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Sixties Guns are a junkyard

Tijuana / North Park quartet hits the ground running.

There’s something going on with Sixties Guns.

They’re too put together to have formed just seven months ago.

The sound is too cohesive, the feel too natural.

Their second of three released tracks, “Cuts,” is too prodigious to have been formulated in a day at one of the band’s first collaborative sessions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHO6qmgD8jE


Their disparate influences meld too seamlessly.

Maybe, as vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Xavi suggests, Sixties Guns assembles like Voltron – a synergistic super-beast that amounts to more than the sum of its parts.

Xavi, for example, once created dark, industrial electronic beats as Vermz:

http://vimeo.com/user16677324/lapetitemort



John’s solo-outlet, Oye!Simpson, is a head-spinning menagerie of future trap, cumbia, and psychedelic big bass:



Boom imagines disjointed, ephemeral beatscapes a la Clams Casino under the alias Fuck Parade:



The bands fourth member, Jesse, lends his guitar and bass chops strictly to Sixties Guns, for now.

“It works like a band, just that instead of drums we’ve got MPCs,” Xavi says, “and instead of assigned areas, we all kinda move around.”

The Guns’ third track, “Atypical Weirdos,” dropped two weeks ago accompanied by this teaser video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnTWgBZrN6g




Did I mention that the band makes videos to accompany each of their songs?

Or that they’ve already got a pending remix of “Atypical Weirdos” from LA-based Leaving Records labelhead Matthewdavid?

Seriously guys, what the hell?

With members on either side of the border, one is tempted to lump them in with Tijuana’s multifaceted scene, but the band disclaims:

“We aren’t American. We aren’t Mexican. We think nationalism is an illness. We aren’t a border band either, even if we live there. We are a junkyard.”

The junkyard recently went on a medical hiatus after John sustained some nasty cuts in an altercation with a carload of dope fiends, but they’ll be back on stage on Saturday, June 1 at the World Beat Center followed by a Saturday, June 22 show at the fabulous Moustache Bar in Tijuana with Matthewdavid, Joshua Brandon, and Karaoke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wreu5scpR5Q


Tell me about yourselves.

John: Born and raised in San Diego. I am an omni-everything-ist and sell buildings in Mexico, had a lot of musical education in LA with some amazing producers.

Xavi: I kind of wandered around the States for a while in my teens, SF and LA were in the mix. I live in Tijuana now and it’s a beautiful city, I don’t care what anyone thinks, it’s beautiful and should be nurtured and portrayed as it really is on media outlets. It’s unlike most places in the world. But the thing about Tijuana… it’s a junkyard city.

All of this culture gets stuck and grows upon itself like colorful fungus, constantly adding and subtracting and reproducing incredibly creative hybrids. I guess the only thing I really don’t like about it is the cops. I hate the cops. I usually spend my time in my room making music, videos, and write books. I don’t really like going out as much because I don’t see the point in it. Every once in a while I’ll go out, but I really prefer to be making stuff.

Boom: Born in SD, lived in SF for just under 10 years. I loved it and miss it dearly. I’m a sound nerd and make music under the alias Fuck Parade. Told that I dress like a seapunk. Right now the shirt I’m wearing has 5 cats on it.

Jesse: Played in bands in San Diego before moving to SF in 2006 where I was busy working (sometimes), dropping out of school (a few times), pursuing being a rapper and getting generally rocked by the city itself. Moved back to San Diego last year. I now work at a bar in North Park and in my off time I enjoy chilling HARD and hanging out with my lovely dog Lucy.


John, what’s up with the meth-head attack?

This is literally exactly how I remember it:

Almost got hit by a car full of tweakers. I’m an idiot so I hit their car because they saw me and didn’t stop, they pulled over and I think there were four of them. I just remember the rat-faced, ugly one and the fat, ugly one and a couple more tweakerish silhouettes. I got hit from behind and fell on some broken glass. Hand was bleeding pretty bad, tried to punch them in the kidneys, don’t remember much, sidewalk was covered in blood and they randomly left. They got SOOO mad that I kicked their ’96 Acura that all four of them did a bump off the center console and blew off some steam. Tweakers don’t believe in the one-on-one. I’m good now though.


How’s the album shaping up?

Boom: The album is coming together nicely and starting to take shape. We’ve wanted to release more of the music that we have, but we also want what we release to be up to the quality that we know we can produce. Personally, I’m stoked for the reaction and criticism. Up to this point we’ve kind of been difficult to place in any certain genre and that’s something I think we all relish in.

Xavi: Yeah. I don’t think we care too much about the genre or genres as much as the quality and how we feel with the songs, I guess? I don’t know, shit’s magical to us, hopefully to some other ears too.


How did you guys all meet and start this project?

Jesse: I went to a show one night in TJ where John was doing a solo (Oye! Simpson), opening up for Sixties Guns (which was just Xavi at that point and was really fucking rad). We all hit it off talking about music and just shooting the shit. John and I had been working on starting a project that was different from what we’d been doing and I think Xavi was interested in making Guns more full and live. The vibes were good and we connected and so here we are.

Boom: I was invited to sit in on one of the first sessions after John, Jesse and Xavi had started working with each other. The personal and collaborative energy was electric from the onset. We made “Cuts” that day.

Xavi: We all united under Lucy the Moose. We all love the Moose. We form like Voltron?


What’s in the future for Sixties Guns?

Xavi: Pho.

Boom: Matching YouTube clips of animals with ratchet rap songs.

Jesse: Weed, small batch bourbons, a Liam Neeson movie marathon.

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There’s something going on with Sixties Guns.

They’re too put together to have formed just seven months ago.

The sound is too cohesive, the feel too natural.

Their second of three released tracks, “Cuts,” is too prodigious to have been formulated in a day at one of the band’s first collaborative sessions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHO6qmgD8jE


Their disparate influences meld too seamlessly.

Maybe, as vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Xavi suggests, Sixties Guns assembles like Voltron – a synergistic super-beast that amounts to more than the sum of its parts.

Xavi, for example, once created dark, industrial electronic beats as Vermz:

http://vimeo.com/user16677324/lapetitemort



John’s solo-outlet, Oye!Simpson, is a head-spinning menagerie of future trap, cumbia, and psychedelic big bass:



Boom imagines disjointed, ephemeral beatscapes a la Clams Casino under the alias Fuck Parade:



The bands fourth member, Jesse, lends his guitar and bass chops strictly to Sixties Guns, for now.

“It works like a band, just that instead of drums we’ve got MPCs,” Xavi says, “and instead of assigned areas, we all kinda move around.”

The Guns’ third track, “Atypical Weirdos,” dropped two weeks ago accompanied by this teaser video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnTWgBZrN6g




Did I mention that the band makes videos to accompany each of their songs?

Or that they’ve already got a pending remix of “Atypical Weirdos” from LA-based Leaving Records labelhead Matthewdavid?

Seriously guys, what the hell?

With members on either side of the border, one is tempted to lump them in with Tijuana’s multifaceted scene, but the band disclaims:

“We aren’t American. We aren’t Mexican. We think nationalism is an illness. We aren’t a border band either, even if we live there. We are a junkyard.”

The junkyard recently went on a medical hiatus after John sustained some nasty cuts in an altercation with a carload of dope fiends, but they’ll be back on stage on Saturday, June 1 at the World Beat Center followed by a Saturday, June 22 show at the fabulous Moustache Bar in Tijuana with Matthewdavid, Joshua Brandon, and Karaoke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wreu5scpR5Q


Tell me about yourselves.

John: Born and raised in San Diego. I am an omni-everything-ist and sell buildings in Mexico, had a lot of musical education in LA with some amazing producers.

Xavi: I kind of wandered around the States for a while in my teens, SF and LA were in the mix. I live in Tijuana now and it’s a beautiful city, I don’t care what anyone thinks, it’s beautiful and should be nurtured and portrayed as it really is on media outlets. It’s unlike most places in the world. But the thing about Tijuana… it’s a junkyard city.

All of this culture gets stuck and grows upon itself like colorful fungus, constantly adding and subtracting and reproducing incredibly creative hybrids. I guess the only thing I really don’t like about it is the cops. I hate the cops. I usually spend my time in my room making music, videos, and write books. I don’t really like going out as much because I don’t see the point in it. Every once in a while I’ll go out, but I really prefer to be making stuff.

Boom: Born in SD, lived in SF for just under 10 years. I loved it and miss it dearly. I’m a sound nerd and make music under the alias Fuck Parade. Told that I dress like a seapunk. Right now the shirt I’m wearing has 5 cats on it.

Jesse: Played in bands in San Diego before moving to SF in 2006 where I was busy working (sometimes), dropping out of school (a few times), pursuing being a rapper and getting generally rocked by the city itself. Moved back to San Diego last year. I now work at a bar in North Park and in my off time I enjoy chilling HARD and hanging out with my lovely dog Lucy.


John, what’s up with the meth-head attack?

This is literally exactly how I remember it:

Almost got hit by a car full of tweakers. I’m an idiot so I hit their car because they saw me and didn’t stop, they pulled over and I think there were four of them. I just remember the rat-faced, ugly one and the fat, ugly one and a couple more tweakerish silhouettes. I got hit from behind and fell on some broken glass. Hand was bleeding pretty bad, tried to punch them in the kidneys, don’t remember much, sidewalk was covered in blood and they randomly left. They got SOOO mad that I kicked their ’96 Acura that all four of them did a bump off the center console and blew off some steam. Tweakers don’t believe in the one-on-one. I’m good now though.


How’s the album shaping up?

Boom: The album is coming together nicely and starting to take shape. We’ve wanted to release more of the music that we have, but we also want what we release to be up to the quality that we know we can produce. Personally, I’m stoked for the reaction and criticism. Up to this point we’ve kind of been difficult to place in any certain genre and that’s something I think we all relish in.

Xavi: Yeah. I don’t think we care too much about the genre or genres as much as the quality and how we feel with the songs, I guess? I don’t know, shit’s magical to us, hopefully to some other ears too.


How did you guys all meet and start this project?

Jesse: I went to a show one night in TJ where John was doing a solo (Oye! Simpson), opening up for Sixties Guns (which was just Xavi at that point and was really fucking rad). We all hit it off talking about music and just shooting the shit. John and I had been working on starting a project that was different from what we’d been doing and I think Xavi was interested in making Guns more full and live. The vibes were good and we connected and so here we are.

Boom: I was invited to sit in on one of the first sessions after John, Jesse and Xavi had started working with each other. The personal and collaborative energy was electric from the onset. We made “Cuts” that day.

Xavi: We all united under Lucy the Moose. We all love the Moose. We form like Voltron?


What’s in the future for Sixties Guns?

Xavi: Pho.

Boom: Matching YouTube clips of animals with ratchet rap songs.

Jesse: Weed, small batch bourbons, a Liam Neeson movie marathon.

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