Macho chest beating hardcore that will bring to mind the brutal mosh ready grooves of such bands as Hatebreed, Throwdown, and Lionheart.

Ante Up were formed in 2005, then took a brief hiatus, but are now back for good, and are ready to stomp a mud hole in your ear drums.

These boys are a barking hardcore beast snarling and scowling a street smart cadence, and are the perfect tag team partner for those of you who are looking for a straight up musical curb stomp.

There’s nothing frilly or flashy about these dudes, just down and dirty, meat and potatoes harcore that gets in your face, looks you in the eye, and knocks out all your teeth.

We emailed guitarist Matt C. and he threw down the good word on his heavy squad of noise mongers. Check it out!

How did Ante Up form?

We started in 2005, when two partially started bands teamed up.

Only a few members from each band were in the final product, and we played shows for a few years and had a good time.

How would you describe your music?

I guess that question is more for whoever listens to us, but if we were tossing a label, it would be “heavy beat down hardcore”.

We try to keep it heavy and pissed off, but not tuned super low.

How has the reaction been since you decided to reform?

We came back for a show for a friend that passed away, and decided to keep going.

The reaction has been good; We play, people mosh, sometimes kids sing along, and we usually sell a good amount of merch. Thats more than enough for us.

Are Ante Up big wrestling fans? 

I loved wrestling growing up, but havent watched since the “attitude” era.

I used to always watch wrestling and rent pay per views with my grandpa, It’s one of my favorite memories from growing up.

We tried to have a wrestling themed video for our song “Lifted”, but that was scrapped when we had a poor turn out for costumes.

My favorites include Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, The Big Boss Man, Papa Shango, Doink, The Undertaker, Taz, Sandman, RVD, Sabu, Cactus Jack, The Steiner Brothers, The Nasty Boys, La Parka, The Outsiders, and The Macho Man (rip). I have many more but those all came to mind right now.

What’s the song writing process like for Ante Up?

We usually all jam together and get things written, but lately we have been bringing ideas and guitar parts into practice.

What did your first band you ever play in sound like?

Herb and Justin are a little older than me, so I can only imagine their answers.

My first band was a nu-metal/rock band, we all had different bands we liked and just got instruments. So, it sounded terrible.

Critter’s first band was Ante Up, and Thomas’s first band was an indie singing kind of thing.

How did you get into hardcore?

I got a Victory records sampler years ago, and started researching the bands I didnt  already know on it.

Critter was into punk, but the way he got into hardcore was actually the same as mine with the samplers back when Victory were good and used to have actual hardcore/punk bands on their label.

What do you remember your first hardcore show being like?

Hatebreed with Agnostic Front, and Discipline. It was pretty wild and seemed like one giant fist fight.

Where did you guys get your name from?

From the game Cee-lo, it’s a dice game.

Who are some of your favorite bands to play with?

We will play with anyone anytime. We always like to play with friends: Objection (PA), Poison Tongues (MI), Lifeless (NJ), Bottomfeeder (PA), Menace (PA), Terrible Minds (PA), Represent (PA), CDC (PA), and Years Spent Cold (NJ).

Anything you wanna plug?

We have a full length coming out sometime next year.

Also, Dec 7th were playing the Corktown Tavern with Poison Tongues, Tyrant, Represent, Hell Sent, and Counterfeit. The show is for Detroit Bully Corps, they are a pitbull rescue organization and the money goes to help them.