The Paramount in Huntington, New York has hosted many big shows in its lifetime. With acts like Judas Priest, Parkway Drive, Killswitch Engage and Hatebreed, the Paramount has established itself as one of Long Island's biggest music venues. So would you believe me if I told you that it hosted one of the biggest Long Island Hardcore shows in history this past weekend? Because that's exactly what Pain of Truth did. On May 3rd, Pain of Truth headlined their biggest Long Island show to date at the legendary Paramount as part of their Coast to Coast Tour with fellow co headliners Sunami and Haywire supporting. In making this one show a special one, it also featured special guests Drug Church and Stand Still.
Kicking off the night was Stand Still, a melodic hardcore band that emerged onto the scene in 2021. The band is made up of Gerry Windus (vocals), Bryan Natole (guitar), Steve Hallam (guitar), Matt Reinecker (bass), and Andre Valerio (drums) and have a style that is very reminiscing of bands like Silent Majority, The Movielife and Inside. The band is currently signed to DAZE and have released their debut album Steps Ascending last June. Stand Still pulled no punches and played one of their best sets, playing songs from their debut release and their two EPs A Practice in Patience and In A Moment's Notice. Long Island showed up early for the boys and dedicated their energy to them, singing out all the words to every single song. Even though this show was at The Paramount with a barricade, it was STILL a hardcore show and the band expected that same hardcore energy from the crowd. The crowd did indeed delivered that energy and did not let the barrier stop them from crowd surfing and doing crowd pile-ons like on songs "Steps Ascending" and "Id". Windus even climbed up to the barricade and gave the fans their opportunity to grab the mic and it was incredible how fast the front got crowded with crowd-surfing and pile-ons. The pit wasn't safe from hardcore dancers however, as dancers threw their spins and kicks on "In the Dying Light of a Setting Sun" and "In My Blood". Other songs they played included "There's No Autumn Here", "Loose Ends" and "We Know The Score". The energy that Stand Still delivers makes it impossible to just stand there and do nothing, which is good because that is exactly what they don't want you to. From the minute they played their first note, it was either two-stepping, dancing, crowd surfing, or pile ons to grab the mic from Windus when he climbed up the barricade. The band themselves were even having the time of their lives playing their biggest Long Island show to date and I hope the day will come where they will headline The Paramount.
Buy/Listen to Steps Ascending here.
Keep Up With Stand Still: Instagram | X | Spotify
Up next was Boston hardcore powerhouse Haywire. From the mind of vocalist Austin Sparkman, Haywire has become one of the fastest-growing hardcore bands out of Massachusetts. The band released their debut album CONDITIONED FOR DEMOLITION at the beginning of 2024 and its a delivery of raw, stripped down hardcore and also features a number of guests including Colin of Arabia, Death Before Dishonor and Conservative Military Image. Last month, the band released a split EP with No Guard called SHIRTS VS. SKINS. After instigating a singalong with the crowd to "Sweet Caroline", Haywire kicked it up to 100 and kept it glued there the entire time. The front was instantly pelted with pile-ons to scream the words to the first song "GET TO STEPPIN". Sparkman was commanding the crowd to get up to sing the words and was zooming from one side of the stage to the other. He then rushed right up to the barricade and made every get to him as close as they could to scream the words to "HAYWIRE". There were just piles and piles of fans all on top of each other to grab the mic and scream the words to Austin, with only the barrier preventing the stage dives that would've 100% took place in that exact moment, like it has every time I saw them. It wasn't all just pile ons and crowd surfing though as the pit broke out into dancing and two stepping, the second of which was happening a lot during "CLOCKTOWER PLACE". At one point, before getting into the new song "SUMMER NIGHTS", Sparkman ordered the crowd to split in half and then jumped into the crowd to give a speech about hardcore. He then introduced the new song and the room that was once split into instantly filled with two stepping. As for Austin though, he stood in the crowd with all the members of the Haywire army and yelled the words to everyone, even passing the mic to members in the crowd to get their voices out. After serenading everyone to the love song "LOVE SONG", Haywire was about to wrap it up and they wrapped it up with no other way than with the song "LIKE A TRAIN". Sparkman got back up to the barricade one last time and ordered everyone from the "Haywire army" to get up to him and another massive pile-on formed. Towards the end of the song Sparkman shocked everyone and stage dived at full speed into the crowd and passed the mic to members of the crowd to scream the closing words out, ending Haywire's explosive performance.
Keep Up With Haywire: Instagram | Spotify
Coming down from Albany next was post-hardcore veterans Drug Church. Having been around since 2011, makes Drug Church the longest-tenured band on this bill. The band has released five studio albums, with their most recent one PRUDE being released last October and are signed to Pure Noise Records. The band 's lineup consists of Patrick Kindlon (vocals), Nick Cogan (guitar), Cory Galusha (guitar), Patrick Wynne (bass), and Chris Villeneuve (drums). The band's whole set was filled with waves and waves of crowd surfers and that was mainly because Kindlon was calling for it multiple times. The band played songs from multiple releases such as "Grubby", "Bliss Out", World Impact", "Million Miles of Fun" and songs from the latest release like "Myopic" and "Demolition Man". They even went old school and played "But Does It Work?" from their 2015 EP, Sweall. The band's energy was on point with Cogan jumping while playing and Kindlon throwing his mic to the crowd for fans to sing the words in. He even passed the mic to surfers that just got let down from security to yell a few words before running back to the pit. Towards the end, Kindlon called for a circle pit and for those who chose not to participate in the circle pit to keep crowd surfing, assuring them that the "security with big arms, will catch you and carry you like a baby" and in the end, both happened as a massive circle pit formed while those standing at the front were getting pelted with crowd surfers. Saving the best for last, Drug Church closed their set with "Weed Pin", this was my first time seeing Drug Church and I was very impressed by their performance. While they weren't the heaviest band on the set, their performance was still energetic and the crowd still delivered like they would for any other hardcore band. I will definitely see them again when they come back around, hopefully on a headline tour too.
Keep Up With Drug Church: Website | Facebook | Instagram | X | Spotify
Up next, all the way from the Bay Area; Sunami, a beatdown band from San Jose, California that was formed in 2019. The band is signed to Triple B Records and consists of Josef Alfonso (vocals), Mike "Durt" Durrett (guitar), Theo Dominguez (bass) and Benny Eissmann (drums). What initially started as a one time joke project, turned into one of the biggest hardcore bands to come out of the West Coast, packing out every show they play and developing a strong following. In 2023, the band released their debut album Sunami and just this past March, they released their split EP with Pain of Truth called Coast To Coast which both bands are touring in support of right now.
Sunami touched on every release they had, from the 2019 demo to the self titled Sunami EP to even the debut Sunami full length. The band also played their side of the Coast To Coast split, playing the songs "Doubt" and "Fence Walker". The fans knew the words to every single song and screamed every single word back, only to get violent in the pit whenever the band slowed it DOWN on breakdowns like on "Die Slow" or get their two stepping going during songs like "Feds Watchin'" and "I Don't Care". If the front thought that they were safe from the chaos behind them, well they should've learned from the previous bands that that wouldn't be the case because they got pelted with crowd surfers again and I even saw some trying to walk on people's heads.
Alfonso thanked the crowd for giving them the biggest New York show of their lives so far. The band has played in Brooklyn a number of times but the last time Sunami played on Long Island was in 2021, playing Pain of Truth's EP release show at Amityville Music Hall in Amityville, New York. Now here they are, four years later, back on Long Island sharing a special night with Pain of Truth. Sunami wrapped their set up with the older songs that everyone knew. All of Long Island joined them in saying "F*ck the police" with "Contempt of Cop" and the pit erupted at the sound of the song's heavy opening riffs. Everyone was screaming the words back and Alfonso stopped and let the crowd scream out “1-8-7 on a P-I-G”, which then led into the song’s first slow breakdown. Chaos was in effect for the entire song but it got even more intense once the ending breakdown hit, with the pit full of hardcore dancers and crowd surfers piling on top of each other, being on the floor was an adventure for those who were just standing there. The ending breakdown was accompanied by Eissmann’s rolling double kicks that helped give the breakdown that extra punch. Before Sunami finished up, they reminded everyone that they were still a b*tch on the song "Y.S.A.B", which the pit did not take kindly to and reminded the band that they weren't b*tches when the breakdown dropped. The audio from the movie Jamesy Boy gave a clear indication on what the last song was gonna be. The crowd joined in reciting the movie's lines, like they always do, and then Sunami gave the rest of what they had left in "Weak Die First". The fans were singing along word-for-word to the entire song and moshing as hard as they could. Sunami ended with one last slow breakdown and with rapid fire double bass drums and death growls from Alfonso and Sebastian Paba from Regulate. New York has alwasy been second home to Sunami and it was great to finally see them on Long Island after seeing them in Brooklyn multiple times. To say I saw Sunami co headline The Paramount is a crazy thing to say but I'm proud of the Bay Area boys for accomplishing that.
Listen to Coast To Coast here.
KEEP UP WITH SUNAMI: FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | X | YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY
Well it had been one hell of a night but it was not over yet. Because it was time for the main eventers to take the stage, Long Island Hardcore's next big thing; Pain of Truth. Formed during the pandemic in 2020, the band became one of the fastest growing hardcore bands today with their hard hitting lyrics and intense live shows. The band is made up of Michael Smith (vocals), Nick Hansen (guitar), Zach Stachura (bass), and Nick Barker (drums). The band is currently signed to DAZE and have released their debut studio album Not Through Blood in 2023 and have just released their split EP with Sunami called Coast To Coast.
Pain of Truth kicked it into high gear, starting with "Shattered Past", the first track off of the new release and Long Island opened that pit up instantly. Chaos raged on from start to finish including crowd surfing and crowdkilling, all of which carried into the next song "Lifeless On The Ground". Michael Smith even climbed up on the barrier and passed the mic to multiple people that piled on top of each other and then let out a deep "ON! THE! GROUND!" leading into a violent breakdown which led to more crowdkilling and violent dancing. Oh and Michael also did a front flip into the crowd and surfed from one end to the other before hoping back on stage. The band then played another track from the debut LP "In Your Heart" before going old school with "Blood On Your Hands" from the debut split with Age of Apocalypse. The pit switched from dancing to two-stepping and Dan Longo, the vocalist of Laid 2 Rest hopped on stage for the pre-breakdown and once that dropped, the pit went back to everyone fighting each other.
There were so many unforgettable moments during Pain of Truth's set, the other song from their split with AOA called "Scarred" saw Andrew "Lumpy" Wojcik from DAZE, Sanction, and Balmora jumping on stage and joining the band on vocals and Michael getting up to barricade again for "Pain of Truth" which instigated another massive pile on at the front. Now being that the Paramount has a barricade, generally that would prevent stage diving. However, that was not the case as on two separate occasions, like during "Pain of Truth", one the band's friends did a full on front flip straight from the stage, into the crowd at full speed. I was standing right where he did it and barely had enough time to react and luckily I just dodged him while others around me were able to catch him at the cost of probably getting a foot to the head but no one was complaining and some people were even laughing but we all were surprised by the sudden dive. If you look at videos of it happening you will see that even security were caught off guard by it. I gotta give security a lot of credit, they probably thought it was gonna be another metal show but they underestimated how crazy Long Island Hardcore shows get and they for sure got overwhelmed by the massive pile ons and crowd surfers but they did their jobs and caught everyone so huge props to them. No matter where the show is at, it's still a hardcore show and barrier or no barrier, we will show the place what Long Island does best. The bands even said it themselves, including Pain of Truth, that it was still a hardcore show and they expected the same energy that they always get.
Michael Smith took time to talk to the crowd and reminded them how grateful he was that his band has the opportunity to headline the Paramount. This isn't something hardcore bands get to do unless they're Hatebreed so the fact we all made this possible made him and the rest of the band so happy and shouted out many bands like King Nine and Madball on the song "You And Me". He also made the crowd get active like pointing out one certain member in the audience to start two-stepping, no matter it bad or good it was, he wanted them to two step and after a few more seconds he ordered the crowd to join in and in an instant, the pit went from one two-stepper to a massive pit of two steppers. Pain of Truth played something from every release they had from the split EP to their debut EP NO BLAME...JUST FACTS, to their debut album Not Through Blood and both tracks from their latest Coast To Coast split. Songs included the new song "The Enemy" and old songs like "Two Choices". For this very special night, Pain of Truth had a live video filmed for a future release, filmed and directed by known videographer, Tom Flynn who has filmed music videos for bands like Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage and even the music video for Stand Still's "In My Blood". I can't wait to see how the video turns out.
It seemed like a fight was about to break out at one point and Michael called out the people involved. Luckily, it didn't escalate and no one got thrown out but he had to lecture them a bit on how goofy it is to fight and how this we are all here to have fun. The band then jumped into the next song "Actin Up" which Michael mentioned he wrote about people starting fights at shows for no reason. In covering 200 Stab Wounds' part, both Michael and guitarist Nick Hansen switched instruments and Hansen covered the part while Smith was hammering away at guitar. Hansen has powerful vocals and when he takes the mic for that part of the song, it fits so well with the violent breakdown and it leaves the pit causing more violence. The night was almost over but Pain of Truth intended on ending the set with a bang and ordered the pit to split into two sides. From the barricade to the entrance in the back, the room was split wide into two parts. A massive wall of death broke out on "LINYHC" but that wasn't the only thing that happened. Remember when I mentioned the guy that front flipped from the stage twice? Well someone else took it to the next level and climbed up to the balcony and dived from the top side railing right into the crowd. In all my years of going to shows at the Paramount I have NEVER seen something like that before. Homie literally took "this is still a hardcore show" to another level and is definitely one of the highlights of the night. The pit stayed wide open with hardcore dancers, ready to give it all they had left. Before getting into "LINYHC" though, Pain of Truth showed love to their scene by playing an audio medley of some of Long Island's upcoming bands such as Evil Ways and Ten Years Out. I had to do a double take as I was listening to it and was like "wait, I know those songs". Members of those bands were at the show and I can only imagine how happy that made them. Pain of Truth wrapped things up with "The Test" and one more crowd pile-on formed to scream the words out while the pit stayed opened and stayed violent. The pit gave it one last push on the song's closing breakdown and threw arms and kicks in every direction, making sure the show ended with a massive bang.
I've been going to shows at the Paramount for 12 years and I have seen Pain of Truth 11 times before this show. Never have I ever seen a show like this at the Paramount and it truly was an amazing experience. Every single band did phenomenal and the crowd did not hold back from start to finish. This was for sure, one of my favorite Paramount shows and this will go down in as one of the most unique shows in Long Island Hardcore history.
Listen to Coast To Coast here.
Listen to Not Through Blood here.
Keep Up With Pain of Truth: FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | X | SPOTIFY
