Scowl: Breaking hardcore’s rules while building its brightest future

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“Hardcore is basically this church for a bunch of misfit toys,” says Scowl vocalist Kat Moss. The punk subculture has a long, storied history but is in the middle of a renaissance thanks to a new generation of bands breaking with tradition and pushing into bold, brutal new places.

“Hardcore isn’t just about scary, heavy music. It’s a safe, effective space for community,” explains Kat. Scowl’s 2019 self-titled EP was driven by the buzzsaw rage and snarling breakdowns that are typical of the genre, but 2021’s debut album ‘How Flowers Grow’ featured the pretty, melody-driven ‘Seeds To Sow’. That step into the unknown was followed up with 2023’s groove-heavy ‘Psychic Dance Routine’, with Scowl rightfully championed as one of the most exciting new hardcore bands around.

“We just happen to be the right combination of people who are not afraid of breaking the bend a little,” says Kat. “For a band that’s come from where we’ve come from, we’ve achieved a lot.” They’re not wrong, either. Scowl are the first hardcore band signed to the prestigious Dead Oceans label (Phoebe Bridgers, Shame), have toured arenas with Limp Bizkit and popped up at Coachella and Reading & Leeds. “I don’t want to go into those opportunities and only take little bites,” she explains. “Ambition is very much the fuel of this thing.”

It’s why their new album ‘Are We All Angels’ doesn’t really sound like a hardcore record. Inspired by 90s alt-rock bands L7, Hole and Nirvana, Scowl clash polished bubblegum pop with heavy guitars across the album – and there are also nods to 00s emo bands Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance. Every member of the band (guitarists Malachi Greene and Mikey Bifolco, bassist Bailey Lupo, drummer Cole Gilbert) was given the freedom to bring their own influences to the project. “We were inspired by Billie Eilish, Thom Yorke and Julien Baker, but it doesn’t really sound like any of those things,” they grin. “It has just become this weird fucking thing.”

Initially, Scowl were worried about all the blurred genre lines, but they soon came to the conclusion that they didn’t care all that much about what other people might say. “Does the music feel good? Is it authentic to the emotion you’re trying to expel? That’s all that mattered,” says Kat. “I don’t care about conforming or putting in parts so we can be considered a certain type of band. Maybe it doesn’t sound like a hardcore record, but like that doesn’t really change anything about who we are and what we’re doing. Realising that simplified a lot of the anxieties.”

There is a fierce hardcore energy to ‘Are We All Angels’, though, which takes personal pain and twists it into shared euphoria. It’s a record about control, self-belief and digging your heels in, with those messages delivered alongside plenty of venom. The lyrics are inspired by the personal grief that the band have experienced over the past few years, with that trauma amplified by the disconnect that comes with spending months on the road away from their local scene. “There was no time or space to process anything, and it really fucking sucked. I was living a daydream, but it also felt like hell,” says Kat. The band poured all that hurt into ‘Are We All Angels’. “We really unleashed in the studio, and it was very cathartic. I highly recommend everybody write a record about their darkest time.”

Each song is incredibly personal. ‘Fantasy’ is about feeling alienated by hardcore, ‘B.A.B.E.’ is about the extreme circumstances the band puts themselves in to chase their dreams, while ‘Tonight (I’m Afraid)’ is about wanting to protect someone from hurt at the cost of your own physical and mental wellbeing. “The longer you avoid that voice at the back of your head, the quicker your body will stop trusting you,” they explain.

“Hardcore isn’t just about scary, heavy music. It’s a safe, effective space for community”

Getting so vulnerable has caused a few panic attacks as the release date of ‘Are We All Angels’ grows closer, but in recent weeks, Kat has found peace. “The songs aren’t explicit, and if you know what I’m talking about, you’ve probably gone through something similar,” she says. “The idea of writing a record about trusting yourself and embracing your own narrative as strongly as possible, while also succumbing to grief and the fact that you do not have control over what the world and your abusers want to say about you… it does sound vague, but if you know, you know.”

‘Are We All Angels’ goes beyond the personal as well. “I’m also pretty angry at the world and the various systems of control. I wanted to talk about it in a way that was not madly explicit, but I really hope that young femme and queer people, the more disenfranchised corners of youth, can listen to this record and know they’re not alone. I hope it offers them validation but also makes them feel radicalised in who they are.”

“There’s a lot of pain on the record but these songs also feel so joyful,” which is an important energy for Scowl to be putting out into the universe right now.  “Our world is in a really bizarre, scary place right now. People are coming to power that are a lot more open about removing our rights, and I hope people are angry about that.” They hope it inspires people to seek out alternative music and the communities that form around it. “I want it to result in more radicalisation, or at least rooms where people can go and express themselves in a safe, healthy way. That’s what hardcore did for me when I was younger and it really did save me,” says Kat. “Knowing we’re going to be playing so many shows this year and will be able to offer people a space to find that joy, that feels really good. All we have is community, right?

A lot of the early excitement around Scowl came via their chaotic live shows. As well as hitting the road hard, videos filmed and shared on the Hate5six Youtube channel racked up hundreds of thousands of views, with people enthralled by the unruly mosh pits and neverending stream of stagedivers that Scowl gigs attracted. “With hardcore, there is that push and pull energy with the crowd, so we were wary [about this new record] where we didn’t know what a Scowl show would look like with songs that didn’t have breakdowns and two-steps,” admits Kat.

After the release of ‘Special’ and ‘Not Hell, Not Heaven’, the band have already noticed a shift in the crowd. “There’s now a lot of people up front, singing along and having a good time,” with the mosh happening a little further back. Kat’s really excited to see how it continues to evolve after the record is released.

“One of the most important things to me is freedom of movement. I love to just dance like an idiot whenever I can,” says Kat, with Talking Heads their band of choice for bedroom dance parties. “I want Scowl shows to be that place where you don’t have to worry about being cringe, and you don’t have to worry about embarrassing yourself. Yes, the world is on fire. It’s exhausting constantly having to deal with depression, and we’re all experiencing this grief cycle, but nobody can take away that spark of joy.” Pretty hardcore, right?

Scowl’s album ‘Are We All Angels’ is out now.