After playing together in different bands throughout the years, a pair of German musicians named Karol and Timo (no last names given) decided to start Spring Forward last year. "I never did that vocals only thing in a band before, so it was and still is pretty exciting," Karol tells me. "After that we asked Ingmar (drums) and Hannes (bass) to join us. They had time, were motivated, and it has worked since day one. It was great and a lot of fun to write all those songs."
Those "songs" appear on Spring Forward's debut EP, Still Care, a six-track collection of emocore in the '90s vein. " I think the idea was to start a hardcore band and each of us has some differnt styles and ideas in mind (about what hardcore is).
"Still, I think we could be called an 'emocore' band. It's not about playing as hard, moshy, or fast as possible but about bringing some emotion into it (without forgetting the fast or moshy parts)."
When pressed, Karol gives up some specific influences on the Spring Forward sound: "I think bands like Falling Forward, Turning Point or (early) Lifetime could be dropped but I am not sure if we are sounding like them. We are no trying to copy some sound."
Still Care came out last month. "We recorded the EP with a good friend (greetings to Nico) in his rehearsal room on a sunny but cold weekend in February. He did a great job because Still Care sounds amazing and rough at the same time. Thats how we like it. The cover artwork was done by our drummer and we have this dinosaur thing going on. I guess because we think they are kind of cute and some cute (or funny) hardcore artwork cant be wrong [laughs]."
Karol and his Spring Forward bandmates are lining up shows for now, and he wanted to mention some local bands he thinks No Echo readers will appreciate. "There are a few cool bands right now that are playing some really unique music here.
"There is Rauchen, who started as a power violence band but now have also a post-punk side to their sound. Oma Oklahoma is another great band that more in the post-hardcore/emo vein. I hope there's a hardcore revival here soon!"
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Spring Forward on social media: Instagram | Bandcamp
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