Encino Man is a musical duo that exists outside any expectations of momentum, visibility, or polish—and that’s the point. Chris and Mark trace the project back about two decades, when they were circling each other in different bands.
With Mark running a studio and both of them bringing deep roots in the hardcore and adjacent scenes—Chris in Bishop, and Mark in LoveHateHero—Encino Man became a way to use downtime productively. When asked to describe their sound, Chris told No Echo, "Imagine someone shits in their hand and then smacks you across the face with it, and as you’re standing there with shit running down your red face, everyone around you starts breakdancing for no reason. It’s like the audio version of that." OK!
While their band name and visuals are clearly tongue-in-cheek, Encino Man's music is deliberately hostile. Still, Chris quickly undercuts any mystique, calling them “some stupid guys who can kinda play instruments,” but their intent is clear. The sound draws on punk, metal, and hip-hop, shaped by the regional scenes they grew up in: Chris from Jacksonville, Florida, and Mark from Orange County, California.
Encino Man's debut, Mixtape ’97 Vol. 1, doesn’t ease new listeners in. Asked to describe it to the uninitiated, Chris offers a typically blunt image: humiliation, chaos, and breakdancing onlookers. Crude as it sounds, it fits:
Encino Man’s setup makes live shows unlikely: Chris lives in Las Vegas, Mark in Portland, and neither is convinced the world’s clamoring to see them live. Still, they’re not ruling it out—if real interest shows up, they’ll make it happen. For now, the focus is on writing more music and keeping the project moving at their own pace.
A final nod to their roots on the album comes courtesy of a pair of covers: Encino Man takes on songs by Pennywise and Harvest, bands both members grew up on and were genuinely excited to reinterpret.
Sadly, the album does not include a Pauly Shore collab.
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Encino Man on social media: Instagram
Tagged: encino man, xbishopx
