Patrick Cardullo and vocalist Ignacio (Nacho) locked themselves in a practice space one night last October. They left with the songs that became Feel Free’s debut demo, the first release the two have put out since walking away from their previous band, which Cardullo says wasn’t focused on growth or all that professional.
Feel Free are metallic hardcore out of Orange County, built on the riff sense of Earth Crisis, the chaos of Sanction, and what Cardullo calls “the pissed off attitude of friction.” Most of the songs were structurally finished that one practice-room night, with small revisions later. The demo was recorded in Cardullo’s bedroom, drums tracked with Nate of Forever Ending Recordings.
The songs were written to feed each other. “The tracks on the demo flow in a way that they are influenced by the one before it,” Cardullo says. “Fallen” came after, an acoustic instrumental piece that grew out of the chord progression at the end of “Clipped Wings” and ended up on the demo as an introduction to its more melodic side, which is “Clipped Wings” itself.
That’s where the band’s central line lives. “No machine can play god,” from “Clipped Wings,” is what the demo orbits around. Cardullo aims it at people in power who he sees abusing their position to manipulate populations for personal benefit or what they consider a greater spiritual cause.
“I personally think that the evil corrupt people in power are acting on spiritual grounds, but also in the sense that they are evil but see themselves as right,” he says. “The whole idea of good and evil I believe is a spectrum of consciousness and we’re trying to portray that in our music.” The message Feel Free want listeners to take away, Cardullo says, is to “observe how the people who control your day to day lives have power over you and to seek absolute freedom to do whatever you please.”
The demo is also a scene document. Cardullo lays out the OC hardcore timeline as he sees it. From around 2018 to 2020, the area was run by local punk bands and didn’t have much hardcore identity. Beyond Alive’s booking work brought the scene back, with first-wave bands like INK and Say Less.
Hatespeech, ’92, Scalp, and Ruin pushed it further. Division 1, mostly active in the Inland Empire, also helped move hardcore into Orange County. Before social media caught onto hardcore, Cardullo says, you had to drive to LA, the IE, or San Diego if you wanted shows.
Feel Free are positioning themselves inside that revival. Friends in Hatespeech and Beyond Alive, along with Division 1 booking, gave the band what Cardullo calls a solid head start. He’s open about the gratitude. The previous outfit wasn’t built for growth.
Feel Free are, and Cardullo puts the social side alongside the musical one: making friends wherever the band plays, building healthy connections between scenes.
The next move he names is geographical. “I feel like this band’s goal is to further the connection from Orange County to San Diego since we have so many friends in both scenes,” Cardullo says.
🔔 IDIOTEQ is ad-free, independent, and runs on one person’s time. If you want it to stay that way: DONATE via PayPal 𝗈𝗋 SUPPORT via Patreon.
Stay connected via Newsletter · Instagram · Facebook · X (Twitter) · Threads · Bluesky · Messenger · WhatsApp.
