Category: Metal

MACUAHUITL PRESS.

Between all these artists who carry Indigeneity in their blood or consciousness, there’s a strong sense of identity & passion in reclamation. All of us are working to embrace, repair, and nurture our roots.

Working with bands and collaboration in general has been integral to my journey. So many of us on this path come from different cultures; I’ve learned a lot about pre-Columbian languages & customs from all over the Americas. All of these connections arose through this circle of creativity, from following our passions, in a kind of new-wave oral tradition.

GUEZ.

The Bay has a bit more intriguement with bright colors, keeping block letters funky. It’s a very hip-hop tradition; I grew up listening to artists like Gang Starr & Mobb Deep, which I still love to this day. But as I got older and a little more sophisticated, I got more attracted to punk and DIY shows. Metal and hardcore brought out the more aggressive side of what graffiti can offer.

GUILLERMO MILLAN – SINKING INTO MADNESS. <<THE DARK>>

I’ve been friends with everyone in The Dark before we started working together, especially the guitarist, Robert. We’ve been friends since the 2000’s. In our earlier years, we played in bands together, silkscreen printed, and ran punk distros way before social media. Our friendship has always been tight and fun with a heavy focus on… Continue reading GUILLERMO MILLAN – SINKING INTO MADNESS. <<THE DARK>>

DESMADRE – NEGATIVE SHINE.

LUIS: Art is everything within creating a vibration of sound, whether it be cumbia, hardcore, rap, metal… It’s our creative expression, from Chucky coming up with a riff, to the creative bassline that Brando lays down, to the backbone of the drum parts and Martin’s interpretation of that, to whatever Carlos ends up writing out…… Continue reading DESMADRE – NEGATIVE SHINE.

CALCIFIED REMAINS – 818 GRIND DEATH.

When we started as a grind band in the valley, we didn’t see many other Latinos playing this genre. And the recognized bands we did play with, were white. Now that we know and play with bands out in LA, we’re always seeing Latinos. It’s cool to rep our heritage in this music and see the positive responses we get from our followers. We have a design with Juan Gabriel and “818 Grindcore” under him, that’s us repping our Mexican culture and the 818.

INCARI – RAT KING.

I did all the tracking myself for Rat King and sent it off to Andrew Jay + Nick Townsend for mixing/mastering. It was kind of scary but they did a great job at making us sound how we should. I learned a lot about tracking just from sending out that one song… We’re recording a short EP right now to drop next year, after that we have another 2 short releases planned that we’re still figuring out and writing for. One of them might be a split with our good IE doom homies, but you’ll hear more about it as it develops.

Every Venue is Dead – CON on OC Generator Shows.

“If we’re playing any venue in this economy, it’s like $10 to $12 tickets. And you have to see other bands that you don’t really know. Like, there’s no shows where there’s an actual scene set up, where actual bands that would play a backyard are now in a venue – no, it’s cut up. ‘Cause you have to have a headliner and an opener… It’s different.”

PUNK GENTRIFICATION AND THE DIY CYCLE – PRAYFORDEATH.

Muni: When I started drumming for this band, a lot of people knew me because I used to shoot and film shows. As I documented the scene, I noticed that a lot of these people who used to be in the crowd graduated to playing their own shows, becoming their own promoters, creating their own zines, etc, etc. And then those people graduated to running their own businesses, mastering their own trades, managing their own recording studios, whatever, whatever. I realized that DIY is a cycle; there always has to be a new person to fill in that spot in the crowd.

But right now it’s like the blind lead the blind. The OG’s we looked up to had the core values of what it was like to gather a community and lead by example, down to the smallest things – you see someone fall in the pit, you pick ’em up… You got an extra snack or beer, you offer… Whatever. Or how about just not charging for water? A lot of the people around now don’t have that in them. You bump into someone at a show and the most you’ll get is a dirty look. What the f*** happened?

God Awful – Premeditated.

The hardcore scene has been very welcoming to all of us and it’s brought some amazing people into our lives. The best part about IE hardcore in my opinion is the sense of community. There is always a familiar face at our own shows, and even at shows we attend that we don’t play at. There are so many people we have to thank for constantly showing love and lifting us up. We can only hope to do the same for others and show everyone twice as much love as they show us.

Auditory Anguish – Tragedies of Western Existence.

Goat brought out a small bottle of tequila at like 9AM and said, ‘Whenever I record, time doesn’t exist.’ And he was right – you really didn’t feel the time pass in there. Abe was the first one up and laid out the drums from like 10:30-2 after mic setups, testing, etc, etc. Diego followed with the guitar, Goat followed with the bass, I finished up with the vocals.