No Cure is the perfect example of a band grinding hard and reaping the rewards of their hard work. Purveyors of a nasty strain of metallic hardcore, the Birmingham, Alabama-based quintet first made waves in our scene via their debut EP in 2022, and have kept dropping a steady stream of new music while maintaining a busy road schedule ever since then. The DIY spirit burned strong all the while.
Looking to thrust things forward into a new gear, No Cure recently inked a deal with SharpTone Records (Dying Wish, August Burns Red) who will be releasing the band's forthcoming EP, I Hope I Die Here.
Despite their hard-earned early successes, No Cure faced a nightmarish setback back in September when vocalist Blaythe Steuer and bassist Jake Murnane were both stabbed while trying to break up a fight after their set at The Cobra in Nashville, Tennessee. Thankfully, they both recovered and got back to work within days.
I spoke with Blaythe about the new EP, the effects of the stabbing incident, his staight edge musical heroes, and the stereotypes of the American South.
It seems like SharpTone has been making some interesting moves these past couple of years. How did this partnership come about, and what kind of opportunities are you hoping they can help bring your way?
There were a good few labels of various sizes that reached out to me about doing something with us. I wanted to hold out until we were offered a deal that did not feel too ghoulish. I am a naturally curious person, so I just asked question after question to anyone I could and then ultimately made a decision. It also helped a ton that I have friends who are on SharpTone, and they all spoke highly of the team.
One thing I really liked about SharpTone is that they were willing to leave our prior EPs alone. Several of the other deals we were sent required taking our backlog, and I hated that. We paid for them, pressed them, and toured them to promote them with no outside help. Why in the world would I lose control of those records? I love them.
We also liked that SharpTone is part of Nuclear Blast, who has put out tons and tons of records I have been listening to my whole life, and that Nuclear is helping with some of the physicals side of things.
Opportunity wise, I am hoping that they help get us in front of people that we wouldn't have been able to get in front of otherwise, and that they continue to be receptive and willing to answer all my questions about the nuance of all this.
Though No Cure certainly isn't the first band to marry straight edge-empowered lyricism with violent imagery, you take it to a new level of bluntness. Have your lyrics ever sparked any uncomfortable conversations out on the road in the last couple of years?
Yes. Some people really take it personally that we don’t do drugs. Why does it affect your self-esteem that I can have fun, be around people, relax, and enjoy life sober? If the way I live makes someone look within, that is on them.
Speaking of lyrics, "Don't Need Your Help" is particularly intriguing since it's you sticking up for the Southeast and how many people in this country view it. As someone who grew up in NYC, and lives in Los Angeles these days, I have to admit that I am one of those people. How wrong are we? Tell me how you see it. Do you have deep roots there?
This is pretty nuanced, and I don’t want to type too much as my tone won’t come across in text format, but the whole new record is about this in a few ways.
In short, I was born in Huntsville, Alabama. I grew up between there and Scottsboro, Alabama. I have lived in Birmingham, Alabama for the last decade. I’ve been actively going to shows here for the last 16 years (I started very young). Honestly, the older I get, the more I tour, and the more I see the world, the more I find that I truly love and appreciate what we have back home. It is beautiful here. There are good people here working on good things.
Once when I was working for Sanguisugabogg a couple years ago, someone in Brooklyn asked me where I was from at the merch table. I imagine they asked because I don’t sound like people up there. I told them I am from Alabama. This individual turned their nose up at me, sneered, and asked if we only have dirt roads down there.
That is a specific example, but the notion that the South is a racist, inbred, hateful, and backwards place is a notion that only hurts the people here who are committed to working on and improving the conditions here for everyone.
That goes for hardcore too. There are a lot of incredible Southeastern hardcore bands that are not a part of the greater American hardcore conversation. I want to see more of that. I want to see less tour routes from Houston to Tampa that skip over Louisiana, Mississippi, South Alabama, and North Florida. There are people there that love hardcore and build communities around shows.
I know you've been a road dog for many years, even before No Cure. How much of an advantage was that for the band once you started touring? I imagine you avoided many mistakes other bands make because you've seen and learned so much touring with other bands on a road crew/management level.
I’ve been touring since I was 17, and I’ve been going as hard as I can since then. Of course, the experience from booking my own DIY tours for years and years has been huge. Just having that network of people before No Cure even played a show helped so much.
Also, my time playing guitar for Orthodox, vending for Bogg, Erra, Revocation, and others helped me learn so much about how things work. Just being in the room, listening to decisions be made, and being around people that make shit happen did so much for me, even if they aren’t the same genre.
Even with all of that, I’ve still made tons of mistakes, and I will likely continue to. At the end of the day, I am just a guy doing my best with the information I have.
On a personal level, how has the stabbing incident changed you? Maybe it's too soon to process that kind of traumatic event, but being out on the road as much as you are, and playing a style of music with so much violent physical interaction, it's an aspect most people in your situation don't ever have to worry about.
Honestly, I am fine. I found the whole incident to be more inconvenient than anything else. Once they got two tourniquets on me and I was confident I was not going to lose the leg, I realized I didn't really have anything to worry about.
My biggest takeaway is that no one is gonna give you the heads up that they’re doing knives now. I think that can be applied to a lot in life.
READ MORE: Fortress Records: South Florida Hardcore Label Should Be on Your Radar
I know it's a predictable question, but have you drawn on that experience in your lyrics yet? Or, perhaps, you rather just avoid the topic altogether in your lyrics?
The incident occurred after I Hope I Die Here was already complete writing wise. I never stop writing though. Maybe it will make its way into something, but I have to figure out how I want to go about it. I try to be intentional with my themes and lyrics here, despite how blunt they can be.
How do you view the role of social media in marketing No Cure? Do you enjoy it or is it just necessary evil at this point?
No, I do not enjoy my time spent on apps every day. The amount of time and effort it takes to do it right every day is more than most people get.
I know a lot of bands think they're too cool to try at really anything, and that includes social media. You don’t have to be a goofy tongue roll whisper scream TikTok vocalist to be trying on social media. It's a great tool to connect with people and build community if you use it right. It does suck that “using it right” is constantly changing though, and it can be pretty challenging. It is disheartening when something doesn’t work.
I also book a lot of metal/hardcore shows in Alabama, so I’d be there anyway trying to push shit even if I wasn’t doing No Cure.
Looking forward, do you have any specific goals or milestones you hope to achieve with No Cure in the coming year? I've been covering the band since the start, and I can definitely see you crossing further into the "big festival" category.
I am a very goal-oriented person, so yes [laughs].
I want to continue grinding out tours. I am hoping that I Hope I Die Here does alright and gets us in the conversation for some more tours that are out of our wheelhouse.
One of my big goals here is to expose more people to The Straight Edge and the ethos of hardcore, because I think we as a community are fundamentally right about a lot of shit in the world.
The festival stuff we have done so far has been great. I’d like to get a shot at one of the bigger hardcore festivals this year as well. I do personally care more about touring than fests though. The recent rise of bands that only play fests but don’t actually tour isn’t my favorite thing, but I know there are lots of reasons for that.
Strife, Earth Crisis, and Foundation are three bands you've covered in the last couple of years. What are some of the other bands that helped inform your pathway to straight edge consciousness?
We love doing covers. Those ones and the Project X cover were all extremely fun to do and play live when we have. We played three of them at the Atlanta Edge Day show this year. Back to back. It was awesome.
Paying respect to the greats and exposing new kids to what we love is extremely important to me. I can already guarantee you that a good amount of young and new people that checked us out from the single on SharpTone last month went through our discography and found the covers. I’d personally love to do No Tolerance and/or Judge one day in the future as well.
Do you remember the first time you discovered some of those bands?
I can’t speak for everyone in the band, but I found out about Earth Crisis at a very young age because one of the guitar players of I Killed the Prom Queen was wearing their shirt in a promo that was the thumbnail of a YouTube video.
I recognized that that is quite an unusual path. I didn’t have an older sibling or local old head to put me on. Foundation has also been huge for me musically and lyrically, and they’re from just a couple hours east of here.
I claimed edge at 14 years old and never looked back. It is the best decision I’ve ever made.
Thank you so much for having me on and for covering the band for the past couple years.
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I Hope I Die Here is out on December 6th via SharpTone Records (pre-order).
No Cure on social media: Facebook | X | Instagram
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