^
ha ha that's cool, i have to admit despite being good friends with the dude for a few years after school we kind of lost touch and i never saw them play. i was really happy for him. he was really shy back then, i could have never imagined that he'd be the vocalist of popular hardcore band. also, i didn't want to hate on ptw fans at all, it was just weird back then. ptw and all those bands were definetely legit, just not my taste, but i actually put nerdy on a tape i made for a girl i knew that was into them. when this whole type of music became popular of course lots of asshats had to take it up and some bands got baited hard into selling out. like how afi was a decent punk band and turned into a pretty shitty hollywood pseudo goth modern rock mtv2 type band. some bands took a cool turn tho. and some nu metal kids probably abandoned their bad tastes in favor of digging deeper into hardcore/punk history for the better.
now if i went into this club headcrash here in hamburg for example they manage to play boysetsfire right after disturbed to follow up with shit like brokencyde, so there's that. i am glad that a band like converge is still going strong and still maintaining a relatively idiot free fanbase despite becoming very popular among fans of loud rock music.
anyone remember the band minus from iceland? they were on victory records and played pretty noisy metallic hardcore. then they released halldor laxness. suddenly the band looked like guns n roses, was into drugs and the music was more rocking. i really liked that record.
jr ewing tried to make an ambitious rock record with their last one but failed imo. at first i remember liking it a lot but it wore off quickly and i never feel the urge to go back to it, i still listen regular to calling in dead and ride paranoia. i feel there's always only few bands that manage to break their respective mold without either becoming less interesting and watered down or straight catering to another crowd.
my favorite record that breaks down the boundaries between post-hardcore/noise/progressive rock is still yank crime by drive like jehu. i think it could be considered a classic in music history itself. bands like metz nowadays try to approach that sound again, but none came close for me so far. they were able to create a paranoid and panicky atmosphere in their music that is really unique to them imo.
sry for the kind of pointless rambling, this thread just brings back a lot of memories. i'm actually not a part of any hardcore scene here anymore at this point, only know a few skaters that share the taste and go to shows with occasionally. i really appreciate this thread and all these stories and how we all share certain records and bands and stories from shows is awesome.