PROXY AND RULETA RUSA IN SOUTH CENTRAL LA TONIGHT!!

Tonight at The Dog Haus, get your fix with PROXY, RULETA RUSA, GENERACION SUICIDA, POLISKITZO, and DAMAGES. PROXY is making the long trip all the way from Montreal, Quebec Canada and are ex-members of INEPSY, so you know what to expect! You can count this show as a pre-burnout fest show, as tomorrow will be the first day of Burnouts en Baja (which if you haven't got your tickets yet, you are fucking up!). Burnouts en Baja will feature bands like PROXY, LOS MONJO, RULETA RUSA, CATASTROPHE, CALAFIA PUTA, DFMK, and a grip of other bands from both LA and Tijuana.

 The main point of this fest is to bring LOS MONJO closer to the USA so people from here can go see that band (since LOS MONJO can't cross into the USA due to legal problems). It's actually quite ironic then that there are a lot of punks that love LOS MONJO in the USA that still won't be able to go see them, due to the fact that they live in the USA undocumented and can not cross the border themselves. Well, let's just hope that eventually LOS MONJO can work out their paperwork problems and come play LA to a crowd that would seriously appreciate them.

SOUTH CENTRAL LA: THE OTHER BARRIO

One of the most common misconceptions about not just GENERACION SUICIDA, but really ALMOST ALL LATINO bands in Los Angeles, is that we are from East LA. Although I mean no disrespect to East LA and all the obvious Latino culture there, I do want to point out that Latinos are not only found in East LA, but are found everywhere in Los Angeles. South central LA is where GENERACION SUICIDA was born and where you will find a very strong Latino punk scene that includes many bands that are often erroneously attributed to East LA.

Although there are many similarities between East LA and South Central, we can't ignore that they are still 2 separate areas where residents identify themselves with their own unique ideas and perspectives on culture. To snowball every Latino band into one geographic location denies the chance at getting a unique individual perspective, a point of view that may differ from someone else regardless of race, barrio, or color. All you'll see is another "East LA 'Mexican' punk band".

While we're at it, I just found a very interesting interview with Tito Larriva from THE PLUGZ who are often considered an integral part of the 80's East LA punk scene. Here's what he had to say:

"I’ll be honest with you. Coming from Texas, and coming to L.A. and living here for so many years, I never felt in Texas that I didn’t fit. Then when I got [to Los Angeles], suddenly the Plugz, my punk band, are from East L.A. I must have told the L.A. Times and the L.A. Weekly 200 times, “I’m not from East L.A. I live in Hollywood. Hollywood. H-O-L-L-Y–.” They even started calling us 'Los Plugz.' I gave up"
 
Leonardo Nevarez of Musical Urbanism gives a pretty good explanation for this simplistic view on geography:
"'East L.A.-based punks,' [is a] reference [to] the city section synonmous with its Mexican barrio... This geographical tag was a way for gringos, punk or otherwise, to get a simplistic fix on [bands]".

 Anyways, this post was a bit different to my usual post about music, but I think it was something important that needed to be addressed. I included these pictures of my neighborhood because one of the most common question I get asked during interviews (from those that know what's up) is "what is it like to live in South Central"? I never really know how to answer that question, because to me everything seems normal. I have lived here for 24 years and don't really know what else to compare it to. So, here are some pictures of my neighborhood for you to see for yourself.

HOUSE OF BREATH

This post is going to be a bit bare bones, seeing how much I actually know about this band and the obscurity of this demo. HOUSE OF BREATH is a post punk/goth band from Los Angeles featuring members of PESSIMIST (which is a hardcore crust/death metal band). While I've seen PESSIMIST play a couple of times, I've only had the chance to see HOUSE OF BREATH play once. Word on the street is that this band is no longer active and actually rarely ever played in the first place. That's a damn shame, because what we have here is some total SISTERS OF MERCY type post-punk/goth/death rock (or whatever you wanna call it). Although this is a 4 track demo, I only managed to get a hold of 3 of the 4 tracks. This demo is perfect for that gloomy train ride to that job we all hate in the morning or to finish off the night with a few beers alone...

EDIT: Apparently, this band is still active, although now they go by the name COCOON and use a drum machine. They still play pretty rarely though...

Download the demo here

ABORTION REELS - YOU'RE WELCOME (DEMO)

ABORTION REELS are one of the best bands in So Cal, yet I still haven't had the chance to see them. They play so rarely, which is extremely unfortunate as this is one of the best demos that came out last year. ABORTION REELS come from the Inland Empire and share members with PESADILLA DISTOPIKA (which if you haven't heard, you should check out what you've been missing by downloading the demo here).
This tape is everything you want in hardcore: ferocious riffs, vicious drum beats, and a front man that sounds crazy as fuck! I couldn't really find that many videos of ABORTION REELS live, but this video at least shows how good they are live:

Download the demo here: YOU'RE WELCOME