‘Music and art in of itself can be an act of rebellion, and the extreme/underground music that we participate in, has the unique opportunity to express that in both actions and words. It’s an opportunity for dialogue, solidarity, and direct action. As a teenage kid trying to come to grips with the ethics and emotions I felt as an emerging human, which felt further and further away from what mainstream culture showed me was appropriate and expected, discovering punk and hardcore was lifesaving and edifying.

‘As the Boss says ‘We learned more from a 3 minute record than we ever learned in school‘ and he’s not even a punk! I believe that acts of rebellion add up, build upon each other, and lay groundwork for the future. I think it’s time to think about destruction and rebuilding better rather than saving.‘ -Pat Piccolo, Caged View

If there’s a band ready to destroy and rebuild, it very well might be Bay area post-hardcore stalwarts Caged View. As the token Old Man of EIN, I’ve spent a lifetime being attracted to the fringes of society. I’ve felt a kinship with people who are ready to rage against the machine, and there’s really no better format for this to happen then the sloppy glory of punk rock. Caged View is one of thousands of band across the great USA who are surging against a monolithic machine that acts to steamroll its constituents into compliance. Their incendiary, guitar-drenched rock conjures up the urgency of the great hardcore bands of the late ’80s and the post-hardcore urgency of Quicksand, Refused, and Snapcase, all while being steadfastly their own. In other words, Caged View fucking rocks.

Their debut EP New Fuel for an Old Fireis an explosive slab of emotionally charged post-hardcore. Vocalist Pat Piccolo spits with intense, righteous fury and the band beneath him—guitarists Duane Harris and Ross Trenary, bassist Mike Quirk and drummer Joey Raygoza— drives forward with the ferocity of some of Dischord Records‘ finest bands. It’s ferocious and timely punk rock, a fist waved in retaliation at a ruling class that couldn’t give a fuck about those of us pounding the proverbial pavement. The band members are all long-time members of the Bay Area hardcore scene, honing their roots on Gilman Street and other haunts of the legendary city on the sea.

According to guitarist Duane Harris, ‘I previously played in bands such as**Some Still Believe,Internal Affairs, andForeign Nature. I also currently play in the recently reunitedAllegiance, and my newest band,Malinformants. Everyone inCaged View*** has been playing music for a long time in a variety of Northern California hardcore, punk, and metal bands. Some of us have even been in multiple bands together prior to Caged View*.’ Ross Tenary played guitar in Bay Area legends Set Your Goals, among other bands, and drummer Joey Raygoza also pounds the skins for psychedelic doom metal band King Woman. In other words, the guys from Caged View understand what it means to be part of a ‘scene’.

And like any scene, its the geography of the place that defines what frequencies resonate in the form of music. The Bay Area, of course, is no stranger to the development of wildly creative and influential bands. Harris’s connection is an almost familial bond:

‘I think where a band is from is incredibly important and relevant to their story and sound. I don’t know how other people are, but when my friends and I hear a new band, one of the first questions often asked is often ‘Where are they from?’ This may be somewhat unique to punk and hardcore, as that gives you a nice foundation on how to experience the band, even if you don’t know anything else about them.

‘With that said, we are from Northern California, specially the Bay Area, and with that, it’s important to note that we’ve all spent time going to and playing shows at 924 Gilman since we were teenagers, and while we have our personal musical tastes and interests that are unique to each of us, there are bands from the Bay Area over the years that we all love and mean a lot to us. A good example of this is reflected in our band’s name, which we lifted from aRedemption 87* song. They’re one of the best Bay Area bands ever and still mean a lot to people here in this area!*

‘The Bay Area Hardcore + Punk scene is honestly great and there seems to be space for everyone. We have a ton of both young people in bands and older people in bands that are both flourishing. There are also a bunch of micro scenes that all seem to cross-pollinate, which is pretty cool. Obviously, music scenes change, and the Bay Area has had its peaks and valleys in terms of quality bands and shows, but right now, I think it’s the best it’s been since the mid-2000s hardcore scene when Rivalry Records was flourishing and Gilman shows were always packed and had crazy energy.

‘It’s very similar right now, and as someone who’s on the older side of the hardcore scene now, I find it very cool that the Bay is still doing its thing and are now being recognized for that on a national and international level.‘

With its bridges and ferries, the mist drifting in from the Pacific ocean over rolling inland valleys, the diversity of San Francisco and its neighbors is ripe territory for the kind of noise Caged View creates. It’s within this milieu that the five members of the band found their way together:

‘In the years leading up to the pandemic I felt like something was missing from my life. Almost, like I felt incomplete. It eventually occurred to me that what was missing was creating and playing music.

‘Basically, after some bands of mine broke up, and I didn’t have much luck starting new projects, I essentially said screw it and transitioned to being strictly an attendee of local punk and hardcore shows and not a performer. It stayed this way for a number of years.

‘Anyway, our drummer, Joey and I started playing music together during the pandemic, and while doing so, we stacked a lot of ideas for songs. Fast forward a bit, we recruited my former SSB and Allegiance members, Mike & Ross, and Pat for vocals, who we also all knew from the local scene and his time in Embrace The End &* Beneath The Ashes***.

‘We eventually released our demo in late 2022, played our first show in March of 2023, and now here we are in 2025 with a fair amount of shows under our belt and an 8 song EP that was released byGGT Records* a few months ago that we’re quite happy with!*‘

That EP— New Fuel for an Old Fire— is like the first flame from a lighter-fluid soaked pile of coals, intense, hot and fleeting. The album passes by quickly, with a scorched earth intensity to it. The guitars are muscular and forward-facing. The rhythm section of Quirk and Raygoza lay a post-hardcore groove that gives the band footing on a rocky slope of noise. And, of course, Piccolo’s vocals are strained and intense, a combination of My War-era Henry Rollins and Guy Picciotto’s Rites of Spring growls. Songs like “Time Blind” and “Survival Pending” channel an entire history of post-hardcore into just a few minutes—** Fugazi**, Dag Nasty, Quicksand, and the Stooges thrown into a blender of caustic cacophony. When asked about these two songs in particular, Piccolo speaks with well-deserved pride:

‘From a lyrical standpoint, both of those tracks are pretty personal for me. “Survival Pending” opens with the words ‘the circles we run in, run closer to death’ which describes how in the communities and friend groups we are, and have been a part of, experience significantly more loss and death than other similar demographics, and there is also a simultaneous feeling and sense of running in circles. I think that unfortunately, there are a lot of folks out there that can relate to that feeling and heavy sense of continuous loss.

‘”Timeblind” is an important one for me, due to its sonic diversity (for us) and the lyrical theme. Lyrically, it touches on fear, regret, and appreciating what you have in the moment in a way that isn’t always easy to express otherwise. Sonically, it is one of those songs that feels a bit like a journey, where you go on a few unexpected twists and turns, but culminates in a cohesive yet somewhat unresolved end, which is great for a track that is the last one on the first side of the record. It was also really cool to add Matt’s vocals (Matt O’Brien of No Lights) to this song. He came in and laid down quite a few tracks and we built them up and arranged them almost like samples until they hit exactly right, which really gives the end of the song a whole different feeling.‘

Caged View represents more than just their corner of California. As Piccolo said about music as an agent of change, the band stands for ‘dialogue, solidarity, and direct action.’ Any scene that grows out of America’s bars, garages, and convention halls does so because of shared vision. When that vision multiplies and spills into the world—guitars cranked to ten, rugs carefully placed under kick drums, cheap PA systems pushed to their electronic limits—the music becomes a vehicle for catharsis. And in a world where the gap between haves and have-nots keeps widening, it’s bands like Caged View that offer something vital to those of us desperate to be part of a better future.

Caged View’s debut EP, New Fuel For An Old Fire, is available now on all streaming platforms and on vinyl via GGT Records. You can follow the band on their Instagram.

All photos by Steph Gray @xofinn