Alright, what is your guy’s name?
K: My name’s Kiyoshi, I’m the singer.
X: My name is Xander and I’m the guitarist-
K: Lead Guitarist!
And what is your guy’s band name ?
K: balisong!
Alright, can you guys tell me a little bit about how you got into hardcore, metal core, the scene in general?
K: I’ll start. My brother and I were just listening to a lot of punk and stuff back in 2016 when we moved to DC, Virginia, DMV area, and we just got into hardcore because like, first show was a Turnstile show in DC, 2018, pretty dope. And we started going to shows from there. That’s really it for us, just being in the scene since like 2018.
X: I started liking hardcore stuff randomly when I was on the internet. I discovered Hatebreed around 2017 thinking it was a Nu-metal band. I’m really sorry, I’m a massive Nu-metal guy. And then years later, 2024, I met Kiyoshi because we had the same class and then we talked for a bit. He was like “Yo, I saw that you play guitar, you wanna join an all Filipino hardcore band?” and as a person who has never met anyone that’s into the (same) heavy music as me, I was really happy that I met these guys and a lot of people in the scene as well.
So, what do you guys feel like hardcore has done for you, as individuals and as a band?
K: As an individual, along with other experiences in my personal life, I feel like it brought me to find a community and to find people I can actually mesh well with just because living in the DMV- I moved from California, it was a really hard thing to adjust. Especially at the time, no one was really into hardcore, punk, or any of the music I was into, so finding shows just kinda brought everybody together. And for the band, I feel like it’s always that sense of community, especially we’re very prideful of our Filipino culture and we try to show that off, and it’s nice that a lot of people support it.
Any inspirations that you feel really impact the style of your music, the messaging you imbue in it?
K: I would say just a lot of our friends, like a lot of our friends are in bands and it just helps us spread the word, like we wouldn’t be anywhere without our homies and without our community. I would say that, honestly, social media’s bad, it has its bad things, but it’s also good for just meeting new people. We have a lot of connections in Cebu in the Philippines, and just the Philippines in general, Asia, just because people saw what we were about and they were like “hey, that’s dope that you’re doing this in the US”, so I’d say the community inspires me and inspires us as a band to continue going.
X: Especially for all Asian people that’s out there that are trying to be in a band as well and all that.
Are there any aspects of your identity or your lived experience that really impacts your music or how you guys approach writing music ?
K: I think the main one and the most obvious one would just be being a minority in our scene and specifically an Asian American, *specifically* Filipino-American, just because, like I said, we were going to shows back in 2019, 2018, and my brother and I always pointed out like “dude there’s no Filipinos in our scene, let alone any Asians, let alone any people of color”. Especially at that time, all we really had was Crime Watch and Initiate at the time. But, I think that’s such a big thing that really influences me, just being able to show off our culture and it’s been nice to see a lot of other people do it too.
X: I was gonna say what he said, like there weren’t any people like us, Asians. It was just like, “let’s do something that makes other minorities or other colored folk come out”. It doesn’t even matter if you’re Asian, if you’re Hispanic, if you’re black, etc., we just want to represent people who are like us in general.
Just some last couple of questions. What are some things that you feel really help to cultivate a good DIY scene. What are some things that truly make or break scenes that take off and really become staples of hardcore or kind of fizzle out and die?
K: I think a big thing is having a basic understanding of ethics in terms of a scene, not saying there’s any rules but laying some ground on what is appropriate, what is inappropriate of course, and these are basic moral things and that’s what brings us all together. We’re like, “hey, we have these feelings and we want to be in a community where everybody else feels the same”, especially when sometimes we’re the minority, so I feel like having a basic understanding and having an open mind just because everybody in our scene is different too. Especially a lot of new kids are coming into the scene so just keeping an open mind on where people are coming from. I think it just gets hard whenever I hear things happening like “Oh this person got hate-crimed in their scene”. And I know there’s gonna be in every scene, there’s gonna be some opp in there, but I feel like just surrounding yourself with the right people and having a basic understanding of how things should be I think is the main thing. I feel like no matter how many venues open and how many venues close because they can’t do shows anymore, I think just having that basic understanding helps us persevere in all that.
Last thing. What do you guys have planned for the future? Is there anything that people should be aware of?
K: We are recording for an EP-
X: Album.
K: Depending on how long it’s gonna be, and just more shows, just a lot more fun. We just wanna put something out just because I know the people have been waiting. (We’re) trying to go the next step up from that. Riffs are harder-
X: Definitely.
K: Lyrics are trying to be harder, drums are harder, everything hard.
X: You know how other bands are like “oh remember that EP, we don’t like that”? This is exactly how I feel because at the start I didn’t know anything, I wasn’t in a band before so that’s why we wanna make this our most representing, if that makes sense, and hard EP/album to release for the people.
And you guys have that show coming up with Azshara and XpetalsofcarrionX.
K: Yes, yes. So we’re really excited for that, homies with petals and xmemories to burnx and Azshara’s sick, I’m really hyped for that one.
X: Yup, really happy for that show, excited to see Azshara and XpetalsofcarrionX as well.
Cool, cool, cool. Any last shoutouts?
K: Shout out my parents, they’re always coming up to shows and supporting me. Shout out sluggo, shout out XmiseryisabutterflyX even though that’s us plus one person, shout out Zander in XmiseryisabutterflyX. (To X) Anybody else you wanna shout out?
X: Embalmed.
K: Just all the homies and shout out to you guys for making this scene what it is and helping it grow even bigger.
Much love guys, thank you.