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Fair Do’s
Fair Do’s are an unrivalled powerhouse of technical melodic hardcore, who combine hardcore punk and
metal in a way that few other bands manage. Fair Do’s have spent their formative years hammering their
distinctive fast-punk style home; however they’ve also invested considerable time honing their metal chops,
evident in their heavier rhythms, riffs and plentiful beat-downs.
Formed in 2008, Fair Do’s have established a following of dedicated fans around Europe, playing with
legends like After The Fall, A Wilhelm Scream, Frenzel Rhomb and H20. Having grown up in small
working-class towns around Manchester, they have an underdog mentality that resonates their lyrics, which
are a both politically-focussed and firmly tongue-in-cheek.
Although they are driven by a strong DIY ethos, Fair Do’s are best known for their unrivalled technical
talent. Every song is heart-racingly uptempo and overlaid with jaw-droppingly intricate guitars. They
released a shred-heavy EP Trying Times via Pumpkin Records in 2014, then followed it with their debut
album Leopards on Lockjaw Records in July 2018. The album is an adrenaline-soaked collision of hardcore
punk and metal, that captures the energy and technical prowess of their explosive live show.
They released the EP 1000 Miles’ in 2022 and the fourth track follows the warped and metallic Melodic-
Post-Hardcore-Skate-Punk of ‘Casket’. It motions from the vitriolic doomed-gloom of ‘Love & Light’ and its
frenetic crossing of the Hardcore spectrum whilst glancing back at the precision-cut nuance on late ’90s
Skate Punk that was ‘Consolation’. The band’s inextricable ties to the genre permeate the three previous
singles. This stylistic underpin is equally infused and warped by a near Mathcore level of organised yet
chaotic catharsis. A feeling inspired far from gleefully from the band’s contemporary observations,
otherwise, articulated as societal necrosis en masse for all to ignore. With three singles taking their own
amorphous route onward to whatever the next release will be, with each single, it has been anyone’s guess
unto what each stop would entail audibly. Fair Do’s and ‘1000 Miles’. Shall we? To Manchester.
The Fair Do’s brand of fast, technical, serrated yet melodic Punk resembles a (sonic) adrenal gland when
viewed in its entirety. It is difficult not to hear likes of Death By Stereo and moreover, the continental
European Punk scene within the tightly wound intro of ‘1000 Miles’. Subsequently, the band’s guitars
cascade through the verses, harmoniously layering with an anthemic drive into the revelatory chorus. It is
here that Fair Do’s foundational Skate Punk provides an adaptable reprieve from their penchant for both
vicious and indeed viscous riffs. That said, these harder displays do still work their way into ‘1000 Miles’ at
but a moments notice. Lyrically, incredulity and disbelief are accosted in tandem as the band’s
contemporary existentialism continues to be intrinsically exuded with an earnest conviction.
There is a pervading sardonic humour, sadness and virulence to ‘1000 Miles’. Fair Do’s lyrical songwriting
has never confined itself. Instead, it has always opted for a bare-all depiction of whatever ails it. Musically,
this is reflected in ‘1000 Miles’. Fair Do’s’ careful yet streamlined transition from straight-running Melodic
Hardcore and Skate Punk into violent metallic riffs depicts this evocative and naturally spasmodic intensity.
Fair Do’s are, it is fair to say, intense amidst their most reserved displays.
Their arguably unique and progressive nuance on the fast melodic Punk scene is as focussed on expansion
as it is honourable to the seminal past. Truthfully, such a position in a scene that is either open-minded and
receptive or the resounding reverse of that is indeed a notorious one to hold.
They are back in business and 2026 will be a big year for them! Watch out