When asked about the critical acclaim for Scowl’s new album How Flowers Grow, singer Kat Moss is honest.

“There’s a feeling of being overwhelmed,” she explains through the Zoom screen. “We’re just riding the wave because we have no idea what to expect.” 

It might not be the most typical answer to come from the singer of one of the hottest punk bands in the scene. Then again, Scowl is anything but a typical hardcore band.

The Santa Cruz/San Jose band—part of the “40831” scene, as it’s known—steer away from the tough exterior used to the point of cliche in today’s hardcore. Instead, they juxtapose light, floral imagery with their gritty sound, using a flower as an “O” in their logo. The video for “Seeds to Sow” could be taken straight from a Disney film, with cartoon imagery animated over the live action video, and at shows Moss is known to dress with 1960s and ’70s inspired style—go-go boots, bright make-up and beehive hairdos.

But when it comes to the music, Scowl takes no prisoners with their brutal onslaught of fast, furious and message-driven tunes. Aggressive power chords, thundering drums and driving bass lines lay the foundation for graveled—yet surprisingly intelligible—vocals.

It’s a sound that Scowl have made completely their own (as one YouTube commenter posted: “I did not expect that sound to come out of that girl”), fueled by the spirit of old school hardcore from bands like Cro-Mags, Bad Brains and Black Flag. 

“Ultimately we just want to write what we all like,” says drummer Cole Gilbert. “Whether that’s a mix of ’80s hardcore or indie, that’s what we’re going to do.”

“We’re not going to pigeonhole ourselves,” guitarist Malachi Greene agrees. 

Scowl’s debut full-length album, How Flowers Grow, was released last month on Flatspot Records. Almost immediately, the popular heavy music magazine Revolver named it one of the top hardcore albums of 2021. The band’s powerful presence on the scene has earned them almost instant, overnight success—from playing this past summer’s now infamous RBS (or “Real Bay Shit”) show, to gracing the underground music headlines and recently featured on this month’s cover of U.K. punk and metal publication Kerrang!

But for Greene, the fans’ response means more than any headline. 

“We put a lot into it so I’m just happy people are liking it and care enough to buy the record,” he says. “Growing up I really had to pinch my pennies to buy a CD. So the fact that anyone is willing to spend money on our music is huge to me.”

Formed in March 2019, Scowl began after Moss told Greene she wanted to be in a band. Right away, Greene and Gilbert—who have played together for years, most recently in the Santa Cruz hardcore band Jawstruck—started writing music and Moss penned lyrics. Soon, they recorded five songs with Charles Toshio at The Panda Studios in Fremont in a matter of hours. By May, their self-titled demo was online. The following week they booked their first show and never looked back. 

Bassist Bailey Lupo joined the band that summer at the suggestion of Greene, all of them having known each other through the San Jose and Santa Cruz scenes.

“I remember seeing [Gilbert and Greene] in Jawstruck and thought they were fucking sick. Now we’re in a band together and I hate them,” Lupo jokes.

In November 2019, Scowl released their second EP, Reality After Reality, with the intent of going on a West Coast tour with fellow hardcore homies Punitive Damage in the spring of 2020.

Of course, we all know what happened after that. 

Yet, Scowl bounced back, taking the time to record their most impressive record yet. The result is the blistering 10 song, 15 minute and 34 second How Flowers Grow, an album that—like the title suggests—focuses on personal development through hardships, the self-confidence needed to survive and evolution of the human spirit to aspire to something greater. Clearly, the work is resonating with people.

“It has a lot to do with identity and I think every young adult struggles with their identity at one point or another,” Moss says. “Scowl is an extension of that for me: having confidence and the concrete aspects of that confidence.”

How Flowers Grow
Scowl
Out Now

On Saturday, June 19, in a San Jose parking lot surrounded by car stereo garages and physical therapist businesses, over 2,000 people swarmed for the underground renegade show RBS—“Real Bay Shit.”

The event featured stars of the nationally renowned San Jose/Santa Cruz hardcore scene like Gulch, Sunami and Drain, along with similarly brutal acts from Southern California. Within a week, videos of the show went viral on YouTube, and media outlets ranging from KQED to Brooklyn Vegan picked up the story.

“It felt like being back home,” recalls Scowl guitarist Malachai Greene. “Our last show was the day before the lockdown. It’s just been so long, but the moment we hit the stage it was on.”

The first South Bay hardcore show since the lockdown, “RBS” went off according to true punk rock DIY (Do-It-Yourself) ethos. An impromptu stage was built, generators ran the power and sound was provided pro bono by East Bay Audio. Though the flyer was passed around online for weeks prior to the event, the location was only announced two hours before doors. Inside, local taco and burger vendors grilled sustenance for the hungry crowd.

Earlier that day, a pop-up merch event was held at a separate location, featuring highly coveted clothing from Drain, Scowl and Gulch (who all share band members), all made by Print Head—a printing company owned and operated by Cole Kakimoto, guitarist for Gulch and drummer for Scowl.

“We made like 600 shirts,” Kakimoto says. “I can’t believe people waited in that line for hours in the 100 degree heat.”

And wait they did.

The line for merchandise wrapped around several nearby buildings, and stayed hundreds of people deep for hours. While the average music fan might have seen the line and left, the fashionable hardcore scene showed up and couldn’t have been happier. Online, Gulch merchandise can sell out in minutes.

One attendee who asked only to be identified by the name David had waited in line for over two hours, saying simply: “we’re here for the experience.”

San Jose’s hardcore scene began blowing up on a national level around 2019. That year, both Gulch and Drain played Philadelphia’s This Is Hardcore Fest and caught a lot of attention for their unrelenting energy. Combined, those sets now have hundreds of thousands of plays on YouTube.

“All of these bands were working towards 2020 to be the year for shows, record releases and big tours,” explains Bay Area promoter Nick Dill, an attendee at RBS. “I can’t even imagine how big the scene will be in 2021.”

Last year, Drain, Gulch and Sunami all released new music, most of it to wide acclaim. Gulch’s Impenetrable Mental Fortress landed a glowing review in Pitchfork, and Drain’s thrashy California Cursed quickly went through multiple repressings on vinyl. Rather than slow down the scene’s momentum, the lack of touring only propelled it into overdrive, fans hungry for more music and merch to get them through the global uncertainty of the last fifteen months.

“It’s thriving,” Dill says. “We have so much support, and so many resources at our disposal that allow it to prosper and grow.”

For instance, Sunami’s first show was in October 2019, just months before the pandemic. Today, video of the punishing seven-minute set has almost one hundred thousand views on YouTube.

Still, it was surprising at RBS when singer Josef Alfonso’s mic went out and the entire crowd began chanting along to fill the silence. In the past, it might not have seemed like such a big deal. But considering this was only the second time Sunami has ever played live—and the first time most of the audience had ever seen them—it was a testament to just how big San Jose hardcore has become.

“This is amazing,” says an attendee named Ess. Like many at RBS, it was her and her sister’s first hardcore show, but definitely not their last.

“I randomly wanted to go to local San Jose shows so I looked up ‘Hardcore San Jose’ and Sunami popped up. We’re already going to go to the next show, too.”

With the state now reopened, San Jose’s hardcore scene is well on its way to becoming bigger than ever.

“It already is,” says Scowl.

Correction: An earlier version of this story quoted Nick Dill under a name previously used as a show promoter.