The members of Gratitude file into a studio in North Albany, ready to practice for the night.
As the band gets situated, they laugh, sharing inside jokes and memes they’ve come across.
In between songs, guitarist Sebastian McKinney and bassist Charlie Van Ness begin riffing. McKinney begins the tune, and Van Ness follows. Eventually, the duo begins strumming in unison — their instruments harmonize.
McKinney and Van Ness end their harmonizing, laughing.
“That was just me riffing and joining to Sebastian,” remarks Van Ness.
The hardcore music scene is experiencing a surge in diversity as more minorities and LGBTQ musicians enter the fold. Synchronized and jovial, the up-and-coming Albany-based hardcore band with three femme-presenting members is part of a larger movement of minorities breaking the mold of what a hardcore band looks like.
All throughout the practice, members oscillate between shared jokes and arranging their set list for their upcoming show. They are both excited and nervous. But lead singer Meghan Brink says, despite it all, the regional hardcore scene is supportive.
“There is a lot of love within that people look out for each other. And I think that, like, that's the ethos of hardcore in general,” said Brink. “[It’s] looking out for one another, being able to make sure everyone there can have a good time and move around in the way they want to. It's an expulsion of emotion through energy and music.”
A couple of days after the practice, the band travels to Troy, a neighboring town, to play at the local music venue. As other bands in the showbill prep and go through their soundcheck, Van Ness talks about what makes them feel comfortable attending Hardcore shows as a queer person.
“There’s a really great, fully trans-femme band here that I really love. They’re called Chaser Bait. And, I mean, their crowd is all just trans people,” said Van Ness. “I’m trans, and it’s just really great to go to shows like that. Like if I see that band on the bill, I just know it’s going to be a more accepting crowd.”
For many members in Gratitude, like Van Ness, having a diverse crowd attend shows puts them at ease. They add that watching other women and gender-diverse folks perform inspired them to make the jump to performing. For Analisa Lazzara, it was when she watched Gully Boys perform. The drummer says watching queer feminine-presenting musicians unlocked something in her.
“I remember talking to the drummer, and they were like, ‘Yeah, we all start, like, learned our instruments to be in this band. And I was like, ‘Oh, I don't have to have any skill or have been playing for 10 years or identify in any specific way,’” said Lazzara. “Because, again, all you see, most of the time, are, like, dudes and bands doing stuff. And I remember, like, it clicking, being like, ‘I can just do this.’”
McKinney says, in addition to having a diverse scene, its relatively smaller size is beneficial because he gets exposed to mix-genre artists.
“What I've noticed about the scene here is because it is so small that it is like, a lot more accepting of, like, a lot more like mixed bills,” said McKinney. “There's, like, bands that sound completely different all on the same bill.”
After a quick soundcheck, Gratitude begins their set. They ask the crowd to move in closer as Brink begins belting. According to the band, this is their third performance together. They have no manager or promoter; the band gets slotted in for performances when they receive word from other bands who may have seen them play and have a slot in a music bill open for another band.
Brendan Manley is the publisher of 518scene.com, a local online publication covering live underground and alternative music in the Capital Region. He says this sharing of music bill is common in an already communal scene like Hardcore.
“It wouldn't be a scene if bands didn't help each other, because then it would just be, you know, one band against every other band,” said Manley. “You wouldn't have shows, you know, you wouldn't have anything. It's the bands that make it happen, really, because nobody else is making anything happen other than the bands.”
After the show, the bandmates huddle, smiling and sharing moments from the performance. Brink says she is excited to keep pushing the definition of what Hardcore can be while also staying true to its community roots.
“We have an abundance of queer people playing music here that is so special, especially in a genre like hardcore, where the history of it is very dominated by straight white males,” said Brink. “Diversity in the genre is so incredibly important to keep pushing the boundaries of what Hardcore is.”
The sentiments ring true for Ella Casper, a musician who came to the show specifically to watch Gratitude play.
“It just makes me feel really happy to see someone femme presenting be met with so much support in the Hardcore scene,” said Casper. “Especially since, obviously, it's a bit male-dominated here at Albany.”
