{"id":4628,"date":"2012-10-22T07:10:53","date_gmt":"2012-10-22T11:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/punkoutlaw.com\/po09\/?p=4628"},"modified":"2012-10-22T07:10:53","modified_gmt":"2012-10-22T11:10:53","slug":"colombian-punk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/punkoutlawblog.com\/2012\/10\/colombian-punk\/","title":{"rendered":"Colombian Punk"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I don’t like plugging random punk shows and events too often because there are so many and our readers are from so many different locations it isn’t useful to everyone. \u00a0 But considering such a large % of our readers are from Colombia and Latin America I thought it might interest people to know about this big festival coming up in Medellin. It’s also a good chance to hear our good buddies from Punk Outlaw Records,<\/strong><\/em><\/a> “Los Suziox”<\/strong> <\/em><\/a>and other excellent local punk bands.<\/p>\n

And in case you missed the article we put out on the Colombian Punk scene in Remezcla magazine, you can check it out HERE. <\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

or I’ve posted the “un-edited” raw version just for you, our loyal readers. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

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LIKE A GOOD PUNK SONG, IT BEGINS WITH INJUSTICE<\/strong><\/p>\n

I remember it clearly, or as clearly as anyone of us can remember anything. I was at an outdoor caf\u00e9 in Parque Lleras in the upscale neighborhood of Poblado in Medellin, Colombia. This was my first visit to Medellin and I had been there just long enough to realize how ridiculous of my irrational fears of being kidnapped or killed in a drug war shootout were.<\/p>\n

Lleras was an appropriate spot for a semi-nervous turista<\/em> to grab some food and people watch.\u00a0 It felt \u201cmuy tranquilo\u201d<\/em>. \u00a0Most people looked as if they were lifted out of a scene from a hot nightclub in Miami or Los Angeles. The girls were dressed sexy and the guys were sizing them up unabashedly while drinking beer or shooting aguardiente, a Colombian liqueur sometimes called firewater.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, I saw something I\u2019d never seen in my travels to Latin America heretofore, a trio of hardcore looking young punks, two guys and a girl, walking around plying their handmade leather wristbands and jewelry to the visitors and upscale denizens of Medellin.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t remember specifically what they were wearing but there was no doubt they were punks. They were of the mohawk wearing, tattooed and pierced variety, the kind you might see at an Exploited <\/em>or Casualties <\/em>show moshing it up and stagediving, not posers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are punks in Latin America?\u201d the na\u00efve nature of my first thoughts would later be cause for much amusement. I would find that \u201cpor supuesto\u201d<\/em> (of course) there were indeed many punks in Latin America with a rich history at that.<\/p>\n

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WHERE AM I & HOW DID I GET HERE?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At this point in my life, I was a fairly new observer of the punk lifestyle not realizing that even though I was not of the Mohawk, tattooed, pierced variety, I can now confidently state that I was pure punk. Though always slightly rebellious and suspicious of authority, even in my native Tennessee, my theory is that I\u2019ve been a punk since birth, but that my \u201cpunkness\u201d had lain dormant. \u00a0I was a punk and didn\u2019t realize it until I\u2019d lived in New York City for a few years and against some pretty heavy odds, tried my hand at becoming an entrepreneur and changing a small but ugly part of the media business.<\/p>\n

\u201cA punk-rock businessman?\u201d you ask. \u00a0Yes. They, like Colombian punks, also exist.\u00a0 At the time when I began my entrepreneurial pursuit of producing English language TV for young, American born Latinos, it seemed it was me (a white farm boy), my friends (almost all Latino) and our cause (representing Latinos in mainstream media) against a largely ignorant and biased media world run by large corporations and their just as hefty corporate sponsors.<\/p>\n

At the beginning, my small, bootstrapped and grossly underfunded company was often on the verge of extinction but we found strength in our commitment to fight the status quo of corporate media giants and their sometimes willful ignorance. In my eyes at the time, they represented an intellectually lazy culture that was largely intent on keeping things the same. We represented a new, open minded culture that demanded change.<\/p>\n

Money didn\u2019t motivate me, (I viewed it more as a tool to stay alive and fight the good fight), as much as the cause, which felt more and more like the right thing as many people first ignored us, then laughed at us and finally attacked us ( the 3 stages of success).<\/p>\n

It was at this time in my life when I mistakenly thought I would fail but had pledged I was going to go down swinging, blacking a few eyes along the way, that I also mistakenly bought Social Distortion\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cWhite Light, White Heat, White Trash\u201d<\/em><\/a> CD. This happy accident was a bridge to a genre and lifestyle that would take me on a journey to points the world over and would forever change my life.<\/p>\n

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At this point of the Colombian punk sighting, I was not an entirely seasoned, independent traveler just yet either. Most of my travels had thus far consisted of staying in chain hotels confined to the safety of tourist zones in places like the Dominican Republic or Costa Rica.\u00a0 I had a lot to learn about both the punk lifestyle and independent travel.<\/p>\n

MY ACCIDENTAL JOURNEY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watching these punked out Colombian teens, my curiosity was peaked. I wanted to speak to these guys and even though my Spanish was rudimentary, I wanted more information. \u00a0Information like; \u201cHow did they become punks?\u201d, \u201cWas there a big scene in Colombia?\u201d, \u201cWhat bands influenced them most?\u201d, etc.<\/p>\n

I followed at a distance trying to catch up. The sight of a running gringo is rarely a sign of anything good in these parts, so I briskly walked to the corner of the main road where a bus was making its stop.<\/p>\n

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Bus routes or collectivos in Colombia and most of Latin America are run by private drivers and though they are subject to some government oversight, it feels a bit like the wild West at times. \u00a0Each bus is often \u201chooked up\u201d with chrome trimmings while brightly painted designs and nicknames on the front or side reflect the personality of the driver and even its destination.<\/p>\n

The rides can sometimes be rough. Years later, when I actually lived in Colombia for a few months, I regularly took the bus and once witnessed a lady literally getting bounced out of her shoes. \u00a0Had we not grabbed her she may have bounced right out of the open, back door of the bus!<\/p>\n

Now this is the part I have replayed in my head many times since. As the punks attempted to gain entry, the bus driver, who looked like a decent guy but had the posture of a hardworking man who\u2019s run this route 6 days a week, 12-15 hours a day for a while, shook his head vehemently \u201cno\u201d, refusing to open his doors and drove away trailing a smelly, cloudy diesel exhaust to a chorus of \u201cputa madres\u201d and \u201chijo de puta\u201d protestations from the trio of young punks.<\/p>\n

After witnessing this discouraging scene, alas, I lost my nerve to approach the now irritated punks. I had wandered off tourists\u2019 reservation and felt the sudden need to head back to familiar territory.<\/p>\n

But that incident with the punks and the bus in Medellin was firmly tattooed on my brain and inspired me to bring my video camera on what would become many subsequent trips. I would attempt to document the punk scene not only in Colombia but all of Latin America and even the world! I now had a host of other questions like \u201cAre punks regularly discriminated against?\u201d; \u201cDo police harass them?\u201d; \u201cWhat do their families think?\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s it like being a punk in the developing world\u201d etc.<\/p>\n

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Since that incident, my travels have taken me on several journeys throughout Latin America including Guatemala, Argentina, Uruguay, Honduras, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and even Cuba with plans to hit the meccas of Mexico and Brazil. I\u2019ve also traveled to Trinidad & Tobago, Spain, Russia, Romania, Ukraine, Hungary and Serbia. My goal is to visit every continent, even Antarctica. .<\/p>\n

So far I\u2019ve conducted scores of interviews and watched dozens of punk bands perform. I\u2019ve posted some of them on my video blog PunkOutlawBlog.com<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0 which also serves as a rough outline for the bigger project, a documentary film entitled \u201cPunktology\u201d<\/strong> <\/em><\/a> with the ever-evolving tagline \u201cThe Power of a Punk Planet\u201d.\u00a0 I began a digital record label called Punk Outlaw Records<\/strong><\/em><\/a> to bring some of this punk and underground music to audiences in North America and Europe.<\/p>\n

So much has been documented about punk from the U.S. and U.K. perspective, but what of the rest of the world? I also attempt to cover not just punk but other related, underground genres like Rockabilly, Psychobilly, Ska, Reggae, etc. in an attempt to find out what makes the scenes tick and tied together.<\/p>\n

These bands and scenes aren\u2019t merely extensions of the U.S or U.K, but separate and divergent with their own uniqueness set in a larger global ecosystem that while unorganized somehow has a natural order, almost like a collective consciousness in a punk parallel universe.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same but different at the same time. Same enough to have this love of punk in common yet diverse enough with their own cultural idiosyncrasies to prove interesting.<\/p>\n

That punk\/bus incident in Colombia inspired me to look further and see what stories had been left untold about the music I love from the rest of our planet.<\/p>\n

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COLOMBIA – A PUNK SORPRESA <\/strong><\/p>\n

I like surprises, like the Social Distortion CD or punks in Colombia where I had done no prior research and had no idea what to make of it. Maybe that\u2019s why years later even after all these other travels, I still find myself fascinated by the depth and passion of the punk movement in Colombia.<\/p>\n

From Bogota\u2019s rough and tumble scene (which often may feature an element of danger or a riot ending with the police firing tear gas) to the \u201cusually\u201d more peaceful but equally fuerte <\/em>scenes in Medellin and surrounding coffee country lands of Manizales, Armenia and Pereira to the coastal areas of Cali & Cartagena and even the Amazon.\u00a0 Colombia\u2019s punk scene is as diverse as the country itself.<\/p>\n

BOGOTA FOR THE BRAVE \u2013 ROCKIN ROLOS! <\/strong><\/p>\n

Many start their journey to Colombia in the big, bustling, high altitude capital of Bogota. If you hit a punk show here it\u2019s probably going to start off calm enough but stick around and it\u2019s almost guaranteed to get crazy. At a Casualties show<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0 I covered in 2009 the police had a showdown complete with tanks and teargas with the punks in the street who were partying outside the venue. Thankfully the concert inside went on and was an utter blast.<\/p>\n