Australia's Speed and Orlando's Watts repped the changing face of hardcore at wild Abbey show

Thankfully, there’s finally a lot of talk and seriousness about representation with this generation. Although it directly resonates with me as a minority in general, there’s something weird about the Asian-American experience in particular that didn’t even fully hit me until very recently.

As one of many, but not the primary, minority in the American spectrum, the Asian story doesn’t dominate the cultural discourse. Moreover, the Asian temperament — a broad-stroke disposition that’s perpetuated by stereotype — doesn’t lend itself to making waves. So we’ve mostly made our way quietly. None of this ever suited me.
Even as a child, I knew what assumptions people had of us, of me. I also knew that they didn’t square with who I was or aspired to be. It’s with zero exaggeration that I say that my entire goddamn life has been spent trying to shatter that idea. But I guess I’d resigned myself to the belief that it was a solo crusade. Until recently.

Yes, there’s certainly been a newfound Asian presence in American pop culture of late. While I cheer it, little of it has clicked with me. Then I happened upon 38 at the Garden, Frank Chi’s 2022 documentary about 2010s NBA star Jeremy Lin. Between Lin’s accomplishments and the perspectives of other Asian notables in the film, that was probably the first time something hit me so personally in an ethnic sense. Hearing all the straight, articulate talk about how the Lin phenomenon was a bucking of the "meek Asian" stereotype writ large was like a personal lightning bolt.

Now along comes Australian hardcore band Speed, which lands deeper to me. I’ve never come close to even mediocrity as a B-ball player, but I’ve spent practically my whole life being the only Asian in the pit. So seeing a band with three Asians at the front who aren’t just incidentally challenging the stereotype but doing it with bareknuckle intent was, in a word, a revelation. Their recent Orlando show (June 10, The Abbey) was a head-on taste of the Speed phenomenon in full living color.

First, there was a full Florida lineup of openers. In addition to a Tampa hardcore contingent that included Three Knee Deep and Yield to None, South Florida’s Day by Day celebrated 10 years in business with a scorching display of metallic hardcore. Yet it was young Orlando band Watts who ruled.

Watts are one of the hottest and heaviest upstarts of the Orlando underground right now, and their performance made the reasons obvious. Live, they are raw hardcore savagery, a cyclone of force and rage. The only thing notably absent was the macho bullshit. That makes all the difference, and it’s what makes Watts especially auspicious and timely. Just ask their fervid following, who took all of two seconds into Watts’ set to go completely nuclear. Believe me, that was all Watts, because not everyone on stage got that kind of reception.

Even after four intense openers, the packed house found yet another gear once headliners Speed took the stage. From chugging arm-swing grooves to full-frontal blitzes, the band dropped the beatdown hammer in ways that validated every ounce of their budding international reputation. With all his muscle and magnetism, frontman Jem Siow owns the stage like a young Asian Henry Rollins.

As much as sonic brutality, though, Speed are equally driven by positivity. Although delivered with menace, their message and ethos champion representation and inclusivity. They’re about both power and empowerment. Siow himself made frequent salutes to the fire and diversity of this audience, which was indeed notable in both regards.

About that: The audience factors heavily into the Speed experience, and that’s because of the combustible chemistry between the stage and the floor at their concerts. Yes, the band is great, but it’s not a complete Speed show without the sea of flying bodies that they incite.

Without question, Speed are the preeminent band spreading the hardcore gospel of their native Australia hardcore right now. Even bigger than that, though, they’re brave new icons of Asian possibility. Fucking finally.