Now, to the Straight Edge/Positive Punk-HC scene:
First of all I must say I'm not sXe but, respecting deeply this movement and the great bands we have in Portugal in this style, I' ll do my best to talk about...
We can't talk about sXe in Portugal without going back a few years, to the early nineties. It appeared in Lisbon a punk band called X-ACTO and then the vegan/straight edge movement was born in Portugal... This band released a few albums, toured the whole country and even Brasil and even released a split cd with Ignite but disbanded in 1999 giving birth to what was, for me, the best hardcore punk band in Portugal till late: SANNYASIN, but they broke up in late 2002 although recent rumours say they'll be back soon with a different name but a not-much-different line-up.
Talking about the Portuguese sXe bands it must be said that most of them play an old school style of punk/hardcore and have, inevitably a very strong political stance to their lyrics... There are lots of great bands in this vein in Portugal nowadays, some older, some more recent, but all very sincere and hard rocking! Here is some name-dropping: NEW WINDS; TIME-X; POINTING FINGER; FIGHT FOR CHANGE; DAY OF THE DEAD; WHAT WENT WRONG; RENEWALL; AS GOOD AS DEAD; MAD RATS (former THE FIENDS); SHIFT; TWENTYINCHBURIAL...
RENEWALL plays a new school style of HC and AS GOOD AS DEAD play a chaotic New School HC with bits of Metal and stuff... MAD RATS play some Trash Core, extreme "in your face" Trash! 20INCHBURIAL, being a sXe band play some kind of Metal/Screamo/Emo Core that don't please many people around.... NEW WIDS and TIME-X are probably the oldest straight-edge Hardcore Punk bands still around an they still influence lots of kids and rock on... NEW WINDS have a great positive attitude of political awareness and usually do a bit of "spoken word" in their gigs... it's a pity that most people is there only for the pit and still keep their ears shut to what all this scene should be about - awareness (so, what would be the point of being drug-free and fully lucid?!)!... POINTING FINGER, FIGHT FOR CHANGE, DAY OF THE DEAD, WHAT WENT WRONG are other great Positive Hardcore Punk bands around that deliver excellent full-of-energy songs that just keep "dragging" me to the SXE movement (ohoh...)! Still there are stuff I abhorring like the way SXE is just becoming another fashion trend and the lack of "spirit" and "honesty" I see in many people that label themselves as "hardcore" or "straight edge"... the way some shows seem to me like a "fashion" show, where people just show-off their trendy haircuts, the pretty "new balance" shoes or their new pair of vans... the new tattoos or the new piercing... it just doesn't seem right for me... I don't know, I'm not directly involved with this movement but, really it sometimes makes me sick... just like the intolerance towards those who don't think like they do... hell, aren't we all there for the same reason?! Isn't it Hardcore/Punk after all?... What if someone likes to drink a beer if he/she if we take a good look at it agrees with the rest of the message of a band and, in the end does more for the movement and is more coherent with his/hers ideas than many so-called "straight edge" people?! Hell! We should unite!... I mean, it was all supposed to be about respect and supporting the common spirit but there are so much disrespect sometimes... There is some kind of rivalry between straight edge people and non-straight edge that is even more notorious when the concerts are with sXe playing together with non-sXe bands... There are even boycotts to band's concerts! We should be boycotting other kind of stuff, I believe! It should be about REAL unity! Well but I think this also other thing that is getting better, and there is more respect I believe, this days...
Well there are also other great Hardcore bands to mention, not MS nor SXE, like HIT BY A TRUCK, TRINTA E UM (31), OMITED GRASS REACTION, AGE OF HATE, MORE THAN HATE, PURA REPRESSÃO (Pure Repression), FACE FALL, MINDLOCK, UNSTABLE, KONTRATTACK, CRIMINAL WASTE, SUMMER OF DAMIEN, HELVIS ON FIRE… They play "classic" Hardcore hailing mainly from Lisbon and it's outskirts except for KONTRATTACK, from Faro, MINDLOCK, playing Trash-Core, also from Faro, HIT BY A TRUCK, from the north of the country... UNSTABLE, from Lisbon, play a bit more in the Metal Core style. HELVIS ON FIRE play what can also be described as "positive" Hardcore... I dunno... some stuff seems Ten Yard Fight, other Good Riddance... It's just Hardcore anyway!... And I think it's time to remember old bands that (I think) no longer exist, like BLASFEMIA (Blasphemy), pioneers in the riot grrrl scene in Portugal, BULLIES - also old skool HC punk and CROUSTIBAT, brutal, violent Crust...
por Luis Martins
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