Jem Siow & Joshua Clayton - SPEED ‘This Is What Sydney Hardcore Looks Like’

There is perhaps no band more synonymous with Sydney than SPEED. Through years of gruelling dedication and advocating the ethos of community and determination, the band has championed the sound of not just local hardcore, but Australian hardcore. Now, prolific to the world and iconic to the scene at hand, SPEED are on the cusp of releasing their first full-length album, ONLY ONE MODE; an album that celebrates identity and relishes in the ethos that has grown with them from the ground up. 

Despite their rising fame, the band remains just as gritty and grassroots as the day they started. I had the pleasure of divulging into the making of Sydney’s own hardcore style with Jem and Joshua. 

This is a chat not to be missed - which below or read on...

One of the things I'm most curious about is, there's a lot of discourse at the moment surrounding hardcore and its ethos. It’s archaic, but a lot of people think to remain unheard and remain at these small-cap shows. And obviously, SPEED has grown exponentially. So how do you handle going against these old ways of hardcore and shifting what it means to be hardcore by getting big? How do you now define it?

Joshua: It's a good question because it's something that we're grappling with every single day. We've grown up in hardcore. We've been going to shows for 20 years now. We very much prescribe to a very traditional understanding of what hardcore is. We're hardcore kids, and that's who we are first and foremost. But at the same time, hardcore has shifted so much in the last couple of years. It's in a really interesting space at the moment where there's a lot of attention, especially from the outside world. Prior to starting SPEED, the one thing that we wanted was to see hardcore flourish in Australia because it was in a really dull spot at the time. It was hard to get people to come to shows. There weren't a lot of active bands. There weren't a lot of active labels. American hardcore bands weren't really coming out here the way that they had in the past. And now, if we fast forward to right now, it's the opposite. There's so much attention, and there's so many people who want to be involved in it that it's actually at risk of being diluted. And so for us, we've just been trying to navigate our band being on this pathway where we have more attention than we ever expected to have. There's a lot of hype around us as a band and around hardcore in general. And that's really exciting. We have an open mind and we don't want to shut any of that down. But at the same time, We don't want it to be the thing that compromises what hardcore is and what we love about it. So I think for us, it all ties back to this mission that we had when we started the band, of just being a band that advocates for hardcore culture in Australia and always putting the community that we come from as first and foremost. So the way that we do that is just every decision that we have to make, we just ask ourselves, how is this a benefit to our community? How does this help the people around us? How does this build up the scene that we come from? As opposed to just being a direct benefit for us personally. That, I think, is the only way that we can really navigate it is just by always having that mission in mind and always just asking ourselves, how does this benefit the community?

Jem: We, SPEED, started as a hardcore band, and that's all we have ever aspired to be, which is a hardcore band, always straight up. And we've had moments, as you've recognized it, to push us out, be broader than the space itself, which has been an incredible and surreal experience, but it's also, as Josh said, been difficult to navigate. But what's our choice? To run away from that? I don't think that what's happening right now is a SPEED thing. I think it's a crazy thing for hardcore in general. And we just so happen to be wrapped up in it. And we just know that what we're doing is with the truest of intentions, and we feel that we have all of our values intact. But also, further to what Josh said, there isn't a band that we can think of that's navigated the exact position that we're in right now, which is scary. And also challenging. Can hardcore grow and grow and grow and still remain purely hardcore? That is our challenge, and that is the challenge that we're trying to live up to and that we are towards.

I think it's interesting because some of those challenges have led to big things. You guys were just in the US, and you're off again very soon with no time to stop. I am from the West as well and it's incredible to see you guys rise because you don't see a lot come out of here. What's been the biggest challenge being propelled to world acclaim status and leaving behind the small streets of Western Sydney?

Jem: Well, we don't really feel that we've left any of this behind because SPEED is just a product of our friendship circle and our community, like around us. We're carrying that energy. We're carrying that identity with us in every step we take. I think to answer your question, honestly, as things level up and as we've been thrust into these different spheres, which are seemingly larger than life in some ways, that idea, that acknowledgment of our identity and who we are and where we're from, is the most important aspect of who we are. It's the most important part of us to hold intact because as soon as we forget that, as soon as we let that go, if we are the product of our community and we're a hardcore band, as soon as we let that go, we cease to be a hardcore band. No, I don't feel I don't feel that we've left it at all. When we're away, we're thinking about coming back home, too. We miss it.

Joshua: Yeah, I think it's doubling down on who we are as the environment around us changes. We just spent six weeks in America opening up for Knocked Loose, playing in theatre-sized venues between one and 5,000 people every night. Big in front of the stage. It's an environment that we're not really used to playing in. So for us, it was just like, okay, we need to figure out how we adapt to this environment and how we communicate who we are and what we're about as a band. We are a hardcore band and this isn't the normal circumstance that we play in. And trying to win over that crowd and communicate that message. I think that's the biggest challenge at the moment, because at the end of the day, we don't want to change. We don't want to. We don't want to be too big to play a 300-cap hardcore show. We would love to be able to still play the same venues that we've played growing up and be a part of the community that we're already a part of. That's the biggest thing. We just want to maintain our identity, and we want to be the same people that we've been since before this band.

Absolutely. ONLY ONE MODE is coming as this new opportunity to present yourselves, to tell more stories. However, it is marking itself a little differently because it is your first full-length release. Obviously, you've done the EPs and singles and other compilation pieces, but was there anything different in creating a full body of work as opposed to your EPs, making sure a story flowed?

Joshua: I think the context in which we went into creating it was a little bit different because prior to the LP, everything that we'd made was with the intention of it potentially being the last thing that we ever did. And then the last record that we put out came out just as the lockdown ended. Our journey from that moment to now has been completely unprecedented. We've toured America five times since then. We've been to Europe twice. We went to Asia. We've done so much in the short time that we've been able to really play. The goalposts have really shifted as to what our band is capable of. And so creating the album, it was like, okay, we never even really planned to make this, but it feels like a necessity now to justify why we're here. And I think with that as well, our relationships have been pushed into this really unconventional space as five friends, we've experienced things that most friends don't ever experience. We've been just on a roller coaster for two years. And so I think that the record is very self-reflective in that sense. I think that it's very much informed by the experiences that we've had in the last two years. And I think that while we always had a really strong philosophy behind the band, that's really been developed and honed in on a lot in the last two years, just with the experiences that we've had. And so I think that directly shines through in the album.

The album as well, it's a piece of storytelling, audibly. But there's been a really big emphasis on visual storytelling in this album cycle as well. You've got the short films and the music videos, and even the single covers are inspired. I'd like to know a bit more about this process. Is it a band-directed storyboard? Who sits down and comes up with it? Is there a go-to videographer? A bit more about that process.

Jem: Pretty much most of the concepts I've come up with. Just like Josh said, going into this album, it was a big process because we started as a band that was… this music was written to play to 100 people in Sydney. It was not meant to be played to these thousands of people now around the world. It was just mind-blowing. Walking to this album, from the music writing to the visual piece and everything, it was a huge process of reflection of what is my purpose? What is my meaning? What is my message now that I have an audience that's so much bigger than I ever imagined? And besides the music, if there's one thing that I can really feel proud of and own is that SPEED channels a unique part of who we are, it is our personality. It is our personality, and it's our passion. And so with that, I think the visual element is really important because if you look at the demo in 2019, it's a photo of us. And that was a conscious decision because I knew that when people were going to listen to it, they might just assume that we're an American band. But when you see the cover, you realize that no, they're made up of different people, and they're actually from Australia, too. I think understanding ourselves visually is important in telling our story. And also in terms of the movies, each of them, it's showing batches of our community, different individuals from our community, and different parts of our experience here on the ground in Sydney, where all three videos were filmed and recorded. And that's the way of us exporting our culture to the greater world. It's us showing this is what Sydney Hardcore looks like. This is what our experience is, it's what the experience looks like here in Australia. And it's our way of celebrating that, too.

In every piece that you put out, even at shows, I think some of the biggest things I remember whether it be from the Turnstile show or the Christmas show you guys did, the biggest thing I remember is your speech of heritage and hometown. Do you think that it's a bit harder for you when you say these things when you're over in the States? How does it differentiate itself when you're at home than when you're at somewhere else?

Jem: Hardcore in general, traditionally has always been, for lack of a better word, patriotic in a way. If you're from New York, you champion New York Hardcore, or Boston Hardcore, or whatever. And so for us being from Sydney, it was very important, especially with the mission of the band being to promote Australian culture, to accelerate that, and to rekindle that in a way. It was very important that we brand the band as SPEED Sydney Hardcore, and the word SPEED and Sydney almost goes hand in hand. And that's because it's part of us championing the place that we're from that we're so proud of and recognizing our identity. When we think about the other hallmarks of the territories of hardcore, like New York or Boston. They're characterized by their sound. Sydney doesn't necessarily have a sound or Australia for that fact. But we do have a culture that we're proud of, represented by our friendship circle, represented by our community. And so when we talk about Sydney in that way, that's essentially what we're embodying. We're trying to champion that because we're trying to actively acknowledge and propel a culture and instill a sense of confidence in the people that are part of it. When we go overseas, though, we're guests in other scenes. And I think being involved in Australian hardcore for so long, the greater part of 20 years, we've definitely been very humbled by our experience and growing up with, for lack of a better word, a bit of an underdog mentality. Australian hardcore hasn't really been recognized on the global stage very much. So when we go overseas, we recognize that we're guests in these scenes, and we feel a lot of gratitude for being welcome there. So as much as we will claim Sydney, we're also trying to... We're also very conscious that we're in London, or we're in Leeds, or we're in Paris. This is your scene. Show me what you got. We're from Sydney. Let's celebrate this thing together. I might not speak the same language as you, but we do speak the same language of hardcore, and we can identify with each other at that level. So let's celebrate that right now in this moment. And I think that's just how we acknowledge it when we leave this space, when we leave Australia.

That rings true. Instrumentally, your songs have been hitting at the moment. I was going to touch on a few songs, but I think the most prolific release of the cycle so far has probably been ‘THE FIRST TEST’. For me, I think it's the little turntable bit that hits the hardest. I think that's great. But obviously, a lot of people are receiving the flute section extremely well. Did you ever think it would be received the way it's been received, just adding a bit of a peculiar instrument? Or did you think you had something going there in the studio?

Joshua: I think we definitely underestimated the impact that it would have, which seems a bit naive in hindsight. I think we knew that obviously it's pretty uncharacteristic for hardcore. It was a real point of emphasis when Jem wrote the part and sent the part to us all. We were like, fuck, you put the flute in, huh? But I don't know if I expected people to grab onto it as much as they did because to me, it feels so… It fits the part for me. You know what I mean? We didn't put it in there because we were like, let's put a flute in there and see how crazy people go about it. It was part of the natural songwriting process. Jem wrote that section, and he wrote that part and he went, you know what? I think I can hear a flute in this part. It would make sense. He's played the flute for, I mean, how long?

Jem: Like, fucking-I played flute since I was 8. I was a flute teacher for 14 years up until last year. We went full-time with this band and I stopped being a flute teacher. This band is about recognizing your identity. That's the greatest lesson that we've taught. This band has taught us to accept who we are and embrace that. Find the people, surround yourself with people who accept you as well, and just be on that journey together. And the flute, for one, it sounded fucking fresh. So that's why it was there. But for two as well, it's also part of me not giving a fuck in my personal journey. The question that people have always asked me since I was a kid was, when are you going to put the flute in your hardcore songs? And I've always been like, fuck off. I'm not going to do something just to do it. You know what I mean? I'm not going to do something for a gimmick. But it just so happened that the hardest band I’ve been in, I actually play it, and it made sense sonically. And so we did it. But as I said, it's just this, really, that part, I guess, is probably on a conceptual level, is just reflective of one of our messages, which is just to embrace who you are and not shy away from any of that, because that's what makes you special. And I think that the successes we've had over the last four years have taught us that when you put your identity in your art, that's when you make your greatest work.

ONLY ONE MODE in itself is intrinsically connected with identity, like you've been saying. And it's become this anthem of representation of your ethos. Since touring or even since recording the album to now, has anything changed or shifted how you define your own personal identity and style? Have you learned anything between these processes that you would maybe perhaps put into the album now?

Jem: We are learning every single day. I'm learning right now as I'm talking to you. Things have been so transformative, which I think is also one of the most appealing parts of the experience is that we are, as I said before, we're on a journey together as five friends. It's just five friends immediately, but then all of the people in our support group around us that we're on a journey with, too, which is so profound and so amazing. It's just another part of this experience that's just fucking so sick. But the album itself is more, it's a general encapsulation of our ideologies and the way that we view the world and the way that we view our interactions with each other internally as a band and as friends beyond that. I don't think there's anything that's changed in terms of the message or in terms of the way that we would have approached the album at all. 

Joshua: I think the general thing with this band is that the deeper the rabbit hole goes with it and the more we throw ourselves into it, it just galvanizes that philosophy that we have even more. Being on the road for nine weeks was really challenging. But I think we've all come out of it even more dedicated than we were to the band before we left. You know what I mean? And that didn't seem possible. I couldn't think of being more dedicated to this band than I was before I left. But now, after doing it for nine weeks, being away playing shows for nine weeks and suffering through all the challenges that come with that and enjoying all of the successes and all of the highlights of doing as well. I think we all just feel more motivated than ever to keep running it. I mean, ONLY ONE MODE could have been the name of any of our records, I think, because it encapsulates the spirit of our band throughout our entire timeline.

Soon you have an opportunity to present this to Australia. They do happen to be some of the largest venues of your Australian career so far. How are you gearing up to take your production to that next level whilst also maintaining the show environment you love (no barricades, full of energy and lights on) How do you, I guess, swindle the venues?

Jem: Well, that's a really great question. We are faced with a challenge now where we, up till last year, we've exhausted the venues in Australia that have no barriers. And so we're in this position of having to upgrade because people are already complaining about the show selling out and not being able to come see us. But also, we want to keep that environment, that spirit, that atmosphere intact. And so with this tour, in particular, we thought, well, if we're going to have to accept that there will be a barrier to some of these shows, rather than just putting it at any capacity, let's just put it in the places where hardcore should not exist. Let's put it in the most obnoxious places. And so that's why most of the venues are all theatres, like the Enmore Theatre. It's like infiltrating spaces that hardcore shouldn't belong. But again, this is for us, but this is our space and this is our culture. If we're going to bring people into a show environment with a barrier space, at least put it in the most preposterous place where it's a bit of a spectacle, where you can be like, I'm going to go to this hardcore and it's going to have a barrier, but at least it's going to be in the most fucking crazy place that I've ever seen a hardcore show at. But then beyond that, too, there's really nothing. We don't rely on smoke and mirrors. We don't rely on pyrotechnics or lighting or anything. We don't even travel with a sound guy. It's just plug-and-play. We purely rely on the energy, the aggression, and the passion. And that's just what we're going to bring into those environments, too.

I can assure you I'll be at the Enmore Theatre, hopefully, on the barricade or somewhere in the sky hanging off the roof for you guys.

 Interview by Georgia Haskins @ghaskins2002

ONLY ONE MODE is out on 12 July via Last Ride Records and Flatspot Records

Pre-order/save here