Hard Times

“Sydney for a long time had, in my opinion, the best hardcore scene in Australia,” reckons The Bride's Kevin Schwartz of his hometown, “Unfortunately, it's sort of slowed down a little bit over the last year, two years… Places like Brisbane, it's pretty much non-existent, the scene's almost gone because venues are closing down all over the place and no one wants to put on hardcore gigs anymore, which sucks.

“But in saying that, because that sort of thing is happening, you're starting to see a lot more house gigs and that kind of thing. Fans are saying 'Hey, come play in my living room and we'll invite everyone and charge a dollar and we'll put sandwiches on.' That's the kind of scene that you saw a couple of years ago, which I think is fantastic, and I think it's great to see it come back now. So it is on demand and I think it is getting better and better, but it's only going to be as good as the people coming to the shows and supporting it. So yeah, come out to gigs – don't sit at home and be lame.”

Doing all they can to keep the music they love alive, The Bride have been on the road constantly since the release of their debut album, President Rd, providing ample opportunities for punters to come out of the woodwork. “We really just want to build up our fan base. We're pretty passionate about what we do, so we try to tour new places and play to people that might not have heard us. Ultimately, the goal is playing as many of those shows as possible – as well as playing the capitals where we've already established a bit of a fan base. We want to play as many spots as possible and get the music out there and sort of bring back that community of hardcore that's gone missing over the past couple of years.

“[On tour] we pretty much live in a crappy little eight-seater van,” he laughs, admitting their goal isn't an easy one. “It sucks, it's really hard, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do. Always in a van, always listening to the same songs, and always sitting next to the same smelly feet.”

Although the album came out in November last year and they've already circled the country a few times, this is the band's first headlining tour in support of an album that features vocal cameos from the likes of Jenna McDougall of Tonight Alive and members of Heroes For Hire. The pairing of Sydney pop-punk and hardcore reinforces the strong sense of community that energises The Bride.

“For us, [community] is essential. We couldn't have done half of the things that we do as a band without being friends with so many different people. It seems that over the past year some bands have started to keep to themselves and they don't want to talk to other people and stuff like that. I hate that crap. I'll talk to anyone who wants to sit down and have a chat – whether it's about music, life or fucking sport, I really don't care. That's the kind of community that we've tried to build up, and is why we have guest vocalists on our album.

“I don't really see the point in being a band if you're going to sit there alone by yourself the whole time. It's supposed to be fun and it's supposed to be about friendship and mates. That's extremely important to us and we would never change it.”