Hurry Up! Records

Following on from my recent post about Famine and Frustration, I checked out Hurry Up! records and got in touch with Matteo, the owner and founder. I was really interested in the HUP policy for signing bands but he told me it is as simple as usually liking the bands first, following them for a while, catching them live and talking to them in person. They are looking for good people who are down to tour. They usually sign more bands in Europe because it is easier for a band to tour, reasoning that the more you tour the more you have chances to sell records and other merch. There seems no limit to the origin or identity of the bands as long as they meet these criteria and HUP know people all around the world that help out with this.

I have this notion that hardcore is a global community that is above and beyond national identity and that bands will be welcomed regardless of origin but Matteo thinks I'm probably being a bit too idealistic. His opinion is that U.S. bands are supported well in Europe when they tour or when they release something compared to a European band. European HC probably won't sell many copies in the U.S. and will also possibly struggle to get dates closer to home too although countries like Germany, Poland, Czech Rep are way more open to support touring bands. He sees that people tend to follow more of what happens overseas than what happens here. Of course, there are more bands in the U.S. and some quality as well, but he believes that doesn't mean that the European ones should be less considered. Saying that though, La Crisi from Milan are a band worth checking out from the HUP roster. They have enjoyed two U.S. tours where it is reported that the kids were keen to check out a HC band that doesn't sing in English.
Matteo sees that Dublin is one of the best places to play HC in Europe and this is a response echoed by lots of touring bands. The scene is not too big but it's honest and supporting. Both he and his wife love the city because people have been very friendly and the kids are interested in what Hurry Up do.

Matteo has been working with B9 for the last 4 years, he's the guy who takes care of the web stuff, but originally he is from a very small town in the north of Italy close to Milan. His mindset was totally different from everybody around him so he travelled whenever he could to see and play in bands, which is what he loved the most. He said he couldn't have lived any other way. His first punk record ever was Smash by Offspring and then he started to get more interested in more melodic stuff like NOFX, Rancid and Ramones and then HC: Minor Threat, Gorilla Biscuits, YOT. The first band he saw live that left him shocked was H2O back on their first Euro tour. The show where he got into knowing what Straight Edge was a Better Than A Thousand show on their Value Driven tour. Some months later he became SxE and vegetarian. He has played in a bunch of bands, Mach 5 and Purification in Italy, Overstate in Brazil and has filled in for Bane and Shipwreck A.D. on bass. He now plays in a Irish band called Forced Out.