Malevolence, Speed, Dying Wish and PSYCHO-FRAME: Bands from different ends of the world and heavy music, but all united by values forged in hardcore. Riding the wave of a global resurgence, the tourmates explain how mutual admiration, broken flutes and paying it forward fuelled one of the biggest tours of the year and made this moment possible…
“Have you seen these platforms? Who the hell do we think we are?!” Staring at the towering structures rising from a tanked-up stage rig bearing Malevolence’s name, complete with ‘MLVLTD’ cut into steel sheets, it’s a fair question for affable vocalist Alex Taylor to wonder aloud. And that’s without even mentioning the tour bus parked outside Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse with his band’s giant mugs plastered on the side…
“We all love Malevolence’s bus. Hell, I want one!” says Emma Boster of Dying Wish, the inventive Portland metalcore mob who alongside Malev, hardcore nuts Speed and newcomers PSYCHO-FRAME, have been tearing up huge venues across Europe on one of the biggest, baddest tours to hit the road this year. It’s a bill hand-picked by Malevolence themselves, bringing together some of the most exhilarating and exciting bands from the worlds of metal and hardcore.
Right now, ‘Vicky’ Warehouse feels cavernous despite the noisy rattle of cases being loaded in and boxes of killer Malevolence and Speed caps unpacked, but later this room will be crammed wall-to-wall with 3,500 loyal fans throwing down. This huge near-hometown celebration for the Sheffield sluggers, with family, friends and a “dream line-up”, is living proof of how far the band have come, but also how the scene around them has grown exponentially.
Spirits are high across the touring party as Alex and Malev guitarist Konan Hall, Emma, Speed’s Jem Siow and PSYCHO-FRAME’s dual frontmen Mike Sugars and Colter Cuthbertson sit down to reflect on the snowballing momentum of these shows and, by extension, this moment in heavy music…
How’s this tour been?
Alex Taylor (Malevolence): “It’s been absolutely sick. Every show has been a lot of fun, and from what I’ve seen everyone’s been received really well. The comments on all our posts have been about how sick the support bands are and how they’ve discovered new bands, which is exactly what we wanted to do when we put this line-up together. We had our dream line-up, and it’s very rare that you get the chance to do that. It’s worked out perfectly on this run. Everyone’s cool as well.”
Emma Boster (Dying Wish): “These have been the best European shows we’ve ever played. Historically, Europe has been really tough for us. That ocean of separation is huge when it comes to success as a band for us, so we’ve had to work extra hard over here. But these crowds have been super open-minded. Every night kids in Malevolence or PSYCHO-FRAME shirts are in the pit for us. It’s really cool. And now we’re in the UK where we do really well, so I’m excited for these shows.”
Mike Sugars (PSYCHO-FRAME): “I couldn’t put it better. For our band’s first time here, this is unbelievable. It’s not lost on us, the chance to be a part of this group of bands. They’re bands that we respect and whose music we love.”
Jem Siow (Speed): “I feel like on this line-up, even despite the difference sonically between bands, people are more coming for the vibe. They’re coming for the energy. They’re coming to feel something that’s real and that’s a reflection of the culture Malevolence have with their audience. I think it’s easy to look at genres, but at the same time we’re all part of this underground, heavy subculture, and it all just works.”
What have been some of the highlights?
Emma: “Well, I’ve been doing Keep Your Distance with Malevolence every night – that’s really fun. And Mike and Colter come out and do a song with us. It’s just been good hangs. Everyone gets along and I don’t want it to end, personally.”
Alex: “That was the one thing that we noticed quickly: this is not long enough. You have that first week of getting into your flow and then after that, you start getting to know everyone on the tour. And now it’s like, ‘Fuck, we definitely should have done another two weeks!’”
Konan Hall (Malevolence): “Paris was my favourite show so far, but they’ve all been absolutely sick. I just feel tired after watching Speed every night. The energy they’ve got… fuckin’ hell! When we get onstage I’m like, ‘How have they been jumping around for half an hour?’”
Jem: “My favourite part of every night is when Kon does a butterfly kick while playing guitar, because it’s just so acrobatic.”
Konan: “Not bad for a fat lad.”
Jem: “I also love hearing the sounds the PSYCHO-FRAME guys make with their vocals the whole set. It’s so dope. I say this every night, but there are a lot of incredible musicians on this tour and it blows my mind.”
Emma: “Speaking of: the flute part every night in Speed’s set, you can’t miss that! Anyone in the crowd who doesn’t know that’s coming, watching it blow their minds in real time is incredible.”
Konan: “You know what you need to start doing on that flute bit? Jam it up, dude. Play some mad shit. I know you can!”
Jem: “No, bro. Here’s the secret: my flute is broken right now. It can only play two notes!”
Alex: “Too much moshing with the flute!”
When you see the success of tours like this, does it feel like there’s a growing movement and excitement for hardcore?
Alex: “I feel like heavy music in general across the spectrum is having another moment right now, no matter what niche you’re in. It seemed like for a few years, in the UK particularly, there wasn’t as much interest in heavy music. That’s completely changed. You’ve got huge shows happening and festivals like Outbreak having a moment. There’s a resurgence across the whole spectrum, which is sick to see. I don’t know what it’s like for you guys in America?”
Emma: “We’re definitely in kind of a peak, and I think that post-pandemic people wanted and needed music more than ever. I also think that it’s become more accessible and I really appreciate what Jem said earlier because I love that attitude. Even though we all sonically sound different, it comes from the same mentality. It’s really cool because, before the pandemic, I don’t think people would have been able to think about music the way that we can allow it to happen here right now.”
Jem: “Any show that Speed has played on this tour so far would have been a generational milestone for a hardcore band pre-2019. We’ve been doing this all year and it’s a reflection of a wave that we’re all riding at the moment with our friends, which is the greatest privilege of my life to be on.”
Emma: “Yeah, but also there was a lot of reckoning within the scene on [unacceptable] behaviours. That was a big thing that we had to do. It was kind of a traumatising time, especially as a woman in the scene, to be honest with you. I do feel that we’ve moved beyond that now, though.”
Does it feel important to embody those good ethics as a band and bring it out onstage?
Emma: “Yeah. I think we have a different standard in this generation now, as far as women being in bands and on tour, and they’re being treated properly. We had to do a lot of work to deal with that before, and we still have work to do, but I feel like the standard is better now.”
Colter Cuthbertson (PSYCHO-FRAME): “Hardcore is incredibly inclusive of anyone. It doesn’t matter who you are: gender, race, whatever. It’s for everyone.”
Emma: “I think hardcore has always been the leader in the heavy music scene as far as that inclusivity goes.”
Colter: “I think that’s probably a big reason why people are gravitating towards it more now, too. They see how inclusive it is. And I think that even though genre-wise we’re not all hardcore bands, we all come from hardcore, and the best version of any band is from hardcore, in my opinion, because of those ethics.”
Do you see other reasons why hardcore is having this moment right now?
Konan: “I guess some of it does stem from lockdown, because everyone was sick of being trapped inside. Everyone’s having problems, everyone just wants a release and I feel like heavy music is the best release you could ever get. Go swing your arms around in a pit and forget about everything else that’s happening in your life. All our shows post-COVID were amazing, and that was what really started us on our incline to where we are now.”
Emma: “I think the internet has played a really, really big part in it as well. Heavy music had such a huge moment when Myspace happened, and I feel like we’re having a similar moment with TikTok – for better or for worse. It makes music so much more accessible. If young people are on TikTok and see a band like Malevolence or PSYCHO-FRAME, they could have no attachment to anything whatsoever but now they have this new favourite band. You know, people come up to me and they’re like, ‘This this was my first hardcore show ever!’ and that’s crazy to me.”
Mike: “I do think a lot of credit also has to be given to bands that started having their own moment put on for other bands that they are excited about. We’ve all been doing this a minute and I believe would continue to even if it were only for 50 people. But for a relatively young band like us to do a tour as awesome as this one, that doesn’t happen unless bands take the good thing they’ve fostered for a long time and share it.”
In that way, does it feel important to pay it forward, to encourage the next generation?
Alex: “One hundred per cent. Knocked Loose are a prime example. They’re putting on so hard for bands that they like and they’re basically the biggest band in our world at the minute. It’s absolutely mad what’s happened with that band. But they’re bringing people with them as well. They just pick the line-ups that they want to see on tours, and they lead by example.”
Emma: “I don’t think we would be anywhere near as successful as we are without Knocked Loose inviting us on that feature [A Serpent’s Tongue], to be honest.”
Alex: “I think a lot of bands in our world owe a big debt to Knocked Loose. And if we can do the same thing as they have, then we’re going to do it as much as we can. Honestly, I just like coming into the venue every morning and there’s two buses full of people who are absolutely sound. There’s no egos. It’s special for us, because we’ve done so many tours over the years, and to be on a run with a bunch of people who we can call friends is sweet. We need to do it again!”
This interview originally appeared in the winter 2025 issue of Kerrang!.
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