East Anglia has been host to some great bands in recent years and their hardcore scene has definitely been growing at a rapid rate over the past year. From what I can see, a lot of new bands have been forming out in EAHC and they’re putting real DIY hardcore shows on. This can be all thanks to people like Stevie who runs Sabaka Promotions and plays guitar in the band we’re interviewing today, Heel Turn.

Heel Turn started out last year and released their self titled debut demo in December 2025. Basically, if you love hardcore and wrestling then they are of those bands you’d really enjoy watching and moshing to. I myself have been priviledged enough to have them on my first ever Hardcore at the Castle a few months back.

I’ve been chatting to Stevie over the past few months to get an idea of how the EAHC scene has grown, how Heel Turn started and what these wrestling/hardcore fans have coming up soon.

FIRST OF ALL WHERE ARE YOU GUYS BASED & HOW DID YOU ALL MEET?

We’re based in Norwich, the greatest city on Earth. Heel Turn started because I (Stevie, Guitar) was told by a mate who got tattooed by Craig (vocalist) that he wanted to start a hardcore band. 

I was currently in Chainlink as the vocalist but was wanting to play guitar in something a bit more hardcore focused. 

I was helping out my mate who runs a clothes shop and Craig works as a tattoo artist in the shop next door. I saw him standing outside so I went and chatted to him about getting something going. This was after Xmas in 2024.

The rest of the current lineup were people Craig knew from tattooing and people who came to shows here. G was also in a hardcore band called Bastard a few years ago too. 

WHAT WAS THE SCENE LIKE WHERE YOU WERE GROWING UP & HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN IT?

Norwich has been on and off over the years. Go back to around 2010 etc and there’s shows with Title Fight, Have Heart etc. Your Demise played here a bunch. Some argue that Basement are technically EAHC.

Same as most cities though we’ve had a few venue closures and shows slowed down quite a bit, especially with Covid etc. 

I got into Hardcore at Uni in like 2016. Me and my mates were in a band and we just played Backtrack and Turnstile covers and I thought it was dope, especially as there was so much about metal that I just didn’t vibe with, I was instantly hooked. 

After coming back to Norwich and being in Chainlink, other than Hour of Reprisal, Final Nail and Bind there weren’t any other hardcore bands. And no one was putting on shows.

I wanted us all on one lineup to revive the scene so that’s why I started Sabaka Promo as well. That show never happened but I still carried on booking shows. 

THIS MIGHT SOUND LIKE A DUMBASS QUESTION BUT HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME HEEL TURN?

Haha nah it’s a dumbass name so don’t worry.

A heel turn in wrestling is when a good guy becomes a bad guy and it was around the time it happened to John Cena in 2025. We were just chatting about it at the pub and just thought that it’d make a cool name as we were struggling up until that point to agree on something.

Shoutout the other Heel Turn kicking about in Europe. 

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND TO SOMEBODY WHO HASN’T HEARD YOU BEFORE?

Classic hardcore, big riffs, high energy, lots of groove, stupid samples, stupider breakdowns. 

WHAT HAS BEEN SOME OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU’VE BEEN FACED WITH?

Jake was our 4th drummer in the space of about two months. People couldn’t really commit, almost ended us before we started as there really aren’t that many people to choose from in Norwich but we’ve got a solid line-up now. G our bassist, was actually on drums, had a baby and quit, then came back, shoutout G’s baby.

But other than that there isn’t much. Being from Norwich the hardest part is the travel to all the places we have to play as we’re a bit out the way, but it’s all good we love it. 

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR ALL TIME FAVOURITE ARTISTS?

Toil, Hour of Reprisal, Bind, Dispute, 2nd Location, Heel Turn, Break Them, Frail, Living Spite, Annotations of an Autopsy, Toil. 

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE SHOWS YOU’VE REALLY ENJOYED BEING A PART OF & DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE VENUE?

Our first show was insane, full of mates and people were jumping off ladders in the pit.

We’ve only been going a few months but we’ve rated every show we’ve played so far. Although that Stoke venue was like -10 degrees, but it was still dope.

Shout out Space, Deadwax and Voodoos in Norwich. Bring back the Owl Sanctuary!

The Dispute show and Gridiron show were also super fun.

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR DREAM TOUR TO GET HEEL TURN ON?   

The dream is to headline EAHC Fest where all the homies play. And it’ll happen soon don’t you worry.

Then we do it again but in like Japan. 

WHAT HAS BEEN SOME OF THE BEST EXPERIENCES YOU’VE HAD TOGETHER?

The whole thing has been sick. Practices, shows, sending riffs in the chat, watching other bands, talking about movies we should rip samples from.

We’re just 5 dudes who love hardcore, living the dream baby. 

HOW HAVE YOU FOUND THE HARDCORE SCENE IN EAST ANGLIA & THE UK CHANGE IN RECENT YEARS?

I think since Covid lockdowns ended, it’s all been improving hasn’t it. More shows, more bands, better attendances. Seems like people are starting to get involved and do something in their own scenes and people are happy to support it. 

I’m hoping peoples opinion of Norwich is changing too regarding hardcore.

I’m always trying to book bands (some people are probably sick of me messaging, sorry) but I’m just trying to put on sick shows and who doesn’t wanna play a sold out room in a place you’ve never been to?

Sorry to all the bands who message that I haven’t put on or haven’t replied to yet, I simply don’t have the time or money to do a show a week but if I could I would. I know I’ve been shouting out all the homies every chance but it’s not a cool guy clique, everyone’s welcome!

HOW IMPORTANT IS REPRESENTATION IN THE HARDCORE COMMUNITY?

It’s massive isn’t it, it’s the whole point, hardcore is for everyone, and if everyone isn’t included, what’s the point. 

Shoutout all the gals doing bits:

Rosa from Curselifter (Netherlands)

• Rosa from Curselifter (Netherlands)
• Lorna from Dispute / Break Them
• Suzie from Living Spite 
• All the homies in Supernova
• All the EAHC photographers we’ve got

All the LGBTQ+ moshers who do cartwheels in the pit, the men actually need to step it up here in Norwich, get practicing!

WE MEET A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THIS SCENE. DO YOU HAVE A GREAT CONNECTION WITH ANYONE IN PARTICULAR AND WOULD RECOMMEND WORKING WITH?

From Norwich shout out the guys at Vino Sangre. Merch Kings. 

And shoutout the other Norwich promoters too. Asinine Corp / Phase Shifter / Turn It On.

All doing bits for their scenes and Norwich. 

Shoutout Kev Snelling the goat! And the lads in Hour of Reprisal for always being down to help out at shows or answer any stupid questions I have. 

Shout out Ben in Stoke (Spirit of Fire), Connor in Essex (Less Than Zero) all doing it for the love of the game. Shoutout Pit Call too! You’re doing a sick job man! Plus all the other promoters losing money out there, and everyone else who has booked us! 

We’ve also played with Toil like 4 times, they really are the best band on the planet. 

Shoutout all the homies rocking bright ass orange Heel Turn tees. 

CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT EAHC?

Like I mentioned above I just wanted all the Norwich bands on one lineup. It didn’t happen but I still put Hour of Reprisal on.

They headlined the Norwich date of that Apothecary/Uncertainty/Supernova run of shows. Unexpectedly it sold out so I thought let’s just keep this going.

I then shot a message out to the agent in Pain of Truth’s bio and got a response. Since then I’ve done all kinds of shows and the majority have sold out. It’s a great scene with great people.

It’s always good seeing the same faces. It’s started to grow too and there’s new faces, more kids, people who came years ago and thought the scene was dead. Really is a great bunch of people, it isn’t just Norwich too, we get people travelling from Ipswich, Bury, Cambridge and Essex and every show is rammed and they’ve all been great. We just need more bands! Follow @sabakapromo on insta! 

We also raised £1500 recently for Mind in memory of Callum Omond. 

But it wasn’t just me. Obviously the guys who came before me, Mike Darkside / Eddie Griffiths all did their bit for Norwich Hardcore, and Hour of Reprisal for carrying the torch when no one else was. Shoutout anyone else I’ve forgotten.

WHO HAS BEEN SOME OF THE LARGEST INFLUENCES IN YOUR SOUND?

I’d say bands like Pain of Truth / Missing Link / DoP / Outta Pocket.

If you can’t dance or defend a castle to it, we ain’t interested. 

WE CAN’T ALL BE MUSICIANS 24/7 SO WHAT JOBS/CAREERS DO YOU GUYS HAVE?

Craigs a Tattoo Artist at Mean Street Tattoo Parlour, where some of the AOAA lot also work! Bit of Norwich lore for ya. 

Insert guys don’t ask each other questions meme so I’ll do my best to remember. Jake worked at Ikea but just got a new job, Billy works in a fishing shop, G works at birdseye and I’m a software dev! 

HAVE YOU GOT ANY HOBBIES/INTERESTS THAT YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE WITH THE PEOPLE?

Some of us like football, some of us like wrestling.

Everyone comment your favourite 00’s footballer and favourite WWF Mid-carder below.

We’ll start, Gattuso and Test. 

YOU RELEASED YOUR DEBUT DEMO BACK IN DECEMBER 2025. WHAT WERE YOUR INFLUENCES FOR THESE TRACKS AND HOW HAPPY WERE YOU WITH HOW IT CAME TOGETHER?

Our demo was recorded by Lucas Smith in a 2 storey shed next to Norwich Airport. He’s the mate of our guitarist (Billy). They’re in another band together called Oi Nah. But we really like it and thought it came out great.

We like how raw it sounds. We basically recorded it twice as we couldn’t decide on the tempo for the songs. So there’s basically a slam version of it somewhere. But there’s no sole influence. We just kept adding to it, if it sounded sick, it was in. 

Artwork wise the image is Chris Jericho doing the walls of Jericho on someone. The logo was done by messing around in Gimp for a few hours, but we knew we wanted a big gangsta font logo. I pushed hard for the topless group pic cover but the lads didn’t fancy it.

Second EP though, it’s happening. 

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE FROM YOU GUYS FOR THE REST OF 2026?

We just wanna keep playing shows when we can! We’ve got a few new demos we’re currently fleshing out, so maybe the set will reach 20 minutes by the end of the year who knows.

We’re always debating what wrestlers intro we should sample at the start of the set too. Let us know! 

HAVE YOU GOT ANY SHOWS COMING UP THAT YOU ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO PLAYING?

We’re heading over to Essex tomorrow with Less Than Zero to open up for Beer Money and then we’ve got some local shows in September in Norwich & Bury St Edmunds with the Essex homies and our mates in EAHC.

We’re also heading over to Bristol soon with Ark At This, I’ve heard good things about Bristol so that should be good.

And I’m always cooking up stuff myself in Norwich that I’ll throw us on if I can. 

FINALLY, HAVE YOU GOT ANY OTHER ARTISTS/FRIENDS YOU THINK THE PEOPLE SHOULD CHECK OUT?

Shoutout my homie Marcus and his band Forced To Run, from London, demo coming soon. 

Heel Turn are heading down to Southend tomorrow night with Beer Money, Prozpekt and Toil hosted by Less Than Zero. If you’re about tomorrow make sure you head over early to catch them!

If you’re not heading down (and if you’re local why not?) then make sure you hit up their shows this coming September with all the Essex crew.

You can listen to Heel Turn’s discography on all streaming services now! So go and give it a listen.

For further show information keep an eye out on their socials @heelturnhc

Until next time, I’ll catch you in the pit!

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