In Current Day Hardcore – Be Like PEACH [Indonesia]

“Wherever Peach plays, all LGBTQ+ people, people living with HIV, are welcome. You are safe at our shows.”

Like many have mentioned, musically, hardcore has been in an interesting place these past few years with certainly more room given to bands to experiment with their sound yet still be able to claim the “hardcore” tag. We back this shit hard…it’s so sick to now get submissions from hardcore bands in our inbox and not always be sure what TYPE of hardcore we’re about to get.

Even though musically bands are pushing it harder and harder, it’s lyrically where there seems to be a growing gap. Many people have mentioned that hardcore bands don’t seem to be tackling the immense social/political challenges the world is facing. Which is strange because for many of us it was exactly these issues bands would sing about that brought us to this world in the first place. ICE, anti-immigration sentiment, Palestine, fascism, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, Islamophobia, proscribing activists as “terrorists”, billionaires continuing to get ever richer while the poor get even poorer, human rights being curtailed, massive and once prized institutions like the UN/ICJ losing all power of influence, there are a billion things bands can be singing about…but for whatever reason, it feels that the majority don’t or choose not to be as vocal about it. We’re in a weird state where hardcore has never been bigger so that certainly changes the way bands approach hardcore. There’s actually a chance for some bands to live off of this now – more power to them – so it would make sense that in order to do that maybe some compromises need to be made in terms of lyrical content? No idea…just a billion things to ponder over.

And the reason why we went off on this tangent? Because Indonesian hardcore punk bands like PEACH exist – a band of actual sisters who don’t hold a SINGLE thing back. From the moment you see their band pic, to their thought-provoking cover art, to the hard-hitting music, and emotionally charged lyrics – you know what this band is about. They don’t give a fuck about toeing the line.

The band has just dropped their much anticipated debut full length ‘Fire Walk With Me’ and it far surpasses all expectations. Guitarist, Maddy, was kind enough and brave enough to send us some deeply personal and intimate information that provides context to the band’s lyrics and immense sense of purpose.

Huge thank you Maddy and PEACH for existing and providing a voice to so many people who may be out there hurting right now.

In a deluge of “hardcore” bands, be like PEACH.

“So where do I begin?

This album is extremely personal to us. Some songs were written on my phone in the middle of breakdowns. It’s our grief, our rage, our healing, and our survival.

We open the album with “Summer Dream”. This song is about the loss of a loved one, like a partner, best friend, or someone significant who’s no longer here, either because they passed away or moved somewhere you can’t reach.

For me personally, it’s a tribute to my best friends who are no longer here with us. Some of them died by suicide, HIV, deep depression. It was not an easy journey for them, painful. I’ve missed you guys. You know it hasn’t been easy for me to accept that you’re all gone. In another life we’d still be coming over to each other’s houses, making unexpected video calls, being weird together. This isn’t an activism statement, but wherever Peach plays, all LGBTQ+ people, people living with HIV, are welcome. You are safe at our shows.

Moving on to the next tracks, some maybe you have listened to before.

Last year was difficult for me and my sister, Lawrence (vocal). We were at our lowest points. During my recovery, Law was diagnosed with a serious lung condition. It was a hard time for our family. We felt hopeless, like what’s the point? There was no more “best” we could do, we didn’t dare to dream anymore. We weren’t living, we were just surviving. Even that felt impossible at times.

But over time, something changed.

We realized that having a dream, even just one small dream, is everything. It doesn’t arrive overnight. You fight for it.
You fight your own thoughts. You fight to stay alive. And eventually, you start to imagine something better. You dare to hope again. And once that happens, you stop nodding along to the things that break you. You stand up. You speak. You say no to the crap that tries to consume you. You stop caring what bitter people think. You move with fire. Like hello, we survived our dad. We can survive anything after that evil being, yeah?

That brings us to “Fire Walk with Me”, the most personal song on this album (even though I’m bored of this one). It is deeply inspired by the Twin Peaks series – thank you to our cinematic dad, David Lynch. Okay spoiler alert if you haven’t watched it: who killed Laura Palmer? It was her dad, Leland Palmer. Yeah, I know, he was possessed by Bob or whatever, but still. It was him. It’s always him.

Our dad hasn’t been present for us our whole lives, if anything he’s just made us suffer. Oh, I remember one time when he was really present! The night when he beat our mom (and us sometimes). The mornings when he drove us late to school and we got punishment in class because he was busy fighting mom. Breakfast time was always challenging for us as little kids, sometimes we forgot how delicious mom’s cooking was because there were unwanted yet expected side dishes on the table: screaming, parents pointing knives to each other, and other disturbing things. When he brought us to his side of family where all of them would just call our mom a whore while we little kids sat there in silence and tears. Where he came back (oh finally!) from gambling outside the country, leaving us with nothing and mom would cry because she couldn’t afford food for her four daughters.

I remember everything like it happened yesterday, and many more, I’m sure you don’t want to hear the details because many friends of ours couldn’t handle it. The story of a man making five women’s lives miserable. Ugh.

All my life I’ve craved for a father’s love. I want him to speak softly to me. I want him to say, “I’m proud of you.” And sad to say that I still want it. I’m glad that I’m here with my sisters, Lawrence and Lesly, we got each other’s backs. We didn’t come from a place of love, we came from a place of chaos.

Have we made peace with it? Of course not. The pain is still here. It always will be. So instead of trying to get rid of it, we ask the fire to walk with us. Because this fire raised us. It shaped us. And now it moves with us.

“Free at Last” is the only song on the album written in Indonesian. It carries the same emotional weight as “Fire Walk with Me”, rising from struggle and learning to live with the scars. After fire and time have tested you, you rise. Stronger, freer, and you just start dancing it off.”

RESPECT.

Go support the band: https://www.instagram.com/peachoftoday/