Why Is Alternative and Hardcore Music Thriving? Ask Basement, Balance and Composure & DRAIN

The very essence of alternative music defies the mainstream, with a DIY spirit and a hunger to seek beyond expectations and confines. But despite its niche connotations, the modern day “scene” that spans alt-rock through to hardcore, punk, and the various subgenres has continuously impacted popular culture resoundingly beyond the underground. And in 2025, it’s clear that it’s still not just a phase.

Borne from a necessity to categorise acts that fell outside the popular cash cow vein, the word alternative almost instantly “others” any music under its umbrella. But it’s that very outlier spirit that has flourished with the various genres and subgenres over time, with early bands like Sonic Youth, Pixies, and Soundgarden all wearing their underground status as a badge of pride.

But despite the ongoing successes of these genres, some in the industry still proclaim the tired old adage that “rock is dead”, or declare an absence of emerging talent.

Fortunately, even just witnessing the global recognition for bands like Turnstile, Code Orange, and Australia’s own SPEED affirms an exciting reality: a modern golden age of all things alternative and hardcore is upon us, firmly driven by connectivity and authenticity.

Case in point: the return of New Bloom Fest in 2025, a curated touring festival geared at capturing the halcyon days of DIY hardcore shows and all things alternative, shoegaze, punk, hardcore and more in a modern setting.

Following its robust inaugural year in 2024, the 2025 edition of New Bloom Fest is home to a stalwart palette of contrasting acts, including Basement, Balance and Composure, DRAIN, One Step Closer, Sweet Pill, and Glitterer, with an array of local talent also locked in for Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

For Basement’s Alex Henery, Balance and Composure’s Jon Simmons, and DRAIN’s Sammy Ciaramitaro, themselves now staples in the scene, there’s a unified secret sauce to the current resurgence of alternative and hardcore shows that goes back to their own early days discovering music beyond the norm.

“I was always into alternative music, bands like Green Day, Rage Against the Machine and even Radiohead, all of these big rock and alternative acts,” shares Basement guitarist and backing vocalist Henery. “But it wasn’t until I had friends in high school who were showing me more of the local bands, I think it was Andrew [Fisher, Basement vocalist], he was going to all of these hardcore and punk shows. At the time I was like, ‘Oh, that’s not for me, that sounds too extreme!’ Then I ended up going to a show once – and I was legitimately scared, people were moshing and I was like, ‘What is happening?? Are they fighting?’

Image: Basement Credit: Ed Mason

“I wanted to take a picture, but I was too scared to do it. I didn’t know if people would get mad. But I remember there was a merch table, and the band had their own zines and they’d made their own T-shirts. People could just get up on stage, they could just take the mic, the singer would give them the mic. I was like, ‘What is going on?!’

Despite initial trepidation, Henery, now revered for his own DIY merch design work and vintage T-shirt repairs, had unknowingly and instantly found a home and a future in the wholesome chaos of the punk and hardcore world. With ongoing success creating thrilling music with Basement, adding in his tenure as the guitarist for the post-hardcore supergroup Fiddlehead and the touring videographer and photographer for Baltimore shapeshifters Turnstile, Henery’s Basement journey now spans four studio albums, tours alongside Weezer and the Pixies, millions of streams, and fans who have followed Basement’s every move, in and outside of multiple periods of hiatus; and all without dulling that joy discovered at a young age.

“Even though I was a little bit scared, I definitely knew there was something there for me,” says Henery of his early brushes with the alternative scene. “And especially seeing the T-shirts and zines and things like that, I realised you can just do that. You can just make things yourself! I just had no idea prior to that. It’s like when you order something off Amazon and it just appears. But in that moment I realised, ‘Oh, someone’s making this, someone’s going and screen printing it.’ It was amazing.

“When Basement first started, that was something that I was really excited about,” adds Henery, “being able to make our own merch and zines and posters, all that kind of stuff. I had the power to do that, and someone showed me that I could do it in that early moment. That element of it is something that I’m still really passionate about.”

Balance and Composure, meanwhile, inhabit a unique universe, unable to be pigeonholed but relentlessly cathartic and nuanced, with their most recent full length album, 2024’s With You In Spirit, lauded for its kaleidoscopic light and shade. And for vocalist Jon Simmons from the beloved Pennsylvanian band, it was love at first sight (and sound) in a hometown garage when it came to discovering a passion for music off the beaten path.

“My first experience was going to a show in Doylestown in somebody’s garage,” he says, “and seeing people just go bananas was one of the most exciting things for a 13-year-old to see. From that moment on, I was like, ‘I want to be part of this, I want to do this!’ It took being in a few bands through my adolescence until Balance and Composure came into the picture. But I was always playing shows, playing in people’s basements, in churches – everywhere we could! It’s just always been very fun for me as an outlet and for the social aspect as well.

“Once Balance and Composure got a local following, we wanted to start touring, and it’s always been fun. It rarely was never fun, and you kind of just get addicted to playing shows and spending time with your friends. There’s really no better way to live your life, to me personally.”

Another band extremely well-versed in the language of fun is Santa Cruz’s DRAIN. With over a decade now under their belt, and dubbed as a pivotal figure behind the recent resurgence of American hardcore music, DRAIN have catapulted to the front of the pack seemingly in the blink of an eye. But behind the scenes is a very different picture.

“We started in 2014, but it wasn’t until right around when COVID hit that we started to catch a good break,” shares DRAIN frontman Sammy Ciaramitaro. “But then we didn’t get to play for a year and a half. So until 2021 – I don’t want to say they were all bad shows because they absolutely weren’t, but they were definitely not like they are now.

“Growing up, to be honest, I was way more into punk rock and metal, specifically thrash metal, I loved that. And there were bands that I didn’t really know that well, bands like Rotting Out where I’d be like, ‘Oh, that’s a really awesome punk-rock band.’ But then someone would say to me, ‘Dude, they’re a hardcore band!’ I didn’t really know what that was.

“There was Power Trip, who are also great. But people told me they were actually a hardcore band. Again, I didn’t know what that was! But there was something about those two bands that made them different from the other ones. And I didn’t find that until a little bit later on. It was in high school, so still kind of early, but since then it’s always immersed me.”

Image: DRAIN Credit: Supplied

Fast forward to 2025, and the revival of interest for the many underground musical pockets is obvious for anyone who has stepped foot in a live venue of late. But, as Henery elaborates, there’s a very honest secret sauce behind the enduring success of the alternative and hardcore worlds.

“When I think about this resurgence now, there’s an authenticity about our world because it does break down a lot of the commercialisation of big pop and big rock where it feels like it’s just about the band,” he claims. “With mainstream stuff, usually the focus is on the band or the artist. And then you go to maybe a smaller show, or a local show, and you realise the level of community there.

“You’re meeting other people, and they might say, ‘Oh, my friend’s band is playing’, or ‘my friend booked the show,’ ‘my friend’s a photographer,’ and it becomes this whole network of people that are holding up this scene. And it is a living organism, which is so cool. It’s something that you can just become a part of. And that’s what drew me into it, and what I found most exciting about it.”

“I have noticed a new legion of fans, and things definitely feel slightly less underground at the moment,” Simmons adds. “I think the reason for that is that it’s natural for young people to find their little pocket of the world, especially in punk, hardcore and rock music. And I feel like people clearly like it! People clearly like to experience this, and I don’t think it’ll ever go away. It’s just part of being a human now. But it’s really exciting to see kids, especially younger kids, coming to the shows. That’s beautiful to see and it’s encouraging. It just reaffirms that this is a natural thing, and that people will always gravitate towards something honest and true.”

“It has definitely been different in the last little bit when it comes to hardcore music, alternative music, those sorts of things – and I’m down with that!” says Ciaramitaro. “It’s an interesting thing, I don’t want to say that we’re in a bubble, but it is huge right now, and I hope it stays this way forever.

“But there’s a chance that for a lot of genres of music that were the really popular sound for a five or 10 year window – suddenly it may not be popular anymore. And I’m really curious to see who will stay when the bubble may pop, and what bands will stay, and if people will be like: oh, I was only here for a little bit. I do wonder.”

With Basement, Balance and Composure, and DRAIN all set for New Bloom Fest, as well as for a handful of headline sideshows on either side of the Sydney and Melbourne events, the chance to bring their creative passion to fans this far from home is not lost on Henery, Simmons, or Ciaramitaro. And an event like New Bloom Fest also offers a bonus for many bands who have risen through the ranks together to reconvene under one roof.

“I’ll never forget the first tour we did in Australia,” says Henery. “I was just pinching myself, I couldn’t believe it… Especially back then before social media was a huge thing, it was probably still Myspace and Facebook pretty much at that time. So, to experience that level of finding other like-minded people and being connected with people on the other side of the world who value your music… that set us to have lifelong friends.

“For example, the guys from SPEED, we met them on tour and we’ve been friends ever since. And it’s been amazing to see them grow and to champion them and to have that shared experience. Now when they come to the UK or to America, we’re always there to see them.”

“There’s so many things that have happened with Basement where I’m like, ‘Something new can’t happen to surprise me, surely,’” adds Henery, “and then it does! So I guess at this point, I’m open to anything. Anything’s possible, especially with so many other friend’s bands opening up the door to even bigger horizons.

Image: Balance and Composure Credit: Supplied

“I’ve been playing shows with Ned [Russin] from Title Fight and Glitterer since I was 15 years old, our bands became families,” Simmons reveals. “We would go to each other’s shows as teenagers, and it’s just completely surreal that this style of music, these bands that I grew up with, including Tigers Jaw as well… I can’t believe it’s reached the whole world.

“And sometimes I still can’t believe that’s true. But it’s an extremely special thing and I’m honoured that I was even a little bit a part of it. Making the friends that we’ve made along the way has been the best part about everything. It’s surreal, but I love it. And everybody deserves the good things that are happening.”

“It feels so crazy that our music has led to us playing something like New Bloom Fest in Australia on the other side of the world,” enthuses Ciaramitaro, “and I genuinely don’t really ever want to lose that feeling or that appreciation. I do see it from time to time with other people and it bums me out because I’m like, ‘Dude, this is crazy.’ The fact that we are asked to go out there and play, and that there’s people who want to see us in those places… that still always blows me away, especially when you’ve done it for a long time without that.”

Ticket information for New Bloom Fest and sideshows are available here.