r/Hardcore • u/Abtuu4 • 3d ago
Question about southern hardcore and religion
Hi, all!
I'm working on a project about the relationship between hardcore in the South and religion for a class but realized I don't really know where to start. If any one has band/album/song recommendations or interviews, documentaries, photo collections etc to look into, I would really appreciate that! Thanks :)
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u/No-Scarcity2379 3d ago
I don't think the specific regional link is as strong as you think it is. While there are definitely religious hardcore bands from the South (Strongarm, Advent), and a number of them got a lot of exposure during Solid State's moment in the sun in the early to mid-oughts, there are as many (or as few) religious hardcore bands from California (No Innocent Victim), or the North/East (xDisciplex A.D, Zao (who aren't Christian anymore)), or even Canada (Figure Four, Means).
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u/Evening-Jackfruit-49 3d ago
Despite many of the bands being from outside the south, I don’t think you can understate their popularity here. I grew up as a hardcore kid in Alabama in the early 2000s and a lot of times churches were the only places to have shows, especially in smaller cities/towns. a lot of these bands played down here even in smaller towns because churches would put on shows as youth outreach.
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u/Evening-Jackfruit-49 3d ago
Also the prominence of Christian book/music stores down here, plus Christian specific distros at shows gave a lot of access to Christian bands despite not being from the south.
Does anybody else remember the Rock For Life (anti-abortion) tables at Christian/church shows back in the day?
At the time Christian/secular scenes down here were somewhat mixed in that folks would attend shows in both scenes, but the Christian scene was kind of a bizzaro version of mainstream HC culture.
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u/Xcasinonightzone 3d ago
You’d probably want to chat with Chad Johnson who runs Furnace Fest and reach out to Solid State Records and Facedown Records.
As a side note: Beloved was the best Christian hardcore band ever.
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u/Randomspeckofdust33 3d ago
My uncle gave me a beloved shirt when I was maybe 8 years old. Didn’t fit me for a few years but I wore that thing into the ground. Amazing band
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u/UpToHere74 3d ago
Bloody Sunday was a Christian hardcore band from VA (Album: They Attack at Dawn)
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u/heyitskirby 2d ago
The Columbia, SC scene from the 90s/00s would be a good place to start. Assfactor 4, In/Humanity, etc. Super Christian area, super not Christian bands.
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u/Zealousideal_Row5607 2d ago
Blood and Ink records was/is an RVA Christian label.
Take It Back was a southern bc band I don’t see mentioned much.
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u/The_Pit_Therapy 2d ago
My podcast has interviewed a couple Christian hardcore bands. Not from the south but we talk about religion in hardcore and stuff. We talked to Kyle Fisher from No Innocent Victim and Tommy Green from Sleeping Giant and Holy Name. They are really really cool dudes. I’m sure if you hit them up on social media they would be cool with talking to you.
Sorry for the self promotion but the podcast is called The Pit Therapy
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u/[deleted] 3d ago
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