Arms Race were an English

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...

band formed in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 2012. They were a part of the New Wave of British Hardcore.

History

Arms Race was formed at end of 2012, by Nick Stab, Ola Herbich, Patrick Henderson and Oli McVean in an attempt to make music that merged the sounds of United Blood, Condemned 84 and The Partisans. They released their first demo as a band in 2013. On 1 October 2014, they released their debut EP ''Gotta Get Out'', through Quality Control HQ and Painkiller Records. In April 2015, they played

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

's Damaged City Festival. In June 2015, they toured the U.S. with co-headliner Violent Reaction. The same year, Henderson departed from the band, due to scheduling issues, and artist Nicky Rat from

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, took on his role. In October 2016, they played

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

's No Dead Yet Festival. In October 2017, they toured Japan. On 8 February 2018, they released their second EP ''The Best'' through La Vida Es Un Mus and Painkiller Records. In September 2018, they played on the Saturday of Ready Festival, followed by playing a free show at London's Dr. Martens store with Higher Power and Stages in Faith. In April 2018, they played Damaged City Festival 2018. They played their final show at Damage is Done festival on 22 November 2019, with The Flex, Payday, Ekulu and Big Cheese. Ola Herbich was one of several guest vocalists to contribute to ''Raise Your Voice Joyce: Contemporary Shouts From Contemporary Voices'', a compilation of music covertly recorded by the Canadian band

Fucked Up Fucked Up is a Canadian hardcore punk band from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 2001. The band consists of guitarists Mike Haliechuk and Josh Zucker, bassist Sandy Miranda, lead vocalist Damian Abraham and drummer Jonah Falco. From 2007 to 2021, t ...

in 2018.

Musical style

The band's music merges elements of U.S. hardcore bands like early

Agnostic Front Agnostic Front is an American hardcore punk band from New York City. Founded in 1980, the band is considered an important influence on the New York hardcore scene, as well as a pioneer of the crossover thrash genre. History First era (1980– ...

and

SSD A solid-state drive (SSD) is a type of solid-state storage device that uses Integrated circuit, integrated circuits to store data persistence (computer science), persistently. It is sometimes called semiconductor storage device, solid-stat ...

with U.K. hardcore like

Chaos UK Chaos UK is an English punk rock band formed in 1979 in Portishead, near Bristol. They emerged as part of the anarcho-punk scene, developing a fast and aggressive hardcore punk style. The band recorded two EPs and a full LP for Riot City Rec ...

and

Charged GBH GBH (originally known as Charged GBH) are an English punk rock band which was formed in 1978 by vocalist Colin Abrahall, guitarist Colin "Jock" Blyth, bassist Sean McCarthy (replaced by Ross Lomas after two years) and drummer Andy "Wilf" Willi ...

, as well as elements of

oi! Oi! is a subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads, and other disaffected working-class youth. The movement wa ...

and

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

. Their earliest influences were the sounds of '' United Blood'', Condemned 84 and the Partisans. They are considered a

band. In an article for Stereogum, Tom Breihan described them as "what might’ve happened if

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1975 by bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. Kilmister was the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band a ...

had decided that they wanted to be

Youth Of Today Youth of Today is an American hardcore punk band, initially active from 1985 to 1990 before reforming in 2010. The band played a major role in establishing the " Youth Crew" subculture of hardcore, both espousing and evolving the philosophies ...

Members

;Final * Nicholas "Stab" Sarnella – vocals (2012–2019) *Ola Herbich – guitar (2012–2019) *Charlie "Chubby Charles" Fresh – guitar (2012–2019) *Nicky Rat – bass (2015–2019) *LLoyd Clipston – drums (2018–2019) ;Former *Oli McVean – drums (2012–2016) *Patrick Henderson – bass (2012–2015) * Tom Pimlott – drums (2016–2018)

Discography

;Albums *''New Wave of British Hardcore'' (2016) ;EPs *''Gotta Get Out'' (2014) *''The Beast'' (2018) ;Compilations *''New Nonsense'' (2015)

References

{{reflist Musical groups established in 2012 British hardcore punk groups English musical quintets Punk rock groups from London Musical groups disestablished in 2019 2012 establishments in England Underground punk scene in the United Kingdom