Because the annual celebration of pop punk, emo, metalcore and extra hits the continent, we discover what makes the occasion so particular and why this subsequent greater step into Europe is so thrilling for music followers worldwide.
The fantastic thing about calling someplace house is that it doesn’t should be in a single place. Certain, the foundations embedded into the Earth that maintain up the bricks and mortar wherein you grew, modified and learnt the whole lot all through your life will all the time be there. However when the place you name house is extra of a sense, an aura, it turns into infinite. It’s as omnipresent because the oxygen we breathe, ceaselessly obtainable each time we’d like that consolation and calm. And once you share that very same sense of dwelling with 1000’s of others, you wish to unfold it even additional, letting everybody which you can know what this world has to supply.
For a lot of, Slam Dunk has change into exactly that. After all, it’s a bodily occasion that has seen legions come to bounce, sing, mosh, giggle, cry and reside at it for the previous twenty years. However the spirit of Slam Dunk lingers all year long, not simply the Could Financial institution Vacation in Leeds and Hatfield. With the ability to bottle the enjoyment, the marvel, the exuberance of loving a scene and a group so deeply and understanding that it’s there for you everytime you want it’s one thing very particular certainly. It’s one thing that doesn’t occur fairly often.
And it’s for that reason that the very fact Slam Dunk making its manner throughout Europe this Summer time, establishing camp in Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Italy and Switzerland, is such an necessary journey. As a result of this sense deserves to be shared. It deserves to be loved and adored by as many individuals as attainable. And it is a sentiment that isn’t unique to followers. It extends to the bands which can be set to be enjoying as effectively.
For instance, LANDMVRKS guitarist Nico Exposito is chomping on the bit to deliver the spirit of Slam Dunk to the mainland. That’s particularly distinguished with the truth that he’ll do it in his dwelling nation of France, with the band scheduled to play in Lyon earlier than heading to Milan throughout the competition’s grand tour. After discovering out what made it tick after they performed Hatfield Park and Temple Newsam Park again in 2023, he is aware of simply how exhilarating a spot it’s to carry out. Sandwiched between Static Costume and Match For A King on the Knotfest Stage, their potent mix of throat-shredding choruses, iron-clad breakdowns and rejection of conference turned the group right into a battleground. It’s a second that sticks with the band in additional methods than one.
“Our first time enjoying Slam Dunk was a giant one for us,” he explains. “We didn’t know what to anticipate, however the response from the group was insane. Seeing so many individuals come out to look at us, understanding the hassle it takes for them to indicate up early and help smaller bands, meant lots. Additionally, simply having the ability to share the stage with bands we grew up listening to is all the time a surreal expertise.”
That surreal expertise shall be much more distinguished with them sharing the stage with the likes of A Day To Bear in mind and The Used this time round. However other than the dreams-coming-true facet of all this, the competition’s help of them as they discovered their footing and reduce their enamel stands out essentially the most. The need and want to present upcoming bands like them the prospect to indicate what they’re fabricated from, particularly on the subject of the heavier facet of the scene, is totally very important to preserving this entire infrastructure standing. And in permitting them to achieve new followers on a global scale corresponding to this implies much more.
“Festivals like Slam Dunk are important for preserving various tradition alive and pushing it ahead,” Nico continues. “They offer a platform to each established and upcoming bands within the scene, which is tremendous necessary for the longevity of this music. It additionally creates an area the place followers of other music can come collectively, uncover new bands, and simply really feel like they belong.”
To belong. Isn’t that what all of us wish to do? To know that we aren’t alone within the issues that we love and reside for. That there are others who see life by means of the identical lens as we do. And why ought to that feeling be unique to 1 place? It’s the love of this that binds us collectively, irrespective of the place from which we found it. These are the ideas that Slam Dunk is constructed on, and it deserves to be heard worldwide.
Talking of worldwide, Slam Dunk has even had an enduring impact on bands which can be 1000’s of miles away from dwelling each time they play there. Simply ask Zebrahead‘s Ali Tabatabaee, who has stood on the SD stage a minimum of eight occasions during the last 17 years, making them just about royalty in these elements. They’re set to deliver their spiky model of chaotic pop-punk to all 5 dates of this European run, heading to Antwerp, Utrecht and Zurich, in addition to the aforementioned Milan and Lyon. And it’s honest to say they couldn’t be happier or prouder to be placing in such a shift. As a result of irrespective of the dimensions of the stage they have been enjoying – from the basement bars of Leeds College to the Punk In Drublic stage at Hatfield Home – they knew {that a} good time was all the time simply across the nook.
“Festivals like Slam Dunk are preserving various music alive and thriving,” he beams. “It offers bands a spot to attach with followers who genuinely care about this scene, and it brings collectively so many alternative genres like punk, ska, hardcore, and pop-punk multi functional place. That doesn’t occur as usually because it ought to, making Slam Dunk a lot extra particular.”
That crossover does go an extended method to additional establishing that feeling of belonging that shines by means of at Slam Dunk. The truth that so many alternative types of individuals – from spin-kick children to Myspace revivalists, flat cap punks, to eyeliner fans – can discover widespread floor in a single area is, as Ali states, lots rarer than it ought to be. However such alternative to cross streams, make new connections and realise that we aren’t that totally different in spite of everything is turning into increasingly very important within the occasions that we live in.
“There’s an actual sense of group at Slam Dunk,” Ali continues. “It’s not simply one other competition as a result of it’s a large reunion for each the followers and the bands. We get to meet up with previous buddies, uncover new music, and simply be part of one thing that feels greater than anybody set or efficiency. There’s no ego or separation from followers at this competition. It’s a bunch of people that love this music coming collectively for one insane weekend.”
And that’s exactly it. Slam Dunk actually does really feel greater than anybody band that performs it or anybody fan who loses all inhibitions at it. It’s greater than the levels, the venues, the riffs, the singalongs, and the reminiscences made all mixed. That’s as a result of it’s all about the entire and the infinite potential that the entire continues to have.
From the Millennium Sq. to the L’Amphithéâtre 3000, Hatfield College to Carroponte, the spirit of Slam Dunk, which retains blossoming with yearly that passes, binds all of them collectively. It’s a fixed in individuals’s lives and calendars, a certainty that this place that welcomes them for who they’re will all the time be there. It’s a way of magic that programs by means of the whole lot that this competition, this establishment, touches. A assure that you should have the kind of time of your life, in no matter type that will take, that sticks with you lengthy after the final amp is turned off.
The UK has had the pleasure of feeling all this for almost 20 years now. To have watched a once-in-a-generation gathering of music, tradition and group change into a solace, homestead and luxury for thus many. Now, it’s time for Europe to really feel it, too.
Tickets for Slam Dunk Europe are on sale now.
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