The running thump of the bass pedal, fierce electric guitars, emotional and gritty vocals: these are the sounds of post-hardcore.
Feeling is the most painful part of living, yet it was the emotional “Drowning Lessons” that led me to alternative music. The post-hardcore scene is a place for love, passion, and Misadventures.
When music makes you feel so deeply, it transcends the senses and becomes a culture. Alternative music as a whole was birthed from the need for self-expression amidst an oppressive society- and should you add a splash of sun-kissed skin and Latin-American roots, you now have Chicanx alternative culture.
I grew up with millennials. Most of my music taste originates from my parents, so the sounds of my childhood consist of Spanish rock from the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s. Thus, I am accustomed to a mixture of influences from alternative rock, pop-rock, and what my mom likes to call “darks”: Mana, Juanes, and Los Prisioneros- with my favorite song by Los Prisioneros being “Tren Al Sur.” This music, like a secret in my throat, is the one of the only ways I feel that I can connect with the Chicanx identity.
I love my rock en español. I love being brown and being part of the alternative community. And mi amor for this community is embodied by DECEITS.
“We play passionate post punk, but first and foremost, [we are] a Los Angeles-based Chicano post punk band,” says Kevin Moreno, vocalist and frontman for the band DECEITS. “We come from a background playing hardcore punk since high school.”
Their Mexican-American identity was influential to the style of their music. “We grew up being surrounded by fiestas and family parties, a bunch of rock en español, so we incorporated a lot of that element,” said Moreno.
But finding who they wanted to be took time and struggle. The foundation for DECEITS was developed during the COVID-19 lockdown in a personal studio.
“We didn’t originally know what the sound was going to be, we were [just] messing around. We were jamming for a year since 2020,” said Moreno. “Basically it took us a year and a half to write a proper song, to even find our sound.”
Their debut album, If There’s No Heaven… was released in November of 2023. They had finally found their flame. Moreno said, “We call ourselves passionate post punk. We tend to put a ferocity to everything we do.”
The sound of post punk comes from the soul. It comes from our roots. But these roots weren’t always socially acceptable. For a long time, the Mexican-American identity was suppressed and shunned. Moreno recalls his experience being Chicanx and being part of the alternative community.
“It was kind of embarrassing to say you could even speak in Spanish, let alone listen to Spanish music in alternative culture–you kind of hid your ethnic background,” he said. “Now, we are brown and proud.”
Punk is connected to the larger liberation movement. Punk is self-expression, not a fashion statement. Moreno said, “You can’t have the fashion without the values. If you don’t know punk values, then you lose sense of the identity.”
It took those before us to have the courage to stand out and risk being ostracized. According to Moreno, if it weren’t for them, “you wouldn’t be able to express yourself. We take it for granted, not being afraid to stand out.”
It was up to the first punks to embody the values of resistance. “There is no apolitical in punk,” said Moreno. “Liberation and punk and goth– whatever you wanna call it– they go hand in hand.
“Alternative isn’t just music. It’s a lifestyle.”
