Landing Pad
Profile on Casa Anarkia
Simi Valley, Calif.
January 17, 2019
SIMI VALLEY, CALIF. – Casa Anarkia’s founder wants to shake up the status quo when it comes to Simi Valley music venues – or at least create one.
The event space, nestled on a quiet residential street, is for all intents and purposes a backyard, but Kaitlyn Vergas aims for something much more permanent in the longer term.
On a recent Friday evening, locals assembled for an interesting mix of performances set off with Vergas’ own opening act best described – for those who require a bit of a signpost – as experimental noise with the ethos of anarcho crust punk. That was later followed by Pencil Dick in addition to Christian Lovers, Ritual Chair and Mr. Man Lost His Mind.
“The culture of things needed to change. There’s no space in Simi Valley super fun,” Vergas said. “When you talk about the 805 scene and the punk scene in Ventura County, most of it is Oxnard and Ventura. That’s cool. Nardcore’s cool and shit but there’s nothing in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark. Everyone goes to L.A. for all their fun. Fuck that. They should do it here.”
The idea is Casa Anarkia is to serve as a landing spot for both local and touring bands – regardless of the genre – and other artists. The eventual intention is to open a permanent space or rent a warehouse somewhere. The space’s founder recognizes the clock is ticking.
“This won’t last long. This won’t be very manageable,” Vergas said citing the reality that once the house in back is sold, the likelihood of being able to continue is slim. “You just have to make the best of it while you can.”
Casa Anarkia officially started in December with a few events now under its belt and a packed February schedule.
Related to Casa Anarkia are Vergas’ sister endeavors, operating under the blanket operation Reel Music. Housed under Reel is the plethora of flyer and collage art Vergas makes in addition to a T-shirt company, the latter of which has been around since 2017.
The D.I.Y., hands on, analog approach to the flyer art is commendable and somewhat of an anomaly given the tech age where most show announcements are relegated to digital files slapped up on social media. Vergas cuts, pastes, stencils and then photocopies each piece before posting them around town.
“It’s super lame,” Vergas lamented of the electronic age way of communicating a show. “I love flyer art, like old school punk flyer art. I also really have a thing for old school movies.”
Vergas shuffles through recently made pieces sitting in a folder atop a work desk, some bear imagery of Bette Davis in “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” and the thriller “Bedlam.”
Vergas’ waiting to see where Reel Music goes, but the undercurrent driving that endeavor along with Casa Anarkia largely converge.
The concept of the space – if it wasn’t already apparent from the name – is rooted in gender rights and giving a voice to those who are marginalized, Vergas said. Broadly speaking, it’s about the greater exchange of ideas transcending labels.
“People aren’t really in tune with the problems in the world when they should be,” Vergas added. “Simi Valley’s sort of a bubble. I’m just trying to bust that bubble and get people to know shit they wouldn’t have access to.”