Hailing from Waterbury, Connecticut, better known as The Brass City, and featuring members of Buried Dreams, Death Threat, Ramallah, and Hard Feelings, Soulless are a heavy, aggressive hardcore band in the vein of Blood For Blood, Converge, and The Killer. With hard driving riffs set to a relentless backbeat, Soulless carries on tradition of so many great bands before them, striving to connect with audiences on a personal level to inspire, relate, and deliver raw and honest messages about addiction and recovery, anger and adversity, and the power of finding belonging through music and a chosen family.
Originally self-released by the band in 2024, Soulless’s debut demo EP, My Friends, Your Enemies, is now available on 7″ vinyl for the first time from Heroes & Martyrs Records in two limited edition colors, and you can catch them live this summer at Hellphyra and This Is Hardcore, as well as at their record release show for My Friends, Your Enemies along with Palehorse, Risk, Hard Feelings and Suicide Eyes this weekend, Saturday, June 14th, at The Zone in Waterbury, CT.
I recently had a chance to chat with vocalist, Mike, who gave me some insight into the band, their history and inspiration, and what they having coming next in the interview below. Check out the interview, pick up the vinyl, and don’t miss the chance to catch live Soulless at one of their upcoming shows this summer!
Photos by: Ray Camacho – raymondecamacho.myportfolio.com – IG: punk_monk_ray
Where are you from and who’s in the band?
Soulless is a band based out of Waterbury, CT, better known as the Brass City. I’m Mike, and I do vocals for the band (previously I played guitar in Buried Dreams, Cast In Blood, Dilate, and Dominion 18). The rest of the band is Kyle on guitar (Laid 2 Rest, Jagged Visions, Frenzy), SBA on guitar (Forced Reality, Ramallah), Murph on Bass (Hard Feelings), and Andreas on Drums (Death Threat, Pus).
Can you describe your sound in one or two sentences?
We’re a hardcore band from Connecticut that is heavily influenced by seeing bands and going to shows in New England, for some of us since the mid-90s. We try to write music that connects with people on the same level that those bands did for us, however that may have been at the time, and in the years since, for better or for worse.
What do you hope listeners will come away with after their first time hearing your music or seeing you play?
As a band, we wanted to write music that sounded sonically different from what was going on in hardcore at the time. Through our band, its lyrics and live experience, I wanted to connect with the audience on a more personal level in the way that all my favorite bands did for me as a kid in high school who felt disconnected from society while first getting into this style of music.
What are three artists or bands that influence your sound or the way you write and perform music?
Blood For Blood, but that’s a given considering our name (haha). They were the first hardcore band I became fully obsessed with when I was in high school. Livin’ in Exile was the first record of theirs I ever heard. To set the tone, I had just started drinking, cliché I know, and I was like, “Man, this record really makes me want to crush beers.” It still does. Then, when I listened to the first full length and 7” shortly after, and understood the darkness and hopelessness of the lyrical content, I thought to myself, “Okay, Rob’s lyrics speak directly to how I feel right now.” Since then, very few bands have clicked with me in the way that Blood For Blood did. In the fall of 2023, Buried Dreams was slowing down, and Kyle sent me a song for a new project he had been working on, which ended up being our song “Crown of Scars.” I heard it and told him I wanted to do it, but I didn’t want to play guitar. At that point I had written lyrics for 15ish years, but had never been a frontman, and felt like this was the band I absolutely needed to sing for. After that, that’s when SBA on guitar came into the picture. This took some convincing and more than a few shots of Irish whiskey in Worcester, but I’m so glad he said yes to playing music again. Next, being from Connecticut, we were all very fortunate to have played with and to have seen so many legendary bands from here over the years. You know the bands. If you don’t, consider that your homework assignment. We’re heavily influenced by all of them. Lastly, I’ve always loved bands that were vulnerable and talked about actual adversities, heartbreaks and hardships in their lives through their music. Some bands I’ve considered influential in my lyrical writing are American Nightmare, The Hope Conspiracy, Converge, and The Killer from Chicago. Luke’s lyrics in that band have heavily influenced me for years.
After you play a show, what is one place everyone in the band can agree to go eat?
Grand Central Sports Bar. They don’t have a kitchen, so here’s what the band drinks. Mike – Vodka. Andreas – Rumple Minze shots only (psychopath), Alan – Guinness, and Murph works for a craft brewery, so he drinks that shit. Kyle doesn’t really drink, but when he does it’s Jameson, and he will kill you.
What is the origin story of your band name?
We’re named after the Blood For Blood song “Soulless,” which is on the Spit My Last Breath full length and the 7” of the same name.
Is there a particular city, country, or specific venue you’re dying to play?
As a band we’ve been lucky enough to have played a bunch of sick cities and venues already, but personally, I would love to go to Europe. I was supposed to go with Buried Dreams years ago but couldn’t last minute because I started a new job. Sorry, Austin.
On long drives between shows, what’s one band or artist that everyone can agree to listen to in the van?
We’re all going to be in a van together for the first time in May when we hit the Carolinas with Risk, so I’m not sure. Andreas will probably try to put on Yanni or some shit. (He’s Greek.)
If you could put together the ultimate show bill with you and four other bands/artists, from any time period or genre, who would you choose?
Damn, this is a tough question.
Blood Has Been Shed (Selfishly that’s a reunion everyone in the band wants.)
Blood For Blood
The Germs (RIP Darby Crash.)
100 Demons
What’s going on right now and what’s coming up next?
We’re in the process of releasing our demo My Friends, Your Enemies on vinyl in June through Heroes and Martyrs. Before that, we produced and released everything DIY, which is something both me and the band are proud of. We’re playing a new song at our upcoming shows in May, and we’ll have more new ones recorded over the summer. Lastly, thank you to every single person that has supported this band in any way over the past year. It truly means the world to this band and to me personally.
