In many ways, Southern California is a breeding ground for aspiring musicians. This could be because the area is close to Hollywood and is a major recording label. Or maybe there’s something really in the water.
Either way, it’s where artists like the Red Hot Chili Peppers first met at Fairfax High School. The NWA helps to put Compton on the hip-hop radar, paving the way for Kunta’s own King Kendrick Lamar. Without a doubt, led by Gwen Stefani, it was fruitful within the dairy queen of Orange County. Billy Eilish began singing alongside her younger brother Finny’s inside her Highland Park home. The list continues.
Every April, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival brings global talent to nearly 250,000 crowds. People in the best festival wear to perform over consecutive weekends dance in open fields, keeping barricade spots safe for night headliners, discovering the next musical fixture. Coachella is a global phenomenon, but the lineup tends to shine a spotlight on several local artists each year.
The Times spoke with Southern California natives (rappers Shoreline Mafia, Electropunk Duocmo99, Garage Locker) about how rappers Shoreline Mafia, Electropunk Duocmo99, Nugyaz Trio Julie and Garage Locker are preparing for the three-day desert festival.
Spider 99 meets them ‘Cool kids‘ dream
Amikomai, half of the e-punk duocumo99, once thought of Coachella as “somewhere cool kids hanging out.” The singer’s mother, who grew up between San Pedro and Silver Lake, did not let her attend the festival during her adolescence. But now, alongside bandmate Nate Donmoyer, Spider 99 is more than just a part of the crowd. They will be on stage.
“It’s such a big festival that I felt was unachievable. It’s far away and picturesque. It looks like another universe. I went to a parking lot or a show at such a festival. I can’t imagine what it would be like on a golf course with these huge sparkling stages. “It always looked fun.”
Formed in 2020, Spider 99 brings the essence of hardcore tracks to the sound of experimental raves. Komai deals with vocals, often singing in Japanese, while Donmoyer faces the head of fast-paced breakbeats and pulsating drums. The duo, who heard on fan favorite Four Point Steel Star, shapes a dirty, futuristic soundscape. The 2022 release focuses on industrial sound synths marked with sporadic sci-fi sounds, and Comai vigorously screams into the background. They say that the sounds of each nurture often even affect their music.
“San Pedro has such a vast musical history and I was fortunate enough to be where I still lived there like a hero when I was growing up,” Comai said. She cites Minuteman Mike Watt and Black Flag Keith Morris as local legends. “They are very funny and very grumpy, everything I liked was very local.
Don Moyer, who grew up in Washington, DC, says his neighborhood was in a similar environment. He remembers fondly “playing all Rec Center features and live-board recordings of CD-RS for the backyard and junk band.”
In addition to performing at the festival, they want to catch a set from the genius and blonde redheads. But most of all, they want to move around in their golf carts.
“Performing a festival can really feel like a travel circus act. It’s like ‘come to town’. Or maybe attending a huge summer camp where you can see a bunch of friends you haven’t seen in a while,” Comai said.
Newly reunited Shoreline Mafia embraces history
Shoreline Mafia is planning to return and make headlines with Coachella’s performance. The wild East Hollywood rap group was a key member of the L.A. rap scene in the late 2010s. Party hits like the subtle flex of the earbuds “Mouse” and “Nun’s Major” helped popularize new spins of West Coast rap with danceable trap beats. However, after some mixtapes and studio albums, the four rappers went their separate ways in 2020.
The 2024 “Heat Stick” was then hit radio waves under the name of the Shoreline Mafia. Backed by a creepy beat, this track revisits the messy, party lifestyle with hedonistic lyricism. This new era of Shoreline Mafia, powered by Ohgeesy and Fenix Flexin, is marked by two original members who continue what started in 2016.
“We’ve grown up and found a lot about ourselves. We’ve found ways to work on our own. “Now, when we put together the studio, it’s like clockwork. We’re both very sophisticated and it’s ten times easier when we come together to play music.”
They say they feel their new sounds are “different but the same”, pointing to “an updated beat game and elevated scheme of rhymes.” Ohgeesy believes in this change in a new sense of maturity. The duo want to see how their new music is translated into live shows.
“I have never been to Coachella before, and this is my first time attending a festival. It’s a blessing to be present as a performer,” Ohgeesy says. “Everyone loves Coachella. It’s legendary and everyone is always on the lookout. Tickets are very expensive and this upper class festival.
Fenix Flexin added: “I generally have high expectations and high hopes for the show just because it’s been a long time since I played a new show and released an album. This has to be one of the best performances I’ve ever given in our lives.”
Besides bringing their high energy levels and wild sounds into the desert, they also see their set as a way to celebrate their city and the Cement Shoreline Mafia as a staple of Lahip Hop.
“We take inspiration from every scene in the city. We grew up spending time with gang bangers, skaters, punk rockers and graffiti artists. “LA is where everything happened for us. We built a bond and everything else was built to continue.”
Pangaea, born from Santa Clarita, is ready for indio
When Pangaea bassist Danny Bengston is thinking of Coachella, he is taken to Ticketmaster within J.C. Penny. It was where his mother first bought him a ticket in 2005. Coldplay and 9-inch claws headlined that year, he remembers being most excited to see locusts.
“I was a kid. I was 16 at best, and it was a pretty formative experience,” Bengston said. “For me, on one level, I had always wanted to play music. [Coachella]. ”
Made up of Bengston, vocalist/guitarist William Keegan and drummer Eric Zimenez, Pangaea has been a band since 2008 but admits that they didn’t start taking it seriously until 2013.
“When I grew up in a place like Santa Clarita, it’s a conservative suburb and there’s actually no place to play. Los Angeles is a 45-minute drive and you have to find a way to play shows and build your own community and space.
After leaving the “conservative suburbs,” they settled in Los Angeles and soon found a new music hub. It starts with a variety of art galleries and parties until you move to the downtown smell and echo park echo. During this period, they say they were able to find their organic sounds. Having joined as a band for nearly 20 years, these garage surf rockers bring West Coast twangs to DIY punk roots. Their sonic range can go anywhere, from mellow, soothing acoustics to more tense vocals than the riffs of hard-hit electric guitars.
The trio will treat the Coachella set like a regular show, but say they are happy to have the opportunity at this point in their career when they “get a little older and feel more grateful.”
“A festival like this gives you the opportunity to gain more viewers and have a bigger figurative, literal stage,” Bengston said. “The only thing is that there is a small timer on the edge of the stage and you don’t have when you’re playing yourself. [headline] show. So you need to make sure you’re not [messing] Too many. ”
Julie is planning to do it ‘play hard‘ And keep it simple
At one point, Orange County shoegaze band Julie “really afraid” to perform the music festival. The fast-paced nature of the short daytime sets has challenges, but drummer Dillon Lee shared that he was able to overcome his fear through “exposure therapy.”
“The festival set feels like a mini-game. You don’t have the time to think, you go on stage and play really fast – it’s great – and you run away,” explained bassist and vocalist Alexandria Elizabeth.
The trio, composed of Lee, Elizabeth and Keen Pruzand, also sang and performed guitars, releasing their first song, “Flutter,” in 2020. It takes on the intense and biggest shoe gauge, just like my bloody Valentine’s.
When they first met, musicians of the time were thinking of short-term goals. Pourzand wanted to play at least one show, so Elizabeth was aiming to become a regular performer in the local underground music scene. They often spent weekends at various house shows, small warehouses, and even nearby restaurants hosting punk and surf rock performances. Elizabeth describes the scene as a crowd of monsters of the people of the Dicky who received a trimmed tee and a laying serene.
To this day, Lee still struggles to handle playing Coachella. “It won’t go to my head, but I’m not yet soaking up. His first memory of the festival is watching a video of Deadmau5’s performance with his mother who was jealous of her not there. Elizabeth laughs as she reveals her first impressions of the festival, which is associated with Jenner’s sisters, Flowercrown and YouTube beauty bloggers.
“I just want to do a good show, I don’t try to do something that I don’t have too much expectations before going to the show.
“I’m just going to play really hard. I want to see the audience’s response, as the festival crowd is much more relaxed than the headline show.”
Coachella 2025 is scheduled to take place from April 11th to 13th and April 18th to 20th.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
