Break It Down Now
Interview With Deathwish Nine
Tujunga
From Issue 1.5, May/June 2005
If Tujunga-based band Deathwish Nine was a fraction it would be one part emo, one part rock, one part hardcore and three parts sincere. Does that make a whole? Read on to see.
There must me something wrong with them. No kidding.
While most kids in a band clamor to be the most emo or the most punk amongst each other, Deathwish Nine wants to be everything and they do it without being pretentious.
Fitting their self-made label of “nervous break-down or chemically unbalanced rock,” the band that was once Ragtime Revolutionaries, is now Deathwish Nine, is now one less guitar player, is now more hardcore, is now more rock ‘n roll, is now more emo, is now more serious and (probably now more than ever) not easily defined by any one label.
“We used to play one real, straight brand of punk,” said Tony Orozco, 19, who does lead vocals and plays the guitar in the band.
Orozco plays alongside guitarist and lead singer Sean Locke, 19; bassist Payam Ayazi, 21 and drummer Ryan Krasnow, 19.
“We’ve expanded our style lately. There’s now more rock n roll, hardcore, emo and metal influence,” Orozco continued.
See. Pinning down this band with one label would be difficult.
All of those changes in music styles would also be in addition to their new band name, Deathwish Nine.
Contrary to their myspace posting the name was not really made with the intent to “destroy all that is held important and sacred in this world.”
They are just a little cynical about things. Add to that bitterness, a sick sense of humor mixed with sarcasm, and out come songs such as “Anthem for the Forgotten Youth,” which Orozco said in retrospect was, “my way of blaming my personal problems on my surroundings instead of being a man and taking responsibility for my crappy life.”
Take that statement and a dozen others like it with emotionally-charged songs about everything from politics, to love, to hate and betrayal and one might conclude this band thinks the world is falling to hell.
That could be. However, their sarcasm stems from a perception of the world more J.D. Salinger than ungrateful youths.
“There’s so much goddamn excess in this country,” said Orozco citing VH1’s “The Fabulous Life of” as an example.
“The world could be such a great place if man wasn’t so goddamn selfish. I recognize that I let my surroundings bug me way too much, and I realize I’m a dick about it too,” he said explaining an earlier comment he made that he and his bandmates are all “bitter, self-loathing assholes.”
They are cynical, yet self-deprecating-a trait that spares them the label of another angst-ridden band singing about how awful the world is without the lack of context and depth Deathwish Nine gives to their music.
Perhaps, their likability factor comes from the fact that their songs are personal. No. They do not have the “my girlfriend just broke up with me and I’d do anything to get her back,” kind of personal songs. Their subject matter is less ambiguous.
Take the three songs “Another One Down,” “Tujunga’s Finest” and “Tujunga” as examples of this band’s ability to articulate what they know and what they grew up around, into music.
All three songs draw images of extreme violence and hate with a lot of references to anti-Nazi sentiments. All three songs reference Tujunga, a city in the San Fernando Valley that the group is from.
“If you read our lyrics, especially our older lyrics, you’ll notice tons of anti- white power lyrics,” said Orozco explaining why those songs were written.
“I grew up around hatred-huge, raised trucks filled with gigantic white, tweaked-out gorillas covered in ‘swastika’ and ‘88’ tattoos, equipped with baseball bats in their hand and a gleam in their eyes just out looking for a good time.
“The more I grew, the more I learned to hate racism in all forms, but especially the brand that I had to deal with every day of my life: white supremacy. I hate it with an un-dying passion. Those songs are definitely reflections of some personal experiences with us constantly getting harassed or jumped by the boneheads.”
Tujunga, like many other communities, has been subject to various hate crimes in the past.
Five years ago, a black man was shot outside of his home after an SUV pulled into the victim’s driveway, blocked his path and the SUV’s driver got out and shouted racial epithets before shooting the victim. In 2001, the city’s police suited up after skinhead recruitment posters were posted throughout a high school.
Somehow, this band was able to skillfully articulate what they saw happening around them, rather than succumbing to a life filled with hatred or racist attitudes.
Thus, the sincerity from which Deathwish Nine sings and plays to, is what makes them a powerful, musical force.
Although the band formed out of sheer boredom described by the band as “something to do to take our minds off of our lack of girlfriends, intelligence and lives,” four years later, they are more grown-up.
Well, maybe.
Krasnow said that he often finds himself laughing at his “own stupidity.” Orozco entertains himself by laughing at his reflection in the mirror.
“I can find anything funny,” said Ayazi. “Sometimes I do stupid things knowing they’re stupid-but [do it] just because it’s funny and I can laugh about it later.”
Added Locke, “yea, I’m really weird.”
Weirdness aside however, their easy to entertain personalities, do not deter from their abilities to play a rather unique brand of rock music after years of playing instruments on and off and taking up a few other instruments here and there.
Orozco actually started out playing the piano when he was 8 and then traded in further piano lessons to pick up the guitar.
“I really wanted to play punk music, and I figured piano wouldn’t really work...I will regret that decision ‘til the day I die,” he said.
Locke similarly, took a few piano lessons when he was younger, but took up the guitar when he was 8.
“My dad has played guitar all his life so I grew up with music all around me. He is the sole reason I got into music considering it was on all his guitars that I learned to play,” said Locke.
Deathwish Nine’s bassist, Ayazi, has been proficient in guitar and bass since he was 15.
“Never took any classes or lessons,” Ayazi said, “just figured it out being bored and later jamming with others.”
Krasnow, the drummer, wasn’t bored when he took up the drums.
“I decided at age 12 that I wanted to beat things with a stick,” he said. “I soon found out I could also make music while beating things so I decided I wanted to buy a drum kit.”
Put these four talents together five days each week (the band’s average number of practices) for several hours, and the result is what Orozco referred to as an “at each other’s throat” song-writing process.
It is probably for this reason, that Deathwish Nine pulls off the raw and intense feeling they want people to get when they play their music.
So sarcasm and what they call a “lame sense of humor” seems to be everything “wrong” and yet so right for Deathwish Nine and its chemically unbalanced music.