“New Blood” is our weekly feature spotlighting new bands from around the world! See below for info on how to submit. Now, check out some killer new shit…

Band name:

DIASPORA

This isn’t a name you pull out of a punk hat. Is there a story to it?
Azriel: In my last visit to the Philippines, I purchased a book there called “In The Country” that prefaced itself as “tales from the Filipino diaspora.” A lot of the stories struck a chord in me, so I took a lot of my influence from that.

Tell me when and how Diaspora formed:
Azriel: It started around February this year after I came back from visiting my family in the Philippines. My Lolo who was living there had just passed away and I had a lot of stuff going through my mind that I really wanted to let out, so I decided to write and record a demo to do it. I wanted to play with people whom I’ve felt comfortable with musically and personally, so I got Daniel from Pure Disgust and Connor from Red Death to join me. I feel pretty lucky to have this kind of outlet.

There’s a line your song “In Place”: “Traded my body for the right (white) mind, body, and soul.” In your words, what are your lyrics about?
Azriel: That song’s about how I use to disassociate myself from my background because of how different it made me feel from the people I surrounded myself with for a long time. I harbored a lot of feelings of resentment towards myself and others when I was younger because of that. Most of the lyrics are about those kinds of self realizations that made me question my self-worth, and trying to overcome those mental hurdles and connect with the people who’ll appreciate who I am and where I came from.

How would you describe your sound?
Azriel: Articles of Faith meets the video of Harley Flanagan explaining how incredible the rhythm section for Age Of Quarrel is.

What’s in the future for you all?
Azriel: Hopefully have a 7″ ready by the end of the year. Play outside D.C. Do a couple of weekends. Maybe more.

Links and contact info:

diasporadc.bandcamp.com

Band name:

CAUSA

Tell me about yourselves:
We are all queer latinx punks from Los Angeles.

Your lyrics are powerful and empowering. Tell me about them:
Our lyrics are based on our collective queer experience and struggles. They stem off of a place of frustration, desiring social change, and anger. We are inspired by the lack of representation in punk.

What’s in the future for CAUSA?
Touring, recording, releasing more music in different formats, and continuing to connect with bands and people who are down to support the cause…

CAUSA (photo by Arnold Galvez)

Links and contact info:

causapunx.bandcamp.com
Say hello if you see us at a show!

Group pic photos by Arnold Galvez.

Band name:
LAISKAT SILMÄT (means lazy eyes in Finnish).

When and where did Laiskat Silmät begin?
We originally formed in summer 2014 in Bar Breezer, Helsinki, but our new group formed in May 2017.

Reason for forming:
Like most bands I guess. Laiskat Silmät was created due to the boredom of everyday life. Karkki and Annabel had always wanted play in a band, so they went for a beer and called their friend who used to have a drum kit on sale in her vintage store. In the beginning there was four of us, but later this year our former singer and bass player found out they didn’t have time for the band anymore. Tero joined the band officially in May and took over the lead guitar. He had played for some of our life sets earlier, so it was quite natural to keep the same name even we started to do music with a whole different energy.

What are your lyrics about?
The lyrics are usually statements to current social issues. Anti-facism and feminism are close to our hearts!

Laiskat Silmät (photo by Emilia Pennanen)

How would you describe your sound?
When Karkki and Annabel started to play, they were listening a lot of Finnish punk music and got influenced by bands like Kivesveto Go Go and Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät. When Tero joined the band we decided to get rid of the bass completely and play with two guitars instead. This way we added some new sound to the older songs and took them to the next level.

What’s in the future for this band?
Right now we are making new songs for our future LP and playing as much gigs as we can. We have also plans to do a small release with our earlier songs later this year.

Links and contact info:

facebook.com/laiskatsilmat
laiskatsilmat.bandcamp.com

Band name:

OKI MOKI

Where and when did you come together?
San Sebastian, Basque Country, 2016.

Reason for forming:
To start a homemade band, bring some sun into the Basque punk scene, and share wild nights with new friends.

What are your lyrics about?
Staying in bed, boring towns, expensive cities, and destroying things.

How would you describe your sound?
DIY homemade dirty dreamy punk.

What’s in the future for this band?
About to share our new cassette, play play play, and go touring.

Links and contact info:

okimoki.bandcamp.com

SEX SCENES was featured last December, and since then they’ve been up to some exciting new shit. We invited them back to tell us a little about about it.

What have you all been up to since we last connected?
We recorded a record that is coming out June 20th on Gloss Records. We just started tour and We are working on a full length that should come out later this year.

What are you up to outside of Sex Scenes?
Hangin and bangin… kicking it and sticking it.

I wanted to ask you this last time- it could be my head wishing for more glam shit, but has anyone compared Zach’s voice to David Johansen?
Zach: David Johansen is my goddamn hero. All I have ever wanted since I was a kid was to be David Johansen.

Tell me about your lyrics. Last time we featured you, Zach mentioned that writing is a therapeutic practice. Care to elaborate?
Zach: I used to have a lot of problems with drugs. But being in this band has helped me deal with a lot of it. A lot of the new EP has helped me work through that shit. Like depression, drugs, alcohol…

Tell us about the EP your’e about to release:
We recorded it ourselves. Its called Swallow and it comes out on silver cassette through Gloss Records on June 20th.

Sex Scenes (photo by PJ Moody)

Links and contact info:
sexscenes.bandcamp.com
glossrecords.us

Do you have or know of an awesome new band*? It’s easy to submit to be in MRR’s New Blood feature — just email us the following info, and keep keeping’ it real…

1) Band name:
2) Date & location formed:
3) Reason for forming:
4) What are your lyrics about?
5) How would you describe your sound?
6) What’s in the future for this band?
7) Links and contact info:

Along with the answers please send a band photo at least 600px on the longest side (with photo credits), and a logo if you have one, to:

*By “new band” we mean a band that formed within the past year or year and a half.