XCOMM are a perfect example of what people mean they say that the kids are alright.

With an age range from 14 to 20 in their ranks, they have established themselves as one of the most exciting, exhilarating and excellent additions to the West Coast hardcore scene. They have also proven what happens when you let people follow what they love, no matter where they are coming from, or how soon in their lives they are going on such a journey.

Peaking the interest of legendary producer Ross Robinson, who has signed the band to his label Blowed Out Records, a generation-bridging melding of minds has led to the creation of ‘Time To Burn’, a debut album of immense power and prowess. Snotty, savage and sensational speedy, it is hardcore made for moving to. A catalyst of chaos, crafted by a set of people who show that age really is just a number. If you believe in something, you can build it.

Rock Sound sat down with vocalist Michael Gatto and drummer Revel Ian to find out more about this project started and what they are planning in the future.

Rock Sound: It feels like the best place to start is tracing each of your journeys as fans of music to being now at a place where you are in a hardcore band? What were the bands that really put you onto this scene and made you fall in love with it?

Revel: For me, I’ve been surrounded by rock and metal my entire life. Like, since I was born. But it was when I was 9 that I remember my dad showing me a Slipknot video, and that was my KISS. The mask and the heaviness of the songs, and the way they have their own world. I was just blown away. So I got into Slipknot, then discovered Korn, Deftones, and System of a Down. Then that eventually led me to what came before it, like Helmet, and Quicksand, and then Fugazi, and then Bad Brains. And once I was way more into that stuff, that’s when I decided to start a band. I already had a band, but it broke up. But what I loved about punk and hardcore was that you could go for it. You could write a song in five minutes, and I really like that.

Michael: I definitely went down the same kind of rabbit hole as finding out one band and going from there. I remember listening to metal when I was super young; Black Sabbath was an introduction to all things darker. But I definitely got into punk music a lot when I was 10 or 11 years old. With COVID hitting when I was around 13 or 14, and by the time I was 15/16, DIY shows were back, and LA started to open up again. That definitely reinforced pretty much everything about it. All of my friends in this whole scene are people I wouldn’t stereotypically hang out with, but I hang out with them every week because we’re at the shows or they know members of these bands that I was looking up to. It really pushed me.

Revel: In my mind, this type of music needs to be played. ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’ by Refused was really big for me, too. Like, those songs need to be heard live. I want to put my own stamp on it.

RS: So what was it like when you found each other and realised that you had the same ambitions?

Revel: It really wasn’t complicated at all.

Michael: Yeah, it was super organic. Revel is my dude, and I’m very open-minded to any idea he has, and I hope he’s open-minded to any idea I have as well.

Revel: When I broke up my old band, Aiden and I were jamming and writing these more hardcore ideas, and we wanted to start bands. So I literally put up an Instagram story looking for a singer and a guitar player, and then Michael just DM’d me. He said, ‘I can do that,’ and he came over the next day, and we ran through all the songs. He wrote lyrics for them on the spot, and it was like, ‘Good, we’re a band now’.

Michael: Yeah, and Revel and I had met through other bands in the scene.

Revel: I had a punk/ classic hardcore cover band. It was called Minor Jerk Brains, and it was Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, and Bad Brains stuff. We played two shows, and Michael was at one of them. He gave me stickers for his old band, and I was like, ‘This guy is really chill,’ and I wrote it down in my brain.

RS: In finding your circle, what has it meant to have a figure like Ross Robinson be a part of it as well? What has it been like working with him, and what has he taught you?

Michael: I mean, it’s pretty mind-melting. The whole thing that went down with Ross, and that we’re now under Blowed Out Records, is awesome, and we wouldn’t have come close to the product we have without Ross. He’s definitely had a big push on how we think about thin, nd how we handle our music, and honestly, the entire idea of why we do it in general. He also has a way of getting the point across, getting all our emotions out, and getting what we have to give back on track.

RS: Also, having someone who understands that you’re not just one type of band must help as well. Because you really go through the full gamut of what fast and aggressive music can be here, and what is needed in your own performances to pull that off.

Revel: Yeah, like you could listen to ‘Reasons’ and be like, ‘This is really a heavy crossover song with a breakdown’, and then you could listen to ‘One And Nothing’ and be like, Wow, this is inspired by The Cure‘. I think we have a lot of songs that go a lot of different ways.

Michael: Ross has always been very supportive, but he knows what he needs to get out of us. It was definitely difficult to track vocals, but I know I said what I needed to say and did what I needed to do. I remember there were days when Ross and I were definitely quite upset with each other, but we just went in there, let it go, and did it, and it came out better because of it.

Revel: It’s just a really fun experience to be in that room, and Ross is next to you, screaming. The most fun time ever.

RS: What has it been like being part of the community you found a part of yourself in, now able to play shows and be even more active within it?

Revel: We were just at Sick New World, and we went up to Tony Hawk, saying we’re huge fans, and he’s like, “Don’t I know you from a band’. Like, that’s the perfect example.

Michael: We also went to see Terror at their record release show with End It and Pain Of Truth, with Poison The Well headlining. It was just amazing. I’ve been listening to those bands since I was super young. And Michael [Young] from Pain of Truth threw the mic to us, and we were screaming the words back at him from the front row. And when it was over, he asked us if we were in a band, and I was losing my mind when he knew who we were. It’s really special for them to know who we were and support our music. To look up to these bands, and to have been buying their shirts, and have these personal stories and have all this knowledge in my head, and for them to also know about our songs that are slowly coming out, is definitely something I wasn’t expecting to do at one point. Still, we’re doing it now, and it’s amazing.

RS: What would you say is something on the record that you were surprised came out of the process? Is there a particular song or feeling you weren’t expecting to channel?

Michael: One of the songs that definitely comes to my mind is one of our last tracks, Negativity. We wrote and put that together when David Lynch passed away. There was definitely a lot of strange energy around.

Revel: That’s probably, honestly, my favourite track on the whole album. I love all, like, the weird soundscapes that are in it that are very Lynchian. It’s very different to anything else on the album.

Michael: I think all my lyrics are pretty funny overall, too. because writing lyrics isn’t that difficult in this type of band. You have to explain how you feel, say some funny things, and put it out there.

RS: So, what does it mean to have this band in your lives at this point? What does it mean that XCOMM is not just an idea but something that you are full locked in with?

Revel: I just thought this was going to be a band I could have fun with, but then, as more and more cool stuff kept happening, this is now my Plan A for life. This is what I’m going to do.

Michael: Revel and I have such a drive, as do the rest of the dudes. We are committed to putting 100% of our effort into this and creating and continuing to push out songs that make people happy. This is what I do all day, every day. And there is nothing better than playing guitar and screaming into a microphone. So I’m pretty stoked on everything and all of this.