I recently attended Hold Your Ground Fest in Mississauga, Ontario. It's the first hardcore fest in this part of Canada since Not Dead Yet stopped existing in 2018. A ton of high profile heavy hardcore acts from around North America played, as well as lots of homegrown Canadian talent.
The event took place at the Hansa Haus in Mississauga, which is some crazy Bavarian (???) cultural centre and hall. There was all sorts of German insignia all over the walls. It felt like a big VFW, complete with wood panel flooring and a serviceable five foot high stage. The place was in the middle of fuckin' nowhere but there was a kitchen in the venue so I didn't need to leave to get food. They lined the merch tables up along either side of the room.
Friday:
I got there around 4:00 PM and the first band was set up and getting ready to start as I walked in. Not many people had arrived yet. I'd say 25 people inside and maybe 10-15 more chillin outside on the steps of the venue.
The first band to play was End Game from Calgary, Alberta. They had a definite NYHC influence -- fast paced but with a fair bit of heaviness. Lots of friends were in the room for them moshing and showing support. They played a TUI cover and I had to mosh.
Next up was Infamy from Milwaukee. They were a beatdown band with a heavy slam influence and lots of death metal riffs. They played a fast song that I thought was really sick. The Milwaukee dudes they brought with them were some scary mfs. I also had a great chat with the dude Bryan from this band about Suffocation and Cryptopsy after their set.
Fellow Milwaukeeans Enervate played next. I was surprised these guys had any energy left after going so hard for their friends in Infamy. They had a bit of upbeat flavour but also a ton of heavy mosh parts. The entire room reacted pretty well to them, but at this point I noticed a big "fuck you horseshoe" forming in the crowd. Lots of people were standing at the side or in the back of the room.
I got pretty hungry during Enervate's set and decided to check out the kitchen. They had a limited menu, and the first thing I tried was the poutine. Predictably, they used shredded mozzarella cheese instead of curds, which is an automatic L. I didn't know how to feel about the fries, which were more shoestring-y than you would expect in a poutine. The gravy was really good, but the dish was so big that by the time I was done eating it was cold and gross. 6/10.
Spaced, from the beautiful city of Buffalo, took the stage next. They had lots of two-step parts and lots of side to side parts. They reminded me of a heavier Scowl, especially with the vocal delivery. They were reaching in the punk direction but still very rooted in hardcore.
Tacoma's Denial of Life was up next. I'm not a big fan of their record, but live they were a completely different band. They play what I describe as "mesh shorts thrash", which is crossover that's super indebted to metalcore by proxy, due to the fact that the members are coming from a heavier hardcore/metalcore background. DoL had the liveliest crowd reaction up to that point, and even elicited the first stage-dive of the night.
At this point the venue took away re-entry privileges and cordoned us out to a cool little patio between bands. Some of my homies were in the building by this point and the vibe of the "smoking section" was really chill and welcoming.
Montreal's Prowl were up next. They kinda sounded like Denial of Life. To be completely honest. the heavy hardcore was kinda starting to blend together for me and I was getting burnt out. I watched like half of this set and then chilled outside for a bit.
Just in the knick of time, Winnipeg's Meantime provided a much needed stylistic curveball. They were described to me as a youth crew band but I feel like they were more along the lines of something like Magnitude with that metallic 90's straightedge sound. Still, they were the fasted and most straightforward band so far. It was funny because you could tell people were into it but they didn't really know how to mosh to the fast parts so there wasn't a big reaction.
Keeping up the fast pace was Boise's Ingrown. I was most excited for this set on day one and the band did not disappoint. They went really hard on stage, which is impressive considering they're a three-piece. The audience was also super into it. I saw two almost-fights during their set. Crazy how the first pit beef of the day (that I saw) was for the "powerviolence" band.
I wanted to get some food before the kitchen closed, so I grabbed an order of chicken fingers and a drink. The fingers didn't have much flavour. I could only taste the breading and even that didn't taste like much. I also think one of my shits was undercooked. I still ate it though cuz I'm built different. 3/10.
Momentum was up next. I'd heard a lot about this band but never listened to them because I figured it wasn't gonna be my thing. (I actually listened to their album after this and wish I'd checked them out sooner). Their guitar player was wearing a walking boot and they had a dude in an FSU shirt standing on stage who looked like he was there to press the guitarist's pedals or something. They also had a guest vocalist who did one of the wildest mosh calls I've ever heard. I'm not gonna repeat it on here but hearing it without any context literally made my jaw drop. You can find it online if you look hard enough.
Pain of Truth closed out the night and they were really good. I thought their set was gonna be really short cuz they only have the EP and a split but they played at least eight songs so they must have some comp tracks or something. They also played the intro to "Juggernaut" by Crown of Thornz which was a bit of a tease to everyone in the audience. They were the first band to actually have singalongs up front and break through the fuck you horseshoe.
The show got out around 10:30. I was DONE with hearing heavy music at this point so I listened to the Eagles on my drive home.
Saturday
 |
| Mile End repping their hometown |
Traffic to the venue was a lot less hectic on Saturday considering it was a weekend. I got there early to see my homie's band Mile End open the show. They did a great job of setting the tone for the day, playing tight as hell and bringing a whole bunch of friends out to mosh and pile on. I think I saw more Mile End shirts in the building than any other band shirt.
Final Declaration from Buffalo was next. They had two dudes in Bills jerseys which is an automatic W for me. Their music was very heavy beatdown but without a lot of death metal influence. Classic style like Bulldoze or Cold as Life. They had a lot of friends in the building to support them.
Next up was Constraint from Louisville. They won points for me by saying Christian Fascists should be met with violence. They also covered the Suicide File, which was cool but I don't think it was the right audience. The rest of their set was more burly, moshy hardcore in a sea of burly moshy hardcore and without knowing the band very well their set kinda washed over me.
I missed most of Age of Apocalypse's set because I was fucking around in the parking lot and didn't realize they were on. That bummed me out a lot because they were one of the bands I was most excited to see. I managed to see three songs, though. They sounded super huge.
Cohezion was up next. I believe one of the main dudes responsible for booking HYG (Kyle) fronts this band. I don't usually gravitate towards their style of metalcore but they do it very well and the festgoers loved it. The dancing was a lot better when people knew all the parts and let their style fly organically instead of just reacting to drumbeats. Someone cartwheeled through the entire pit which was fuckin awesome. The band was also going super hard, feeding off the audience and putting on a show.
Cold Shoulder continued the local rock block. They started their set talking about solidarity for the LGBT community in hardcore, which was a nice gesture as apparently there was some discussion online about people feeling unsafe at shows. They also said "we're not a heavy band" but them started playing a bunch of palm muted chug riffs. I was excited to see this band because they're one of the bigger artists in our region and I don't mind them on record. Unfortunately though, my brain was checked out on moshy hardcore for the time being and I left during their set to sit in my comfy car before the venue stopped doing in and out privileges.
Gates to Hell was a nice change of pace. They're a deathcore band, but that new style of deathcore where it's derived from short moshy metallic hardcore, with trem riff/punk beat fast parts instead of circle pit parts and double kick slow parts instead of the average side to side riff. Still, it provided enough stylistic variety that I was able to enjoy it.
I grabbed a burger and fries combo after Gates to Hell's set. The patty was thick and flavourful and the bun was a nice, fresh, firm kaiser. My boy Andy said the bun to meat ratio was off but I'm a bun man so I disagreed. The fresh condiments were really nice but it was a little weird how they were chilling on a little craft services table all weekend. We've already established I'm built different though, so you bet I was eating that botulism tomato. 8/10
Division of Mind was up next. They played probably the most skilled and tasteful interpretation of super-heavy hardcore the whole weekend. Their fast parts were actually fast which I appreciated. I think I would have been more stoked to see them if they came on their own tour package, cuz by this point all I could think about was how bad my back hurt. I watched their whole set, though, cuz they were really good.
After DOM, I laid in the grass behind the smoking section and tried to stretch my back out. It actually worked pretty well and I was able to stand for the rest of the fest without much pain. I did feel some internal pain, however, when someone told me Mindforce couldn't make it for whatever reason. I was super excited to see them, and was really let down. Luckily the fest did their best, tapping Ingrown and Pain of Truth to play for the people who didn't see them on Friday (there were a lot more people there on Saturday).
Ingrown was super tight again. The audience reaction wasn't as crazy but they might have played even better than the night before. Pain of Truth also did a really good job. They soundchecked with that CKY song from Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3, and covered some song that a lot of people knew (IDK what it was lol).
Gridiron was a fuckin scene. They were hard, fast and entertaining. The crowd loved them. There were du-rags, basketball jerseys, and Jackson guitars on stage. It was awesome.
Sunami was the second last band of the evening. I don't really care about them to be honest, but watching them play drove home how influential they are on the heavy hardcore scene. I don't think there was a single smaller band who played that weekend that didn't owe something to Sunami, whether it be their riffs or their presentation or just their general swag. The band was pretty solid live. Someone was doing pushups in the pit and another dude came along and kicked him in the ass. That was pretty funny.
I was completely done with any sort of critical analysis by the time Never Ending Game took the stage. I moshed very briefly because I was trying to get the people in the back of the room to stand closer -- to no avail. It kinda sucked how many people were standing in the back of the room, but the band still got a pretty solid crowd reaction compared to everyone else that weekend. This was my favourite set of the whole fest.
The weekend was all in all a great time. I got to chill with and meet a ton of cool people. My only complaints are that the bands could have been a little more diverse in sound, and that people were struggling to dance and go off for the bands properly. Other than that it was a great experience and everything ran smoothly. Probably the best experience I've ever had at a fest,
Hopefully Hold Your Ground becomes an annual thing and I see some of you fools there next year!
