Providence's Saving Grace

Many people think of Providence, Rhode Island, as a nice, distant, northeastern town. To others it is the roots of America as we know it, and a grand and noble city. For me, these are both true, but in addition, Providence will always be the home to one of the hottest new hardcore bands around.

This band, my friends, is Soul Control. The four piece outfit formed as they are now two years ago when bandmembers Jim, Eric, and Ryan were referred by a friend to seek out current vocalist Rory who was working at a pizza shop at the time. Since then, Soul Control has been going on tour after tour, promoting a sound that is fresh and well worth listening to through extremely fun and engaging shows. Their mission to have an honest good time gets crowds moving and exploding with energy and a need to act. Most hardcore shows get a bad reputation due to the violence and belligerence that seems to show up in the crowd. For those who stereotype, one might find surprise in Soul Control's shows, where the intended reaction from the crowd is to get hyped and have a good time, but without violence.

Through the visit of a friend of mine, I was able to meet up with the guys of Soul Control during their recent show in Tempe and interview them. You can download that interview here soon, but if you're eager to check them out, you can listen to tracks from their album Cycles featured here on KJACK.