Tune Back In For: RADMON MAYHEM!
Credits: Rakeah, from Burden of Proof
Radio Monash is launching its first-ever Hardcore show, RadMon Mayhem! Get ready for a whole afternoon of rocking out, moshing to heavy music on campus, and having an absolutely rad time with us.
So, what is RadMon Mayhem?
Other than knowing that it falls on the 23rd of May, from 1 pm onwards, at the Clayton Campus’s Banquet Hall on Level one of the Campus Centre, we are pretty much new to the event itself and to the Hardcore musical genre.
To better understand it, we snagged an exclusive behind-the-scenes interview with Radio Monash’s own Hardcore band, Burden of Proof!
Burden of Proof is a five-member band consisting of: Malachi on drums, Tijai, who plays guitar, Tyson on vocals, Maxwell Alexander Xavier as a second guitarist, and Rakeah, who is the bassist of the group AND organiser of Radmon Mayhem alongside Maxwell Alexander Xavier.
As described by Maxwell Alexander Xavier, RadMon Mayhem is “a cool show, hardcore show, ‘cause we tough like that”. Malachi adds that “It’s an all ages event being held at (the) Banquet Hall that is going live-to-air, it’s a Hardcore show and it’s one of the first Hardcore shows being held at Monash, it’s going to be really fun”. As the first of its kind at Monash, it is definitely not an event you should miss.
Rakeah then introduces us to the lineup of bands performing, featuring Heat as the headliner, Death Tax, Illan Kaapan, Dead End, and Burden of Proof, who are performing for the first time (yay, a performance debut!). These artists (except Burden of Proof) have been active within the hardcore scene in Melbourne.
If you are a fan of their shows or have seen them around, join us at Mayhem and stay tuned for their live interviews on Saturday.
Now you might be wondering, what exactly is Hardcore?
It’s not just a genre of music, but also an experience for listeners. From the intensity of the music to rocking out as part of the masses, Hardcore music essentially compresses an entire musical system into a single listening experience. As difficult as it is to describe in words, you simply must experience it for yourself to understand the true extent and impact of the Hardcore genre.
“Hardcore music is like, fun, it’s like heavy and going to shows is… it’s like a different experience than just listening to it, that’s all”. -Rakeah
While we will cover more of the day’s happenings in our upcoming article, we decided to delve further behind the scenes in this one with Rakeah and Maxwell Alexander Xavier, on what inspired them to organise such an event. Rakeah mentioned that it was Maxwell Alexander Xavier’s idea to bring Hardcore onto campus, letting students step into the world of Hardcore and giving fans of the genre a platform to unleash their chaos.
“I was just thinking about DIY (do it yourself) in Radio Monash, and I was like, what DIY scene could we leverage for our own benefit, and I was thinking Hardcore scene. So that’s what we did.” - Maxwell Alexander Xavier [Noting that the last part was a joke]
With Mayhem being the first of potentially many more hardcore shows on campus, we realised that the planning itself would have been rather stressful, considering that there were no prior events as a reference. We then asked the team about their struggles in bringing this idea to life.
“Well, I’ve never really done any sort of like… event planning or organisation before, so it was mainly just dealing with the stress of… I don't know, contacting a lot of different bands and making sure everyone was on the same page about dates and venues and stuff, but now it’s all sorted, like we’ve got a venue and we have a lineup. It’s good now, now we’re just like watching it happen, which is exciting.” -Rakeah
“It was tough.” - Maxwell Alexander Xavier
We then asked the band their end goals for this highly anticipated event.
“I wanna look tough.” - Maxwell Alexander Xavier
“Doing another show.” -Tyson
“I think making this a recurring thing every year would be really, really cool” -Rakeah
“Bringing in a new venue” -Tyson
“Yeah, especially with the state of live music at the moment. There’s a lot of all-ages venues getting shut down, and yeah, having another venue that we can push shows on, which is decently local, is pretty good.” -Tijai
What can you look forward to at Mayhem?
Beyond the band’s expectation for the event, we also had them share what audiences can expect.
“Me.” - Maxwell Alexander Xavier
“Crazy good vibes, crazy good music. Some chaos, some mayhem, if you will” -Rakeah
“A bit of chaos, some hardcore dancing. Some mosh, and 2step?” -Malachi
“Dancing.” -Tyson
If you are thinking of coming along, here are some final words from the band that might just convince you to.
“Just come.” -Rakeah and Maxwell Alexander Xavier
“Be ready.” -Tijai
Does chaos, good vibes, good music and something that has never been done on campus before sound like an amazing time to you? (It sure does to us!) Then join us at Radio Monash Mayhem on Saturday, the 23rd of May, from 1 pm onwards at the Banquet Hall in the Campus Centre.
For full event information: https://www.instagram.com/p/DYWcckGE6gX/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
Buy your tickets now (before they run out)!: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/radio-monash-mayhem-tickets-1987875049786?aff=oddtdtcreator
See you there!
Look forward to our post-Mayhem article, where we explore the Hardcore music scene with Heat, Death Tax, Illan Kaapan, Dead End, and Burden of Proof.
References:
Tim Mahoney, Hardcore Music Ontologies, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Volume 83, Issue 1, Winter 2025, Pages 71–87, https://doi.org/10.1093/jaac/kpae051