Rule On You are a new band out of Sydney. Oisin plays guitar in the band and also takes awesome photos. Robert Fitzsimmons caught up with him for a chat.

(All photos below were shot by Oisin).

Hey, thanks for joining us today, could introduce yourself to us all?

Hi, I’m Oisin and play guitar in Rule on You and occasionally take photos.

Let’s start at the beginning, what came first the photography or the music?

The music has always come first. Big shout out to my parents, they've been super supportive with everything I’ve done and exposed me to the Ramones (more importantly!?), the Cure, TRex through to Massive Attack and the Pogues. Ben Brown is a family friend and having his art around the house growing up put Massappeal on my radar which begun the hardcore obsession. On the photography side, I used to take heaps of photos in the surf and then just started bringing a point and shoot along to local shows.

You’ve been taking photos for a hot minute now, who have been your favourite acts to shoot? And what makes a band good to shoot?

Ultimately, I just take photos for myself, so any band I’m keen to see live will be a band I’m keen to shoot. Some of my favourite memories are seeing Straightjacket Nation and Rapid Dye in Thornbury, Robber and Informant in the Alexandria sweat box and Geld with Demolition in Enmore.

For the photography nerds reading what set up do you use?

I was mainly shooting a Fuji XT2 with a 23mm and occasionally a Nikon L35AF, but recently swapped those for a Ricoh GR which is comically small. Pocket rocket!

Alright, pivoting a bit now. You are rocking in a new band ‘Rule on You’ tell us about it, the who, the what to inspect and when it’s rocking?

I remember Adam hitting me up after I posted a butchered Jerry’s Kids cover and then we linked up a few jams. Took me a while to learn the ropes so props to Adam for the advice and patience. The demo was recorded by Ben Cunningham (they also played guitar on a few tracks) in their living room and ended up being 15 songs which barely clock in at 10 minutes. Adam is doing vocals, Chris is on drums, Peach is playing bass and I’m playing guitar – so hoping to play some shows soon. The name is ripped from the Abused demo (untouchable!) and as for what to expect – fast hardcore in the vein of Straight Ahead, Ripcord and Heresy.

Would people recognize anyone in the band from other projects?

Chris and Adam are currently playing in JOY and Peach and Adam both play in Controlled. Grateful to play with really cool people who have had a hand in some of my favourite bands.

Sydney is going through an incredible period with Speed changing the face of hardcore not only in Australia but across the globe. What changes have you noticed and how is the buzz?

Yeah, it’s pretty wild, sleep on tickets for an hour and they’re gone. More small shows. Blow up the pokies.

Finishing up, what’s the future for Rule On You, your photography and anything else we should be keeping an eye out for?Keen to play some shows for sure! Maybe record some more music later this year?

I’m aiming to do a zine and ween away posting piles of photos only to get lost in the digital aether.
There’s a strong force documenting the Australian music scene so be sure to check out Nick Nolan (incredible artist also!), Nicole Goodwin, Dougal Gorman, Jack Rudder and Sabrina Loong to name a few!
Mad love to Goosey, bigtom420 and the bedlam boys! Hardcore rules, cheers!