Meet Italy’s new generation of gabber and hardcore fans

Bergamo Hardcore — Photographers GabriTVB and Tchane’s new photo series follows Gen Z revivalists of the subculture and musical style, which broke through the country in the mid-’90s.

It was in the late ’90s when GabriTVB first saw a group of gabbers in his hometown, Bergamo, Italy. He was in a Footlocker shop to check out the new drops and colourways of the Nike Air Max BW, TN, and Air Max 97. Then, a group of young men and women strolled in, bald guys with a bold attitude and ladies with undercut hairdos, high ponytails, and facial piercings. They were all trying on different Air Max models like him. The Paris-based archivist and artist overheard the term “gabber”, but only understood what it meant later on.

The Italian cities of Bergamo and Brescia were part of Europe’s hardcore epicentres from the mid-’90s. Germany was already rocking it after Marc Acardipane, under the alias Mescalinum United, released the song ‘We Have Arrived’ at the beginning of the decade. Rotterdam followed as its young people countered neighbouring Amsterdam’s cultural elitism. The word “gabber” started here, from the Amsterdam Bargoens slang term meaning “buddy” or “friend”, and quickly became shorthand for dance music’s most extreme genre, with fast, pounding four-to-the-floor kickdrums that often ran at over 200bpm.

Gabber quickly fanned out to the north of Italy, and young people heard the rapid beats in weekly markets, where vendors sold bootleg cassette tapes from other European cities. It was only a matter of time before it took over the youth’s car playlists. “I discovered all of this late, at school, through classmates and classmates’ siblings. Everyone was listening to hardcore back then. It was kind of the mainstream music of the north of Italy at that time,” GabriTVB recalls.

Read next: Inside Japan’s ’90s gabber and hardcore underground

Person with shaved sides and long dark hair in a blue scrunchie, nose piercing, bold eyeliner, wearing a black bomber jacket.

Man with tall spiked mohawk lit in red light, wearing a "Hardcore Warriors" jacket, standing beside a red car at night.

The archivist sank his teeth into the gabbers and hardcore fans around Bergamo and Brescia with 14 anni, his first collection of archival photos from the 1990s and 2000s. Teens then followed the fashion of Dutch techno, with boys often bald or skin-headed and the girls shaving the bottom half of their heads while keeping the top half long and tied in a ponytail. The gabbers wore shiny tracksuits, bomber jackets from Lonsdale, sports bras, and sports skirts. The shoes were a holy grail, and the classic ones were the Nike Air Max BW (“le classic”, as they were known).

In his new series Bergamo Hardcore, GabriTVB turns his lens to the genre’s new generation – young gabbers from 2010 up until today. It’s his way of documenting the changes and facets of the Italian subculture. He flew back to his hometown from Paris and built the project with Tchane, a photographer and dear friend of his. The duo visited Number One and Florida, the historic clubs around Bergamo and Brescia that became the homes of Italian hardcore.

They caught teens still wearing black bomber jackets, shaved heads, Lonsdale fanny packs, blue jeans, and Air Max sneakers, before stripping off their tops midway through dancing. “The most unforgettable sight is their bond, their relationship,” says Tchane. GabriTVB and I caught one photo where they were dancing together in such harmony, at such a high BPM, while building this human pyramid, then falling and holding each other before restarting again and again until one could finally touch the ceiling. This solidarity is rare in nightlife. It is pure culture.”

Read next: Grainy, yearning memories of Europe’s ’90s free rave heyday

Person with tall spiked mohawk, spiked choker, gauged ears and nose ring, wearing a black crop top at a nightclub with coloured stage lighting.

Person seen from behind wearing a navy bomber jacket with a red demon graphic and "Megarave Energiehal Rotterdam" text, and a black cap.

Person with a checkerboard-shaved head wearing a white "WARRIOR 2" sports jersey, standing in a crowded, smoke-filled nightclub.

Two people at a dark nightclub event. One is shirtless wearing a crown; the other holds a large white sculptural star prop with a red handle.

Person with a tall dark red mohawk wearing a black jacket reading "Italian Hardcore Raver" on the back, standing in a dark crowd.

Shirtless man's torso showing a black ink tattoo on his ribs reading "EXTREME" with a cartoon bald character making a peace sign.

Man with multiple facial piercings including large nose rings and ear gauges, wearing a satin printed jacket, standing in front of a car at night.

Man in a black and white striped "Hardcore" football shirt sitting at a table with a large pizza in front of him.

Back of a person's head with an elaborate dark sculptural updo with tall spiked sections, shot in a dimly lit club with blue and orange lighting.

Person with shaved sides, black fringe, and red hair clip, wearing a dark bomber jacket, standing on a suburban street at dusk.

Person with a teal spiked mohawk spraying their hair, lit by red and blue light against a dark background, smoke visible.

Person seen from behind with shaved sides and long blue dreadlocks, wearing an orange jacket reading "I AM HARDCORE", in a crowded indoor venue.

Person leaning against a concrete wall wearing a black bomber jacket, light blue flared jeans and black trainers, with a scooter nearby.

Young man performing a wheelie on a black scooter at dusk on an empty road, headlights on, street lamps and trees visible in background.

Person with tall spiked dreadlocks wearing a yellow and black crop top, jacket and shorts, with a spider tattoo on their abdomen, at a dark nightclub.

Two women with shaved-side hairstyles sit on a peeling turquoise park bench, both wearing black bomber jackets and light blue jeans.

In Number One, the duo also shot the Warriors, the hardcore groupies born and bred in the club itself. “They’re a subgenre, if you want to call it that,” says GabriTVB. “They share the same love for hardcore music, but their looks and way of dancing are different. While gabbers have always been recognisable for wearing Australian tracksuits and Air Max shoes, mainly BW, and dancing hakke with fast jump steps, the Hardcore Warriors wear colourful and eccentric outfits, often homemade. Their hair is styled in tall spikes, and they mainly wear Buffalo shoes. They dance with their arms and legs more, like a ‘fight’ dance.” The gabbers’ and warriors’ styles and dance forms may be different, but their love for hardcore is the same. There’s space in the club for them all.

GabriTVB is a visual archivist of Italian hardcore, and his sequel monograph, GABBER IS THE SPORT., continues to document the subculture. He says the new generation still gathers in the small squares of villages in Bergamo and Brescia on their scooters and plays music from their cars in a parking lot. But he notices that “the young gabbers don’t go to music stores anymore after school on a Saturday afternoon. No more going to a sports shop to look at and get a pair of new Australian tracksuits, Air Max, or Buffalos to wear for the rave that same night, mainly because those places don’t even exist anymore. Some of them don’t even gather together for a pre-game, unlike the previous generation.”

Yet when it’s time to dance, they dance. Number One, Florida, and now several other hardcore clubs around northern Italy welcome them all – old and new, gabbers and warriors – for a night of mercurial dancing, an exercise of body and movement, until dawn breaks.

Person's face reflected in a motorcycle wing mirror, eyes closed, with an amber indicator light visible nearby. Blue-toned low light.

Neon sign reading "Number One" in blue cursive lettering within a pink rectangular border, mounted on a dark wall above an emergency exit sign.

Man's tattooed back showing "Hardcore" script across the middle, wing tattoos on shoulders, and a character design below, in a crowd.

White classical bust statue in foreground overlooks a packed nightclub crowd with stage lights, neon signs, and an orange-lit ceiling.

Young person in a black jacket and jeans standing outdoors at dusk, lit from the front against a dark blue night sky and shadowed trees.

Three people outside a brick building. A woman smoking talks to a man in a black bomber jacket; a second woman stands in the background.

Five young people sitting on two scooters on a residential street, chatting together. Buildings and trees visible in the background.

Crowded nightclub dancefloor with people dancing and crowd surfing under a warm orange-lit arched ceiling.

Two people in blue jeans sitting on a blue moped, one holding a cigarette, parked near a bench in a park.

Follow GabriTVB and Tchane on Instagram.

Matthew Burgos is a freelance arts journalist. Follow him on Instagram.

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