Words @killer.solo.music
Blaythe talks straight edge, mosh culture, songwriting, touring and why Australia was never supposed to happen.
When No Cure started playing shows in March 2022, Australia wasn’t exactly part of the plan.
In fact, according to vocalist Blaythe Steuer, the band hadn’t even considered it possible.
“We didn’t even consider it being possible.”
The Birmingham, Alabama band began as what Steuer describes as a straight edge side project — perhaps a few shows, a couple of records, and eventually the inevitable breakup. Four years later, No Cure are preparing to cross the world for their first Australian tour with To The Grave, Algor Mortis and Bloodmouth. Destroy All Lines confirms the September run as No Cure’s Australian debut.
That rapid rise is one of the most interesting things about No Cure. Their music sits in the increasingly crowded territory where hardcore and extreme metal collide, but their identity remains distinctly rooted in the straight edge hardcore scene.
Steuer has been straight edge for 16 years, and in the interview he talks about how that commitment has changed as life has become more complicated.
“Having a clear head to deal with that, I think is pretty important for me.”
He also discusses the strange reaction straight edge can provoke from people outside the movement.
“It’s weird how often people feel threatened by my choice.”
For Steuer, straight edge isn’t about imposing a lifestyle on anyone else. It’s simply a decision that fits the way he wants to live.
That conversation leads naturally into one of the more fascinating parts of the interview: the relationship between hardcore, straight edge and religion. Steuer talks about encountering Christian metalcore growing up in the American Southeast, and questions why some people seem to move from one identity or movement into another.
His own relationship with straight edge, however, was different.
“I didn’t find my identity in it. I just happened to line up nicely with it.”
The conversation also gets into the increasingly blurred boundaries between hardcore, death metal and deathcore. Steuer talks about the regional differences in American mosh culture and how social media is gradually making those differences less distinct.
No Cure have also experienced the other side of that cultural collision while touring with extreme metal bands, including Cattle Decapitation. For Steuer, the clash between different crowds is part of the fun.
“I like the culture clash.”
The band’s current momentum isn’t slowing down. Their first Australian tour arrives in the middle of an enormous touring schedule, with more US dates, festivals, another European run and new No Cure material all on the horizon.
And despite the band’s increasingly distinctive sound, Steuer says there isn’t some master plan behind making No Cure sound like No Cure.
Song by song, things simply happen differently.
The opening track of their 2026 debut full-length, It Is Going To Get Dark, came together almost accidentally while Steuer was sitting with his guitar.
“That song, I felt like a gift.”
Another song came together in an even stranger way. The main melody of “Everything I Love Is Dead Or Dying” arrived while Steuer was in the shower, shortly after he and his wife rescued an abandoned dog in Birmingham.
For a band whose music can sound absolutely ferocious, it’s a surprisingly human glimpse into where some of those songs actually come from.
It Is Going To Get Dark was released July 10 through SharpTone Records and is No Cure’s debut full-length, following their earlier EPs and singles. The album expands their metallic hardcore attack into themes of existential dread, societal decay, addiction and straight edge conviction.
The Australian tour now represents another unexpected step in the band’s trajectory.
No Cure didn’t start out expecting to make it this far.
Now they’re about to find out what an Australian hardcore crowd can do.
And judging by this conversation, they’re looking forward to finding out.
No Cure play Australia’s Nail Australia To The Walls tour with To The Grave, Algor Mortis and Bloodmouth from September 2–12, 2026.
This is the gospel.
I bite crowd surfers.
Killer.
