Theirs is the sort of shining, infectious joy only real hardcore lifers would have. It’s their home, and within that, Jem is conscious of emphasising the sanctuary it gave to him.
“I came into hardcore feeling like a freak. I had a different part of me that didn’t connect with anyone else,” he says, nodding to his East Asian background, and the feeling of otherness coming “as a straight Chinese guy who plays the flute.”
This is a space where difference is celebrated, perhaps most of all when he produces said flute for the monumental anthem THE FIRST TEST. It’s certainly a marker of success not only to have a song this beloved in your scene so early on, to have people sing along not to a riff, but to a flute solo (“Whooo whoo WHOOOO whooo!”). Yes, it’s as hilarious as it sounds.
If ever you need either a high-intensity workout that’s more fun than the gym or something to shock you out of the doldrums, a Speed show is the place to be. As the lights come on, the punters head either for an ever-lengthening merch queue, or the way out. On their way down the stairs, the wasp-like noise returns. “SPEEEEED…”