Contents Under Pressure Issue 1: San Diego DIY

Conte nts U n de r pr e s s u r e

Duuns | Gaib Ramirez | Savannah MetcalfE | Malls | No Hope Kids | Holly Murphy | Kaelin Bell | Pure Nowhere | Buddha Trixie

ISSUE 1: DIY in San Diego

contributors MUSIC

VISUAL ART

Duuns

Holly Murphy

duuns.com soundcloud.com/duunsmusic duuns.bandcamp.com Intagram:@duunsmusic

Savannah Metcalfe

Members: Nate Gentry, Luke Cottrell, Marc Montez, Mikey Snykes

Buddha Trixie

Members: Daniel Cole, Dennis Moon, Andrew Harris, Kenzo Mann buddhatrixie.bandcamp.com soundcloud.com/buddhatrixie Twitter: @BuddhaTrixie Instagram: @buddhatrixie

Malls

Members: Sophie Parker, Mikki Durgan, Ashley Lopez, Lily Hewitt Instagram: @mallsband

No Hope Kids

Members: Michael Barrios nhkband.bandcamp.com soundcloud.com/nhkband Twitter: @bound_two Instagram: @ourtimeapart

Instagram (art): @toilettart Instagram (personal): @hollimoon

Instagram (art): @hannavasart Instagram (personal): @fakefoes

Kaelin Bell

Instagram (personal): @babykaelin Instagram (art): @kaelinmariephoto facebook.com/kaelinbellphoto

Gaib Ramirez

Instagram: @letssinkthesky

NEWS Pure Nowhere

Editor: Kyla Rain

purenowhere.com Instagram: @purenowhere Instagram (personal): @kyla.rain

All portraits, interviews and layout design completed by: Francesca Tirpak 003

editor’s Letter Welcome to the first (and possibly last) installment of Contents Under Pressure, at least in the format which follows. The goal of issue one is to feature a variety of creatives working independently in San Diego county. Almost every volunteer is included in the following pages, alongside samples of work and/ or links to more online.

Having a creative community in a world that trods on expression (in any form), especially in a country where the arts are considered a hobby and not an absolute necessity, the DIY scene in any community is a cornerstone of well-being. I see it wherever I go: a band of young people banding together to be creative, by any means necessary. And the outcome is never not beautiful.

I want to thank every contributor who volunteered their time to come and speak to me about the DIY scene, their place in it, and the art that they pursue. Without you, I would not have been able to achieve what I have here. I remember why a DIY scene is so important for creatives, and why having such a tight-knit community imminently produces so much more beauty: having others to spur you on in genuine encouragement is such a necessity for those who create.

Take inspiration from the talented people between these pages.

-- Francesca 004

Table of Contents GAIB

KAELIN

SAV

PURE NOWHERE

MALLS

BUDDHA TRIXIE

p. 006

p. 012

p. 018

p. 044

p. 050

p. 052

DUUNS p. 026

NO HOPE KIDS p. 032

HOLLY p. 036

Missed out on this issue?

We’re always looking for talent to celebrate, and new scenes to discover. Submissions on these will be taken through the contact below: Email: francescatirpak@gmail. com

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GAIB

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18-year-old Gaib Ramirez has been pursuing various mediums of art for the past few years, namely drawing, painting, ceramics and poetry. They put their entire self into each thing they create. “Everything that I make, I refer to it as a selfportrait, because it’s how I’m feeling,” they tell me.

“To me, it’s a lot more powerful than just journaling, because I don’t want to read on dumb shit that I was going through that day.

I just want to look at my art and be like, holy shit, I made that out of this emotion. I think it’s good because it helps me express who I really am, in a simplistic form.”

Using this art as an outlet for their emotions, creating a “metaphorical” body, is the subject of much of their work.

That’s why they like interacting with others in the DIY scene. “It gives you a chance to see who the people in the DIY scene are, who

they really are, their true selves, versus what they portray to family and friends. It’s really interesting to see that there are real people behind the art.”

Gaib takes part in the DIY scene to distance themselves from the mainstream art and media that limited them in high school art classes, and in life overall, where diversity is lacking.

“Especially within the youth of San Diego DIY, there is so much diversity because it’s typically the only way people who are experiencing diversity can express themselves without being belittled by mainstream art or media.

“People say that the United States is a melting pot, but that’s kind of hard to believe. I think San Diego is a real, true melting pot, so it’s really cool to see people’s different cultures and stuff being portrayed in the way they like to express it.”

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“The DIY scene is trying really hard to change the world, in a sense, by making things that don’t want to be seen, seen.”

Gaib finds themselves involved in much of the political activism surrounding them in San Diego.

The DIY scene supports them in this pursuit by showing others “what movements we’re standing behind.The DIY scene is trying really hard to change the world, in a sense, by making things that don’t want to be seen, seen.

“I also think it’s important for the older generations to really experience, hey, all these things that you thought were bad,

aren’t bad. I’ve seen a lot of sexual art, and you don’t portray it as pornography. You portray it as art, because that’s what it is. But I know, to some older generations, they’re gonna be like, oh, you’re going to hell for that. I think it’s kind of like a wake up call to older generations, like, hey: you’re fucking wrong. Not everything is evil.”

Find more of Gaib’s art on their Instagram, @letssinkthesky

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SAV 012

Savannah Metcalfe is an 18-year-old San Diego local artist, mainly focusing on painting and drawing.

She wants to delve into digital arts, and maybe even music production, “but that’s a whole other story.”

(That’s the beauty of San Diego DIY culture: members can delve into more and more diverse art forms, and because of the tight-knit nature therein, they have the resources to learn from their peers.)

We met up at Balboa Park’s botanical gardens, her choice for a place where she finds a close connection, and then sat down amongst the colours in the Spanish Art Quarter for a chat about the DIY scene.

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oing art helps Sav express her emotions in ways she struggles less with. “It just helps me understand myself better,” she tells me. “I pent everything up. If I’m angry, it stays in; if I’m sad, it stays in. Literally everything stays inside. So when I do art, it can actually come out, and no one really has to know what it is.”

She’s also a strong supporter of the San Diego DIY scene, and the diversity therein. “It’s definitely unique because we have a lot of different kinds of people. In particular I feel that the power in the youth in San Diego is really strong, because we kind of do what we want without remorse. It’s really unapologetic, and sometimes it can be really angry, it can be really uplifting, but either way it’s really moving, because we’re such a forward-thinking city.” Having a DIY scene, to her, is “kind of like giving art a new power.”

Check out Sav’s art here and on her Instagram, @hannavasart.

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“[ART HERE IS] really unapologetic. it’s really moving, because we’re such a forwardthinking city.”

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music

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WITH:

Mikki Durgan 018

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Sophie Parker

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Malls is a San Diego local DIY band who may little recorded to show for their work, but have a whole a lot of spirit and drive to get there. They’re working on mixing and producing their own work, and are playing shows every once in a while.

I sat down with Sophie Parker and Mikki Durgan, two of the four members of Malls, to talk about putting emotion into art, the importance of sensitivity, and avoiding the standard clique that seems to run rampant through the San Diego DIY scene as of late.

Check out more of Malls on their Instagram, @mallsband Left: Mikki Durgan, Right: Sophie Parker

It just goes to show how tight-knit a community is when two separately-scheduled interviews run over and the two contributors end up being part of the same band. Running into my next interview’s runtime, I decided to invite both to meet at the same place and time in order to speak with them both before leaving the country the next day. Waiting for coffee with Mikki (who also has her own solo project called Saturdays on Saturn), she told me how she often never made it out to Public Square Coffee House unless it was with her other bandmates, since they lived closeby. And speaking of, Sophie arrived just then, with a flurry of smiles and hello’s, and I came to learn that both were a part of Malls.

Both have been a part of the DIY scene for years, though in relatively different ways. “I’ve been going to shows since I started high school,” Mikki tells me, “and it’s kind of shaped my being, the experiences not only with the people I’ve met, but the places I’ve been.” Coming across new areas of San Diego has been a big part of what she’s enjoyed.

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music “I just want to create something so raw and real that people can relate to on a specific level�

Sophie is a little more on the lowkey side. “I like quiet nights. I don’t always like to go to shows.

If I don’t like the band, I probably won’t want to go to the show unless my friend is going.” Being involved in both music and theater (as well as speech and debate), she’s a performer. “I really like playing shows because it’s fun, and I like to talk to people, and I’m not good at dancing but I can make people dance, which is weird. I have some kind of magic: Dance, monkey, dance!” She laughs as she mimes strumming the guitar, hunched over her green tea.

“Playing my guitar, and they’re dancing, it’s amazing.”

The fans in the scene are something of a dedicated bunch, more so than you’d expect of someone watching a local band.

Being hyped up boosts their confidence in ways that helps with their own insecurities, Mikki says. “I am the epitome of insecurity. The last show that I played, someone screamed out that they loved me, and I was like ‘What the fuck is this. Who the fuck.’ But it was cool that people

like my work.”

But having something on a smaller scale, not playing shows as much, still keeps them humble.

Mikki’s grown since first joining the scene as well, in both good ways and bad. “People helped me find who I am, but also being in the scene has had me figure things out. But also, the downfall of it is finding things out about myself too fast. I was shaping myself to be someone super cool like everyone else, and then I was like, Aah! I don’t want to do this. I’m not myself.”

Having been there for so long, it’s no wonder they’ve started to have something of a less-than-positive insight on the group.

One aspect they point out to me is the recent cliques that have developed, especially since DIY stronghold The Che Cafe has gone under construction and bands have had to find new places to showcase their work to an all-ages crowd (since most small venues in the city are bars and thus 21+). “There’s no room

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music for up-and-coming people who want to get into it, get into it without having to start becoming friends for six months with all of these other people,” Sophie tells me.

“The shows have become one person runs the show, and they’re usually part of the clique, and then they invite all their friends.

And that’s it. The music is shit, but because they’re friends with the right people, they can get into all the shows. And nobody cares because they’re not there for the music, they’re there to hang out with that clique. It’s just a mess, and I feel like that’s why we have no diversity in the music scene.”

Mikki finds offense with those people being in a band just to be “cool” and fit in with the clique.

“I’m an emotional person, so I put my whole being into it.,” she tells me. Seeing others making art without that same passion and succeeding with it is a very different experience than it was a few years ago. “I mean, it’s toxic, and I used to seek comfort in going to shows and seeing people and being social, because I felt that, otherwise, I wasn’t doing anything with my

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life, and I was just sitting at home, grieving over shit that doesn’t matter anymore.”

How is the scene different, then? “It used to be a lot more chill, I guess is the best way you can say it,” Sophie says, “because now I feel judged whenever I go to shows. I feel like everyone’s looking at my outfit and if I fit in or if I don’t, and it feels like middle school times two thousand.”

Mikki continues: “The reason that the toxic people have such a large following is that most of their content is insensitive and driven to be aggressive. But some people are into that.” Sophie agrees: “They give up a lot of empathy and sensitivity.”

But that doesn’t mean they don’t still get involved with the scene. Both being such passionate and driven people, they have their own reasons for not abandoning the arts altogether. “I like being social in a way that’s not directly social,” Mikki says. “I’ve always been very passionate about art, and I feel like if it helps me let out something that I’m feeling, and evokes emotion in other people, that makes me happy. I feel like, a lot of times, we’re

“Now I have the stage, and I’m gonna show you who I am”

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so desensitized from shit in our lives. I’ve really had attacks where I think, what’s real? I don’t know!

I just want to create something so raw and real that people can relate to on a specific level. It makes me feel good that other people can use that to their advantage.”

“Whether or not you’re in the arts, you can be creative.”

Sophie uses the outlet for much the same way. “I feel like anything can be creative, so I feel like everyone is. Whether or not you’re in the arts, you can be creative. I think everyone needs outlets to express themselves in a way that’s not just, ‘Hi. I’m feeling sad.’ We’re all habitating in our own little realms of grief and sadness and personal problems that creativity and music is for consumption for other people. It helps us go, ‘Oh shit, I’m not the only one with problems.’

And I think that’s really cathartic.”

It seems there’s hope for the scene after all, manifesting itself in people like Malls. We’ll have to keep an eye out for what they achieve in the near future.

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DUUNS Duuns is something of an exceptional band. Made up of four members (Nathan Gentry, Marc Montez, Mikey Sykes, and Luke Cottrell), not one member has one instrument they play exclusively. Every member dabbles in each others’ speciality, creating a sound that changes from song to song.

They also take influence from a variety of wildly different backgrounds. Nate brings punk rock to the table, Marc brings jazz, and they all add a touch of psychedelia, in whichever form that may take.

Duuns have been working on an album for upwards of two years, and this spring, they’re finally bringing it to the light of day. Twice-recorded, in both analogue and digital methods, and almost entirely DIY, this quartet have lots in store for us in the coming year.

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Check out more of Duuns on their Bandcamp, duuns, or their Instagram, @duunsmusic 027

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t’s one of those coastal fog days most people who hear about Southern California’s coast would never dream of happening. Just a few hours before meeting the boys at Terra Mar Point in North County’s Carlsbad, a wall of clouds rolled in over the cliff by the seaside, obscuring the sun and giving the air that wet, salty smell one can only experience and not properly describe.

The band has obviously spent a lot of time along the cliffs here, hardly stumbling as they trek along the steep cliffs and rock ledges as we make our way down to the beach, their photoshoot location of choice. After the tides get too high (Mikey’s shoe being soaked along the way), we head back up to the side of the coastal highway to talk about their next album and what it means to be in a DIY scene.

Luke describes their experience recording the album as “turbulent.” Having worked on the album for two years, and having recorded it twice after scrapping a bad first take, they’re finally ready to release their work. “It’s got songs that are almost two years old now,” Marc tells me, “and the new ones, we just finished the writing process a couple of months before we recorded it.” It seems

that there’s an entire catalogue of their work from the band’s career there.

Why record it twice, though?

Luke says they just needed more practice. “We weren’t getting tight enough to record in one take.” Mikey agrees: “That was a priority, to be able to play the songs well enough to just do it.

We recorded it once, and then we scrapped that, and then did it again. And we did it all to a tape machine, so it was analogue.” “In my garage,” Marc laughs.

The entire thing, outside of paying a friend to help mix, was DIY as well. Nate tells me they did buy a digital interface to record, but it didn’t go so well. “We bought our digital interface before that, trying to record just straight onto the computer, and ended up stumbling.”

Despite it being a long and messy experience, though, Mikey sees it as a learning one. “It was just a lot about making mistakes and fucking up and doing shit wrong.

Because that’s the thing, [you have to] expect to fuck up a lot.

Over and over again.” Marc sees the benefit of DIY in having every say in what happens to your work: “If you want what you want, you’re gonna fuck up.

Someone else might do a good 029

music job, but but they’re gonna do it quick, and it’s gonna be their way. That’s what we wanted. We wanted full control.”

As for other advice in being in the DIY scene, Mikey has a few insights. “Don’t wait for anybody or wait to be good enough. Because I feel like that’s the biggest thing: people think that they’re not good enough or not ready yet. You’re never gonna be ready, and you’re never gonna be good enough. The point it to just start making stuff.

It’s up to you, completely.” Nate finds the importance in being resourceful on the small scale.

“Work from where you are, out.

Expand from your community and where you’re from.”

Especially being from so far north (about an hour’s drive from central San Diego), they’ve had to be resourceful in new ways.

The DIY scene in North County, while still being quite integrated with that in central San Diego, is very much its own thing, Mikey observes. “The distance is pretty big, so we’re not going down there to see shows too often, or people are coming up here to see shows, so it’s a little separated. I feel like there is kind of a lack of organization.”

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He also sees the downfall in it. “There’s not people coming out of it and going places, necessarily. I wish there was more bands that were taking that next step and growing past it as far as professionalism. It’s up to everybody on their own.” There is still hope though. “It’s growing right now, and it just needs more people to be involved.”

Being so far removed has also influenced Mikey specifically in reference to how the album has turned out. Outside of their own musical tastes and the jam culture they’ve found themselves a part of, driving has moved Mikey to write songs in reference to that.

“Lately, in the music, we like a lot of forward-moving, pushing, propulsive rhythm, and I think that comes out,” he tells me. “I’ve always driven a lot, and I live in Fallbrook, which is far away from everybody, so I’m always driving.

I’ve always connected that with music in a way, and a lot of people and the franticness of living here.”

They project their next album to come out sometime this spring, so keep your eyes peeled for that and a possible music video/single combo. They’ve also bought a generator to do some shows in the desert, as Mikey tells me, so things are looking pretty cool for Duuns.

Left to right: Mark Montez, Mikey Sykes, Nathan Gentry, Luke Cottrell 031

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NO HOPE KIDS 032

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ichael Barrios has been making music since he was fifteen, and under the moniker No Hope Kids for the majority of that time. Now 21, he’s working on an EP and his second full-length album simultaneously.

“The EP is more stripped-back, ambient-type ballad things, and the album is fully fleshed-out arena pop, kind of,” he says.

There isn’t a name for either yet, but taking a look at his past album, Our Time Apart, it’ll be interesting to hear how he moves forward. All he knows so far is that it will be eight songs long, to keep it concise (“every single second is necessary in the runtime”), and with a diverse amount of instruments from various genres.

“Alternative pop is what I’ve been doing lately,” he tells me at our meeting in central San Diego. “I like to mess with different genres in each song.

It used to just kind of be myself with an acoustic guitar, and I’d play a couple of basic chords and sing over them, and now

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music I’m really into the whole getting on Logic and just layering a bunch of shit until I make something really huge.

So I’ve basically expanded my instrumentation.”

Michael is also adding in mostly-unused instruments in the genre he’s pursuing. “I get bored playing the same thing over and over again. The way I like to create is, every single song I do, I like to add one thing that I’ve never done before. On my last album, I had a kind of straightforward eighties synth-pop song, and I wanted to, in the bridge, add some tribal drummers, just because I had never done it before.” On this upcoming album, he’s planning on including “mad trumpets and shit.”

As for any advice on musicians just starting out?

“Do whatever the hell you want.,” Michael says. “That’s kind of the beauty of it: there are no rules.”

Find No Hope Kids’ music on Bandcamp (nhkband) 034

“Do whatever the hell you want. That’s kind of the beauty of it: there are no rules.”

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HOLLY

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Holly Murphy meets me in Trolley Barn park in the heart of central San Diego. She’s an artist who works mostly with ink pens and watercolours to create some impressive pieces. Still one semester from her high school graduation, she speaks with a thoughtfulness that is well beyond her time on the art that’s impressed me since I first came across it. Featuring almostabstract portraits with vibrant colours, they’re a provoking bunch that show great talent and immense promise in the coming years of her work. We sat down to talk numbers versus individuality in the world of college applications and school stress.

“I feel like I kind of see myself as a number,” Holly explains.

With graduation coming up in six months, she’s just finished the application process for university, and art keeps her sane by helping separate herself from the constant barrage of test scores and grades she must provide for applications. “Being able to be creative kind of makes me feel like more of an individual, and gives me kind of more of a sense of purpose.”

The DIY scene, as she sees it, benefits everyone the same way. “For people who are really into school, it’s a way to escape from that and be able to find what makes you an individual. And for people who maybe don’t feel like they fit in at school, it’s another way to be like, no, I am good at something. I am talented.

“I feel like if you have bad grades or whatever, people just see you as not worth it, or you don’t work hard, or you’re lazy, but if you have this other community, people see 037

something special in you, and it makes you feel worth it.”

Despite her passion for the arts, Holly is choosing to pursue a STEM path at university, but she has a few good reasons. “My mom has always kind of go the science route,” she tells me when I ask whether it was her own choice or not, “but I definitely enjoy science, it’s not like I’m being forced or I don’t want to do it. And I think that it’s important to go into a 038

science major, especially in the world that we’re living in, especially because of climate change and all that kind of stuff. I really would like to make a difference in that.”

Her choice also comes from what seems like a common one: stable living. “Sometimes I wish that I could just be an art major, or I could do that kind of stuff and know that I would be able to have a secure way to live.”

art She shows a deep appreciation for and dedication to the DIY scene in which she’s found great support and positivity during her years at San Diego High School.

“Every time I go to an art show, or to a music show, I always find people who are just so genuine and so nice. I’ve never had anyone be mean to me, and everyone’s so open to sharing ideas.”

She finds others in the scene a great way of boosting her confidence and finding constructive criticism of her work. “I can go to other artists and I can be inspired by them, and ask them, “How did you do this?” or “What are you doing to make this kind of art?” So you can always be inspired, you can always get good ideas.” Barring even the building of skill, her own belief in herself can grow off of others, and she can do the same.

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“Being able to be creative makes me feel like more of an individual, and gives me kind of more of a sense of purpose”

Find more of Holly’s art on her Instagram, @toilettart

“if you have this other community, people see something special in you, and it makes you feel worth it�

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Kaelin Bell

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aelin Bell took me to a place close to her heart when I asked where she wanted to take portraits. “I chose the parking structure at Horton’s Plaza because when I had my super old camera, I would go there on the trolley with a friend, and we would just stand on the parking structure at night, and she would let me take picture of her, just because I wanted to mess around with my camera,” she tells me. “And that’s kind of how I figured out that portrait photography was what I really wanted to do.

“I feel like every time I go there, it reminds me of the very first portraits I ever took, and it’s nice to just think back on that, and to look at myself now, and think about how much I’ve grown, and how much growth I still have.”

Kaelin first found solace in photography in her first few years of high school. “At a lot of points in my life, I’ve felt

like I don’t have a lot of the same skills as other people,” she tells me as we drive from the photoshoot location downtown towards her home in east county. “I was never good at sports, I could never cook, but once I figured out that I could do photography and really hone into my creative side for a living, then I finally felt that there was something that I was meant to do.”

Recently, she’s picked up on the long-time dream of music photography, but she started off small. “I would go around and take lots of pictures of my friends, and I never really thought about it as anything that was something that I could make a living out of eventually, or really consider myself to be a photographer. I would just kind of do it for fun, and then my friends would make my pictures their profile picture on Facebook or something, and it eventually just led me down a path of, okay. This is what I like to do.”

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art Kaelin lives in Washington State now for university, but San Diego will always hold a special place in her heart, specifically because of its DIY scene.

“Having moved away to a different area for school really made me miss a lot of the different parts of the DIY scene here that I had come to love,” she tells me. “From the graffiti on the walls, to all the local bands. Without that, it makes an area hard to differentiate from another. The DIY scene is what gives an area its soul.”

How does one come from the roots of taking portraits on top of parking structures. “Just go for it,” Kaelin suggests. “It’s really hard, especially it you’re like me, to not compare yourself to other people, but I feel like comparison is the enemy of creativity. So, just go out there, and do what you want to do, even if you are garbage at it at the beginning.

The only way for you to get better is to practice.”

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“The DIY scene is what gives an area its soul” Find more of Kaelin’s photography on either of her Instagram accounts, @babykaelin and @kaelinmariephoto

“I feel like comparison is the enemy of creativity�

news

Kyla Rain of Pure Nowhere Kyla Rain is a recent seventeen year old running the San Diego-local online magazine Pure Nowhere - both owning and editing. Just last year, they expanded their presence into Europe, and are hoping to continue with Canada and Australia. Their tagline, “It’s Where The Music Takes You,” may be misleading in that they are not only a music magazine.

They are a platform for creatives to be heard, and for that music (in whatever form it may take) to make a difference to all who may experience it.

“I want it to be a space where people can feel like, if they don’t have an outlet to be heard, they can use it and be able to get their voice out into the world,” she tells me as we sit at Public Square Coffee House. “I want to

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expose people to artists and musicians that maybe don’t have the resources to get their art out there on a big level.”

Being at the center of it all means she has the chance to bring people together to collaborate.

“I have a ton of group chats with different artists and photographers and musicians to come together to plan different things and collaborate, and they all end up being friends in the end.” With the great benefit of a DIY scene in itself, bringing those within it closer together is definitely work we can all hold up as respectable.

Kyla herself has a high respect for the effect a DIY scene has on a community. “I think it specifically benefits creatives because it gives them a chance to express their creativity in ways that are less conventional or in ways that you wouldn’t really get anywhere else that wasn’t a DIY scene, like throwing shows and making your own zines and your own clothing line. It’s really cool to see what everyone can do.”

Check out Kyla’s magazine on the website, purenowhere.com, or their Instagram @purenowhere

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Dennis Moon & Daniel Cole of Buddha Trixie

In June 2017, San Diego rockers Buddha Trixie put out their first full-length studio album, Stop the Space Age. Drummer Daniel Cole and guitarist Dennis Moon chat about the coming year, and about moving away from where they had their start.

How do you find inspiration to create music? From what different sources do you draw from?

Dennis: It’s my best artistic outlet, it’s the basis of our friendship and I don’t know what else to do with my time. As far as other sources I get a ton from movies, books, paintings, travel and exploration. Not to mention conversations that last til 3am and you lose all sense of time. Jamming can be a conversation too. At its best, it is unconscious but definitely takes a rapport and a vocabulary similar to speech.

I guess one of my goals is to move people.

As a band, what are you working towards at the moment?

Daniel: Although we don’t have many shows lined up as of now due to school, we’re currently investing a lot in developing our live shows. We want to sound and look the best we possibly can. Amps, pedalboards, lights, fog — the whole 9 yards. We’re also tossing around the idea of using projections. We want our live sets to be cinematic and life changing, even if we’re playing house shows or dive bars. This July we’re planning on going up the coast on a tour, and we simply want to blow the roof off of every place we hit.

How do you feel being creative and making art benefits you? How has it helped you progress in life and in your art?

Dennis: We feel as though we have to take this the fur053

“We want to move music forward and be a catalyst for our generation.�

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thest we can in search of collective satisfaction and chasing our vision. We want to move music forward and be a catalyst for our generation, too.

How do you find being in a DIY scene benefits you as a creative?

Dennis: As far as how it benefits us personally it’s huge just cause it provides us a circle of people to write towards and play for who are appreciative of our endeavors.

Why do you think having a DIY scene in a community benefits you?

Daniel: Sometimes it can be difficult to book at the limited number of venues in San Diego, which is why being involved in the scene is helpful — you can literally play in someone’s backyard for a case of beer, and as long

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“We want our “We livewant sets to be cinematic our liveand life changing, even sets toif we’re be playing house cinematic shows or dive and bars” life changing”

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music as there are people there to listen, it’s just as valid of a show for us.

How do you think the San Diego DIY scene is unique to itself?

Daniel: Although we haven’t had much experience with other DIY scenes, San Diego’s DIY scene seems unique because it’s so young.

There aren’t that many viable all ages venues in San Diego, especially with the Che being renovated, so many times house shows will just be teenage fans DMing bands to play in their parents’ garages. It makes me feel cool to finally be invited to high school parties even though I’m 21.

How has moving away from the city changed your connection with it? Your perspective on it?

Daniel: If anything, moving away from San Diego for school has forced me to realize just how important of a role the inter058

net plays in gluing a scene together. It’s interesting to feel up to date with what’s going on in your music scene simply because you follow the right Instagram accounts.

“One of my goals is to move people.”

Find Buddha Trixie’s music on their Bandcamp (buddhatrixie)

Conte nts

Unde r pressure A ZIN E

Duuns | Gaib Ramirez | Malls | Savannah Metcalfe | No Hope Kids | Holly Murphy | Kaelin Bell | Pure Nowhere | buddha trixie