Peru 3

Peru 2
Peru - Lima 2 (Part 2)

“Just a few days ago my band Reflections finished recording our first demo. I’m proud to tell you about it. Here is our band camp so you can check out how we are doing.


I’m also glad about what’s going on right now. Alhambre, one of the most important bands here have just released a video for their song ¨Hasta Morir¨ (Until Death). The video was recorded at Keko Bar, this one bar that has become the main spot where hardcore shows take place.

Furthermore, Fast Kids Records, our main record label has just released a 12¨ vinyl for an argentinian band called Mil Caras. This is very important because it’s the first time any argentinian band has some material released by a peruvian record label.


On a further note, tomorrow I’m leaving for Cajamarca, a city an hour from Lima (by airplane) to play at a hardcore show organized by locals. I’m playing not with Reflections but with Circulo Eterno (Eternal Circle), my other band. Circulo Eterno is a 90s band, heavily influenced by Unbroken, Mean Season, Shield, etc. Dark lyrics, slow tempos, everything a 90s band had at the time. We are playing with local bands such as Nueva Direccion (New Direction) and others at a house.



Cajamarca has a small growing scene in the last 4 years. Lima bands are reaching Cajamarca in order to play and vice versa so in a sense, the peruvian hardcore scene is getting closer and bigger.

Also, Circulo Eterno is releasing an EP.


Now, this past Saturday, there was going to be a reunion show for one of the first hardcore bands here in Peru called Narcosis.



As a matter of fact its not strictly a hardcore band, but it was one of the first underground bands here in Peru back in 80s. They were one of the first ones that spoke about the political context of Peru back in the 80s. Later on came G3.


However, the show was cancelled because the police entered into the venue and you can imagine, things got hectic. Don’t worry, it wasn’t because the 80s were back and there was political oppression, the thing was that also, that place was used for hookers and drug addicts so the police were ordered by the districts mayor to close that place haha. The show was rescheduled to mid August.

Today is Peru’s independence day so everyone is happy right now. Our football team did great on the America’s Cup so everyone is full of joy.”

Peru 2

Peru 1

It's been a year since I posted about these blogs. They are all still going strong so respect to hc in Peru!

Never Lose


Determinacion


andrEE HxC


We Are Revenge


Lima Hardcore


Desconfia

Peru - Lima 2 (Part 2)

Lima 2 (Part 1)

We don´t have so many bands as we like, but I can give mention to Alhambre with an old school sound, I could say is the most representative band of our scene with Desarme. They have recorded 2 demos and a CD called Los Primeros Años, and have just recorded a new record which will be out next month.

Another band to mention is Desarme which is the oldest band of our scene. They were formed in 1989, with an old school crossover sound they played a couple of times with Agnostic Front in Lima and have 3 CDs called Es tu Error, Corrosión en la Nación, and the last launched 3 months ago called Involución.

Paroximia is a great band too. They are a mix of sounds and influences so is a band really hard to define, but I can say you will like them. They have a split demo with Contracultura, and a CD called Sombras Caen. They will be produce a 7” soon it will be called Resistir.


Nada que Ocultar is a really young band and they are producing a demo that will be out really soon. They have been playing for a couple of years now and have had a really cool response from the kids, influenced by Outspoken, Eleven Thirty-Four and Battery. It is a really cool band of our scene.

Conflicto Urbano is another really young band who caused some controversy when they were interviewed cuz they have a tough guy attitude and are extremely direct in their declarations, with influences like Madball and Agnostic Front their sound and their lyrics talk about hard life and personal problems. They have just realeased a self-titled CD.

And finally I can mention to Círculo Eterno, another new band influenced strongly by bands like Unbroken, Mean Season and 108. Their personal and spiritual lyrics make this band a great alternative in our scene.


Here in Perú almost everything about the scene is DIY. There are no big labels or promoters, the bands record, produce and sell their records and merch, the shows are organized by the kids or the bands, bands members have regular jobs, anyone is a “professional musician”, but we have a Distro called Contraorden Discos who edit southamerican versions of some USA and European bands, and, distribute local bands' records outside our country.

When we book an international show in Lima, we use the name of Million Days Booking but this is not an enterprise itself.


There are a couple of zines...

We are Revenge


xEach Dayx


and 3 blogzines which make notes and interviews almost strictly about our scene and sometimes with news about southamerican bands.

Lima Hardcore


Determinación

Never Lose

Peru - Lima 2 (Part 1)

Lima 1

I’m from Lima, Perú, which is the largest city in Perú, and I’m involved in our scene since 1989 if I remember well.

Our scene actually, is a small scene if we compare it with other countries, local shows usually have 120 or 150 people, and international shows get 200 or 250 people, but there are a bunch of bands who play very often and we are trying to make this grow.

Hardcore bands appeared in our city in 1984 and in those days we had a really hard political situation cuz we were in the middle of a war between terrorist groups and the army. The first hardcore bands were almost strictly political bands all of them, and they talked about the violence in our country and the fear in our city, there were legendary bands like...

Autopsia


Kaos General

Guerrilla Urbana/Ataque Frontal


Gx3

Descontrol

Kaos

Situación Hostil


Sentido Común D.R Hardcore

During these years the scene was so small as it is now. After a couple of years almost all these bands called it quits and it coincided with the end of the war. Then in the early 90’s new bands appeared...

Desarme (still active)


Producto de Ira


S.N.A. Nada Tuyo

Decisión Final

Futuro Incierto, and other bands who started to talk about the life in the city and the economical consequences of the war.


In these times our scene grew a lot and we had local shows with 1500 or 1800 people, but, the economic crisis and a dictatorial government forced a lot of bands to split and the hardcore scene almost disappeared for a couple of years.

In the late 90’s, some bands helped to reactivate our scene with a sound more post-hardcore and some fusion with ska and other sounds...

Metamorphosis


Asmerreir


Contracorriente


The bands that actually are part of our scene now appeared in the early 2000’s and are almost all influenced by the youth crew revival era, but in the last couple of years some bands have adopted a sound approaching 90s New Age Records bands.

Peru - Lima

Peru 1

Lima is the capital city of Peru, almost everything concerning politics and the economy goes around this city. (Peru is a centralized country). I have played in a local band called ¨Nada que Ocultar¨ for about two months. Translated ¨Nothing to Hide¨, from an In my Eyes record haha.

We don’t have a defined scene, I mean, we cannot tell if our scene is a posi scene, or a crust scene, or a melodic hardcore scene, we just have shows organized by people who play in ¨hardcore¨ bands. Sometimes we do have shows where we can identify ¨themes¨ because of the bands playing. For me, this is good and bad. This is good because we get a variety of bands so we don’t get bored. It is bad because we can't have a coherent scene and its hard to make it stronger.

We don’t have ¨big¨ shows, I mean, we don’t get more than 100 people attending shows. Almost everyone at a show knows each other, in fact, almost everyone at shows are people that are playing at the show, or have played at least once at a hardcore show. It's really hard to see new faces. This has been the main problem since the 1980´s when everything started.

Throughout history, our hardcore scene has been weakened by ideas. It started with politics in the 80´s, almost every band started talking about politics (we were under a dictatorship). Then we had a turning point where a band (Gx3) started doing something more positive (at least that’s my point of view). Of course they were expelled from the scene for not being political and for being ¨too white¨ haha. By the 90´s, the scene got even weaker. However by 2000 and so on the scene started to grow.

Nowadays it’s a ¨friendly scene¨ , I mean, we are all friends, although we don’t agree in every aspect (straight edge, vegan, etc) we all like the same bands and we have fun at shows. We are few but I think that now we are growing. We´ve had some good shows with important bands here (Have Heart, Bane, Comeback Kid, Agnostic Front, Madball, Shipwreck AD) so definitely we are being taken into account. Since I've been attending hardcore shows (2005) I've noticed that every year we get more shows with better equipment. Our economy, as a country, is getting better so its easier to get better equipment to play (drum kits, amplifiers, etc). I would consider that our scene is in a growing phase so I don’t know if that’s a good scene or not but at least we are getting stronger.

These are some of the bands that always play at the shows as representatives...

Alhambre


Design: Al Mal Tiempo
Paroximia


Trascender RIP


Conflicto Urbano

Peru

Julia from Suck My Ovaries has given me some links to some blogs. They are written in spanish but hopefully they will give you a look at the scene...

Never Loses

Determinacion


andrEE HxC

We Are Revenge


Lima Hardcore


Desconfia