Stick to Your Guns have always been known for their uncompromising intensity and their ability to turn raw emotion into anthems of resilience. With their latest album, Keep Planting Flowers, out January 10 on SharpTone Records, the band shows no signs of slowing down. Fifteen years in, Stick to Your Guns have remained relentless, evolving with every release, while holding firm to the ethos that’s defined them from the start.
On their current tour, STYG are hitting the road with some of hardcore’s most respected names: Bane, Terror, Dare and even linking up with New Jersey’s breakout band, Hold My Own. Each of these bands bring their own unique intensity and legacy to the lineup, creating a tour that feels as much like a celebration of hardcore’s past as it does a look toward its future. For STYG, it’s a chance to share the stage with long-time peers, commemorate their upcoming release, as well as witness the fresh energy of newer bands making their mark on the scene.
For guitarist Josh James, the tour is a reminder that hardcore is about both honoring its legacy and embracing its future. “It’s a lot of fun being able to share the stage with these bands, but what’s cool is that it’s not just about nostalgia,” he notes. “It’s about the future of hardcore, too. You’re seeing bands like Hold My Own coming up and really killing it, and it gives you that energy of knowing that there’s still so much more to look forward to in the scene.” For James, the experience also highlights the sense of camaraderie within the tour. “It just feels like you’re hanging out with a bunch of your friends,” he says. “The whole thing feels like it’s not a real tour. It’s just a bunch of friends sharing the stage together. I think in this day and age, that’s super rare.”
The sense of community James describes is more than just an ideal—It’s the foundation that has kept STYG at the forefront of hardcore for over 15 years. While the music industry around them has shifted, they’ve stuck to their guns, remaining fiercely loyal to the DIY ethos that hardcore was built on.
“I’ve always viewed hardcore as a counterculture, something that’s against the mainstream,” James says. But in today’s landscape, that spirit is increasingly under threat. “Everything within heavy music and under the umbrella of hardcore has become so professional. I think the corporate rock mentality has really infiltrated it, which is a big bummer to me,” he says. “Now, there are aspects of it that really feel like it’s just a subculture that’s trying to promote the mainstream.” And that’s exactly where the tension lies—between what hardcore was meant to stand for, and how the industry has changed the game.
This tension between hardcore’s roots and the industry’s increasing commercialization has led to an ongoing internal debate for the band. James admits. “It’s strange now because you can’t just be a band anymore. Back when we started, we were just some guys that wrote songs and went on tour, and all that mattered was the music. Now, it feels like that’s not enough.”
In an era where social media and branding often dictate the narrative and the focus is placed on content creation and curated aesthetics, STYG have managed to stay consistent on all fronts, despite the changing of the times. This balance is reflected in their upcoming album Keep Planting Flowers, which tackles both personal and broader themes while staying firmly anchored in the band’s hardcore roots. For James, the album represents more than just musical growth; it embodies the band’s ongoing commitment to “planting flowers”—continuing to leave a meaningful legacy through their art and actions. “It’s about pushing forward, not just for us, but for the scene,” James says.
Coming back from their brief break between tours, STYG are amped and ready to start the second leg of their November run, where their goal isn’t just to perform—They want their new music to resonate on a deeper level with both new and long-time fans. For James, the live experience is about more than just playing songs. “When we play, we’re not just up there to perform songs,” he explains. “We want people to feel the same energy we feel when we’re up there. It’s about creating something that transcends just the music—about having people connect with the message, the emotion and the power of hardcore.”
James further elaborates on the dynamic between the band and their audience, describing how the crowd’s energy fuels the performance. “You can go to some of these towns, which feels like you’re going there all the time, and that people still show up, and they’re still excited. They still want to connect to the music, and they still want to build that energy with you,” he says. “A band like Stick to Your Guns is a band that really does feed off of the crowd’s energy. The crowd feeds off our energy. So it’s this love language, you know, that’s going on between the two of us.”
With their latest album out soon, and a setlist that spans their entire catalog, STYG are determined to communicate their message through every song they play. “We’re here to share the music, but we’re also here to communicate a feeling,” James adds. “The way we’ve always viewed hardcore is that it’s about more than just the sound. It’s about what it makes you feel and what it makes you think about.”
It’s this connection that James hopes will stay with the crowd long after they leave the stage. Whether it’s through the band’s newer material or the anthems that have defined them, the goal is clear: “We’re still here, and we’re still making music that we believe in, and that’s what keeps us going.”
As STYG prepare for the release of their newest album, the released single, “Severed Forever,” with its overwhelmingly positive response from the scene, marks a pivotal moment in the band’s journey. While their trajectory has been marked by pushing boundaries and challenging themselves stylistically, the release of this track feels like an immediate succession of Diamond, circa 2012. Created during a time when the band found themselves rediscovering their original passion for music, “Severed Forever,” symbolizes the strong return of a committed STYG. For James, this period of reflection and reinvention was key to the creation of the track, as well as their upcoming album.
Reflecting on the band’s journey post-pandemic, James reveals that the decision to reconsider their future as a band played a significant role in reigniting their creativity, especially with “Severed Forever.” James says, “We were reconsidering just hanging it up for various reasons. There were a lot of internal struggles. There was all this stuff going on, coming out of the pandemic. It was such a confusing time, and definitely a very strange time to be a band, especially if you were a band before the pandemic.”
It was during this time of uncertainty that the band found a seemingly renewed sense of purpose artistically. “I think that whenever we actually considered ending the band, I think what that did was it ended that mentality,” James continues. “And I think it reverted us all back to being 15-year-old, angry, wild kids and then we were just able to go out and play shows and go on tour and have fun like we used to have.”
With this fresh energy came the creation of “Severed Forever,” a song that James believes represents the honest spirit STYYG are known for. “’Severed Forever’ is a super honest song, for sure,” he says. “And Jesse still has some great lyrical topics.” The song, with its mix of hardcore intensity, like its relentless breakdowns and melodic moments, reminds long-time listeners of the band’s roots in aggressive, no-holds-barred hardcore, while also catering to a dynamic listening experience.
For James, “Severed Forever” is a gateway to the next chapter of STYG. “For long-time fans, it feels a little bit refreshing, because it’s pretty straightforward, raw and aggressive,” he notes. “And I think that’s what a lot of people that listen to Stick to Your Guns enjoy.” The song, blending raw aggression with introspective lyricism, offers a cathartic release that reflects the band’s renewed commitment to their sound; the track serves as both a reflection of the band’s past and a sign of the exciting things to come.
The approach behind the record in its entirety, both musically and lyrically, was a natural progression from the reflective mood captured in “Severed Forever.” While the track serves as a snapshot of their return to themes captured in the likes of Diamond (2012) or even Disobedient (2015), it’s also reflective of a larger, more thoughtful approach to the band’s next chapter.
In contrast to the pressure many bands face to outdo themselves with every release, STYG took a different approach during the creative and songwriting processes for the record. Rather than focusing on creating a ‘better’ album, they embraced the idea of writing something that felt genuine, real and true to where they are now as a band.
James explains, “I think that it’s really easy whenever you’re in a band and you have any type of success… and then you go to write more stuff, there’s always this pressure that it’s got to be better than the last thing. And I think that it’s really easy to follow that trap of thinking that you have to write something better.” STYG aimed to entirely reject that pressure and chose authenticity over comparison. James continues, “I think that you just need to write something, period, right? And as long as you’re writing something that is genuine and real to you, then I say you don’t need to be in competition with yourself.”
James sums it up succinctly: “It was kind of just like, hey, let’s just write and see what comes out, and whatever we like, and feels like we like it, and it would be fun to play live, and it feels emotional and energetic or whatever it is, then that’s what we’ll stick with.”
For STYG, this process reflects their broader ethos. James emphasizes that staying connected to their roots isn’t a conscious effort but something deeply inherent to who they are as a band. He explains, “I don’t think there’s an attempt at all, or at least a conscious attempt at all, to stay connected to our roots, because I think that that’s just part of who we are, and I think that that’s where we come from.” Their connection to hardcore is simply a natural extension of their identity—something that doesn’t require force but emanates through everything they create. This authenticity has allowed them to remain consistent, never feeling the need to “sell a product” or conform to mainstream expectations.
Keep Planting Flowers is out on Friday, and you can preorder it from SharpTone Records. Follow Stick To Your Guns on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for future updates.
Photo courtesy of Sarai Kelly
