Pictured (left to right): Sean Palce (Guitar), Johnny Ramirez (Bass, Backup Vocals), Joseph Angel (Vocals), and Robert “Caveman” Lara (Drums). Photo by Kevin Avila.
TOO HARDCORE FOR PUNK, TOO PUNK FOR HARDCORE
I had the opportunity to come and sit in on Deviated State’s band practice on June 24th, 2021 at Cideshow Studios in Gardena, California. The band is getting ready for their album release show on Saturday, June 26th, and are working out their setlist for the show. In just a few hours, their new self-titled EP “Deviated State” would be officially released on Spotify.
“I think that’s good enough, bro.” says singer and frontman Joseph Angel, when asked about the setlist. “What are you talking about? You still got three songs left on the new album to play!” replies Ricky Damage, founder of clothing brand TVA or Die, and long time friend of the band, “And don’t forget all your old bangers!” he adds. “Oh damn, that’s right!” Angel replies, as the band proceeds to list out some of their other older hits. “Congratulations boys, you guys are a real band now!” Ricky replies. After running through a few more songs, the band takes a break and steps outside for some fresh air.
“Guys, the album is live” Angel announces to everyone. “What? I thought the album was supposed to drop at midnight?” replies Johnny Ramirez, bassist and backup vocalist of Deviated State. “Well I guess Spotify decided to drop it 2 hours early.” Angel replies. The guys step back in and run through a few more songs, with a little bit of a spring in their step.
I got the chance to sit down and chat with the Deviated State boys after practice and ask them a few questions.
You guys have been ripping it up lately and putting Harbor Area Hardcore on the map, but for those who don’t yet know about Deviated State, how would you describe yourselves and what should people expect with this brand new Self-Titled EP?
Joseph: “I would describe us as literally a Hardcore Punk band. Back when we started playing, we were described as ‘too Hardcore for Punk’ and ‘too Punk for Hardcore’. When we played punk shows, people would say “Oh that’s a hardcore band” and they wouldn’t want to fuck with us, or when we played Hardcore shows, people would just say ‘ahh it’s just a punk band’, and that’s pretty much how we are, because we like to draw from all styles… we’re more versatile because we like to pull from all aspects of Hardcore Punk, because that’s our favorite genre, and we see every little sub-genre, not as it’s own, but it’s encompassed by Hardcore. On our new album, you’ll hear the infusion of different styles, because we like to have fun, cause if not, you stick to one style and things get boring. We don’t want to be boring, we just like to fuck with our shit.”
Robert: “We’re just trying to be different at the end of the day, you know? I guess just stand out, that’s the whole thing we’re trying to bring, like just be different, cause I feel like it’s always the same, chorus-verse-chorus kind of thing, we’re trying to just spice things up, and just trying to stand out at the end of the day.”
It’s been a pretty crazy year-and-a-half, would you say that the events over the past year have shaped this album at all?
Joseph: “Yes! We have some politically-charged songs, because of the [Black Lives Matter] protests, because we were actually there. Me and Caveman [Robert] actually went to the ones in LA and watched the city burn, we were trying to escape late at night on the metro and shit.”
Robert: “Yeah when they had the whole lockdown!”
Joseph: “Yeah it was pretty wild! We actually have a song called ‘Justicia’ that I wrote with the homegirl Tania from Recoi!l, well she wrote it but I just came up with the chorus, and pretty much we wrote that after a protest we did in Harbor City, and a lot of that is part of our name… Deviated State literally means to change the state, and that’s what we’re about. We’re not just one of those bands that are like ‘oh we’re a punk band’. We are politically-charged, and it’s in the name.”
These new tracks sound really fresh and completely different from some of your other recent releases, what was it like in the writing process and how was the recording process?
Sean: “It was a long process, it took a few weeks to kind of get everything down how we want, and then we took a little break.”
Joseph: “Covid kind of fucked a lot of the shit up, it put a pause to everything, so that kind of lagged it, because we tried to release it last year, but Covid pretty much put like a…”
Robert: “Like a dead-stop to it”
Joseph: “Yeah, which is a good thing, because it gave us time to write and actually look at the music and what we could actually do to it.”
Robert: “I think we wouldn’t have had that chance if we would have kept playing, like if the pandemic hadn’t happened, we would have kept playing shows and not focusing on what we wanted to do, or had to do kind of, because it’s been a long time since we dropped other shit, like No Way Out [2018], and it was time to bring something new to the table.”
Johnny: “But in pure honesty, I feel that like if it wasn’t for the pandemic, like quality-wise, I don’t think we would have touched it, I don’t think we would have been at that level, it would have probably sounded just like No Way Out.”
Joseph: “…In retrospect, No Way Out was good but we didn’t see our potential I guess as musicians… there’s some things that we could have done better, like in pre-production and better writing, but it is what it is at this point. But the new songs we have going forward are probably better than the stuff we have on this CD as well, so I see only progression moving forward.”
Were there any particular music influences that helped shaped this album?
Robert: “Personally myself, I was listening to a lot of Rival Mob, like 90’s hardcore stuff like Earth Crisis, a lot of metal too, like Death Metal, I was listening to like Death, shit like that, like heavy shit, pretty much stuff that sounded like I guess, like ‘Caveman stuff’ you know?”
Joseph: “There we go! The Caveman Beats!”
Robert: “Yeah just like raw shit, dude. That was personally just me.”
Sean: “I just listened to like a little bit of everything, just to get, a different kind of sound from whatever you have already in mind, and I guess because of Covid we got to actually sit down and try to make these songs a little better, and make it sound a little more different when it comes down to what we play.”
Joseph: “I think we just finally found someone that can get our sound down, because there’s this particular way to get our sound down that, if we did No Way Out with the same guy now, it would have sounded way better than it was. Because our sound is kind of one of those weird ones where you’ve got to get the fast parts, and the breaks too, and the little details that we have in between, and that’s hard to capture on just a regular recording. You have to have find someone who actually knows the style, knows what you’re trying to bring to the table.”
Johnny: “I felt we took tone in as more of an aspect too, like we actually took our time, like seeking what we wanted and what we felt was closest to how we perform live. So tone was a big thing and we felt like we kicked it, like we hit it out of the park with it.”
What’s your guys’ personal favorite on the album?
Robert: “I wanna say No Sleep… it’s just the whole fact that it’s straight forward in your face, you know? Like it’s just ready to just put in some work, and if you’re kind of angry you start the pit… I don’t know, it’s just a good vibe, it’s fun to play… It’s really catchy I would say more than anything”
Sean: “I like Run It Back, it’s just groovy and makes a little nice track.”
Johnny: “War Games, cause the drums go Tupa Tupa!” *laughs* “Nahh I’m playing, uhmm… I would say it’s between ‘No Sleep’ and ‘Listos’.”
Joseph: “I would agree with Johnny, it’s either ‘No Sleep’ or ‘Listos’. I like ‘Listos’ cause it’s like the perfect blend of Hardcore & Punk. You can see different styles in that song. That song is encompassing too you know?”
Robert: “Yeah that’s pretty much what Deviated [State] is.”
Johnny: “Personally, I feel like that song pretty much sums up our sound and what we all bring to the table you know what I mean? Quick, fast, sharp…and then the breaks.”
What’s next for Deviated State?
Joseph: “So we have a single called ‘All Bite No Bark’ coming up, it’s a collab for our homie’s clothing brand. We also already have tracks ready for the next EP, they’re pretty much in the brain-center process, but we pretty much have a good foundation down for them, and so we wanna have another EP done by the end of this year, or early next year, because we’ve been sitting on these tracks for a while now, so we already started the writing process for the next shit, and we want to ride any momentum we get off this to something even better.”
Is there anything you guys want to plug or shoutout?
Joseph: “Shoutout to TVA or Die, because without him we wouldn’t have been able to record the CD, because he helped us produce the shirts to fund the album.”
Johnny: “Big shoutout also to Raul [of Riff Audio], I’m pretty sure that I speak for everyone, but like we’re also super grateful to work with him and the fact that like he engineered and gave us his input on certain things.”
Robert: “Yeah definitely shoutout to TVA and Riff, and a shoutout to all the homies out there in the Harbor Area, you know, we’re all working together to bring it up, to put a name out for ourselves.”
Sean: “Yeah, basically just a shoutout to all the boys, doing the do and making everybody go off, you know? And everybody that supported us.”
Joseph: “Also here’s a quick list of honorable mentions to the homies, shoutout to Cruel Dzine, All Bite No Bark, the homies from Watch Out, the homies from Catacomb Rockers, the homies from Recoi!l, the homies from M.B.D., shoutout to Cideshow Studios, Paradigm Zine, Bionic Records, and all the other Harbor Area bands, and all the homies who supported us along the way.”
Robert: ” …And all the friendships we made along the way.”
Johnny: “Oh and shoutout to you, Kamera Guy Kev, for your time!”
Joseph: “Shoutout to K-G-K, homie!”
ALBUM REVIEW
A raw, aggressive assault on the senses, Deviated State’s Self-Titled EP sets the stage and perfectly lives up to the album’s namesake. My personal favorite being track number seven, “Run it Back”, the final stamp on a well written and recorded album that just makes my blood boil in the best of ways. This album perfectly ties together Hardcore and Punk, and takes you on a seven-track, thirteen-minute wild ride. With some well placed drum beats to saddle everyone in together and set the pace, some punchy and groovy basslines that set the foundation and will rattle your internal organs, a dash of heavily distorted guitar to set the tone and round out the bass parts, and some of the most aggressive vocals you’ll ever have the pleasure of hearing, with lyrics that remind you who Deviated State is, and why they’re here to stay, and continue the fight.
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