SPEED and hardcore are two words that have become synonymous on a global scale. The Sydney, Australia based band have staked claim on the genre through exhilarating live performances, epic music videos, and staying true to themselves.
The five-piece have coined the phrase ONLY ONE MODE, so it’s no surprise it declares the title of their first full-length album. Set for release July 12th through their label homes Flatspot Records (USA) and Last Ride Records (AUS), the debut exemplifies the band’s growth while still delivering the SPEED ethos.
This is what they’re about: Hardcore, played hard, played fast, “for us, by us”—explicit, immediate, definitive—hinting at all the crucial bands that have come before them.
Today, the band share “REAL LIFE LOVE,” the first single and opening track on ONLY ONE MODE. The song is about the loyalty and realness they’ve learnt from hardcore, how SPEED connected through showing up; a depth of expression and emotion set against very punishing music.
Tough vocals, jolting grooves, pummeling breakdowns, “REAL LIFE LOVE” has everything that makes up the SPEED sound. The video for the track, produced by SPEED and friends Jack Rudder & Thomas Elliot, celebrates the Sydney hardcore scene.
On “REAL LIFE LOVE” vocalist Jem Siow states: “My time in hardcore has informed the relationships I have with everyone I hold close. An unconditional sense of love and loyalty. A bond that knows no words. Relationships that now span a lifetime. To us, this unique sense of deep-seated understanding is the essence of HC, it’s what we’re most passionate about and grateful for. Yet there are many in, and especially outside of this space who conflate this idea. If you stick around long enough, you might just get it. Otherwise, what’s the point to all of this?”
You can watch the video for “REAL LIFE LOVE” HERE and stream the track right here.
Formed in 2019, the members of SPEED – brothers Jem Siow (vocals) and Aaron Siow (bass), guitarists Josh Clayton and Dennis Vichidvongsa, and drummer Kane Vardon – never set out for popularity.
The band has always done things on their own terms, working with the same collaborators since inception – producer Elliott Gallart and videographer Jack Rudder. When 2021 single “We See U” was released, the song quickly rose to a million streams, unprecedented for a hardcore act from Sydney at the time. 2022’s Gang Called Speed EP became a definitive moment for the band. Global praise poured in from press outlets like Rolling Stone Australia, NME, Kerrang, Revolver, The Fader, Stereogum, to name a few.
SPEED found themselves touring across the world – North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia – and documenting it all along the way. 2024 shows absolutely zero signs of slowing down. SPEED is currently at the start of a six week North American tour supporting Knocked Loose, Show Me The Body, and Loathe, the band is slated to open two of the Have Heart reunion shows, and have headline and festival plays, including Download, Hellfest, and Flatspot World, in Europe in-between.
This is a hardcore band from Australia who surpassed what they thought they might do at the start, and has since doubled down, ONLY ONE MODE, as fast and as hard as possible.
SPEED are doing what they do for the love of their friends, family and the culture of Australian hardcore. They’re under the global spotlight for now, bright enough that their whole scene’s right there with them.
ONLY ONE MODE is available for preorder now through Flatspot Records.
Tour Dates with Knocked Loose, Show Me The Body, Loathe:
May 01: Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works
May 03: Lawrence, KS – Granada
May 04: Oklahoma City, OK – The Criterion
May 05: Dallas, TX – The Factory in Deep Ellum
May 06: Austin, TX – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
May 07: Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
May 10: Phoenix, AZ – The Marquee
May 11: Los Angeles, CA – The Shrine
May 12: San Francisco, CA – The Warfield
May 14: Seattle, WA – Showbox Sodo
May 15: Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
May 17: Boise, ID – Knitting Factory
May 18: Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
May 19: Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
May 21: St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
May 22: Minneapolis, MN – The Fillmore
May 23: Chicago, IL – Salt Shed
May 24: Newport, KY – Megacorp Pavilion
May 25: Cleveland, OH – Agora Theater
May 28: Pittsburgh, PA – Stage Age
May 29: Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore
May 30: Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
May 31: New York, NY – Terminal 5
Jun 01: Boston, MA – Roadrunner
Jun 03: Philadelphia, PA – Franklin Music Hall
Jun 04: Montreal, QC – Olympia
Jun 05: Toronto, ON – History
Jun 07: Raleigh, NC – The Ritz
Jun 08: Atlanta, GA – The Eastern
Jun 09: St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
Jun 10: Orlando, FL – The Abbey w/ Day By Day, Three Knee Deep
Jun 14: Leicestershire, UK – Download Festival
Jun 15: Leeds, UK – Brudnell Social Club
Jun 15: London, UK – Flatspot World
Jun 18: Darmstadt, GER – Oettinger Villa
Jun 19: Oberhausen, GER – Kulttempel
Jun 20: Ghent, BE – De Chinastraat
Jun 21: Rennes, FR – Superbowl of Hardcore
June 22: Guardamiglio, IT – Low L Festival
Jun 23: Gräfenhainichen, GER – Full Force Festival
Jun 24: Nuremberg, GER – Kunstverein
Jun 25: Karlsruhe, GER – Die Stadtmitte
Jun 26: Viveiro, ES – Resurrection Festival
Jun 28: Clisson, FR – Hellfest
Jul 19: Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Monarch w/ Have Heart
Jul 20: Boston, MA – Roadrunner w/ Have Heart
