Imagine this scenery:
You're at a show in another country, and you're there all by yourself. You don't know anyone who is there.
The singer of the band in question talks about kids getting medication at a very young age, about how it pisses him off when someone says 'that band is pretty good... for girls', he eventually cries (how dare he, as a man!) on stage because it saddens him this will be the last show, he talks about people being involved in the same kind of music and the scenery around it and how it gives us this feeling of unity, even though we're not all from the same countries, don't speak the same language and may not always understand each other. I'm moved and touched by what he is saying, because this scenery is not imagined but actually happened to me.


After the show I walk outside, it's already dark and notice the bandsinger and a guy from Germany are talking about the medication-problem, especially meds applied to depressions. I decide to join in the conversation, because I'm interested in what they are talking about and it feels so refreshing to finally talk about 'topics' again, something I really miss about the hardcoreshows in the Netherlands.
Another Swedish girl who will attend university to become a psychologist. It turns out to be an interesting discussion, international and interdisicplinary.
Wow, it struck me, this is so awesome, these people are so nice. If someone would ask me what hardcore is about, this would be it, this would be the situation i would describe to make it clear.
A place where people can say what they want to say, where there are people who think critically about stuff, where don't just do what everyone does, but dare to do it differently and can explain why they do things a certain way, and where there is respect for one another to say what the other has to say.


This is something I had been missing in the Netherlands. Maybe I was attending the wrong show, I don't know, or hanging out with the wrong people. Some people disagree with me on this but in my eyes hardcore and politics should always be related. If it's not about thinking critically about things that go on in the world and to step outside of that, then it would feel hollow to me. I need some depth, challenge and also space, and i think we all do, to say what you want, get inspired to see things from different perspectives and not get cut off because some asshole disagrees on what you are saying.
I'll stop this rambling post now before i start talking about what punk or hardcore should be, because i know it's different for everybody. I know what it means to me and what it should mean to me. I think that's what it should be everyone, to know what it means to you.