SPEED: ‘Hardcore isn’t just about music, it’s community’

After a whirlwind run of UK shows earlier in the year, Australian hardcore heavyweights SPEED returned to Leeds for a surprise headline show at community run venue BOOM.

The Aussie band have spent the past few years growing their audience from DIY hardcore shows in Sydney to selling out venues globally. However, their relationship with Leeds, England, has become more than a stop on the UK touring schedule and dates back much further. For vocalist Jem Siow, the city is intertwined with the very beginnings of SPEED.

Following their appearance at Reading & Leeds Festival 2026, the band surprised fans by extending their stay in the north and heading to Leeds venue BOOM for a 400 capacity headline show. For SPEED, the show was a significant nod to their roots. “Leeds is kind of the spiritual home of hardcore here in England,” Jem says. “At least in the modern generation that we’re a part of.”

His connection to the city dates back to before SPEED even existed. Around 15 years ago, while still living at home in Sydney, Jem met Leeds native Billy at a show. He tells us that they were both wearing Title Fight merch and quickly became friends. When Billy left Australia and travelled home, Jem’s mum even cooked him a farewell lunch. Years later, Billy would go on to introduce Jem to the Leeds hardcore scene. 

“He was like, ‘One day you’re going to come to the UK and tour Europe and I’m going to do your merch,’” Jem recalls. “And that was probably 10 years before SPEED existed.”

Fast forward around 15 years and Billy has worked merch for SPEED on almost every one of their European and UK tours. “It’s just one of those things where Leeds is wrapped up spiritually in all of that,” Jem says. “It’s just a really special place for us.”

That history makes the band’s decision to play BOOM all the more significant. Earlier in the year, SPEED sold out 1,100 capacity Project House next door in just two hours. Yet when the opportunity arose to play a far smaller community venue, there was never a question about whether they should do it. The first 300 tickets sold in around five seconds. “When that happened, nobody refreshed or tried to buy another ticket,” says BOOM venue manager Chris. “The next 100 tickets were going to be available on the door, and people were queuing from 5AM.”

For Jem, the response to the band in the UK is still something SPEED are trying to comprehend. “We came here in April and played almost fully sold out shows in massive venues,” he says. “We’ve been doing things that I only ever imagined actual rock stars doing. It’s so foreign to what I thought an Australian hardcore band could achieve.” There is a sense of disbelief when he talks about the band’s reception in the UK, but also an insistence that SPEED remain aware of where they came from. “We’re normal hardcore kids,” he says. “We love all the same stuff as the people in the crowd. The only difference is that we’re on stage playing and they’re moshing.”

That relationship between band and audience is particularly important at BOOM, a venue built around community, by a community, and run entirely by volunteers. “It’s culturally iconic,” Jem says. “It’s for the people, by the people. Being wrapped up in that community moment means more to us than playing big venues or being on a bus.”

SPEED’s growing popularity comes at an exciting time for hardcore in the UK. The genre has increasingly found itself crossing into larger rooms and festivals, with bands such as Malevolence making the successful transition from DIY spaces into the wider metal world. Chris has watched that progression first hand. “I’ve been watching Malevolence for 15 years,” he says. “They’re hardcore guys who’ve been playing DIY shows forever and they’ve just got the formula right to enter the metal world and smash it.” SPEED toured with Malevolence last year and have always been huge supporters of the band.

Now, SPEED are keen to offer that same platform to the next generation of artists. Their BOOM show featured Impunity, Crowquill and Cannonball, all UK hardcore bands handpicked by the band. “It could have just been SPEED,” Chris says. “But it needs to be an actual hardcore show. It needs to feel like that.”

For Jem, that sense of community is ultimately what hardcore is all about. Having previously worked as a teacher, he says he has spent plenty of time thinking about the purpose and meaning behind what SPEED are doing, particularly now the band have found themselves with a global audience. His advice to young people discovering hardcore is remarkably simple… go to a show.

“Literally come to shows and see bands at venues like this,” he says. “These are the venues we want to play. It’s what we know and who we are.” Hardcore, he says, can’t be fully understood through listening to records or following bands online. The real experience comes from being physically present, meeting people with shared interests and immersing yourself in the culture entirely.

That is why community days like the event at BOOM matter. From vendors and artists to bands and fans, it becomes something bigger than any individual show,  a whole movement built around people coming together. “Hardcore isn’t just the bands or the artists or the flyers,” Jem says. “It’s all about people.”

And if you’re wondering where to begin? “Start there,” he says. “And then from there you will find your friends.”

The community day and sold out show at BOOM is proof that unity is something we still crave. In an increasingly online world where self isolation is common place, there is something incredibly hopeful about the continued shared want for hundreds of people to turn up to a tiny venue, supporting bands, independent vendors and find their people. If the hardcore scene is anything to go by, humanity might be alright after all.