MINDGAZE

1. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! Would you please introduce yourself and what you do in the band?

Jay: Hi, I’m Jay and I sing and occasionally play bass in Mindgaze.

Danny: Hey, I’m Danny - I play guitar and create the visuals.

2. For readers who may not be familiar with you, would you be so kind as to provide a quick snapshot of the band—where you’re from, how you’d characterize your sound, any of the essentials folks should know?

Jay: We’re based in Prague, Czech Republic. At the core, we continue the tradition of positive hardcore bands of the late 2000’s such as Have Heart, Bane, or even Title Fight. We like to mix it up with melodic metalcore in the vein of Misery Signals, Magnitude, Envision and a number of others.

Danny: What Jay said. I would also add Counterparts, which have been my go-to band since the very first time I heard them. 

3. Can you tell us a little about the band’s origin story—how you came together as a unit, when you formed, why you wanted to go in this sonic direction?

Jay: For my part, this is my life-long dream of starting a proper hardcore band come to fruition. Most of us have been mates for ages, having been in bands together before. However, this is an idea finally materialising for me and Danny.

Danny: I have been playing guitar since high school but then I took up photography which led to me shooting shows, setting my dream of having a proper band aside. I then started touring with Skywalker (Jay, Damian and David’s previous band) as their photographer and after they disbanded in 2024, Jay reached out with an idea of starting a new melodic hc band. And so I made a full circle coming back to guitar hah.

4. What about your personal hardcore origin story? What attracted you to the genre and made you not just love the music but feel like you had to make it yourself?

Jay: I’ve always been a massive fan of punk rock music. It actually wasn’t until the summer after graduating from high school that I really got into hardcore punk specifically. I think what attracted me at the time was the focus on the essence, the lyrics, the ‘hard core’ of punk prevailing over the aesthetics. I’ve never been particularly nihilistic or negativistic, so the positive side of it prompted me to focus on this particular punk subgenre as well.

Danny: So I originally came from rather technical metalcore (e.g. Invent Animate, Counterparts, Erra, early Architects, … ) and slowly got into hardcore through Have Heart and Title Fight I think. Also being an active part of the local hardcore scene as a photographer changed my perspective on shows quite a bit. Seeing people grab mics, jump off stage and mosh their hearts out is something you only get in hardcore and I completely fell for that.

5. What have been some of the major highlights of the band’s career so far?

Jay: We have only been together for a few months as a proper band. I’d say the utterly overwhelming response to our set at Munich Edge Fest was something we won’t forget any time soon.

Danny: Yeah the last minute fill in slot at Munich Edge Fest. People were so kind to us I still can’t believe it. I’m still very new to live performance and we just started this band so I didn’t expect much. Apparently we did well so that is my personal major highlight!

6. Your EP Manifest No Destiny was released on May 1st and is one of my favorite hardcore releases of the year so far. What was the writing and recording process like?

Jay: We wrote the majority of the music during the first three months of 2025. It was shortly after we decided to start the band and we’d already had a bunch of ideas, so the process was fairly quick. Then, my daughter was born and we needed to put the whole process on hold, getting our friends involved in the meantime. We resumed work in the late summer and slowly worked through the recording process at Damian’s (our drummer and producer) studio.

Danny: Yeah the recording process took longer but we made it work whenever possible. Luckily Damian is an experienced full-time producer so there was no guess work.

7. Walk us through Manifest No Destiny with a track-by-track breakdown if you’d be so kind.

Jay: I will comment on the lyrics, and leave Danny to discuss the sound. “Light Me Up” is the opening track and a plea for hope, faith and trust in each other. Perhaps naive, but it’s my commentary on the hardships of life where hope may prove fruitless but a lack of mutual trust is sure to lead to disaster. Followed by “The Essence,” perhaps the dreamiest lyrically, I meditate on the idea of togetherness, a quest for meaning, a faith misplaced or perhaps mispronounced. The meaning is more implicit, which is funny because it’s a very fast-paced, direct song. I never state what the essence is, I simply seek it. “Manifest No Destiny” is a play on words. I’ve always found the American idea of ‘manifest destiny’ both infinitely disgusting, arrogant and blasphemous as well as very cool-sounding. I decided to turn it on its head. No destiny is manifest, it’s just us here and now, and what we do with it. Finally there’s “My Oath.” It’s yet another puzzle. I wrote the song for and dedicated it to my daughter Izabela (alternative spelling). The name actually means ‘God is my oath’, and I used this song to make an oath to her to always do my best to teach, love and protect her.

Danny: “Light Me Up” and “The Essence” were half-finished demos that Jay approached me with. Sound-wise it’s a mix of youth crew, pop punk and contemporary hardcore. We reworked the structures and rewrote some riffs for two guitars, especially melodies as we are suckers for melodic hardcore.

We then wrote “Manifest No Destiny” and “My Oath” as new songs which bounced off Have Heart and Misery Signals. Could you tell? Hahah.

We also agreed to keep the guitars in D standard to “freshen” things up. Funny to say that but my guitars had been living in either drop C or drop C# since high school, so yeah, pretty fresh to me hahaha. 

8. What’s the reception to the EP been like?

Jay: It’s been great!

Danny: Amazing! Considering we didn’t do much to promote it except for the very basic social media posts and playing live. Don’t get me wrong, it's not like we don’t take it seriously. We just want to get the music out to people as genuinely as possible - performing. Not filming content and pushing ads.

9. What are your plans for the summer and perhaps beyond?

Jay: We’ve got some cool shows lined up - Rock for People is the biggest rock music festival in CZ, we open for Evergreen Terrace in Germany in August as well as for another huge HC band in Prague, but that’s to be revealed later. We’re working on a cool tour later this year.

Danny: Oh yeah I’m very stoked on the HC show in Prague. Besides that we have some tracks left so we will get back to finish recording them.

10. Okay, last question: if you were stranded on a desert island by yourself and could only have five albums with you to listen to, what would they be and why?

Jay: The Blink-182 first 5 records. What do you mean why? Haha.

Danny: Ooph this is gonna be tough.

Title Fight - Shed and Floral Green

I can’t decide between these two, don’t make me choose one hahah. Essential piece of music to me that got me through rough times.

Counterparts - You’re Not You Anymore

The first record they released after I got into them and it blew my mind. A perfect blend of technicality, melody, heavy and emo.

The Story So Far - Proper Dose

A very fresh take on the pop punk genre making it my go-to pop punk record.

Have Heart - Songs To Scream At The Sun

Do you even listen to hardcore if this is not one of your top picks?

Honorable mention: Skywalker - Sugar House

My personal favourite on the Czech scene. No one has done it better.

Jay: Suck up.