Speed share punchy new single ‘The First Test’ – featuring a flute in its breakdown

Speed have shared a hard-hitting new single, ‘The First Test’, which has caught attention online for using a flute in its breakdown.

• READ MORE: Hardcore dynamos Speed have one plan: “Just go hard as hell”

The Australian hardcore band’s new song is taken from their forthcoming album ‘Only One Mode’, which will land on July 12 via Flatspot Records in the US and Last Ride Records in Australia. It follows their 2022 debut EP ‘Gang Called Speed’.

Tackling the experience of finding oneself as a marginalised individual – in frontman Jem Siow’s case, as an Asian-Australian – the song notably features Siow playing a flute solo over its funk-infused breakdown.

Check out ‘The First Test’ below:

Siow also plays the flute in the introduction to the album’s opening track and lead single, ‘Real Life Love’, an instrument he also teaches children how to play.

“I always thought it would be too gimmicky,” he told NME in a recent interview. “We only ever wanted to incorporate stuff into the music that would further it.” So what changed? “It just came naturally – I heard the demos back and was like, ‘I reckon this could work’. If this band has taught me anything, it’s to embrace your identity and not shy away from what makes you who you are.”

Later, he said: “The main goal was to make something undeniable. We made this record with a sense of responsibility, knowing there’s a huge pool of people that have been drawn to us and our message. This record is our philosophy. It’s a record about how to treat one another, how to love what and who you love, and how to back yourself.”

Siow added: “It’s especially strange coming from Australia, where the hardcore scene is often very guarded and insular. When we started the band, we had such a clear understanding of what we thought was the ceiling for this band. To be reaching all these otherworldly people has been very humbling and very nice, but also completely unexpected. We never asked for any of this. Still, it’s nice to know that even though their lives are obviously not normal, the people themselves are when you meet them.”

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