There's Raw, Throttling Punk and Then There's Headsplitters

Like many punks, Chris Ramos' entry into hardcore was through skateboarding. Growing up in Westchester, New York, he first caught a taste of hardcore's ferocious and fast paced aggression through the soundtracks of old Black Label, Zero, and Toy Machine skate videos.

After hooking up with some friends who were into metal he learnt basic guitar tabs before moving onto simple punk. "I never really had the attention span to play or listen to much metal so I'd try to learn to play simple punk songs.. and play them wrong. It's kinda how I started writing songs," he explains via email.

Ramos now heads Headsplitters, a three-piece from New York City that play a raw mix of classic NYHC and elements of D-beat punk. Their demo Unjust Cycle takes early 80s hardcore like Agnostic Front and Antidote then adds a sound that reflects the excitement of the New York City of the last few years.

"When street punk died there was giant lull in New York," explains Ramos. "All the fashion punks disappeared and the people that were left that actually had a connection to the music started making their own bands and I knew I had to be a part of it.

Take a listen below and read some words from Ramos.

Noisey: There is a raw Scandinavia sound to your music. When did you get interested in Scandi stuff.
Chris Ramos: When I exhausted listening to UK82, I needed something new and started listening to bands from all over the world instead of the ones that speak English. I was trying to find something with the intensity of Discharge but more than just three- chord punk. When I first heard Disarm it blew my mind and from there just I started learning more about those bands. Around six-years ago when Cedric and Aaron were living together and I was crashing on their couch, bands like Puke, Headcleaners and Bannlyst were on heavy rotation. Years later the shared love of these bands would spawn Headsplitters.

Is that style still strong in NYC?
At the moment, there seems to be a strong pocket of d-beat/ raw punk bands forming with Scandi influence. Urchin are reminiscent of Shitlickers/Anti Cimex and Extended Hell brings Totallitar to mind, to name a couple.

You get a big sound for a three piece. Have you considered expanding or are you happy with what you have?
Aaron and I started playing together around a year ago, and Cedric joined on bass shortly after. I had played in Creeping Dose with him, and Aaron had played with him in Membrane. Once the three of us started playing together, we spent months trying to recruit someone to front the project. We started to realize there was a power in keeping the project just the three of us. We've never looked back.

You have a 7-inch coming out on Brain Solvent Propaganda. How is that different from the demo?
When we released the demo, we were still a super new band, and had only played one show. Now that we've locked down our sound, the writing comes naturally. The 7-inch is going to be fast and ripping like the demo but with more power and confidence.

You have a song called "Dissident". A person who opposes official policy, especially that of an authoritarian state. Is it important now that everyone becomes a dissident?
I believe that the people in power will pull any stunt to convince that you need governing, and it's up to you to live your life how you see fit. We're sick of racial oppression, mass incarceration, police brutality, and general lack of aid. People deserve to live a humane life, free of the fear and repercussions caused by our oppressors.

Do you think revolutionary social change will happen in the United States?
I hope so. It's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better, but judging by the amount of people that are deciding to be active all over, protesting and voicing their opinions, there might be some hope left.

Headsplitters perform at Montreal's A Varning XI Sep 21-24

Stream Tim's radio show Teenage Hate for more bands like Headsplitters.

Image: Supplied by band