In a No Echo first, it's my pleasure to feature a band out of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. They're called District 105 and they play brutal metalcore driven by piercing guitars and abrasive vocals.
"My guitarist Khanh had a melodic hardcore band called In Your Eyes before but the band came to an end so he recruited me who was the manager of his band and also had a hardcore band called Stranded PXL," vocalist Huynh Hoang Huy says of District 105's formation back in 2018. "I was supposed to be the bassist but the vocalist quit due to personal problems so i picked up the mic and stick to this position ever since."
Thus far, District 105 have released two EPs, one mini album, and a slew of singles. "It’s hard to travel or tour as a Vietnamese band but we've managed to play in Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and 3 times in Thailand, so far. We've supported some big names like Turnstile, Alphawolf, and END," Huynh tells me.
The vocalist also lays out some of District 105's influences for me. "We love stuff like Kublai Khan TX, Stray From the Path, Knocked Loose, Boundaries, and Justice for the Damned."
District 105's latest release is a standalone track called "Sad Melody" which also features vocal parts from PK of Seoul/Tokyo-based band Prompts:
Huynh and District 105 are clearly ready to get busy for the rest of 2024:
"We have plans to play in the Philippines for the first time in July and China in September. Then, we will release another single in between those shows. We always want to be productive because we believe if you’re a band in this region, you gotta work extra hard to get noticed."
Hit the District 105 Linktree to find all of their social media pages.
2024 Hardcore Releases playlist
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