Distort #10

Distort mag started in 2003 to document kvlt hardcore and World War III. The contents of Distort have been dominated by impulse, excess, insomnia, stimulation. No editor, no proofread, no nerd.

Out of the 2000+ pages published over the past couple of decades I am skimming the C.R.E.A.M. into an archival book.

I'm raising funds to print this by making backissues available again via PDF.

You can also purchase a onetime subscription to all Distort here which this issue is part of.

DISTORT #10 - Interview with Luke Dolan re: Arms Reach / writing on Schism Fanzine and racial politics and hardcore.

Arms Reach Interview with Luke “Crue” Dolan

Arms Reach had a huge impact on Australian hardcore in the late 90’s. When I was 15 years old, they were the best band I’d ever seen. As I write this in 2022, I am confident that I haven’t listened to them once since I completed this issue. Such is the quality of their output, and my own highly refined palate!

This said, I want to testify, they remain one of the best hardcore bands I’ve ever seen. Their crowd were fanatical: mobbing, kicking, punching, fighting to get out, screaming along to lyrics about spitting on the Australian flag or murdering rapists.

The band was a weird mix of surfie deros and hardcore jocks and they played almost every weekend for a couple of years in Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong, and they were at the centre of all of the drama and conflict happening in the scene at the time.

Luke Dolan’s evolution from straight edge jock to born against messiah was covered in this interview for #10.