Since their debut/demo EP, 760 DEMONSTRATION, proclaimed their Coachella Valley love from the hardcore rooftops, KILLFLOOR has been on a tear.
The band’s hard-hitting punk stylings, raucous live performances, and brutal, slamming vocals have resulted in some of the most attended and hyped local-band shows in the Coachella Valley throughout the past year. The group has started expanding their reach, branching out to the Inland Empire, Las Vegas and other nearby locales, hoping to spread their heavy jams.
KILLFLOOR released a new single, “DRIVEN BY PAIN,” on July 25, and the band is kicking off its longest tour yet on Sunday, Aug. 10, at the CV Collective.
“I feel like it’s the first example of us getting a little more serious lyrically, and also drifting toward more of what we want to sound like,” said frontman Jack Harris about “DRIVEN BY PAIN” during a recent phone interview.
The band went through some lineup changes over the last year, and now features Miguel Arballo on guitar and Xavier Ocegueda on drums, joining original members Harris and bassist Christian Romero. I spoke with Harris and Arballo via phone about the band’s new musical direction, as signified by their nuanced new single.
“We’re trying to incorporate more things instrumentally,” Harris said. “… For ‘DRIVEN BY PAIN,’ I remember Miguel had added those panic chords into it, and I was really hyped on that. That was just one of the things we haven’t done yet. It takes a little inspiration from old metalcore and stuff that I know Miguel likes, like Poison the Well.”
Arballo said the band members are emphasizing collaboration in the songwriting process.
“Another thing that’s helped us find our sound has been communicating with each other—sharing different music that we’re currently listening to—and that is inspiring us with each other,” Arballo said. “That way, we know what headspace we are in when we’re writing. I feel like that makes things so much easier, because we’re all on the same page.”
Hardcore music is alive and well in 2025, and while the members of KILLFLOOR take inspiration from many of the genre’s greats, they’re also picking up things from artists well beyond the genre.
“I’ve listened to a lot of Anthony Green, Saosin, Thursday and stuff lately,” Harris said. “I’m taking inspiration from that in some weird way, even though you probably wouldn’t hear it in the songs.”
Arballo is newer to hardcore than his bandmates, and he’s absorbing all he can to craft the best and most brutal guitar parts imaginable.
“Jack has definitely given me some more hardcore bands to listen to that I don’t regularly listen to, and that, in itself, has been influencing more of what we’ve been writing,” Arballo said. “I’ve been able to kind of understand what Jack’s hearing. I’ve been hearing what he wants to put on there, or how he wants to express that part.”
KILLFLOOR listeners will hear a more polished and methodical approach to hardcore in their new material.
“We’re taking more time with certain parts, instead of just rushing something,” Harris said. “We all will revisit a part a few times, trying it with an accent or something. We’re adding those newer parts and things we haven’t done yet.”
KILLFLOOR’s new tour is taking them to Northern California and into Oregon, but it’s starting at home, and the Aug. 10 show will include great heavy bands from across the nation, including Out4Blood (Minnesota), God Awful (Inland Empire), Harsh Reality (Inland Empire), Darasuum (Inland Empire) and F.A.C.A (New York).
“When you have bands coming from (Minnesota), coming from New York, it makes it kind of real,” Arballo said. “… It really lets you know that if you want to go play for people, and you want to go do it far away, or wherever it is, you can do it—it’s there.”
Arballo and Harris said they’ve enjoyed the company of other local bands in the local hardcore scene.
“Seeing your friends around you and having them around you is definitely a huge inspiration,” Arballo said. “… We’ve been hanging out a lot with Fatal Wounds and with Face Facts. It’s super cool.”
The popularity of the hardcore genre has meant that some of KILLFLOOR’s friends have played at big shows and festivals all over the world. Harris recalled watching Inland Empire band Smoked909 perform at a pre-show for the hardcore festival Sound and Fury.
“Seeing that was inspiring, because (they) are basically equals,” Harris said. “They’re just our friends; they’re just people—but then you see them do something like that, that’s so attainable. You’re stoked for them, and it’s just a motivation to get to that point.”
Harris said he’s hyper-focused on two things: writing music, and touring.
“That’s basically all I care about right now, because I feel like we all have a good time on the tours that we have done so far—but this one coming up is longer, and the farthest we have ever played from home,” Harris said. “I feel like trying to get out into the world more and more. I want to hit the East Coast; I want to hit Texas; I want to hit different places in the Midwest. I just want to tour all over. Getting our name out there and grinding as much as possible can get us that much closer to doing bigger things—which we already are, in just a short amount of time.”
That said, Coachella Valley music fans have a great deal of love for KILLFLOOR. Check out this video to see just how rowdy the desert can get for the band.
“When I get down or whatever, I remember that we do get a lot of love here, and people still care, thankfully,” Harris said. “Hopefully they like the new stuff, too, because it is different from the demo.”
KILLFLOOR will perform with Out4Blood, God Awful, Harsh Reality, Darasuum and F.A.C.A at 5:30 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 10, at the CV Collective, 1030 Sixth St., Unit No. 8, in Coachella. Tickets are $15, cash only at the door. For more information, visit instagram.com/killfloorhxc.
Edited on Aug. 5 to correct an editing error.
