Melodic hardcore rarely finds a home in Detroit. The Motor City has produced some of the most influential and intimidating bands in hardcore history, from Negative Approach and Cold as Life to modern torchbearers like D Bloc, Never Ending Game, and Bad Beat.
But Tried go a more tuneful route, and the Michigan quartet's recently released album, Spiral, embraces melody, emotion, and introspection. The record gets that feeling across without abandoning the urgency and passion that drew the band's members to hardcore in the first place.
Vocalist and guitarist Alex Kolcheff didn’t set out to start a band. "Nate and I were randomly assigned roommates in college," he tells No Echo. "After a few years of us filling in for other bands, we eventually just asked each other, 'Why don't we just make our own band? We're already friends?'"
They started writing together and landed on the name Tried after finding it in an old Boxing 88 magazine article about George Foreman. "I cut it out of the page and sent it to Nate," Alex recalls. "I think he said, 'Yup.'"
Tried started as a three-piece with different drummers, but things changed after Alex and bassist/vocalist Nate Zonnevylle caught a Harper show in Ann Arbor. Harper’s guitarist, Nick West, was front and center. "Nate and I were both floored and immediately befriended Nick," Alex says. "I asked him over beers if he would at least just play guitar with us for the summer break. He agreed. This was four summers ago."
Drummer Malcolm McNitt rounded out the lineup. Alex had only heard stories about his playing, but they turned out to be true. "Malcolm truly helped define our band, as any good drummer," he says. "I think we play to the beat of his heart."
The members' influence spans multiple scenes and generations. Alex points to melodic hardcore and punk staples such as Jawbreaker, Samiam, Lifetime, Leatherface, and Title Fight. Nate credits Tigers Jaw and Marietta as important inspirations during the band's early days, while Nick cites Guided By Voices, Mineral, Unwound, and Title Fight.
Malcolm’s influences run even deeper. "I've always really loved Brave Little Abacus, especially the tasteful yet maximalist orchestration that Adam Demirjian put into his drum parts," he says. "It all sounds very improvised, which always spoke to me as a jazz drummer." Additional influences Glocca Morra, Modest Mouse, and Mineral, also shaped his approach to Spiral, giving the record a rhythmic identity that stands apart from most melodic hardcore today.
"Lyrically, Spiral is ultimately coping with grief and relationships," Alex explains. "My little brother had died halfway through the writing process, and I was going through a pretty rough breakup." For Alex, the songs fall into two camps. "Every song is either about dying or dating."
In addition to handling engineering and mixing the LP, Spiral is the first release for Nick’s new recording venture, Good Sound, which made the process even more meaningful. "This process made me 1000 times the engineer I am right now," he says. "The three guys let me fail and start shit over so many times until I was confident."
Even in a city known for heavier hardcore, Tried has found their crowd. "Detroit hardcore is heavy, dude," Alex says. "There aren't many melodic bands." He points to fellow Michigan band Normal as one contemporary act occupying similar territory, while citing Small Brown Bike's Our Own Wars as one of his biggest inspirations.
That contrast has led to some memorable shows. "I find it sort of awesome that we always end up playing shows with bands that are 1000 times heavier than us," Malcolm says.
At first, Malcolm felt out of place, but he’s come to appreciate the dynamic. "As someone who had absolutely zero connection to the hardcore scene, it's cool to be welcomed in even if we're playing music that's a bit different."
With Spiral out, Tried is already looking ahead. "We've performed the album a handful of times now, and we'd like to get on the road and play some out-of-town shows," Nate says. More than anything, they’re ready to get back to writing, bringing everything they learned from making Spiral.
"Going forward, we just want to make sure we are doing something new and cool while building on everything we've learned so far."
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