In what has been a flagship yr for hardcore, there are few bands which have reaped the rewards fairly like Pace. Although, saying that, there are few bands which have caught to their weapons within the face of vital acclaim fairly like Pace both. Beginning 2024 because the scene’s greatest saved secret and seeing it out as award winners, future Coachella performers and viral sensations, it’s been as loopy a 12 months as any band may ask for, not to mention one which by no means anticipated to make it out of Sydney.
However it’s of their honesty, integrity and sheer love and adoration for this music that the band have discovered their method into so many individuals’s hearts and headphones. In selling every thing that hardcore ought to be about – expression, neighborhood and tolerance – they’ve confirmed themselves to be worthy flagbearers for the scene, and it’s nonetheless solely simply getting began.
To aim to sum up every thing up, Rock Sound had been fortunate sufficient to seize vocalist Jem Siow for a chat throughout a second of downtime…
Rock Sound: First, it’s truthful to say it has been a frantic yr for you. How has it been preserving the identical vitality flowing all through every thing you will have carried out?
Jem: “The factor is, we’re a hardcore band. As intense as this yr has been, that is what we do. It’s the essence of what all of that is. If there may be one factor that Pace can depend on, and the elements of Pace that I can at all times vouch for, it’s the vitality and the eagerness. I can’t say that we’ve got essentially the most authentic music or we’re essentially the most technical musicians, however each fucking evening, irrespective of how drained or jetlagged we’re, we’ll at all times go arduous as fuck. There’s just one mode, with out being tacky about it. Additionally, so as to add to that, as overwhelming as all of this may be, it’s additionally the factor of desires. As a hardcore band from Sydney, taking part in exhibits like we’ve got around the globe is insane. We’ve been on tour for six months out of this yr, and we’re very conscious that this can be a place that no different Australian hardcore band has been in. We really feel answerable for delivering while flying our flag and representing our scene. Doing the chance justice. So, there isn’t a different alternative than to go as arduous as we are able to for so long as you’ll be able to.”
RS: How do you now look again on the start of the band’s story and evaluate it to the place you will have been in a position to go from there? What do you keep in mind about that point?
Jem: “We began this band with such pure and humble intentions, born out of the potential that we thought we had. We began with the ambition to only be a hardcore band in Sydney and to have the ability to placed on hardcore exhibits. Combine that in with the time in our lives that we began issues, me being 27, able the place we’ve got realized from a variety of errors and realized rather a lot about ourselves, and also you see that we began from a spot of simply desirous to champion true authenticity. Hardcore wasn’t thought of cool round our pals or individuals in Australia after we started. However we noticed it as the best factor ever and wished to champion it. It made it simpler for us to simply accept issues as a result of we had been already on the again foot as a result of it meant that we may simply double down. We may do every thing we thought it ought to be carried out and be precisely the model of ourselves we wished to be.”
RS: In the event you aren’t beginning one thing with pure intentions, you might be already setting your self as much as fail. This has resonated with so many individuals as a result of they’ve seen simply how sincere it’s to who you might be and never you making an attempt to be one thing you’re not…
Jem: “This entire band has been an unimaginable journey, and so many classes have been realized. About myself, one another and how you can method and navigate this world. After we launched ‘WE SEE YOU’, that was a track primarily based solely on our friendship group and the way we noticed hardcore by means of the lens we had in Sydney. After we filmed the video for that, posted on avenue corners, I may see individuals strolling previous and thought, ‘We’re going to finish up on Catatonic Youths, bro’. But in addition, who actually provides a fuck? That is what we do, and I feel it’s recent. And each single factor we’ve got carried out, we imagine with our total being. A few of it’s tongue in cheek, and a few is fairly obnoxious, however seeing the way it has been obtained so positively has taught me a lot. In the event you settle for your self and are on a journey to search out your self and put that out into the world with none restrictions, that’s the place you create your greatest artwork and essentially the most significant message you’ll be able to discover. I’ve spent a lot of my life looking for myself, of ticking containers I believed wanted ticking to get to a sure place. There are such a lot of causes behind that, however with this band, it was the primary time I attempted to simply accept myself for who I’m and need to be. It has come again so feverishly and so intensely.”
RS: What has it been prefer to navigate individuals desirous to be part of what Pace is?
Jem: “I see what is going on with Pace not simply being a Pace factor. It’s a hardcore factor. We pinch ourselves daily and course of it whereas nonetheless asking ourselves why it’s taking place. Why has hardcore blown up so insanely presently when it had each motive to fail? It’s purely a testomony to the entire assemble of what this subculture stands for. With that, it provides us much more duty as a result of with this sea of newcomers flooding into the scene, they have to perceive the essence of it. It’s a tough place. The discourse for ten years main as much as Pace again dwelling was, ‘How will we get youngsters to come back to exhibits? How will we get individuals to start out bands? How will we get individuals to care about this for the precise causes?’ Now it has turn out to be, ‘How will we ensure that the tradition doesn’t turn out to be diluted?’”
RS: That occurs in each native scene, the doubt that comes with whether or not you must chop and alter issues to maintain up with demand. However the actuality is that you simply acquired there from marching to your individual beat, so why would you ever cease and alter that
Jem: “This band began with a mission assertion and that was to have a good time and promote hardcore tradition. That’s been the defining guideline, the metric, the goal from day one and it’s what we use to navigate each circumstance that we discover ourselves in. This band has been making an attempt to embody the spirit of hardcore as purely as we are able to from the start, and once I take into consideration what meaning, it’s about humanity. It’s about realness. That has made it simpler for us to exist inside this. We’re not good individuals or these pop stars or manufactured rock stars who’ve a handbook for appearing and behaving. We don’t have many figures from Australia which have been on this place earlier than us. We’re simply pals which can be in a mission collectively. We don’t declare to know every thing; we all know what we all know. That has influenced each resolution we’ve got made, from how we rolled out our album and the way we’ve got curated the exhibits we play, the charities we donate to or the shirts we put on on stage. Every thing is one thing we take into consideration and deliberate while falling again on the data that we’ve got. That, to me, is what hardcore is. Channelling what I do know to be actual into what we’re making.
“We’re nonetheless rising and studying, however what you see is what you get. That’s why we put a flute in ‘THE FIRST TEST’. I’m a flute participant and a flute trainer; I’ve performed for 14 years earlier than this and have a level in flute efficiency. I did that as a result of after highschool, I didn’t know what I wished to do other than music, however I couldn’t play guitar, and I may play the flute. I’m an Asian man with no tattoos. I’ve a group of plushies on my couch at dwelling. I train youngsters to play ‘Scorching Cross Buns’ daily. I put on ramen socks. Individuals say that we’re the toughest hardcore band on the market proper now, however you don’t even know, you already know? Individuals will make up issues to criticise us about as effectively, and that’s effective as a result of I don’t count on you to grasp in the event you’re not on this. To be hardcore is to not be afraid of who you might be, and you set it on the market. And we’ll double down on that as we carry on rising.”
RS: You end up having to double down on that extra so when what you might be doing stretches outdoors of the viewers you had been initially focusing on. You point out the flute solo in ‘THE FIRST TEST’, which has now been seen by individuals who don’t even know what hardcore is. These moments are necessary but additionally aren’t what outline you, and so they by no means ought to…
Jem: “It’s surreal to see that. It’s surreal to see this band be in conversations that it by no means ought to have been. I’m grateful, nevertheless it’s so humorous. On the similar time, some individuals aren’t going to grasp what any of that is. I don’t count on them to grasp it. It’s arduous to grasp all of this. However the one factor that may at all times be the guiding gentle will likely be our mission assertion. Individuals could make up no matter they need and take all of it nonetheless they need, however I’ve by no means ever as soon as carried out one thing and felt like I’ve compromised my values. It’s at all times there as a result of we care and know what we stand for. Individuals are reacting to 10 seconds of a reel or a headline of an article; that’s all good with me. I’m interested by this 24 hours a day, seven days per week. I’m considering every thing to do with Pace and to do with hardcore each second of daily, bro. I’ve most likely considered this longer than anybody else, and even then, I’m nonetheless making an attempt to determine it out regardless that I’m residing it. However I belief that the story we’re telling, after we look again on it in 5 or ten years, will likely be made extra sense of as time goes on. However one of the simplest ways to speak it can at all times be at a present. That’s one of the simplest ways for somebody to get what Pace is about.”
RS: How has it been seeing individuals soak up Pace from totally different angles? From supporting Knocked Unfastened within the US to seeing the expansion at Outbreak within the UK, what have these numerous vessels for channelling Pace taught you?
Jem: “Actually, it’s a loopy factor to mirror on as a complete. With out sounding overly assured or cocky, the truth is that Pace seems to be a gateway band for lots of recent individuals. The people who find themselves coming present from all over; that is their first-ever hardcore present. They’re telling us that is their first hardcore present, and we’re having conversations with individuals who would by no means have heard of our band in any other case. There are individuals who like Pace who additionally don’t learn about different hardcore bands. So we’ve got a duty to nurture the tradition in the precise method due to that. That’s been an important factor. The primary live performance I ever went to was Parkway Drive. I used to be a metalhead with aspect fringe and checkered Vans. They’d three hardcore bands supporting them. The primary time I noticed a spin kick. It was the primary time I noticed individuals dressing as regular individuals taking part in energy chords on stage with none theatrics. That shit ruined my life, I used to be a hardcore child from there. So now I’m in a hardcore band opening for a metalcore tour, and youngsters are going to come back and expertise the identical issues I did for the primary time. If 5% of the viewers walks away liking it, then I want to indicate them what it’s all about. We have to present them how you can carry themselves on this tradition in the precise method. It’s so necessary to us that individuals know that this isn’t about any form of clout. This isn’t about cash or fame or any form of rock star bullshit. We acquired into this as a result of my pals and I beloved the music and magnificence and wished to make good reminiscences with that love.”
RS: That’s the place longevity comes from. It’s why you’ll nonetheless be right here in 5 years, and so many different bands disappear into the ether. You’re simply doing what feels proper, not letting any second go you by and having fun with the journey as a result of with out that, what’s the purpose?
Jem: “The aim of it will at all times stay the identical. Although we had been rocking as much as 100 cap rooms in my $1000 automotive a few years in the past, and now we’re hitting venues in a bus with a driver, the foundation remains to be the identical. Wherever we’re in a yr’s time, if this retains on getting larger and greater or the momentum stops, it doesn’t fucking matter. We’re simply going to be a hardcore band. This band was solely speculated to play to our friendship degree; it was by no means meant to succeed in additional than that.”
RS: So, what would you say you might be most happy with that 2024 has represented for Pace? From the songs you’ve launched to the locations you will have been to the issues you will have achieved, what stands out?
Jem: “I’m happy with the religion I’ve in my pals and the religion that I’ve in myself. All of us give up our jobs on the finish of final yr to completely decide to this as a result of we knew we had a lot touring forward. It was virtually do or die for us due to that, we had no different alternative. And for all of us, that required a lot belief in one another. The longest tour we had carried out earlier than this yr had been two weeks. This yr has been six months of being on the street. The primary tour of this yr was three months straight. We didn’t know what it might be like leaping into this way of life, even with how we’re greatest pals. Now we have lived again dwelling, and we’ve got households and plans for the longer term that aren’t meant to be wrapped up inside being a full-time touring hardcore band. However life takes you the place it desires to, and you must belief in your values and what you already know is correct in your coronary heart. And that has been essentially the most vital lesson I’m most happy with. As a result of, to date, it has labored out.”
