Poacher is a new name, but the Austin band's members are veterans of Texas hardcore and metal. For guitarist Nate, Poacher grew out of connections that had been building for years. "The story as I've heard it so far is that Ian and Champ had been wanting to work together on a hardcore band for more than a year and a half before I joined," he tells No Echo.
Champ was fronting Triage and Ian was playing in Cultburner, but both wanted to start something grounded in traditional hardcore. The search for a guitarist took time until Ian met Nate at a show where Cultburner played alongside Nate's other band, Plague Cross. "A couple of weeks later, I got a DM from Ian asking if I wanted to 'do some loud knuckle-dragging hardcore,'" Nate recalls.
After one writing session, Nate was in. "I could tell that there was a clear vision and direction for the band, something that had been missing from previous projects I'd worked in. I agreed to join based on that alone." The lineup soon expanded. Drummer Johnnie McBryde, whose credits include This Will Destroy You, The High Cost of Playing God, and God Shell, joined the band and pushed its sound further.
That sound is rooted in hardcore but carries a heavy dose of Swedish death metal influence. "We aim to be an abrasive, death-inspired HM-2 hardcore band," Nate says.
If listeners hear shades of Entombed coursing through the band's debut material, that's intentional. "'Left Hand Path' was one of the first tonal reference points we tossed around, with a lot of inspiration from the first Nails record. Black Breath was also thrown around quite a bit, so there's a very distinct HM-2 sound that we're aiming for."
The result can be heard on Poacher's debut EP, They Never Saw It Coming, recorded in April 2026 at Spectra Studios in Cedar Park, Texas:
Lyrically, the EP explores themes that feel particularly relevant to modern life. While Nate is careful not to speak directly for Champ's writing, he hears recurring ideas throughout the material. "To my ear, betrayal, traumatic stress, the absurdity of war, and the general feeling of hopelessness someone might feel being alive in the modern world are all present."
That sense of unease also informed the music itself. "Sonically, we aimed to be as dissonant and angry as we could. The songs generally devolve into slower atmospheric sections, which ideally would echo the themes of hopelessness for the listener."
Despite only recently releasing their first material, Poacher aren't approaching the band as a casual side project. When Nate first reached out to No Echo, he described the band as a "full-time project," a label that continues to shape their ambitions. "Every time this subject comes up, our ideas get a little more ambitious," he says.
The immediate goal is getting local shows under their belts before expanding outward. A Texas run is already being discussed alongside another Austin band, and the possibility of more extensive touring remains on the table. "We're old dudes with jobs and partners, so it just needs to make sense for us."
The members' varied backgrounds also keep them plugged into a wide range of contemporary heavy music. Nate points to death-doom outfit Fossilization, Temple Guard, and Wisconsin hardcore band Sarin as recent favorites, while the rest of the group champions artists including Spit My Rage, Ozone, Nightmarer, Lockstep, Spikepit, Mean Jesus, Sulfuric Cauter, Psycho-Frame, and IAN.
For a band still in its infancy, Poacher is already chomping at the bit to get back in the studio. As Nate puts it, "We're just getting started."
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Poacher on social media: Instagram
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