An Interview with Red Sun
Interview by Erendira Argueta
Our Assistant Music Director, Erendira Argueta interviews East LA Chicano Hardcore band A Red Sun about topics including injustice and Latino experiences. Keep reading for insights into the band’s history, the current LA Chicano hardcore scene, and the intersections between politics and music. She spoke with band member Jason Flores.
JF=Jason Flores
EA=Erendira Argueta
EA: Good morning. First, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and who you are?
JF: I’m Jason Ocevio Valencia Flores. And I play in the Red Sun. I am a community member. I am a student. I am a son. I’m a dog owner. That’s a little bit about me. I love school. I work with kids a lot, actually, too. So, you know… All around a busy person.
EA: Can you tell us the name of your band, where you formed, and maybe your genre?
JF: Yeah, so the name of the band is “A Red Sun.” The genre, we call it Chicano Hardcore, not necessarily because it follows a hardcore structure or genre, but it follows a hardcore mentality and a lot of social justice topics. So that the Chicano hardcore, I would say.
EA: Mm-hmm. Okay, fire. You guys present yourself as an East Los Angeles hardcore band. How do you think that East LA culture and community are integrated into your music?
JF: I would say, for example, we have the song called Smoking That Freedom Pack. And it was supposed to be called smoking that Queen Elizabeth pack, because we were talking about tyranny and taking advantage of power, but when we originally wrote it, it was before the recent Trump election. When he got re-elected, we just decided to talk about how there are a lot of issues with immigration currently, a lot of issues around the world, and what it actually means to be free in America. So I think when we talk about East LA culture, East LA is predominantly built around immigrants who work hard for their families. I come from immigrants as a first-generation, so does Jacob, the drummer, and so does Julian, the singer and bass player. So, when we talk about integrating East LA culture, it’s just talking about our community, having our community’s back, you know? And even in the music video, we decided to hav, a lowrider in it, because, you know, East LA and Lowriders, you gotta do it.
EA: Yeah, for sure. Having that, like, community-oriented mentality. I agree. Yeah. So you’ve released your 1st album, which is titled “In Human Form.” And what was the inspiration behind this album? Can you talk to us a little bit about it?
JF: Oh, wow, “In Human Form”. That album is funny. When we first recorded it, we didn’t come from money at all, and no one taught us how to record. It was just GarageBand on a crappy computer, and we recorded the entire thing in under 24 hours. Drums were tracked in the living room, and vocals were tracked in my brother’s closet. It was…I would say, a very first-generation punk band. I personally got inspired by going to shows when I was a kid. I remember going to “Ska Wars,” “Ska Land,” and shows at Plaza de la Raza, and when you’re in an environment like Plaza de la Raza and you see all these Latinos coming together, and ska in LA is way different than ska everywhere else in the world. Ska in LA is for La Raza, for sure. Seeing that kind of culture, seeing your people just celebrating, what their culture is, you just want to talk about it. You want to sing about it, you want to write about it. I would say a lot of inspiration is also experiences we would have; there’s a song on there called Knife Store and it’s literally about a knife store in Chinatown, because Chinatown’s fairly close to East Los Angeles, and me and Julian, the singer, we would be taking the bus down to Chinatown, just to have fun, and we would go to this knife store, and the owner would always follow us. He wouldn’t ask us if we wanted to buy anything; he wouldn’t ask us if we wanted to see any of the products he had. We were kids, so we were really interested in pocket knives and stuff like that. He would just ask us to get out. So we wrote it about him, talking about just the kind of surveillance that they think they need because they’re stereotyping us already, so, definitely experiences like that.
EA: Yeah. Definitely. Maybe you already answered this, but can you tell us about a song off the album that you think is maybe the most personal and why?
JF: You know what, I think the song “Libertad.” It’s pretty personal to me. I wrote that song in my mom’s Pueblo. I remember my mom from Pueblo Camilpa de Guerra. I remember being in her Pueblo, and it’s a very small Pueblo, one way in, one way out type of deal. I didn’t have a guitar, because I didn’t want to pay to travel with it. I found my mom’s old guitar, and I had to send someone who my cousins knew, like, oh, he’s gonna go out into the city tomorrow, Jason, like, do you want anything? And I was like, can you get me guitar strings? He came back with a pack of guitar strings, and I restrung her guitar. I wrote the song on her guitar, which is pretty special to me. It was nice to step away from LA for a little bit, because LA can get a little chaotic. Even as a kid, I think specifically for Latinos. Sometimes the city environment can be a bit much, even now you see, kids way younger than I was when I first started writing music, already just seeing what this presidency does to communities, kids are learning at a really young age, wow, this is what life is like as a person of color. But, Libertad has always been about that. I mean, it’s in the title, Libertad, looking for it and fighting for it. That definitely is something personal to me. The environment felt real enough to write that song, just back in my abuelita’s house in Iskamilpa. Just thinking about, like, wow, my parents immigrated from here all the way to the US. Being in their environment made me really think about things like that. So I’d say that’s pretty special to me.
EA: Next question is, can you tell us about a few artists that you look up to and influence the Red Suns’ sound? You guys have a really cool ska and Chicano hardcore sound. It’s really a mix. So what influenced that?
JF: You know what? It’s funny, all three members of a red sun listen to very different music. The aux cord is fought over in the car, I’ll tell you that right now, if we’re in Julian’s car, you’re listening to Julian’s music, and same for Jacob and me. But we’re just such music lovers. I’m a ska head, I love ska to the bone, because it’s nice to have lyrics in Spanish that talks about injustices and resistance and that’s why I personally like ska. It’s the topics that they talk about that I feel no other genre can satisfy as much. Jacob is actually a thrash 80s metalhead, but also 80s dance music, and like he’s a big disco guy too, so I mean, as a drummer, he’s got the rhythms down. Julian (the bassist) is a big hardcore and metal guy. Death metal, every kind of metal, really. I think I brought in a lot of the punk influences, I’m into Bad Brains, Black Flag, The Exploited, you know, “No Values” was my whole festival, I was going crazy that day. I brought Julian to his first ska show, and he fell in love with it immediately. It was for “Skaland,” and he was like, we have to write music like this. Happy drunk cartel 23 skunks. He really liked ska, but right now he’s very into Kublai Khan, Mongrel, and Smoke909. I believe those are some of the names that he’s been throwing at me, but likewise, I enjoy hardcore. Currently, I’m very into Peeling Flesh. I’m really into Hip-hop, too. I can’t go on without shouting out hip-hop. As I said, we’re very big music nerds, but right now, Jacob and I have been conceptualizing some song ideas for a new album where we can discuss mixing nineties G funk like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and EZE. I think it’s just paying homage to the fact that outside of being Chicanos, the bands from Los Angeles, and I think that in and of itself is an entire culture of Los Angeles. You have the show “To Live and Die in LA,” like, that’s one of the coolest shows to pull up to, because you have photographers from all over Los Angeles showcasing their work. In Los Angeles, it’s kind of like where we used to go by saying like for artists by artists. They’re doing the same thing, but highlighting la cultura. Our inspiration is definitely Los Angeles, definitely Sublime, Bad Brains. hip-hop, Dr. Dre, EZE, Death Row Records. I’m trying to think of, like, a bunch of people to shout out right now. But, like, just everything. It’s a whole conglomeration of stuff.
EA: Yeah, all you guys are super passionate about music, and that mixes all into your sound.
JF: Yeah. Yeah, literally. We’re just a bunch of nerds, guys.
EA: How do you think that your album titled “In Human Form” applies to the political landscape today, with ICE and Trump in office?
Jason Flores: Oh, man. “In Human Form”. Jacob’s the one who conceptualized the name. Jacob and Julian are the ones who worked on that collage. You know, they worked on that collage for the album work. And I think what Jacob might have been going for when titling it in human form is he really wanted to capture, like, the political state of which I think we released that in 2021-ish? The Trump administration was still roaming in our heads. There’s just so much to be said there, but we have this song called “No Lives Matter” that’s one of the songs that’s very interesting, because during the time we were recording this, the Black Lives Matter movement was happening, which is a very historical movement. Julian was very focused on thinking about the idea of all these things are going down and at the end of it, we’re all gonna die. It sounds very morbid, but it’s kind of true. When people say All Lives Matter, it’s like saying, you’re anti-Black Lives Matter, you’re anti-Latino Lives Matter. So by Julian coming up with the title “No Lives Matter”, it’s kinda saying what are you, stupid? You’re going to die, just like I’m going to die. You bleed just like I bleed. And he’s given me this speech a couple of times, too; we all have red blood inside of us. No lives really matter at the end of it. So, might as well just love each other. Might as well have each other’s backs, instead of saying whose lives matter, because in the end, no one’s really do. Just opening up with that track, talking about immigration policies today. It’s just like the media says, we live in such a dystopian world that sometimes it really does feel like no lives matter and they should. For example, Palestine, free Palestine. It’s just so hard to open the news and not be like, why are we doing this? Bringing up the album, it encapsulates that “In Human Form” currently, we have people who are scared, and we have politicians who don’t care in human form. We have people trying to make a difference about it in any way that they can, small or large. Encapsulating the words “In Human Form” for the entire album to set the setting. It’s just talking about how we should care about each other, because at the end of it, we are all just humans, and we were all born the same, you know? There’s not really that much of a difference besides the borders that we just conceptualized.
EA: The next question is, I notice a lot of your fans are Latinos and Chicanos. Have you noticed any difference in the crowd playing this past year with Trump being in office, and the ICE raids? Any difference in crowds.
JF: This is kind of tough for me to answer personally, because for those who may not know in this interview, I am all the way in the Bay Area studying. I stepped back a bit to play from some shows just because it is a six-hour drive. I will say I don’t see a difference in terms of numbers, and I think that’s beautiful, because some people are still willing to go to our shows even with everything going on and I’m not saying that they should, it’s scary, you know, if you want to stay home, I totally understand because I have a lot of friends who are undocumented. And they are too scared to go to the grocery store, even all the way out here in Berkeley, where it’s a safe city. But I do notice actually, like when it comes to fashion, there is a lot of resistance type clothing. Something that I loved was I saw this foo, and I want to say fool because this was a foo. He pulled up in an entire Pachuco suit. And the boy was in his early 20s and I was like, that’s what I’m trying to see. As we may know, the Pachuco suit is very much dressing for resistance, being extravagant, being like let me show you my garments, this is our culture, and we’re here to stay. Wearing that today as a younger person who didn’t grow up in the Zoot Suit era. It’s keeping that culture alive, and letting people know that Latinos are here. It’s a very loud thing to wear, especially to Blue Spade Studios, which is a backyard in East LA that throws shows, and they also record a lot of punk bands. I thought that was dope just to see that in the backyard in East LA. He brought out his best garments. He even had the hat on, and everything, he looked like one of the homie figures. I love seeing, like, the attire being changed. Shout out to Nico Adena, who prints at Espacio 1839, which is a little shop in East LA, that makes jerseys that have like words of resistance on them. I have one myself with El Subcomandante Marcos on the front, and he has, like, a saying of resistance in the back that’s printed on it. I see those jerseys a lot at shows, and I think that’s exactly what we should be wearing at shows. Letting people know what the message of the community is, not just the message the band is giving out. But if the band can get people together who are showcasing these garments and showcasing their attire, which is, in the punk scene, very loud and I think that’s beautiful. But that’s what I’ve noticed. The attire has changed into a lot of resistance clothing.
EA: That’s really beautiful. Next question is, what do you think is so special about the East LA punk and hardcore scene that you don’t see in a lot of other places? I feel like you’ve already explained it a bit throughout this interview.
JF: It is a different level, you know. As Henry Rowlands says, why don’t you go down to East LA and see where the real hard people live? Henry Rowlands might have meant that we’re willing to beat people up more than everyone else, because I can see that, but real hard people, because we’ve seen some and It’s a privilege to live in East LA. I’m personally from Northeast LA, so I’m not gonna claim that but Jacobs from East LA think it’s definitely different to be from East LA, or, it’s just beautiful to be in a scene in East LA. As my parents immigrated, I’m a first-generation, my best friend’s parents also immigrated, we all have the same kind of story. Just the history of it, it’s like it’s so rich. If you’re not a first-generation, then someone in your family, for sure, was, you know? Like, East LA is, definitely just always been, like, it’s always been an immigrant community, you know, regardless of what anyone says, and something that I think highlights that a lot, or highlights, like, the hardship—slash—like, heart that East La carries or like films like “American Me,” “Blood in Blood Out.” Of course, you know everyone’s die-hard for “Blood in Blood Out.” Mi Familia, you know, we got a lot of movies that talk about the history of East Los Angeles. And I think that the history that you saw in East LA carries with it, like, with Chicanos, with Latinos of all walks of life. I think it really just highlights, like if you’re a punk in the East LA scene, you got an immigration story behind you, you know? If it were your family member, or yourself, even, or just, like, a very close relative, like, everyone’s dealt with some kind of hardship in that sense. So definitely just having a community in the punk scene just means a lot more, you know? Like, I would say, like, my band is like that’s my family, you know, those are my brothers. Like, I need them there. A lot of the time. I’ve, like, I’ve been out here for 2 years, and I’ve never felt closer to anyone but my band, who’s still, like, miles away. But yeah, like, those are the people I call for help if I ever need anything. Yeah. there’s like a sense of family in a lot of the sense.
EA: And since it’s like women’s month, how do you guys make women feel safe at your shows as much as you can, you know?
JF: Uh-huh. Julian is constantly looking out into the crowd to make sure nothing happens at all. If Julian sees something go down, he’s hopping off that stage and he’s just gonna help to stop it. But how do we make women feel safe at shows? I’m one person who constantly likes to just go out into the crowd after I play. I don’t like hanging out backstage, you know? Although most of the connections happen backstage, it’s nice to just be amongst the crowd and have people get to know you. If I ever invite friends, most of my friends happen to be women, I always just make sure to tell them like, call me if you ever need anything. Let me know if you’re safe, because let’s be honest, shows, punk shows, as much as they are for community, unfortunately, a lot of the times they aren’t, a lot of the times there’s like there’s a lot of things going on right now. And I’m not going to call out any names because I know it’s legal stuff, and I don’t know them personally, but I read the Instagram stories, and it’s like, oh, again? The best thing we can do is keep our women safe, keep our friends safe, our family, our mothers, Julian’s mom constantly goes to shows. It’s just going out there, and talking to people, and making sure everyone’s safe. Calling it out on the microphone, keeping each other safe, you know? Julian’s very keen on making speeches during our sets saying you guys gotta have each other’s backs, you guys gotta look out for one another, look around you, this is your family. You guys gotta make sure that you treat each other as such. And although he may not be saying women specifically, he says it out loud to everybody. Once he says that, I do notice people, looking around and dabbing each other up. I think just by giving a name to the face, a lot of the time, I’m giving accountability for myself at this show. This is my name. Like, if you need anything, let me know. So I guess in that sense.
EA: Yeah. Yeah, as much as you can, try to keep that community, call people out. So do you have any, like, songs or projects you want to promote, and where can people listen to you? What do you guys mostly play?
JF: People can listen to us on basically everything on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, although Spotify. I don’t know if I can test on this. SoundCloud, literally everywhere. We got a couple of music videos out, if you guys wanna check those out, directed by, uh, Frank Malaka, who’s actually playing bass live for us. He’s a really great performer. I’m always impressed when I see Frank perform. Something to promote, I would say we’re working on an album, or on a couple of songs. We’re working on a couple of things, you know? A couple of things are about to drop within the next couple of years. And, uh, look out for those, because there’s going to be a lot of those, uh, Los Angeles influences that I have been talking about, that G funk will be in there for sure. Well, yeah, you guys can watch us play anywhere in East LA. You guys could probably catch us at a cafe in East LA, at a bar in East LA, at a Panaderia in East LA, at a taco spot in East LA. So go outside and support your local vendors, because we might be there, and we’d love to talk. So, nerd out with us.