By Peyton K.
A Youth Crew revival is on the horizon, and it’s coming to a town near you.
After hearing raving reviews of Start Today after they opened for Knumears’ 2 Year Anniversary show on the 22nd, I knew I had to see if the hype was warranted. I was lucky enough to catch them at the Los Angeles date on their tour. The tour came after the release of their 4-song demo, recorded by BingBongStudio.
Pop-punk-inspired band Fall Through accompanied them through the tour as well, with supporting local bands featured on each town’s bill. With members in both Start Today & Fall Through hailing from other established and lauded bands, it’s not surprising that the room and waiting areas were packed with fans and concert-goers alike, eager to see the show. Many had bold, sharpied-on Xs on the backs of their hands, a staple at many hardcore shows (especially straight-edge).
The Show
Fall Through was the first band on stage, and they brought the energy. Although they performed a relatively short set, the energy in the room was palpable; many were two-stepping and moshing to the very first song they played. I’m excited to see what the future has in store for the band, as they’re relatively new and haven’t released any official music yet. If you’re a fan of traditional pop-punk or punk rock, keep tabs on this band.
Next, Silenced took over the stage. Their guitar work and skilled vocals carried the energy harnessed from Fall Through’s set, and then amplified it. They played a few songs off their (then) unreleased debut EP. However, due to the time gap between this show and the release of this article, the EP has been released on all streaming platforms. If you’re a fan of modern hardcore bands like Momentum, Sunami, or Pain of Truth, I would recommend giving it a listen.
After them, Stand Tall took over the stage. It was at this point in the show I started to ponder why so many hardcore bands have commands as their names. Stand Tall shouted out all the “big boys” in the crowd and got the audience moving immediately. The stage diving began to really pick up, with bodies flying into the crowd almost every second. At this time in the show, you could really feel the crowd’s energy start to increase exponentially-I personally felt it with a swift roundhouse kick to my hip. They have also recently (within the last 6 months) released an EP, obviously inspired by Youth Crew and Positive Hardcore sounds and messages.
Soon after a quick gear change, Start Today took the stage. The energy they cultivated in the room was palpable. After performing a song or two, the vocalist gave a short speech and explained his position against crowdkilling. For those who are unaware, crowdkilling is defined as either when someone in the moshpit intends to hit others along the edge or in the mosh pit OR the targeting of specific, unwilling people and infliction of violence on the crowd. This definition will vary based on who you ask and what their position is on it. Although the crowd seemed split, with some cheering and some audibly shaking their heads and disagreeing, this small speech would prove to foreshadow current issues in the 2025 alternative scenes.
Short Note on the Crowdkilling Speech and Its Relevance
Recently, venues such as The Haven in Pomona and Fret’s Music in Riverside have been affected by liability issues regarding crowd killing and excessive violence at shows, with Fret’s almost having to shut its doors to live music for good. Quotes from both The Haven and Fret’s respective statements are included below.
“Due to recent activities, we’ve made the decision to prohibit all moshing, stage diving, crowd surfing, circle pits, hardcore dancing, and any other form of physical activities at our shows.” – The Haven’s Instagram Story, (February 17th, 2025).
To the local music scene: please respect your local DIY venues and the surrounding businesses of your local venues. Some cities don’t have too many options for venues open to all genres and styles of music, and one bad egg could ruin good places for everyone.” – Fret’s Music Instagram Post, (February 8th, 2025).
Following this, venues such as The Haven have had to change their policies on moshing and crowdkilling, resulting in the annoyance and protests of many show-goers (see memes below). Many consider crowd killing to go hand in hand with violent music, and they say if you can’t handle getting crowdkilled, you shouldn’t pull up to a show.
The Show, Cont.
During Start Today’s set, they performed an insane cover song in which it seemed half the crowd jumped up on stage to perform it with them. It reminded me of just one reason why I prefer smaller, more intimate shows to larger venues; you can only see things such as as many people as possible trying to cram themselves on stage with no security intervention there.
Finally, Kiowa took the stage to close the night. They played unreleased music, as well as music off their new 2 song release, aptly titled “2-Songs”. Their cover of “Silent Deaths, Crowded Lives” by 7 Angels 7 Plagues also had the crowd prying to grab the mic and sing along. With flashing red lights and an impressive stage presence, it was the perfect end to a great show.
Although this show was a while ago at this point, Start Today will be coming to Santa Cruz again on the 26th of April to support Shutdown on their West Coast tour!
