Even if you are vaguely familiar with the current landscape of heavy music, it would be safe to assume the name SPEED has entered your orbit. Easily one of the most intriguing stories of success to emerge from the pandemic era, the band's allegiance to the greater culture and community of hardcore touts the kind of authenticity and conviction that commands attention. 

If band's trajectory isn't enough pique your interest, the intensity of the band's live show is most certainly a reason to pay attention. It's the reason that hardcore tastemakers Sound and Fury invited the band to play their first-ever US show at the festival in 2022. It's the reason the band has continued to baptize wave after wave of new fans with relentless touring since. It's the reason people outside the universe of heavy music recognize the name first as a band, not a film. 

And it is the reason that hundreds of lucky fans packed the historic room at The Roxy on the Sunset Strip on a weeknight. 

In between scheduled weekend performances at Coachella (which should offer some indication of just how lofty the band's rank has risen in such a short time) Speed took to more intimate confines to bless fans with their brand of Aussie beatdown. Trekking in support of their lauded, 2024 full length debut Only One Mode, the band has proven to be a proper ambassador for the culture - spreading a message of steadfast solidarity in hardcore music to purist fans and curious casuals alike. 

For the band's capacity Roxy performance, the band found themselves much more in their element, making for the proper conditions to experience Speed and full strength. With no barricade to separate the mayhem onstage from the mayhem on the floor, modern hardcore anthems like "KILL CAP," "DON'T NEED" and "THE FIRST TEST" worked the fans into a frenzy. Less like songs, Speed's set list functioned more  more like a rallying cry - complete with raised fists, bodies flying and a primal roar from room with the start of each new entry. 

In a relatively short amount of time, Speed has transitioned from an international prospect to a global sensation. Their showing at The Roxy offered clear evidence as to why. Furious riffs, hulking breakdowns, energized percussion and the almost militant stage command of Jem Siow make a Speed set feel more like a christening than a concert.

For Speed, hardcore is ritual. For the fans lucky enough to make it in the packed-tight room at The Roxy, the Sonora tent at Coachella or any of the countless sets big or small the band has led in the last few years - seeing is believing.

Check the gallery of images from Speed's epic set at The Roxy from photographer Erica Lauren. 

SPEED