He used to be a right weedy little bastard.

A lot of people spout on about how it was better a few years ago and how these days it is all different and diluted and boring. A lot of people spout on about how the new Daft Punk single is good music.

Fuck em. There is no way that UK Hardcore is in a shitter place now than it was 5, 7 or 10 years ago. Anyone who thinks that must be on crack. Granted, I’m not that guy who turns up at every single show for every band, or even at some shows for some bands. But I can tell you this. Me and Nate sat up till late (or at least late for us) a little while back talking about our days playing in the likes of On Thin Ice and Seconds Out. And while the intention of those bands was to stir the pot a little, and introduce an element of unpredictability into what we considered a fairly bland scene (it wasn’t, we were just fucking dick heads), the fact is, that goal has now been reached. I watch a band like The Flex, and the reaction they get is fucking wild. And not from those simple dipshits acting hard at the back trying to elbow birds, or those little turds throwing crowd punches at carefully selected, smaller members of the audience. I mean the lads at the front who can’t fuckin believe what they’re hearing, and have completely lost themselves to the music.

Am I suggesting that (what I consider to be) the zenith of UKHC in this decade to be the result of the bands that myself and my mate played in? Am I fuck. Nothing could be further from the truth. We’re the dick heads who walked away to paint a Space Marine instead. This is all down to the current crop of kids, who had a level of accessibility to amazing old hardcore that may well have been denied to those that came before, and have used that attainable knowledge to do something others before them have been utterly failing to do. They used it to get hardcore right.

One such tit is Merseyside’s own Tom Pimlott, whose one man band Violent Reaction has just put out what I consider to be one of the most perfect Straight Edge records I’ve ever heard. It’s called City Streets, and was put out on the fuckin’ awesome Painkiller Records. It is brimming over with spite and violence, but the best thing is that it is not in any way forced. The songs flow beautifully from one self-destructive breakdown to another. The pace of this record is masterful, with a far more punk/Oi! feel to the beats than a lot of other stuff around at the moment. Tom is a music sponge, and that is apparent from City Streets. The beats are clean, the guitar tone doesn’t have that overly pushed feel, the bass sounds dirty and Dishchargey, the vocals are spat not screamed. And most of all, It contains this line:

“Violent Reaction take no shit.

Straight Edge.

Fuck you.”

If there’s one thing about this lad, it is that he is fucking OFF HIS HEAD for Straight Edge. He can’t believe Straight Edge, just like many of us who’s only achievement in our shitty lives is not drinking. City Streets tells the story of urban urchins with fuck all going for them, of violent exchanges, of a love of the city you’re from, of choosing your side, of standing up for yourself. I don’t give much up these days, but trust me mate, this is a perfect hardcore punk record. It is a hard record, an uncomfortable record. It makes me feel violent, and I love it for that. Listen to it here:

And buy it here