"When me and Stef Nouwen (vocals) started the band, we wanted to do something more old school and Youth Crew-ish: fast power chord riffs, side to side mosh parts, the works," guitarist Brent Van Hout tells No Echo via email about Delinquency, a hardcore band based out of Balen, Belgium.
The guitarist continued the Delinquency story: "When we expanded to a full band with Ben Hannes (bass) and Lorre (drums), their musical influences started seeping in as well and we started incorporating more different styles. I’d describe it as funky Youth Crew with harder mosh parts. We’re influenced by Slope, Turnstile, and No Warning, to name a few."
As a follow-up to their 2021 demo, the Belgian hardcore outfit just dropped a 7-track EP called Subconscious Resistance:
Vocalist Stef gave some insight on Delinquency's lyrical point of view: "In our lyrics, we write about theme’s like injustice, mental health, and we call out for a change in the capitalistic point of view of our society, and the fact that we as a society should be more critical about the way the world wants us to act. We write our lyrics carefully and coming from our personal ideas and frustrations."
Brent takes over: "I’d describe the overall theme on this release as fighting your demons. 'Help Me' and 'Black Dog' are about your inner demons: anxiety, insecurity, depression, and fear. Being who you want to be in this world, or trying to keep on being motivated in doing what you love in a world that tries to suck the soul out you on a daily basis. '2490' is about acceptance. It’s a reference to the postal code of our village, and the small music scene that thrives here. We may just live in a small farmers village in bumfuck nowhere, but we make do. If you can’t accept who we are and we stand for, what we love, you can just fuck off."
With a history boasting such bands as Arkangel, Rise and Fall, and Congress, Belgium has been on the international hardcore radar for decades now. Stef clued me in on the current state of affairs in Delinquency's homebase. "In the part of Belgium where we live, the scene hasn’t been that big for the last couple of years. Only a few bands, not that many people organizing shows. But recently we can see that it’s growing again.
"A new booker started putting on some shows and they are reaching people! Both new faces and people who’ve been around for a while. which is dope to see, so shoutout to Boxside Bookings for bringing back shows in the Kempen! Some other bands to check out are our buddies in Bones to Dust and maybe our other project Nesqueek.
"In the broader Belgian scene, these bands should definitely be on your radar: Chain Reaction, Mindwar, Pebble, In Clover, xViciousx, Animal Club (RIP), Gamechanger, Mark My Way, Minded Fury, the list goes on."
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Subconscious Resistance is available on Bandcamp and all streaming outlets.
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Tagged: delinquency
