Umeå is the European Capital of Hardcore

In the mid of the 1990s, Umeå became the hot spot for hardcore in Europe. Most of the bands were strongly associated with animal rights and the straight edge movement and lots of them were really good.

Refused and Abhinanda got recognition first and left a huge impression on the world of hardcore but they were not alone. As you can see from the flyers we photographed while at the exhibition, Umeå was bursting into hardcore and I think there must be something on their water. It must be.