District 105 have never been shy about saying what they mean. Over the years, they’ve gone after posers, outsiders cashing in on hardcore culture, and the grind of building a scene from scratch. “Dear Mama” aims at something closer to home, and it hits harder.
The song is about a lesson many Vietnamese women, and Asian women more broadly, grow up with: blood comes first. Family bonds are treated as unbreakable, and whatever a relative does, it’s expected to be forgiven. The band calls that value toxic, and they say it doesn’t hold up. For vocalist Huỳnh Huy, it’s personal. The track draws on his mother’s life: a strong, kind-hearted woman who spent years devoted to people who never valued what she gave them. “Dear Mama” is a wake-up call to her, and a promise. Her son is by her side now, and he’s strong enough to protect her.
For the feature, the band reached across to Tokyo. Veron fronts Indication, a band District 105 describes as an old-school metalcore powerhouse, and he’s best known as Crystal Lake‘s former vocalist. District 105 shared stages with Indication on their previous Asia tour, and they kept his voice. They say having him on the track is an honor. It’s not their first time pulling in a voice from abroad either. “Sad Melody“ in 2024 featured PK of Prompts.
District 105 wrote the song, and Sava Tomic and Ket produced it, with the band’s guitarist Khanh Trần directing the video.
For anyone just catching up, District 105 formed in Sài Gòn in 2017, started by guitarist Khanh Trần after his previous band In Your Eyes ended, with Huỳnh Huy on vocals. Today, bassist Rich Peto and drummer Quốc Anh round out the lineup as they mix beatdown hardcore and metalcore with nu metal. A 2018 split with German band Shelldiver got them noticed abroad. The mini album “9th” and a first run through Thailand, Taiwan, and Singapore followed in 2019. Since then, they’ve played Malaysia, supported Turnstile, Alpha Wolf, and END, released the EP “Chapter 1: The Lost Creator” in 2025, and taken their set to Europe, including Ieperfest.
Hardcore has no shortage of songs about loyalty to the crew. Fewer turn that loyalty toward the person who raised you, while questioning the rules she was raised on. “Dear Mama” does both. Hit play and go call your mother.
