More Hardcore News: Skarhead at Ballers Rock Bar, May 7

via iscreamrecords.com

​The '90s were full of bands who put the "hard" in "hardcore," but Skarhead, repping the outer boroughs of New York City, gave many of them a run for their tough-guy money. The band started originally as a side project, formed by members of Madball and Subzero, along with notorious frontman Danny Diablo. The tattoo-covered Diablo had already pushed the edges of brutality with his first big band, Crown of Thornz. And while that band racked up street cred, it disbanded in 1998, while Skarhead kept going over the years, albeit with a changing cast of supporting players.

Distinguished by Diablo's aggressive, street-smart swagger, the band is often credited for helping create so-called "thugcore," a subgenre full of relentless breakdowns and throwdown-ready posturing. (In recent years, in fact, Diablo has ventured into making his own solo hip-hop albums.) And while similar acts are thin on the ground these days, Skarhead keeps, uh, fighting the good fight. Its latest album, Drugs, Music & Sex, released last year on I Scream Records, also the label home for similar scene survivors like Madball and Wisdom in Chains. The band plays Ballers Rock Bar on Friday with a slew of opening acts from Florida, including Daytona Beach's Fortitude and Margate's own Shakers.

Skarhead. With Fortitude, the Shakers, and others. 8 p.m. Friday, May 7. Ballers Rock Bar, 3200 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd., Pembroke Pines. Admission costs $10; all ages; ballersrockbar.com