Photograph by Joe Calixto

SeeYouSpaceCowboy, back to the place they were born.

December 17: I was moving a little slower than usual that Sunday afternoon. Hangover? Nah. More likely lethargy. But after stirring up a quick kratom-and-water cocktail, I perked up like a proud poppy and texted SeeYouSpaceCowboy’s manager to organize a sit-down with the band. They would be playing the second show of their two-night residency at UCSD’s Che Café in La Jolla that evening, and we agreed to meet about an hour before the opening acts. I splashed some coffee on top of the kratom for good measure; I knew I’d be needing more than standard voltage running through the body’s circuits in order to keep up with a sold-out house. And booze was off the menu at the sober venue.

Hanging at a table in the Cafe’s courtyard, I began choppin’ it up with the hometown act. For Connie Sgarbossa, frontwoman of SYSC, the back-to-back weekend shows were a homecoming of sorts. Sgarbossa’s ties to the Che go back to her teenage years, when she volunteered for the collective that operates the independent campus venue. “It blew my mind that a place like this existed,” she said. “I’d get out of school, take the bus down here, run a show, go home, sleep, go to school the next day. This place formed a lot of who I am today. It taught me a lot about community, radical politics, and music in general.” The rest of the metal/sasscore group (Ethan Sgarbossa, AJ Tartol, Taylor Allen, and Timmy Moreno) told me that the previous bands they played with had all taken the stage at the Che at some point. And SYSC was essentially birthed at the Che, having played their first-ever gig there in 2017.

“They just can’t shut this place down,” I said, looking around anxiously.

“They’ve tried many times,” Sgarbossa noted. “That’s why I came back to join the collective again. I can’t dedicate as much time as before, but it’s amazing to be back in this space. It means so fucking much to me.”

Following our hang, and with some time to kill before the show started, I took a walk up to the Theatre District. While standing outside the La Jolla Playhouse, I watched the sun take its final bow, ducking away behind an unlively little forest of UCSD campus trees. A long December night had crept in. Beneath a flickering street lamp, a young couple huddled together while waiting for the show to start. Although fans of the Che, they both said they wanted more shows and venues in San Diego. I had to agree that San Diego does at times get overlooked when it comes to punk/hardcore tour stops. Fortunately, the Che holds a healthy pulse, even as other area venues are nearly on life support.

As for the lineups, both Saturday and Sunday nights were hand-curated by SYSC. They said they now have the freedom to make those kinds of calls. Given that, they wanted to hook up the homies instead of plugging some other band to help push tickets. Sunday night’s lineup included Stateside, One Way Mirror, and the San Diego debut of Roman Candle.

Once inside the space, I found my friend/co-worker Vania as SYSC took the stage. Sgarbossa asked everybody to move up. We listened and obeyed. I knew damn well what was about to go down once they started playing, but Vania was a little oblivious. In an instant, we were swallowed in the vortex of a Che Cafe mosh pit. The kratom and coffee had worn off long ago. I was sputtering. My right groin muscle was howling for mercy. The unforgiving pit didn’t give a single fuck. I was eventually spit out like a piece of chewed up bubble gum. I watched from the outside as Vania got bounced around like a pinball. In my decrepit state, I felt powerless to help. She eventually pinged towards me and found her way out. “Well, that was an ordeal,” she said rather calmly.

After the set, Vania said she wanted to check out SYSC’s merch table outside. While she was buying a T-shirt, Connie Sgarbossa rushed to the table. She was holding a marker for signing autographs, but her attention was on getting back inside to administer first aid to a fan whose face was busted open during a visit to the pit. The rock star was truly a Che Cafe volunteer once again. All in a weekend’s work.