Haywire Releases Video From Times Square Pop-Up That Police Shut Down

Boston hardcore band Haywire has released a video for "Flex Your Head" that documents the band's unannounced performance in Times Square, Rolling Stone reported on 5 November 2026.

Hardcore is a fast, hard-edged style of punk. Haywire formed in 2023 and is fronted by Austin Sparkman. "Flex Your Head" comes from their album I Don't Want to Say Goodbye.

The Times Square show was a pop-up, meaning the band set up without a booked venue or advance notice. In a report published on 29 October 2026, Rolling Stone said the NYPD shut the performance down after just one complete song. Haywire had played "Flex Your Head" and part of "Haywire," a track from 2024, before police stopped the set.

The new video was directed by Luis Hernandez. It was shot by Wes Knoll, Anthony Ryan Tripoli and Stephen Michael Simon, and it captures the Times Square performance.

Sparkman said that playing in unconventional places "feels like you're living outside of society's rules." He also described the song as being about culture vultures, people who move into music or other subcultures for the wrong reasons.

The band has a busy touring record behind it. In summer 2025, Haywire played 96 gigs in 101 days across all 50 states, a run that put them in clubs, halls and other spaces far from the usual touring circuit.

For a band built on small rooms and loud crowds, a street-corner set in one of the busiest places in the country is a different kind of stage. The video gives fans who were not there a way to see how the performance unfolded, and how quickly it ended.