Hingada might be a new band, but its members have a long history in the California punk community.
Comprised of guitarist/vocalist Oscar Paz (Statement, Impel, Kill Holiday, Adult Crash, Tap and Die), bassist/vocalist June Cate (Impel, I Wish I, Kill Holiday), drummer Sal Gallegos (Some Girls, Secret Fun Club), and guitarist Jay Choy (I Wish I), the Chula Vista-based post-hardcore outfit is gearing up to release their 6-song debut 12-inch, So Disappear, on Indecision Records.
Since they're new to the scene, I wanted to get the story from the members of Hindaga, and as a bonus, you can also check out "Hyphenated," a track from their forthcoming record.
What was the impetus for starting Hingada? Was it something that formulated over a long period of time or did it happen pretty quickly?
(Oscar Paz, guitars/vocals): It's been brewing for quite some time. June and I have been playing in bands together for many years, been friends since we were little kids, and the original drummer of Hingada played with June and I in Kill Holiday. After that band and Impel (June and I’s other band) sort of ran its course, there was always this underlying feeling that we would do something again; just happened to take us until 2021 to get there.
We’ve all done so many other projects throughout the years but I think the biggest thing as to why it took so long is just life got in the way. Whether it was raising families, careers, or other aspects of life, the cool thing is that we’re here and super excited about what we’ve been able to create and the potential for more to come with hingada.
(June Cate, bass/vocals): Oscar and I have been trying to get a new project going for the last 10 years or more. I would get text messages from him every few months, "you ready to rock yet?!" Followed by an abundance of riffs sent my way. 2019 finally became the jumpoff point. Being a single dad, still heavily involved with skateboarding and designing for adidas it was hard for me to find the bandwidth.
Then, while working on a skate video project, I tore my ACL, which became a blessing in disguise allowing me to shift my focus from skating to music again. When Oscar asked about a second guitar player, Jay was my natural choice having played in I Wish I with him and just his unique and unexpected guitar perspective.
When things didn't work out with our first drummer, Sal stepped in and became a natural fit. I've always loved his drumming style, seeing his other bands play in the SD scene through the years. It's just a beautiful thing to be able to create music with your best people. We're all doing this for the love and on our own terms.
Tell us about the song you’re introducing Hingada with today.
(Oscar): "Hyphenated" is basically about the concept of the hyphenated American. As we look to find ways to create these concepts of equality, what always seems to permeate is the fact that, for some, acceptance will always come abbreviated.
I’ve had to live my entire life with a hyphen or classified as something other than American, yet, the irony has always been that it’s been somebody else defining me, defining others. "Hyphenated" is the platform to bring that concept to the table.
Did you have a clear idea of what you wanted to explore musically, or did that happen once you got into a jam room together?
(Oscar): For me, at some point in the late '80s, I realized that there was an opportunity to meld more “rock” into hardcore. There were so many other bands I was influenced by from my childhood to my teen years, but I obviously had fallen in love with hardcore and had committed to being a part of the community. I somehow always struggled to mesh the two different worlds; mind you I was in my teens in the late '80s so as I was still trying to find a musical path.
Not to sound overly cliché, but like so many others, once I heard the Quicksand 7-inch, the journey began. Heavy, emotive soundscapes with a lyrical ethos that either tries to bring resolution or address conflict is really what I’ve always been drawn to musically. It's been a driving force for me since the early '90s. I guess in some instances, why change what I feel isn't broken or tugs at the heart heavily (pun intended).
I had always been writing music throughout the years and realized, like so many others, through COVID that it was probably time to bring some of these riffs to life. Initially, I think I had written the majority of what we had produced but to me, there’s nothing better than being in a room and working through riffs to create songs with the band.
Once we had the groundwork for a couple of the songs, it all just kind of sprung from there, June jumped in with some pretty creative concepts for riffs and songs, and at this point, it’s completely a collaborative effort, usually started by somebody texting a rift in our group thread. Jay and Sal round out the band and when the four of us get in our practice room, it’s pretty awesome to see what one riff can become entirely.
(June): I remember having early conversations about what it could be and we aligned pretty quickly. I was leaning into mid 90's post hardcore NY, DC and SD influences which have always been a point of inspiration for me. Like Oscar said, "if it isn't broken, don't fix it."
Oscar sent me a ton of riffs. I sorted through, structuring them, which spawned the first three songs we wrote for the record ("Hyphenated" being one of them). I brought some concepts in, structured and mostly finished but it was really the rest of the band adding their personal touches, really bringing these songs to life and making them complete.
Thinking back to all of your previous bands/records, why do you think the San Diego punk scene from the ‘90s and ‘00s resonated with so many people around the world?
(Oscar): I think it really has to do with a lot of the diversity that exists in San Diego, adding a lot of the surrounding pressures that the city had in the '80s and '90s. San Diego wasn’t this entirely liberal, progressive city, like say, Los Angeles, or San Francisco, and quite honestly it was pretty hyper conservative at that time.
I think a lot of what drove kids to punk or hardcore at the time in other cities existed, but then you add this conservative overtone in San Diego, and the pressures on young people to keep a level of conformity……the boiling point has been set. You then bring out the creativity that the scene was mending itself susceptible to (the D.C. scene for instance) and you have this culmination of some really ground breaking stuff being created and finding it’s way out of the confines of San Diego.
One of the coolest aspects back then was just the diversity of the shows that we would go to. It was more common to see a hardcore band, playing with a reggae band or funk band and a punk band. That alone created an artistic acceptance like none other for San Diego. It created this musical community even though there were separate scenes that existed within San Diego.
The other aspects were the fact that we had such diversity in record labels coming out of San Diego, whether it was Vinyl Communications out of Chula Vista, Downside, Gravity, and 31G coming out of San Diego, etc. Bob, Mike D, Matt and JP we’re all willing to create a culmination of music versus a definitive style within the catalog of bands that they would put out, add the fact they were all established musicians, it really lended itself to bringing the sounds of San Diego to so many others. All this creates such a loud noise that drew so many to either love, emulate or promote what was happening in our small corner of the country.
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So Disappear will be out on 12-inch vinyl this May 12th via Indecision Records (pre-order).
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Tagged: hingada
