Right now, Boston hardcore heroes Haywire are in the middle of an absolutely ridiculous rise. They tour extremely hard, and they do everything in their power to make sure that every show devolves into complete insanity as quickly as possible. Videos of the band's shows go viral all the time, and I see a bunch of their clips every time I scroll Instagram. Haywire know how to create big moments, including cover songs that mean a lot to the cities where they're playing — Title Fight in Wilkes-Barre, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones (with Dicky Barrett) in their hometown. In the past week, they've had a couple of other big ones.
Earlier this year, Haywire joined Boston giants the Dropkick Murphys for their annual St. Patrick's Day tour, and the two bands released a collab-heavy split 7". Right now, Haywire are on a huge North American tour with Drain, another hardcore band who blew the fuck up by touring hard and playing ridiculously high-energy live shows. I saw Haywire open for Drain at a huge show in 2024, and they were already able to get people moving as the first act on a bill with six or seven bands. Now, Haywire are playing second on a four-band bill, with Secret World opening and No Pressure in the immediate-support role. Still, it's pretty clear that Haywire are almost as big a draw as Drain now.
On Sunday night, that Drain tour rolled through New York's Irving Plaza, and the bands on the bill saluted the legends of New York hardcore a few different times. No Pressure covered the Gorilla Biscuits' "Big Mouth," a song that they've done before. When Haywire played their singalong anthem "Like A Train," frontman Austin Sparkman did a front-flip stagedive from a high-up platform, then made his way back to the stage and brought out Cro-Mags fixture Harley Flanagan to help belt out the breakdown chant. (Sparkman introduced Flanagan as "the singer from the Cro-Mags," so he's taking a side in the JJ/Harley rift.) Watch it happen below.
Last Wednesday, the tour came to Baltimore's Nevermore Hall, and Haywire paid homage to local heroes Trapped Under Ice by covering their 2011 anthem "Pleased To Meet You." Haywire debuted that cover at the previous show in Asheville, and they got a reaction in Baltimore. Watch it below.
At the Palladium in Worcester on Saturday, Sparkman smashed a cake on Drain frontman Sammy Ciaramitaro, even though it wasn't Sammy's birthday or anything. Maybe there was just a cake backstage for some reason.
That tour comes to the great Brooklyn venue Warsaw tonight. Expect further hijinks.
