CA DIY hardcore band, The Challenge, blends influences from melodic hardcore staples like Comeback Kid, Verse, and Miles Away, with a self-sufficient punk ethos of decades past. The band's self-recorded 2016 release, Bad Apples, projects raw emotion and sincerity while challenging the notion that music requires a financial transaction (it's free!). Hardworking, intelligent, and passionate, the Challenge wants to take back the means of music production to create honest and free hardcore for all.