NEW GUARD
Interview on Show Organizer Punky Dorie
Camarillo, Calif.
January 21, 2019
Tear Down: A Q&A With Punky Dorie’s Founder
Hailey Hinojosa, founder
@punkydorie on Instagram and Facebook
*Interview and photos taken between sets at the Nardcore New Year show.
VENTURA, CALIF. – First off, you can’t miss Hailey Hinojosa. She’s tall and has a warm disposition, making her hard to miss even at a dark backyard show.
She’s part of a growing community now being reinvigorated with a new fervor for creating a sense of community and their own history among a new generation of hardcore bands, fans and show organizers hailing from the Ventura County area. Her fledgling organization Punky Dorie hosted its first show at Casa Anarkia in Simi Valley for New Year’s. That was followed up Jan. 19 with the Nardcore New Year show, put on in conjunction with Ventura experimental punk band Sleepaway. The latter show went off largely without a hitch save for the police who ended up crashing the show and ending it just before the last band, Crawdads, was set to go on.
Hinojosa’s only ramping up her efforts and has big plans for herself and the local scene with more shows and maybe even a zine later on. Meet Hailey of Punky Dorie.
So give us a little background on yourself and what you’re aiming to do here with the shows.
Hailey: I was involved in the L.A. punk scene. I grew up here and moved back here and realized there’s not many things for all ages [shows]. They’re mostly 21 plus. I know a few production companies in Ventura that only throw stuff at bars so I started talking to some people in the scene. I started going to shows, meeting people. I thought of Punky Dorie one day trying to think of a witty name, made an account and started posting other people’s flyers. I got a following and got messages from people saying, “Hey, I have a space. If you know the bands, we can organize it.” This is my second show and I have a more coming up in the next few months. So it’s just me for Punky Dorie, but it’s not just me who throws the shows. The bands bring the equipment, people lend their houses. It’s totally a community.
I feel like people started to slip away. They’re focused on trying to bring back the bands from the 80s and I’m like, “Well, yeah, not to be rude, but when they’re [the old bands] 80 years old, and we didn’t do anything to nurture the young scene, where are we going to be?
What was your first show?
That was in Simi Valley. It was last minute because this [Nardcore New Year show] was supposed to be my first show.... Fifty or 60 people showed up so it was a good turnout. It went really well. People were friendly. I noticed the scene here is just a lot friendlier than the one I was in, in L.A. I’m really thankful that I grew up here and I can help out. It’s just really fun.
When you were in L.A., what part were you living in?
Boyle Heights, but I went to shows in downtown, Long Beach, everywhere. And it was OK, but I kind of just followed people. I didn’t do much, but when I saw that stuff needed to be done here, I was like, “Hey, I have experience in the scene. I’m going to try to do something.” And I’m so surprised how well it panned out. We’re just trying to find a place for all ages to go and get a little bit of the scene back because I noticed a lot of my friends are bored. They’re just bored and I wanted to get something for us to do.
Why do you think this area has that sense of community that’s maybe different from what you see in the Los Angeles area or Orange County?
I think it’s like that because Ventura County, out here we have a past of a scene – so does L.A. – but not too many people outside of nardcore, know nardcore. It’s also just tightly packed [geographically], not to mention it’s just less people. We still have a lot of punks, but there’s not like 10 million people like there is in L.A. County, so it’s much easier when you go to a show [here] you know about half the people. It’s also slower over here, compared to L.A. where everyone is in a hurry so I think that contributes.
What do you think defines the nardcore scene today?
As far as what defines nardcore, I think it’s just tight-knit people. It’s community. It’s hardworking people. It’s middle class. You don’t get that as much in L.A. because its either you’re rich or you’re poor. Here, it’s just middle class and we all work hard. Most of us. What’s really cool is I didn’t even know there were that many young punks here until I came back and there’s tons of them. There’s just no shows so you wouldn’t know. But it’s going to grow here. It’s going to be noticed.
What’s the most challenging aspect of organizing show?
So there’s two things I thought of right away. One, it’s finding a place because 10, 15 years ago all-ages venues E.P. Foster Library, even bars that would do all ages nights, they just stopped because lots of punks were very disrespectful, which I understand. But, also, it’s greed from the venues’ part. That’s why I have to walk into local venues and be like, “Hey, do you want to help the youth?” I can’t really say, “Can I throw a hardcore punk show here?”
Two, is getting in contact because there’s not that many bands here and so you pretty much have the same 10 bands to choose from as far as punk and hardcore – even alternative and metal. So that’s kind of difficult because I don’t want it to get boring. And I love the bands. They’re good but I want to give other bands chances. That’s why I’m hoping within a year, there will be a few more popping up so it’s not like I have the same bands for every show even though I love them. Everyone’s been so friendly. People are like thank you so much. Even Ill Repute messaged me “Thanks so much for keeping the scene alive” and I was like “Oh, my god.”
Did you screenshot that and frame it?
I know. I was like you basically are like my Justin Bieber. I put them up on a pedestal.
How’d they get in touch with you?
It was Instagram. Whoever’s on their Instagram is very nice, but we were just talking about why they had to leave the Warped Tour, because they didn’t play Warped Tour.
Everyone’s just been so nice. I’ve met an incredible amount of people and I’ve only been doing this since mid-November. It’s so nice and the community is so welcoming.