Gpaddling, Pest control Singer Leah Massey-Hay had no particular musical scene to paint her colors on. She liked all kinds of music, but didn’t have a place or a band that felt like “hers”. Then she got into DIY hardcore The mecca that is the Boom venue in Leeds and it finally felt like it had found its place. “He had very cheap drinks, cheap entry to the shows and was accessible as someone who was that age at the time,” she says. NME over Zoom.

Venues like Boom – the kind of space that fosters warm, inclusive communities and creates years of memories for its regulars – are the beating heart of a city’s music scene. It informs all that Pest Control is, featuring their first shows, audiences and their ferocious DIY ethic. “We all came to it as heavy music lovers, but that space was so open and welcoming to all of us,” says guitarist Joe Kerry. “When new people come into the scene, they’re actively encouraged to start getting involved, not just going to shows and enjoying bands, but making friends with musicians and starting bands.”

Pest Control – rounded out by bassist Jack Padurairu-Aherne, drummer Ben Jones and guitarist Joe Williams – formed in the depths of the pandemic after their members’ previous projects sold out. While live music was in a comatose state at the time, they were inspired by the sense of possibility it offered to create the crossover thrash band they had always dreamed of. After a period of not being able to write in the same room, once they brought their songs to life at a show – at Boom, of course – things took off. “We were surprised by that,” says Kerry. “It was just something we put together and put out there, and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive.”

“There hasn’t really been a crossover band in the UK that has been so intertwined with the hardcore scene” – Leah Massey-Hay

They arrived at that sound partly as a means of differentiating themselves – “We’d all done hardcore or hardcore-adjacent bands before, but there wasn’t really any crossover band in the UK that was so intertwined with the way the scene was hardcore.” says Massey-Hay—and partly for the love of doing something that could be gritty and hard, the kind of wildness that would make them want to run through walls. “Before, when I was making bands, I tried to overcomplicate the lyrical content and make it really deep and meaningful, and not catchy and fun,” she continued. “I was interested in capturing that fun style of playing and recording that style of music and not coming across as whiny like I’ve done in my other bands. It was just something to have fun with.”

With the wheels now turning on their project, Pest Control set out to make a name for themselves in UK hardcore. They released their debut album Don’t Test The Pest last year and follow it up today with their EP Year Of The Pest, their first release with Joe Williams on guitar. “It’s a bit of a compositional change, which I hope people will be able to hear a little bit,” says Padurairu-Aherne. “It was exciting to have someone contribute in that way.”

“When we did ‘Don’t Test The Pest’ we only had six songs and we were still trying to figure out what worked,” explains Massey-Hay. “The evolution came from looking at what parts of ‘Don’t Test The Pest’ people liked, what parts people sang along to, and trying to take that.”

Their crossover approach means that Pest Control sits comfortably in both metal and hardcore worlds, which earned them slots at the likes of Bloodstock and Outbreak and shows with big-name bands like Obituary and knit. This summer was supposed to see them debut Download appearance, but they chose ethics over opportunity when became the first band to drop out due to the festival’s ties to Barclays. Joined by Scowl, Speed, Zulu, Ithaca what’s more, their efforts led Download to drop Barclays as a sponsor and They later teamed up with three of these bands and a selection of others for a benefit show for Palestine at Birmingham Central..

“At first, it was a difficult thing,” Padurairu-Aherne says of the boycott. “Within a day or two of talking to each other about it, it became an easy thing.”

“We feel vindicated in adding our voice to the growing number of artists participating in the boycott, as the result of this massive movement has been the withdrawal of Barclays as a sponsor,” adds Kerry. “Coming from a hardcore world, the thrust of that music is that we want to live in a better world and an ideal world. And in an ideal world, musical and cultural institutions, whether it’s a basic DIY thing to corporate music events, should have no ties to the things that the boycott called for.”

The Download Boycott was propelled by the ethos of hardcore, perhaps the fastest growing offshoots of alternative the music right this second. As far as UK hardcore goes, Pest Control’s hometown of Leeds can take a lot of responsibility for its power. The band has close ties with people like Superior power and Static Dress (the latter more of a post-hardcore band with hardcore roots), whose frontmen Jimmy Wizard and Olli Appleyard starred in and respectively shot the video for their 2023 single “Enjoy The Show”.

“People really want to make the scene successful and make it a good space for everyone,” explains Massey-Hay. “Without places like Boom, the scene wouldn’t be as great as it is, but if something were to happen to Boom – fingers crossed it doesn’t – there will be enough people willing to put in the work to make another version. that’s why. I think that’s what makes it so great.”

With more music to come, their future is full of potential. “The great thing about Pest Control is that there is no end goal, no cynically calculated or thought out plan or trajectory,” says Kerry. “We love what we do, and the fact that we have one foot in the hardcore world, but also have an appeal to the metal world, gives us more opportunities to take the band wherever we want. to go I just want to keep doing this with these guys and have fun writing the music we love, play as many shows as possible, and wherever that takes us, I’m happy.”

“Year Of The Pest” is out now via Quality Control HQ