Sunny Singh knows what work is. At this year’s This Is Hardcore Fest, I watched Sunny as he wielded his video camera overhead for long stretches, capturing every single one of the forty bands that performed over the course the three-day fest. Sunny is the Alan Lomax of hardcore punk. For nearly a decade, he has captured and published thousands of hours of footage of punk and hardcore acts through his site hate5six.com, revealing the scope and scale of an artistic form that is constantly in flux.

Being a first-generation American, he learned from an early age through the example of his parents, that taking risks does not end after one has crossed the threshold, but has to be worked through continuously with grit and determination. It is through Sunny’s sense of stick-to-itiveness that enabled hate5six to thrive and garner an audience that continues to grow.

In this conversation, Sunny and I discuss matters of identity, the changing trends in the punk scene, and whether or not it is still possible to promote political action through music.