sophisticated Adult along with Mankala and Born Cursed at Mulligan’s in Biddeford Maine and have also announced that they will be doing a run of shows alongside E from Cape Cod in April which will take them through Maine, New York, Baltimore and Providence Rhode Island.
They are also planning to have more music released later this year so be sure to keep up with their socials as well as the Agartha Records Magazine which just dropped its second edition.
Punk rock still has a place in the underground music scene even as bands shift their focus toward making skull cracking hardcore for the kids, the ferocious energy still burns within. The Blind are already showing their capabilities as a standout for this sound, they’re young and full of energy that’s needed for this kind of music. Dust off your old dancing shoes and hit the two step as best you can.
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The Blind on social media: Instagram
Tagged: hate still burns, the blind
