ALIVE INSIDE - Better Self, Better World ! (Austria - HardCore - Interview with Luis).

Hello ! Can you introduce yourself and tell us how it all began for you - your encounter with this musical universe, what appealed to you, what fascinated you and what made you want to get into music?  
I'm Luis the singer of Alive Inside. My first real encounter with hc was when I saw ROLLINS BAND live as a kid in the early 90ies. His power at this liveshow was crazy and inspirational. I already listened to mainstream punk and skatepunk at the time but gradually shifted more and more to HC. What I always loved about HC was the energy and the importance of message. When BATTERY "Until The End" dropped that was the one record that stood out to me at that time and from there on i discovered more and more of the hardcore that I love till this day. Bandwise I first started jamming around with a friend when i was in highschool, some grunge/punk/alternative rock stuff, but we were really bad and never managed to play live or record, but at the place where we had our practice space me and some friends started running a youth club, there I met likeminded kids with whom i started my first real band. A HC/Punk band called LESSON LIFE. HC and ¨Punk always fascinated me because of the freedom that it gives you, to me it's like writing music frees your head and the HC/Punk community frees you from society.

Tell me about the band... How you met - the current line-up - past experiences - and above all - WHY the need to form THIS band?
The current line up is Roman-Drums, Flo-guit, Chris -guit, Luis-Vox and Oliver and Mike kinda share the bassduties, Oliver is founding member but currently does not have that much time. Me and Oliver always had a similiar vision and style when it came to writing music and over the years we did a handful bands together (Golden x, OnxPoint,..) but Oliver had moved to the States for some years and I was stuck here in Vienna where it is hard to find people who share the same enthusiasm for youthcrew/melodic oldschool HC. We always had the urge to do a project again together because we love this style of HC so much and I feel it is really underrepresented in modern HC. But years passed without us having a band. After Oliver had moved back to Vienna, in early 2020 we attended a "Change" show where also an old friend and Vienna HC veteran Flo (former bands: Make My Day, Blindfolds) was hangin out. The show and the talk with Aram (change guitarplayer) was very inspirational, this was when the 3 of us finally decided to go to a practice space again and see if the vibe is still there. 2 days later Oliver and me had the first jam session and the energy and the connection was instantly there again and we wrote the first demo songs. At the next session Flo joined us and it also clicked instantly. The only problem was that at the same time the pandemic was starting to hit, so on the last day before the first lockdown we went to the rehearsal room again and finished writing the demo so we could record it at home during the lockdown period. Thats how it started. Later Chris joined on 2nd guitar, he was an old bandmate of Flo, and the last piece of the puzzle was Roman who joined us on drums 2 years ago, he is a Vienna HC legend and played in many bands over the years and is a perfect fit for the band and gave the band a new push with his energy and motivation.  

Describe your sound and explain why I should listen to YOUR band at all cost ?
Our music is based on the 97 youthcrew revival sound of bands like Ten Yard Fight, Floorpunch, Sportswear, and 2000s melodic oldschool HC (like The First Step, Have Heart...) but of course also heavily inspired by the legendary late 80ies bands like Youth Of Today, Bold, Alone In A Crowd, this is where our roots lie,  we try to give it our own touch but stick to the roots. We never cared about trends, we play the music that we like and do our part to keep the spirit of this sound alive. You should listen to this style because it can boost your life in a positive direction !
 
Lyrical and musical inspirations/influences ? How important are the lyrics for you ? Are there any specific messages or thoughts you try to develop and share through your lyrics ? 
To me the lyrics and the message in HC are very important, I never understand when bands don't print their lyrics or don't add it online in the description. Inspirations for my lyrics come from all directions: personal experiences, books, the world and life in general. I try to keep the lyrics positive and hope that with the energy of the music and the message it can affect the listener in a positive way. My main message is that I firmly believe that you can only change the world when you change yourself and your surroundings, so I think a vital point in evolving is working on yourself and try to become a better person day by day and in small steps. I think this is the best way to have a positive impact on your life and on the world in general. This would be my main message but not only to the listener but also as a reminder to myself.

About the band's discography... Imagine someone who doesn't know your band at all and wants to get interested in.. Which release would you recommend to start with, and why?
We have a 20 song tape discography out that contains all our songs from 2020-2025 (demo, promo,1st EP, compilation tracks), i would recommend checking this out, I think the tapes are sold out but you can also find it on bandcamp.
 
About your latest release ? 
We recorded our "The Only Way Out" 7" last summer at a Philip "Fips" Hohrehleds Earthquake Factory, Fips is an old bandmate of Roman and really did a great and passionate job with this recording. And another old friend Charles Chaussinand did the mastering. After some delay of the pressing plant, the record came out now (april 2026), it is the first recording with our new drummer, who is an absolute beast and through him the band got elevated to a new level. The record is streaming on all platforms. It is an collab release of WTF records(Netherlands), Spook records (Poland), Dedication Records, Noise To Help Records (all Germany), Smiling Is Not A Crime Records (Spain), XThinkPositiveXRecords (Philippines) and our label Vienna Crew Records. So you can check out those labels or our shop to get a copy of the recpord. The coverart is from a artist friend of ours Aljoscha Farassat.

Future plans ? 
We plan to play some weekender out every now and then and we have already some new songs written and our next recording is already scheduled for this summer !
 
Your most insane dream with the band would be ?
A split with one of the legendary old bands !


 
Your BEST & WORST concert - as a band - and why ? 
It feels like every Vienna show these days is the best show. the Vienna HardCore scene is currently as good as it has ever been and shows are good. We love playing the Hardcore for the Losers shows, they are always amazing. For me personally the coolest show was when we played support for BATTERY (and AGNOSTIC FRONT) last summer, 'cause BATTERY are my alltime favourite and playing and meeting them was just awesome. Sometimes its cool to meet your "heroes" !
Worst show - recently we got a show cancelled by the promoter the night before, but other than that we didn't have a really bad one.
 
Next live-appearance(s) ?
In may we have a weekender in the Ruhrpott area (Germany) with our brothers Eyes Of Tomorrow, this will be a fun one !


 
Some words on your local scene - bands you're friends with and you'd like to name ? 
Like said Vienna HC is currently on the up and up, check out Hardcore For The Losers and leechpit.diy there you find links to all the local bands. Until recently I have played bass in a new band called INFLUENCE you definetly should check them out they are playing out a ton. And with my drummer I have a project called OUTATIME where the first songs are up and the full demo is recorded and comimg these days!

Last word is yours.. 
Thank you for the interview and all the work that you do, keep it up, stay posi and always keep the faith ;)

Credits : 
Band photo & live photos : Markus (m0lephoto.com)