The Brand New Age of Rock and Roll

I know what you might be thinking, it is true I take too long to post a new blog and every time I excite the crowd I burn the spark down by letting you all down. Horrible of me I understand, but it’s rough to be a girl who processes thoughts rather melancholically than others. So let me tell you about this (rather not so melancholic) thought of mine that I created today when meeting with an old friend of mine who happens to also be in the music industry. While grabbing coffee with my two friends Elisia and Jenn, not only did we catch up in each others lives but we also dove into a similar thought process that the music industry is missing icons with real care for the world. What we mean by this and came into terms about is that the mainstream music is not what it used to be, and again rather than finding new fresh talent to fill in the void of what once was, we are selling out shows for artists who not only come from nepotism but also have a copy and paste creativity to singing about shitty men and break ups. I seek for ruckus in the music that is being created, bring in music about issues in the world that truly matter because being passionate about topics like that create a new art in what an artist can put out. And I know what you are thinking about, some nepotism have potential talent and I do agree, but what I am discussing in this blog has nothing to do with how much accessibility one can have in the industry through their parents, but more about what distinction these incoming artists can provide for the world besides bashing on an ex boyfriend or branching out of a TikTok career. I am giving credit when it is due, and while mainstream may not have its next big thing, the undiscovered scene of punk rock is constructing the new age of rock and roll.

A year ago I was not the girl I am today because this passion in me that I do currently possess was being created from show to show that I attended. I was surrounding myself a lot in the San Diego punk scene, not really knowing why or how but friends and my availability always led me to these shows. The first band I felt this feeling with was a band named Benches, whom now are anticipating a tour with Irish rock band Inhaler. From mutual friends I got to meet the band and throughout those late night shows I began to pick up the work ethic that they put into their music. Not only are these boys all just friends who jam together but they understand what it means to work individually and as a whole to form these performances and songs. Their exceptional work can be seen through their live sets and I not only mean through the way they play but also from the way the crowd reacts to their act, naturally given and talented. 

Later that summer, I came across a band called Foxtide, who similarly shaped the same beauty in art through their music. When I saw Foxtide I was lucky enough to be in the presence of a set with Orion, their bassist who shortly passed away that same year. Being in the same room with this band’s energy, I came to realize how fucking cool San Diego kids are. Elijah the frontman and Orion had a beautiful connection on stage and from a viewer in the crowd’s perspective it really seemed like they understood each other at a deeper level when playing music together. You aren’t so lucky to see that beauty in performances so often, especially not when you stumble upon a new band and yet after seeing Foxtide that night I came into realization that art is not within music itself, it comes from the purest love and the connection you do have with the people who share that passion and talent with you. I might have not gotten the chance to get to know Orion as a person, but with a single time of seeing him on stage that boy left an impact on my life forever. 

After all this exposure to a San Diego rock scene that is closer than ever, I gained a new perspective on how young artists form their own image through their music. The thing is that while I may sound bias myself by saying that I do not romanticize a musician and their talents, society has turned this image of a rockstar into a sex symbol whether male or female. The truth is that none of these boys in bands I just mentioned ever appeared as sex symbols to me, and it’s not that I did not find them attractive but it is because they showed their passion through their music so much it was over powering anything else. These bands are the reason why music is still as raw as we yearn mainstream to be, they are the backbone to an industry that today is lacking quality in what is being created to stream and they deserve more representation beyond what San Diego has provided for them. The world is itching for art that is rather expressive than money chasing, these bands and others similar to them can change that. 

Freakquencies

In LA, Thursday nights are basically the start of a weekend especially when it comes to the nightlife. I've recently found myself in Silverlake either getting snapped by Carlos Ramos at Tenants of The Trees or dancing to cumbias at Bar Flores during their Margarita special, but this past Thursday I re-encountered myself with Los Globos, a place I did not expect to step foot again after turning over the age of twenty one. What brought me there was not specifically the place itself, but the one and only IT boy of the summer, Harrison Smith, famously known as The Dare.

In collaboration with A Club Called Rhonda, The Dare brought back to LA his DJ set special best known as Freakquencies, a series of events that Smith would create pre-Brat album fame in which he would bring the night to life with well-known DJs along with his own set that happens to begin at midnight. Before Harrison's fame sky rocketed to what we know him as now, I actually had the pleasure to experience a Freakquencies event that I can still call the best night of my life. The whole entire experience that night felt euphoric, with room to dance and little to no phones in sight, it is a night I truly wish everyone can experience, but of course once you become the golden boy that no girl seems to be able to get to, the whole experience of Freakquencies has a major shift as well.

Admitting that I am still in bedrest from Thursday night can tell you a lot with how it went for me....the party girl life in me is barely starting and I seem to already be somewhat over it. My group of friends and I began our night on the dance floor, going crazy over Ky Newman and Atlgrandma's DJ set. Hearing tracks from the 2014 tumblr era reassured me that we are going through the transit of bringing back the Indie Sleaze genre, which is everything to this generation of girls who just want to have fun. After the three sets that got the crowd more than warmed up, Harrison took the booth and made the whole room feel hotter than a curling iron burn. In my own experience, the crowd got too overwhelmingly packed that I had to take a step back and get out (crowd etiquette was LOW).

While sitting down and just seeing how insane the crowd was going I had a moment to realize how much of an overnight sensation The Dare is. I remembered the night I had my first encounter with Harrison, how sweet and appreciative he appeared towards my friend who initially started the conversation and how although I didn't have much to say to him he did the best to show his true remarks as the gentleman he is. Thursday night when I saw him on stage I knew that it was still the same guy who casually spoke to me as if we had known each other and charmed me that night with a simple kiss on my hand. So why is everyone attracted to him you may ask? I believe it's the way he remains to be such a genuine guy with no ego at all, topping it off with a suit on a DJ set.

I might have tried to get to the back of the booth myself with my own verified account (WHICH FAILED) but with the help of other friendly faces made myself to the highest point of the room, seeing this set's magic was the golden seal of the night. I left Los Globos high off dopamine and the fact that the Cobra Snake himself captured me in my true element.....overall a night to remember so if you ever find yourself texting (323) 241-5071 just know you're in for the time of your life.

Lost in translation

As much as this blog is like a baby to me, as a mother I am learning ways in how to maintain it alive and keep it growing (which I have not been so successful at but don't come at me with my bad parenting skills I'm not ready quite yet) but as the weeks have passed by and I am writing now from my room's balcony listening to Vangelis and smoking a capri, I've realized that everything I've kept inside of me until now needs to be written in order for me to process it, it's been to so hard to process stuff. Do not call me out on this, I am not the greatest at keeping my promises but for the sake of my future autobiography I'll keep this running, so without further discussion I'll take us back in time..................

I'm writing from the 21st floor of the Waikiki Sheraton princess hotel. It’s Wednesday and although we leave tomorrow, it feels like eternity that i have slept in these white sheets and have woken up to the glazing sun in our balcony. I’m craving a cigarette but I haven’t smoked for a month now, which many may be proud of but I just find myself feeling more miserable. The waves look so sweet and gentle today and from swimming this past week I can say that it’s truly an experience. This whole trip is, even sitting in the hot balcony sipping coffee from the hotel room’s coffee machine. Everything is just too beautiful to me, and that’s rare to say because back at home I can’t even stand the tourists like I do here, but maybe that’s just my impostor syndrome talking as I’m a tourist myself. We went to the north shore yesterday, which is basically the ranch side of the island. I can’t even begin to express the connection I felt with that place, how my body moved to the rhythm of the water and how almost about everyone i met that day felt attracted to me. I made a a lot friends although if you knew me you already know I make these connections easily and so with a small conversation I found myself clicking away with a Hawaiian aunty who was willing to keep me as hers forever with a simple yes coming out of me. Of course my family would've never allowed me to go through with that idea but I genuinely think that if school was not as important as it is for me, I would've stayed. I came to Hawaii for family reasons but for the most part, experiencing a vacation like this with my childhood best friend, Cecilia, somehow healed an inner part of me that I never imagined bringing out. The whole entire time it felt like we we're thirteen again those little girls with big dreams and certainly nothing else to worry about besides what flavors we'd be picking on our shaved ice that day. I loved Hawaii, it was a week of getting to find my younger self again and setting her free out of boredom in living in a hotel and swimming every single day in the bright sun until my skin turned crispy brown and then I came back.........

Blasting Starcrawler on my way back home from picking up my morning matcha I did not notice the parking ticket on my dashboard until I parked inside my driveway. The LA gods and I love to play the game parking roulette and in hopes that I win at the end, I was not successful that day. What other loving little gift can I expect from sweet Los Angeles to have for me if not a delightful parking citation? (p.s. this just reminded me to pay for it fuck!) I spent the week after Hawaii being a party girl and although I felt very much jet lagged, I managed to pull a 6 day bender, one that we never mention again after this blog. I managed to survive that and got to see all my beautiful angels of friends that I have realizing that my time here in the city is about to end soon. I told myself that after Hawaii time would quickly go by and I'd be heading up to Santa Barbara in a month from now that you are reading this, leaving everything like love, friends and (the most painful) food that I cannot survive with. I cannot stand how time goes by so fast, how about two years ago I was in Lollapalooza with an Irish band and my best friend never imagining that this current time would be my life but I also never have felt so sure to be who I am until now that at 21 can answer the question "do you have a 5 year plan?" compared to last year when my ex boyfriend asked me that and I most certainly did not but did break down in tears when he told me how lost he thought I was (Lucas perhaps you'll never read this but thank you for completely destroying my ego). My time is running short AGAIN AHHHH SEE HOW MUCH TIME TAKES FROM ME NOOOOO......but I did not want to break the promise of having this uploaded by 5pm so perhaps I may now know what I want in life, perhaps all it took was for me to distance myself from major social groups that I associated myself with and spend sometime by the sea bringing back the inner child in me to swim until my lungs gave up or even drinking a milkshake with a boy who inspires me everyday because he is so full of life and reaching for his dreams has inspired me to runaway to Santa Barbara and reach for my own, but until now I count my days here in beautiful LA, the city that birthed me and has protected me like one of its angels for twenty one years.