Umeå hardcore is hardcore punk from Umeå, a city in northern Sweden. During the 1990s, the influence of Umeå hardcore punk bands such as Final Exit, Step Forward, Refused and Doughnuts led to the growth of Umeå's hardcore scene. Also significant were the number of straight edge groups.
During this time, local record companies emerged, including Umeå Hardcore Records. Several of Umeå's hardcore bands were noticed on the international scene, and many toured in Europe and in the United States. This led several hardcore bands from other countries to consider Umeå as a key player in the genre. The New York hardcore band Biohazard, at the time seen as a leading band within the genre, started their 1997 European tour in Umeå. Billy Graziadei of Biohazard said:
Umeå is the hardcore capital of Europe. We love the place. I think the bands in Umeå believe in what they sing more than in any other place in the world. And then I'm not just thinking about the Straight Edge bands like Refused, Doughnuts and Final Exit. There is an honesty in the music here that is known in the whole world. They know what they want.
Veganism, such as expressed by the band Doughnuts is distinctive of the Umeå scene. It is related to the straight edge movement, which grew in Umeå since the hardcore scene emerged. Many participants in the scene joined or formed protest groups, and some turned to the animal rights movement. In a series of actions which ranged from firebombings of meat industry facilities to death threats against university employees involved in animal testing, the radical activists brought a lot of media attention to the scene.
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