Venganza

      I remember the first time I saw Venganza play, the drummer Juan was wearing the oversized sombrero in the pic. Not just that, but these guys used to fill up the rim of the hat with chicharrones! The hat would get passed around and people would dig in and munch on them, or they'd end up on the floor because he'd still play with it on even if it was full.

     Over the years their line up changed and I always liked to look at their line up changes as different phases of the band. The first line lasted about a year. They put out a solid demo, nothing groundbreaking but it still ripped! Then came their second line up that brought in Gilbert on vocals and David from Mugre on bass. This was my favorite line up and this is the line up that went on to release a 7".  I'm not sure how long Gilbert was in the band but it feels like it was around 2 years.  There were talks about doing a few splits but I don't think they ever got around to recording anything after the 7". After some time, Gilbert and David both left the band and Oscar joined in on vocals. Oscar had previously played in Degrading Humanity, All Gone Dead and Send the Dogs and he's currently in Fissure. I wasn't really too big on on this line up. A split lp with Raiser was released by this line up.

 Band called it quits and Juan went on to play bass in Generacion Suicida for a bit. Half of Venganza formed another band called Coraje in 2016. They released a demo that someone felt had a bit too much reverb, played a few shows and then broke up by the end of 2017.

Demo

Tus Heroes No Son Los Mios 7"

Split with Raiser

La Voz - Live Set 01/20/17

A few years ago I set up a show and convinced 3 of my favorite bands to get back together and play. La Voz was one of them. I hit up their singer Mario and he seemed hesitant about it. After some heavy pestering on my part, he finally agreed. 

What we got was a set that was just under 8 minutes. I didn't actually get to watch them play but listening from the door, they sounded great! They just ran through all their songs and wrapped up as fast as they could.

The entire show had been recorded but due to an idiotic mistake, all the recordings were deleted. This one only survived because I had it sent to me immediately the next day. I can't count how many times I've listened to it. I will forever be thankful to Mario and the rest of the band for playing this show.

https://app.box.com/s/2grmvm3w2ep06ds62eurss2lru0ivqp3

Asko - Practice

There's a band photo somewhere out there that I really wanted to use but I couldn't find it. 

These are all the same songs from the "Me Das Asko" tape. Shittier quality with a little too much static and reverb. Some songs are slightly different and it's actually pretty cool to listen to this and then go onto listen to the finished product and see how much more refined it is. 

https://app.box.com/s/macd4zonevrdje3mo68bxei8axqk4tge

Los Angeles Latino Punk Fest was 10 years ago!

It's been 10 years since this took place. This line up still blows my mind! The weekend was amazing and although it didn't end well, it was still incredible to see so many people from so many places. It actually felt like there was a real sense of community. There were a couple of pre-shows that were also really fun and another thing that really stood out to me was just how much good merch there was!

Here are a few notes of some things I remember from this weekend:

-I had just gotten my first job a few months before this show and almost got fired because I called off all 3 days.

-¡Libérate! and I released the 'Amor Y Pasion' 7" just in time for this weekend. We all chipped in for it and were able to get it done for pretty cheap. It's still one of my favorite records and I'm pretty proud to have been involved in it.

-Venganza opened up the show and it was nothing but homies in the front. Same for ¡Libérate! on the third day when they opened and we were all wearing our red ¡Libérate! shirts. Sick cheerleader section.

-October 23rd (the first night) was Hit Me Back's final show.

-Descarados didn't end up playing for some reason. They were also supposed to play a pre-show the day before the fest started but the power went out at the venue after Asko played. I finally got to see them play maybe like a year or two later.

-I'm not sure if Send The Dogs played because their singer Oscar had just been hit by a car like a week before the fest.

-Kontraattaque played a spontaneous 5 song reunion set on the second night after the disastrous Iconoclast reunion attempt.

-Austin (Blazing Eye) gave me a copy of the Asko tape which was the first Silenzio Statico release. Within a few months, the bands and people involved in the Silenzio Statico collective would make their mark and put the hood on the map.

-The venue got greedy and oversold the show on the third night. Crudos, Despise You and Crom were set to headline but the show got shut down right after Coaccion played. The cops were initially called in by neighbors because the "punks" were too cool to go inside and catch all the bands. All they wanted was to get wasted and see Crudos. Fuck you guys.

-Sergio from ¡Libérate! and a few other people tried to get everyone to sit down and show the fire marshals and cops that although the show was over capacity, that the crowd was under control. It obviously didn't work.

-There was a makeup show for the last 3 bands that weren't able to play. It happened in December but unfortunately the people that had traveled to the fest didn't get to enjoy it. I had to watch the show from the back because I tore my knee up bombing the hill at Universal Studios on my skateboard. Shitty timing on my part.

Cara De Mil Putazos - Lucha, Brutalidad Y Sangre

Lucha libre and Hardcore?! If you've been around, you know this demo already. This demo has already made the rounds but I was trying to download it again and couldn't find a link that worked. I got the tracks again from an old iPod and uploaded it in case anyone was looking for it. I saw them play once when they played the  LA Latino Fest in 2008. Never got the chance again and that bugs me more than it should. They wore luchador masks on stage so I feel it would be wrong to identify the members here. 

*That isn't the cover for this release but I just thought the picture was sick so I went with it.

https://app.box.com/s/l3vyckc79c1k82a6zufnkxp3bdbj8f8j

No Defeat - Unreleased Demo

Yes, I reused the cover from their demo. I couldn't find any other images.  Quick refresher on this very short lived band; this band originally consisted of Sal and Ray from Mugre and Heric and Lalo from Kontraattaque. This line-up recorded a demo and uploaded a few songs on myspace, but not too long after that the band faced some internal problems that I won't get into. The page was deleted, the songs were deleted and for the most part, lost. Fortunately, I downloaded 3 tracks from their page. Unfortunately, the songs were in a computer I no longer had access to. I finally found an old iPod that had the songs and ripped them onto my computer a few weeks ago. This is not the full demo but it's a pretty good sampling of their music. At times very reminiscent of Kontraattaque but with a pinch of old school hardcore. Gang shouts in certain chorus parts and whatnot. What I personally love are the Spanglish lyrics. It just really worked for me. Their self-titled track is a fucking banger and one of my favorite songs ever! I know I've asked the members if they still had the complete demo and none of them did so I think this is all there is.  Anyway, I hope you check it out as I consider this a lost treasure in the vast ocean that is LA Hardcore. 

https://app.box.com/s/nmfxg5ln7dovrfbhz0xu181taolv2s81

Krossed

I feel kinda shitty posting this because it was never officially released. I've been wanting to post this for a reeeaaally long time but didn't want to piss off Tom. Pero mejor pedir perdon que pedir permiso or however that saying goes.

Krossed features members of Bastardass, AxRxM and ACxDC playing straight up catchy punk rock. Songs sung in both english and spanish. I'm sure I could compare this to something but I am honestly at a loss. The band was very short lived and only played like 5 shows. 

These 7 songs were supposed to make up a 7" EP that I was supposed to release but the band broke up before it ever went to the pressing plant. I also recall being told that this was mixed and/or mastered by someone in Social Distortion so that's another interesting fun fact about this band. 

https://app.box.com/s/ng3at5zkxp6v8nnr6t5gn7on85awmzma