B: I don’t wanna support a system that gets a bunch of kids high. All for one, but there’s a bunch of venues getting traction where kids always end up fighting each other and getting loaded. Just a lot of drama. There’s no point in supporting a spot where people don’t even care to see you. I mean, there’s always gonna be some people at the front who actually dig you, but when people chill outside, in the corners, on drugs… Those hotspots? The ones where everyone’s NOS’d out? Go to a function, don’t go to a show.
Tag: LA
Commercialized DIY in Los Angeles. With Fracture.
LA’s becoming pretty commercialized, for sure, as far as the production groups that throw shows. Even the stuff that presents DIY; if you follow the band pages on these bills individually, it’s presented in a very DIY way. ‘Look at our 35mm photos, look at this cool collage-y art thing…’ And the flyers, especially the flyers. It looks so DIY that they’re almost tapping into our scene, you know? And now the standard in this city is a very commercialized DIY, especially in hardcore, for sure. For sure.
As the songs start to take flesh, they usually tell you what they’re about.
I tend to mix & match verses or completely transplant lyrics to another song last minute (All In/This Prison).
Some of them have a concept from day one (Feral & Possessor) & others I got to listen to for the first time in the booth with everyone else (Pity Party / DOA) …
Stepping Stones with Quiet Fear.
Speaking for Jonathan and myself, we grew up in the East LA, Boyle Heights area. We were heavily influenced by Chicano culture growing up, but when listening to our favorite bands, we noticed we weren’t really represented as people – like man, why do we love these bands so much, and yet there’s none of us in there?
MY DISPARITY REVEALS ITSELF IN SOLIDARITY WHEN IT WASN’T ALWAYS SO.
Being third generation, a lot of culture has been lost. My family already started speaking English by the time I was born. I have family in Mexico that I only hear stories about. I don’t know if I’ll ever even be able to meet them because my grandparents are gone now. I never got names down, never got locations down. You don’t think about those things when you’re a kid.
Working Class Jackets.
None of us come from a place of privilege. It wasn’t an easy thing for our parents, especially when we were teenagers, to just give us money to go do music or support us. They didn’t have money like that either. So even though it’s me on stage, I wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t… Continue reading Working Class Jackets.
The Church of Cancer Christ; BCP Punk Wedding @ NPU, 4/15
“Like as I’m sitting here talking to you, I’ll hear a little bit of, ‘Hey, this guy’s alright.’ Or, ‘Hey, you know what? Don’t give this guy too much,’ or, ‘Watch out for her…’ You know? Gut feelings. Sometimes the word of God is just a sea of children singing songs together & loving each other. How about tonight? Hanging out with strangers, hugging the people next to you, showing love to people you might not show love to outside these walls.”
WACKO on COVID Clown Parties, Hate Pages, & Dream Composition; NPU/BCP 12/10
“Our best descriptions come from people talking shit. We have a hate page that reposts all our knocks. My favorite post on it is a description of our band from the Denny’s video saying, ‘Fuck WACKO, this isn’t hardcore. This isn’t even power violence or fastcore, this is just a middle school jam band; fuck this band.’ (haha) I love that.”
MyVeronica on Breaking Arms & makeoutclub.com; Halloween UCLA, 10/30
“The track I played called Makeoutclub was inspired by this pre-Myspace social networking site of the same name. It was this internet subculture community ‘for indierockers, hardcore kids, record collectors, artists, bloggers, & hopeless romantics’ (site tagline). I pieced the lyrics for that song from post excerpts…”
julie on Macy’s Gingerbread Cookies; HoB Anaheim 11/6
“In the beginning, it was this rockabilly-indie-punk thing. Then we met Alex at a show & bonded over MBV; that band kickstarted our current taste of shoegaze, noise pop, twee pop… Things of that nature. We started honing in on our influences & understanding what we really like to make.”