The Final Will and Testament of Shell Shock

Image via @scene_pdx on instagram

It was at this year’s summer, 2025, Northwest Hardcore fest, the fourth one since it started in 2023, that Shell Shock, the beloved and influential Portland Hardcore band, was finally laid to rest at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art.  

This was a warm August day; temps were just coming back up after a couple rainy days earlier in the week, but inside the warehouse housing the fest it was even warmer and wetter. Wasted, the second band of the day had just played, and the crowd was milling, ever-expanding as more people, both new and old to the scene entered to take part in this growing Portland tradition of beatdown hardcore. Mad Choice was on next, a newer band that included Shell Shock drummer, Bodhi. And then Shell Shock played after them.  

Shell Shock originally crawled out of the ashes of Portland's post pandemic music scene in 2022, originally composed of vocalist Gaz, drummer Bodhi, and guitarist Iggy, adding bassist Elliott later, who was then replaced by their new bassist, Owen. They met at a show at Casa Weon (RIP); Iggy and Bodhi needed a vocalist for their new band, and Gaz stepped up. Gaz said they found hardcore trudging through the scattered mixed bill post pandemic shows and through the guidance of “old head friends.” “The rawness and emotion in hardcore are what really called to me,” Gaz told me in an interview with the band at Hardcore Fest, “they (the old head friends) put me on to shit like Kickback, Mad Ball, Crowbar, Twitching Tongues, all that.”  Bodhi had been playing drums since he was a kid, and he liked classic 80s hardcore punk, like Bad Brains and Minor threat, and found the Portland scene through shows at Casa Weon.  

Back then, the scene was nowhere near what it is today. “There weren’t a lot of hardcore–only bills like there are now,” Gaz said. “In 2021/22 there would be stuff like Indie bands, and like Bedroom Pop and Shoegaze slapped together with Metal and Hardcore. It was fun, but I enjoy how hardcore is flourishing now; shows are full of people who hold similar morals and views to me, as opposed to shows with indie and rave kids.”  

Image via @shellshockhxc on Instagram

“The scene has grown exponentially,” Bodhi said, “we used to play shows for like 8 people.” And now, they’re gathering crowds of over a hundred at Hardcore Fest. “Especially since 2024 it’s been growing.”  

The band said that this has something to do with being post pandemic, but also the moment beatdown hardcore is having on the internet right now due to bands like Sunami, Mind Force and Kind Eyes. “It’s helpful because it brings new people in and more people are experiencing this, going to shows and buying merch, and it helps bands do things they otherwise couldn’t do,” Gaz said, “but it can also be harmful because some people don’t understand the etiquette and will be like ‘ugh I got hit I have to start a fight now’ when it’s like no, you were standing on the edge of the pit, of course you got hit.” At its bare bones hardcore is a radical, extreme movement; there are certain things you have to expect and accept with this subculture. “A lot of people don’t know what they’re getting into, that’s the kind of stuff that starts ‘scene drama’ and pulls apart scenes; people that saw a video and thought it was cool and want to get upset when they get hit,” she continued.  

“Hardcore is friendship,” Bodhi said. “It’s friendship, unity and understanding people who have different backgrounds than you. “ 

“Hardcore isn’t for everybody but it is for anybody,” Gaz said.  

“Aggression is an essential part of hardcore. This is the place to physically get out your emotions without starting a fight or anything, but at the end of the day, it’s all love,” Bodhi continued.  

Gaz chimed in; “I’ve seen people knock out their homies on accident, because it’s all the same group of friends in there, but you just pick them up and give them a hug because it’s all love. This is a way to get your aggression out that is supposed to be healthier than self-destruction.”  

“It’s about caring about your art as well,” Bodhi said, “This is not a place where you can make music off the money, you have got to do it for the love of the fucking game. It’s not about the money.”  

“Hardcore is also political. period,” Gaz said, “I hate when people say that it’s not; the entire existence of hardcore is a political stance. You cannot be rightwing and call yourself a hardcore bro.”  

“I think there should be less misogyny in hardcore,” she continued, “even though a lot of people are like ‘we’re hella chill with chicks and femme people coming to our shows,’ a lot of it is a subconscious thing, they don’t realize it but they are dismissing and ignoring and just treating people differently because of the genitals they have.”  

But they can see and have heard the impact their presence and their band have had on the scene. “Hardcore is obviously a very male–dominated scene,” she said, “I have seen, and been told personally that a lot of more femme people are comfortable going to our shows. I’ve had like younger kids come up to me and say ‘you inspired me to start a band’; you made me realize that even though hardcore is a male dominated scene, femmes can be the frontman of this shit, they can be writing the music, have like an attitude and be upfront and aggressive in the way that men are and still be respected, and that means a lot to me. When I was younger,” they continued, “even though I wasn’t in this scene I still didn’t have a lot of powerful femme or women in my life that I could look up to and it means a lot that I can be that person for people.”  

You could see this play out when Shell Shock went up to play their set. Their last set. Many of the younger women and femme people moved up to the edge of the pit, the front of the stage and were moshing.  

Gaz held that stage with an iron grip, pacing and stomping like a powerful beast with a pained expression, releasing these ripping screams with intensely emotional and personal lyrics while people were running around them, constantly stage diving and moshing. Behind her Iggy’s guitar shouted powerful, catchy riffs, Owen on the bass whipped the crowd up into a frenzy with its heavy, violent chugging, and Bodhi smashed the drums into an intense and groovy beat. The rage spewed from their music like a storm.  

They were only the fourth band to go on, but our excitement was palpable, you could hear it and see it too. We cheered the loudest for Shell Shock and we danced more for them, and their songs made it easy for us to. Our love for Shell Shock was pouring from our fists. This set felt like a celebration of Portland hardcore, all that it was and all that it will be.  

For their last song, one of their firsts, Flesh, All the Portland locals and Shell Shock fans swarmed the stage. All of us circling around the mic like a violent whirlpool to scream the lyrics to one of this city’s favorite songs one last time: “ALL RAPISTS DESERVE TO DIE! I’LL PUT A BULLET THROUGH YOUR EYE, USE A BAT TO BASH YOUR BRAINS IN, GOD’S REQUEST FOR A LIFE OF SIN!”  

And then the last set was over, Shell Shock was done, and it was the end of an era for Portland hardcore. The band declined to share the details of their breakup, only positing that people grow apart and want to do different things over time, but there will be more music from all of them. Gaz and Bodhi are joining with Akio, frontman of Mad Choice to make “jumpy, not quite 8-mile hardcore, something very groovy, fast and fun.” Owen is playing in Father’s Milk and Iggy is starting a D-beat project soon.  

Though it is sad to lose this great band, one of the best to come out of the scene, it is far from over. Portland is one of the best cities on the west coast for Hardcore right now, and it hasn’t even hit its peak yet.