Scowl is an American hardcore punk band from Santa Cruz, California, fronted by Kat Moss the singer of the band, along with guitarist Malachi Greene, guitarist Mikey Bifolco, bassist Bailey Lupo, and drummer Cole Gilbert.
Scowl released their debut album, How Flowers Grow, late 2021 and ever since then the band has blown up. In just three years scowl has become a huge hardcore band, and quite possibly the most successful hardcore band fronted by a woman. Currently the band has 150k monthly spotify listeners and all the tickets to their shows are selling out.
To add to the band’s upcoming success, Scowl was nominated for the “Best Rock song” – and “Best Metal performance” for the same song, “Opening Night.”
Kat moss, the singer, is changing the game by putting her own unique twist on hardcore punk. She has these incredible vocals that switch between high growl–like screeches, to a pop singer voice. Her ability to have a completely different vocal change throughout Scowls’ songs makes their band stand out from the rest in the scene. She even executes these vocal changes perfectly during the bands live sets.
The Hardcore music genre is stereotyped as heavy, and mostly listened to and played by men, but Kat Moss is bringing a feminine side to the music genre that everyone is loving. She and her bandmates created an amazing band that has catchy sing-alongs all while incorporating aspects of hardcore in their music.
Kat moss just recently getting into hardcore makes the bands immediate success surprising, also since the band has only been playing together for three years. Scowl’s distinctive aspects and Kat mosses confidence served as the bands highest attribute.
She adapted to the hardcore scene and vocals quickly, as she states in the Ineffect hardcore Interview, 20 questions with… Kat Moss of Scowl, “ It started to feel like a possibility when I started coming to hardcore shows around 18 years old. I saw other girls fronting bands and it didn’t seem so impossible anymore!… I just felt like I needed to at least take a stab at fronting a band.”
Scowl is an inspiration, Kat Moss and her band made something that’s intimidating look easy all while embracing herself and appearance. Scowl single handedly is pushing hardcore out of its comfort zone and influencing other bands to attempt something new.
