I have to preface this article by saying that I’ve only begun immersing myself in the hardcore scene for about a year or two now, so my level of appreciation for the genre is fairly new, but I promise I have come to find my niche in the genre. I’ve always been a pop-punk kid and have wanted to like metal and hardcore, but could never find a band that caught my interest enough. But, I found several bands in the scene that have grabbed my attention since I decided to give the genre another try, and I just have to talk about Knocked Loose. This is one band in particular that I haven’t been able to stop listening to since I found it.
I discovered Knocked Loose last summer through mutual bands that I loved, including Movements and Counterparts. I had always heard of Knocked Loose, but felt it was too heavy of a band that I wouldn’t end up liking. After finding I enjoyed Counterparts, which are pretty heavy, I decided to give Knocked Loose a try. The band is signed to Pure Noise, a label I hold a lot of respect for, so I figured the band had to be good. After listening to Laugh Tracks, the band’s debut LP, I was blown away. It was so good; the breakdowns were sick, Bryan’s voice is higher pitched, but works well with the music, and the songs were overall catchy.
Since then, I kept saying to myself, “I have to see Knocked Loose live.” When the band dropped its spring tour dates, I was itching to get tickets, but with it being in May, I was worried about the timing because it was so close to finals. A couple of weeks before the show I decided to go for it and buy tickets for my boyfriend and I, mainly because I just knew it would sell out and I knew I’d regret missing it.
After seeing them live, I have even more respect for the band than I already had walking in. The energy the band kept in that venue from start to finish was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. The crowd was nuts- I mean the kind of nuts where someone gets carried out of the pit to an awaiting ambulance-and everyone there was losing their minds. The mosh pit was huge, people were crowd surfing left and right, and the most impressive part was that the band never faltered in keeping its energy high for the crowd to feed off of. The songs sounded better than the recordings, mainly because the energy in the room added to the musical aspect, and because the band so clearly loved what it was doing. My only critique is that I wish the show was in a bigger venue with a bigger crowd and better sound.
knocked loose is SICK, the end pic.twitter.com/aZ93H3n2HW
— Abbey Williams (@_abbeywilliams_) May 7, 2019
It’s safe to say Knocked Loose are my favorite band in hardcore right now, not only because of its music but because the band really knows how to put on a show and make it memorable. I’ve been to a couple of hardcore shows in the past several months, and though they were good, I feel as though I left feeling happy I went, but not as amped as Knocked Loose made me feel when I left the venue. I was so impressed and so eager to see the band again even though it will be some time before that happens.
I can only hope it plays a larger venue next time around . Knocked Loose is unreal and I have so much admiration for what it’s doing and the passion the band has for the music it plays and the scene it’s a part of. I can only imagine in a year’s time that Knocked Loose will be twice as big of a band than it is now, and I cannot wait to see that happen.