Ahead of their London show on December 12th, we caught up with vocalist Jim and drummer James!
Record shops are still important, people! If I hadn’t gone for a browse in London’s excellent All Ages Records a few months ago, I wouldn’t have heard them playing Sheffield quartet Nylon’s excellent debut album ‘Chariot Of The Gods’ over the PA, and would have missed out on a short-but-great slice of stripped-down and brutally effective hardcore. Needless to say, I bought a copy, and it’s rarely left my stereo since. They sounded like a band with plenty to say, so we scheduled an interview, and it went something like this…
How are you all, and how has 2025 been for you?
Jim: It’s been pretty wild! We’ve all had a pretty good year, and the band’s just gone from strength to strength. We started it off by touring with (fellow Sheffielders) Hidden Mothers back in February, and then since then, we’ve played plenty of incredible gigs with good mates, put out new songs, and all that!
James: I remember, just before Christmas last year, saying to Jim that we had no gigs booked for 2025, and literally a few days later, things exploded! I guess no-one really books much around Christmas time, but once Christmas was over, we got gig after gig confirmed. It’s been wild – gigs down south, gigs in places we’ve never been before…
Jim: We went to Bristol three times this year, and we’d never been there before. The first two times were a bit quiet, but the third time, it was crazy – people moshing, dancing, singing along, so yeah, it was great!
So how did you both originally get into hardcore – what were your gateway bands, things like that?
James: Well, Jim and I are roughly the same age, and we both grew up with the Sheffield hardcore scene for a long time. I remember going to an Unearth and Eighteen Visions gig at the Sheffield Corporation venue, where I met a load of guys from Hull, and they were all wearing t-shirts of hardcore bands like Earth Crisis. Once guy called Peter invited me to Hull, and took me to see some bands at a venue there called Ringside – I was about 15 at the time, and I’ve never looked back since! So the Hull scene was definitely my gateway into hardcore.
A while later, I started my own band, but as a vocalist, not a drummer – and we ended up playing shows with bands like Stampin’ Ground, Knuckledust, Six Foot Ditch, other LBU bands. Also, there was the Broomhall Centre in Sheffield, where Outbreak Festival started – Jim and I went to loads of shows there.
Jim: It was similar for me – it was around 2002, I was 14 years old at the time, and there was a tour called the Eastpak Resistance tour, with bands like Hatebreed, Biohazard and Agnostic Front. I went to it mainly because of Hatebreed, who had just released ‘I Will Be Heard’, and that was a bit of a defining moment for me! After that, I was all like “I don’t want to listen to Kerrang stuff anymore!”, and shortly after that I saw Stampin’ Ground again with xCanaanx supporting, so I got really into UK hardcore.
To be honest, there was probably a bit of pomposity there – a reason to say that I didn’t listen to ‘mainstream’ music anymore! But it’s what you do at that age – you’re looking for your own crew, your own tribe. So I loved it, and I’ve been into it ever since. I love hip-hop too – I listened to plenty of that growing up, as well as hardcore. There was a big street punk scene here too, and that kind of overlaps with hardcore – I was drawn to anything with that kind of DIY ethic and community spirit.
That leads me nicely into my next question – how do you rate Sheffield as a place for hardcore these days?
Jim: It’s on the way back up! As James said, it was amazing when we were growing up, because there was Dead And Gone Records based in Sheffield, and that label was kind of a seal of approval – you saw their name on a record, and you could be pretty certain that it would be a great record. And of course, the (now closed) Broomhall Centre was there too.
It’s making a comeback now – I mean, hardcore in general is bigger than it’s ever been, around the world! So I think that’s reflected in all cities, and luckily Sheffield has some great people like Busybodies, Lughole, Icepicks At Dawn…we’ve put on a few gigs ourselves, and here there are a lot of venues interested in hosting hardcore shows, in showcasing what the city has to offer.
So how did Nylon originally get together?
James: Jim and I were in another band together before, but then the Covid lockdown killed that off! And I was also in a post-hardcore band with (Nylon guitarist) Miles, which ended when our singer left. But Miles and I carried on writing together, and when we got Jim down to play with us, the whole post-hardcore thing didn’t fit anymore. So we had an epiphany, about two weeks later, when we decided to just start a hardcore band instead. It was just us three for a while, and then (Nylon bassist) Matt was the first we trialled – but at the time it didn’t suit him, because he’s from Wigan. So we trialled some other bassists, but ultimately we managed to get Matt to join us, and he’s been with us ever since.
Tell us a bit about your album, ‘Chariot Of The Gods’ – are there any particular tracks that are special for you?
Jim: ‘Tipping Point’! I love that song, there’s just something about it. It kind of fuses all our influences together; there’s some gritty hardcore parts to it, and the guitar’s got that kind of tinny riff at the beginning. I mean, I love playing all our songs live, but no matter what mood I’m in, I always get excited about that song when we play it. The whole recording experience was brilliant too!
James: Yeah, and it was kind of the first song that pointed in the direction we’re going now. Our first EP was more of a punkier style of hardcore, and we still play ‘This Life’ from that EP to this day – that’s one of my favourites, because whenever we play it live, the place always goes off!
You’re probably sick of this next question already, but the track ‘Cuttlefish And Asparagus’ has to be a reference to the infamous South Park ‘Human CentiPad’ episode, right? You’ve clearly got a sense of humour!
Jim: It is! Basically, the song is about mates who don’t listen to you, because they don’t want to hear what you have to say, and then make bad choices that also affect you. And that’s exactly what happens in that South Park episode! So kind of sparked an idea in us – and we’re all big South Park fans too.
You’ve got a new track out called ‘Enjoy Your View’ – what was the inspiration for that, and how did you get together with Paul from (Bristol hardcore crew) Perp Walk to record it?
Jim: Well, we played a show in Manchester that was put on by MCHC, who are great people – they put us on a show a while back with Plastics and Perp Walk, and we were stoked, because we’re massive fans of both bands! And it turned out that they like us too, and we’ve become good friends with them since then. I actually went to (Netherlands hardcore festival) Revolution Calling with Paul, so yeah, we’re close friends.
Like all our songs, it started with Miles coming up with a riff, and we kind of just built on that, to see what kind of mood we’re going for. I’ve got a book of ideas that I want to develop into lyrics, stuff like that.
James: We’ve always written as a collective – we’re all into hardcore, all into the same kind of stuff, so we all chip in with our own ideas. There was a certain feel to ‘Enjoy Your View’ – a kind of desperate, aggressive tone.
Jim: The lyrics are about people who pass off other people’s views as their own, in a harmful way, and there’s a lot of that these days. People who live inside an echo chamber, and see a couple of videos on Instagram, and all of sudden think they’re experts and start repeating things. There’s a lot of half-baked opinions where no-one’s really doing any research for themselves, and that’s basically what the song’s about. I explained it to Paul, and he was totally on board with it, and took it as inspiration for writing his own verse.
Any other highlights from your time together as a band?
Jim: I’ll tell you what’s not a highlight – a fucking ten-hour drive to Plymouth, which we did recently!
James: But even though the drive wasn’t fun, the show went off. If we’d turned up, and there’d only been four people there, we’d still have given it our all, but it was packed, and we met some great people. So it was worth the drive!
Jim: The fact that bands, labels, promoters and scenes in general are still inviting us to places to play some tunes and hang out…as much of a cliché as it sounds, that’s a highlight for me! I still love doing it, and long may it continue.
James: We’ve played twice in Middlesbrough, and both times have gone off great, we’ve had an amazing reception, and we’re playing there again on Friday. So we’re looking forward to that, because for some reason, Middlesbrough seems to love Nylon!
Finally, how’s 2026 looking for you guys so far? Any particular plans?
James: We’ve got an EP to release; we’ve only released the one song from it so far, so there are another three tracks to come out. We’ve got the artwork ready for it, and we’re writing together all the time, so we’re hoping to release another EP not long after the first one. We really want to play some shows in Europe, so if any European promoters want to book us, or if any other bands would like to tour with us in Europe, please get in touch! That’s our next goal really. We also did Manchester Punk Festival this year, and that was amazing, so we’d love to do that again.
Everything we’ve done as a band so far, we’ve done by ourselves – no backing from anyone, all paid for and promoted by us four. We’re happy with it all!
Nylon play London’s Black Heart on 12th December with Hard Mind – tickets are available HERE. Keep up with all things Nylon via the links below.
Follow Nylon on Their Socials:
Need more Punk In Your Life?
Spunge, London Signature Brew Haggerston, 28th Nov 2025
Spunge, bless them, have long had a fine sense of the ridiculous, and the bizarre antics continue to this day. After all, why make a
EP review: Geezapunx release ‘Banned Practice’
From Basingstoke and Portsmouth, UK, Geezapunx are a cheeky blend of authentic and rebellious 70’s old school punk. They have released their latest EP ‘Banned
Album review: The Puncturists release ‘I’m Not Alright’
Originally forming back in 2022, The Puncturists are a Yorkshire-based, female fronted garage punk band, who have recently released their first full studio album ‘I’m
Live review: Ruts DC celebrate 45 years of ‘Grin & Bear It’ with WitchDoktors and Joe Bitter!
Can you believe it’s been 45 years since The RuTs released their second album ‘Grin & Bear It’? Promising a set to include several rarely-played
Wiccans, London New Cross Inn, 27th Nov 2025
Texan headliners Wiccans are hardcore at its most noisy and chaotic, and they deservedly whip up a storm in the pit. They’ve been described as
Shake Some Acton gig #125, London Hope & Anchor, 26th Nov 2025
As prolific as we at Punktuation like to think we are, we can’t quite measure up to Mannie of Shake Some Acton fame. Putting on
I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
Did you know that we are 100% DIY? We run our own game. No one dictates to us, and no one drives what we can or cannot put on our pages – and this is how we plan to continue!
