Species
Unknown
with Song
River
cowgirlzenphoto@gmail.com
There within
this unleashed punk'dified mess a melody that grinds the devil back
to its hellish depths and converges with dark matter, something
moves. The centrifuge twisted, the blood blisters burst, the cool
hipster java buds swirled and somewhere in this murky oblivion birth
happened... they call it Species Unknown.
Hailing from
the swanky thriving metropolis of Simi Valley this shit faced raucous
lushness split open the night air at Club Red recently as Species
Unknown is out on tour with No Advisory.
Song River:
Hipster Punks eh?
Species Unknown: Too nice for the punk
crowd, but too trashy for the hipsters.
SR: Would you be
the reincarnation of Nirvana meets the Sex Pistols?
SU: I recommend you watch Soaked
in Bleach nothing was more revealing than the pure sadism of
Courtney Love (Courtney did it). Sid had style at least.
SR: What is the
music scene like in Simi Valley?
SU: It actually diversified in the past
few years. We got Species Unknown (hipster punk), No Advisory (Pop
Punk), The Rays (Funky Reggae Style), Despicable Good Guys (Ska),
What's Left (Punk with actual chords), Disrupted Euphoria (Metal),
and a few up and coming ones.
SR: I notice next
to your hometown location on Social Media you placed
(unfortunately)...
SU: We also love pizza.
SR: How is the
genre of punk holding itself?
SU: We wanna say another wave of punk
is coming through cause we got more huge festivals like Its Not
Dead Fest and LA Punk Invasion and older punk
bands are coming out again to play shows.
SR: Species
Unknown was founded in 2015?
SU: Species Unknown was founded in
2015.*
SR: What is the
back-story of where you three came from and formed?
SU: So we all have lived in Simi Valley
for most of our lives so there isn't much diversity about where we
came from, but we all have very different tastes: I, Matthew, enjoy
punk mainly such as Clit 45, The Unseen, A Global Threat, and Wavves.
Robert enjoys alternative rock such as The Strokes, Radiohead, and
Sonic Youth. Simon likes bands that make him wanna kill himself like
Reel Big Fish but is also a pussy bitch who likes the Frights so his
taste is all over the place.
As for formation, I joined a ska band
called Despicable Good Guys in 2012 playing saxophone started by our
buddy Art Rautenberg. In the band, I met our current drummer, Simon
Beck. We weren't that close of friends for the first few years but
became close later through Art. In 2015, Art moved away to Ohio with
his girlfriend which depreciated the value of the band to me because
we were close friends. I quit the band a few months later with
intention to start another band. I had a few prototype combinations
of band members for a good month while I made the band. Originally it
was meant to be a street punk band, but when we finally solidified as
a three-piece with Simon Beck on drums, me on Bass, and my high
school friend, Robert Moreira on guitar, we had an interesting blend
of tastes that created our sound.
Giving a little background about
Robert, I used to jam around with him and our friend Tyler Campbell
whenever we had free time at Tyler's studio. He's an amazing
guitarist that I've always wanted to make a band with. Same with
Simon cause he drops the sickest beats.
SR: Album
released in March 2016? But did you end up having your CD release
party at a later date?
SU: Yah, it released on March 2016, but
we had the release show three days before.
SR: How many tracks?
SU: 12, including the outro.
SR: Produced by?
SU: Armand John Lizzy.
SR: Recorded at
The Captains Quarters in Ventura? How was the overall
experience?
SU: The Captains Quarters' was a great
little studio out in Ventura. Armand, the man and legend, is very
laid back and helpful. He definitely knew what he was doing and
helped us release a great sounding album.
SR: Your sound is
a great mix. It makes you want to get up and move. When
performing is there a song in particular where all the band mates
just feel it the most to cut loose?
SU: “44442” definitely.
SR: What else is
on your agenda for 2016-17?
SU: We plan to take a break after our
Front to Back Tour with No Advisory and focus on
writing some new songs. Hopefully we'll set up a winter tour as well
up the west coast with our good friends The Rays.
Simon
Beck: Drums/Vocals
Robert Moreira: Guitar/Vocals
Matthew Escobar: Bass/Vocals
Robert Moreira: Guitar/Vocals
Matthew Escobar: Bass/Vocals
Species
Unknown Facebook
