Kismet finds a way, especially when it comes to hardcore’s tendency to bridge the distance gap. In this case, one time tourmates Kyle Taylor (Crafter, Blind Idol) and Bryan Fleming (Rig Time!) first planted the seeds of collaboration on the road. That chance meeting germinated into the straightedge powerhouse that is Dare to Be.
The duo has returned with Time Is the One Thing and, while their scathing 2019 debut offering, Moment of Choice, was a ripper, they’ve trounced all over it with their latest.
Available via the well-curated Patient Zero Records, the scattered pair span the Midwest and Carolinas. Yet, the nearly 20 hours that stands between them hasn’t prevented an upcoming grip of long awaited live shows.
No Echo is stoked to premiere the band’s latest, a collection of 5 tracks that up the ante on the band’s melodic hardcore. With echoes of Reach the Sky, Betrayed, Turning Point, and early ‘oughts hardcore; Dare to Be’s most logical analogue is a band that just so happened to release an modern classic.
One can’t help but call to mind Be Well, the McTernan-fronted masters of melody. Taylor’s lyrical talents are, dare I say, unparalleled in the game right now. His singular abilities as an author lend the tracks somehow even more urgency and heft.
Lest I spoil the hyper literate gifts that await the listener, I’ll end with this: Hardcore is, at its core, a youth culture. Dare to Be have found a way to defy the passage of time with equal parts rage and grace:
"Time Is the One Thing is a collection of songs about the anxieties of accepting your role and place in the progression of time," Tyler told No Echo.
"'Glow' is a song that takes the listener into the thesis, emphasizing how important it is to hold on to the things you cherish before time (and the forces surrounding and driving it) take those very things from us. Each track thereafter places an emphasis on the need to analyze the world with a deep sense of humility, ultimately accepting the fates of loss and diminished pride.
"Time is the one thing that makes fools of us all. And that’s okay. Sometimes we have to lean out of the current and accept when we shouldn’t say anything at all, and to learn to take our bows with grace. We start by holding what we love ('Glow'). We leave by learning to say goodbye 'in time.' The lessons serve as body paragraphs in the 'in-between.'”
Time Is the One Thing is available in a limited edition cassette via Patient Zero Records.
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Tagged: blind idol, crafter, dare to be
