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About 2000 Words With Los Angeles' Tozcos

I first stumbled across Tozcos in 2017 - they were playing one of the infamously chaotic afternoon house parties during Oakland’s Manic Relapse Fest at the legendary World Rage Center. I was immediately taken with just how powerful and passionate they were - just this ripping ball of SoCal punk melding those early 80s LA stylings with the sensibilities of aggression and melody that make early Spanish punk so compelling. They construct a soundscape that is anthemic and punchy with hints of tension and ferocious angst. With the release of their second LP, Infernal, they are certain to ascend to that pantheon of classic and essential LA punk bands. Here’s my interview with them from issue 15…

My understanding is that the word ’Tozcos’ seems to have two meanings - one being something poorly made or gross but also to indicate a person who handles things with care - can you talk about why you chose this as a band name?

Lemon: Actually, It means Brute

I’ve also read it means ‘coarse.’

Corrina: Monse came up with the name

Monse: We needed a band name because we had our first show lined up already. It was a word we were told growing up when we were being rowdy

Corrina: I remember Ausencia was also one of the names pitched haha

Los Angeles is a huge place with a massive hardcore/punk scene which ranges from professional punk (think Epitaph) to tough guy hardcore to beach punk to super DIY… how do you see Tozcos fitting in? What bands do you find affinity with?

Monse: We are still part of the more DIY latino punk scene

Kevin: It's not so much about bands but more so the people that we connect with. We like all types of punk and hardcore but the scenes can be so divided here. Especially when it comes to older vs young bands

Corrina: We clicked with the Silenzio Statico crew instantly

Monse: The reason we got to play so many LA shows was because of the Silenzio Statico crew inviting us

Kevin: I feel like we definitely learned a lot from them. SoCal has changed a lot since the pandemic though and I feel it's harder to vibe with a lot of bands on a musical level 

You seem to take a fairly DIY approach to things - relying more on word of mouth, ‘ask a punk’ approach to promotion and distribution - why is this important to you? 

Kevin: It's important to us because there's no other way. It's been only more recently that we have played actual venues locally

Monse: “Ask a Punk” has always been out of necessity for gigs to not get raided. We played a lot of house shows

That said, you did have a song appear on the TV show This Fool - how did that come about?

Monse: They hit up the Verdugo Discos email asking if they could use the song, but prior to that Chris Estrada, the main actor and writer from the show, told Mark that he liked the label's catalog. Turns out he had seen us play at East 7th or something like that

Musically (at least to me) you sort of put together this combo of early LA punk bands (Dangerhouse, some of the OC surf punk bands, etc) with that early to mid 80s Spanish punk/hardcore sound - the LA part makes sense and there is obvious easy access to that stuff but I’m interested in your path to discovering the old Spanish punk. I know the internet is a magical place where everything is easily to access, but you still have to know what you are looking for - what were your early steps into Spanish punk? How important was that discovery for you? 

Monse: I grew up thinking punk was very white. We didn't have access to other punk bands that we could relate to so I got introduced to punk in Spanish mostly through compilations. I would go to record stores and just look for punk records with spanish titles. I remember seeing Eskorbuto shirts and checking them out. Shout out to my cousin for showing me Los Crudos when I was on the border of getting into beatdown hardcore haha. 

Lemon: I was hanging out at a garage and there was a Los Crudos CD there. I was like wtf is this and it sparked my interest and now we're here. It was important AF to me. It opened the door to checking out bands from other countries

Corrina: Mine would be from myspace music. I heard Peligro Social. I used to save the links to band pages on email drafts. And also from seeing Crudos shirts. I didn't even know punthree existed in another language. 

Kevin: I found out through my cousins. I went to Mexico and was into some mainstream punk bands already and they told me to take that shit off and put on some real jams. They played me Eskorbuto, Dos Minutos and La Polla Records. I now play in 3 bands that sing in Spanish and also have a distro based on highlighting Latin American punk and metal. 

It feels like in the last decade or so punks in the USA are making more and more connections with punk scenes from all over the globe but it seems like there is still isn’t that much of a connection with Mexico, why do you think that is? Am I crazy?

Kevin: There aren't as many active bands anymore from Mexico. A lot of people that were active moved out of the country too.

Corrina: It's really expensive for bands to come play over in the US. It takes a larger toll financially unlike when people from here can just buy a flight and go wherever they want

Monse: There are still people there doing cool stuff. Like Soga put out a record on Iron lung

Lemon: There are still connections. 

Kevin: I also think a lot of American punks expect bands from certain countries to sound a certain way so there isn't as much investment. I think Los Monjo was the last band that got attention here

Lemon: Los Monjo!!! YEAH!!!

Do you think its important to make those connections outside of the US? Why or why not?

Lemon: Yup, friendship is crucial

Corrina: We have really close friends that live all over the world. We met all of them through band stuff

Monse: We have been able to do really cool tours in different parts of the world by just doing our own thing without a big label, management, or anything like that. We got to be part of what feels like a DIY network as an alternative from the traditional ideas of the music business. 

Kevin: I think it's sad that some people will only do things for the sake of networking though. There are times where we've met people that we don’t vibe with immediately and I don’t give a fuck about em and they are out of our lives afterwards and thats fine. The reason we've been so lucky is because we see eye to eye with people who are really passionate about punk like us.

Corrina: That's super important because it's something you can feel

Monse: Yeah some people want to be rock stars

Lemon: I wouldn't call any of it "connections". It's all just friendship

Monse: There's still so many bands and scenes we don't know about all over the world

Kevin: Yeah even with the internet, it's hard to know about everything going on. There's always a micro scene in every country and people you will relate with. Weather they're popular or not

Tozcos released your first demo in 2013, yes? But while it feels like a lot of band just crank out new songs and records, you’ve been fairly sparse in your output - why is that? Are you actively doing other projects? Just living your life? Conscious choice of quality over quantity?

Lemon: Yes, all of the above. We don't want to be mad albums deep

Corrina: There are a lot of pretty bad bands that just start playing and releasing stuff just to say they are in a band. 

Lemon: Yeah for instant gratification

Corrina: I don't want to be that. I want people to feel the way I feel when I listen to the bands I like.

Monse: I think all of us have that same approach. We all consciously would rather take our time to work on the music and be proud of it then to just crank something out

Kevin: It's also a challenge for us to all jam together now. From the pandemic, to people moving, and now Monse is a mother

Monse: Shout out to my lil Oli!

COVID really seemed to derail a lot bands and their plans - did you have things in the works that got put off? Do you have intents on making up for lost time?

Lemon: We were going to play San Diego

Monse: We were going to do a Spain tour

Kevin: We actually cancelled that not due to covid, but thankfully we did cause that was going to in April 2020 when shit hit the fan haha

Monse: We are just trying to play again as much as we can whenever we can. 

Kevin: I don't think we're going to do any long tours for some time. Just kind of weekend trips and shit like that cause we don't have as much available time

Monse: We are also working on a new record

Kevin: We've been for some time hahaha 

Corrina: That was definitely pushed back because of Covid

If there was one song that epitomized your band - one song someone would need hear to ‘get it’ what would it be?

Kevin: Lagrimas Injustas for me

Monse: I feel like Guerra Mundial too

Lemon: It's between those 2 for sure. 

Your 1st LP is entitled "Sueños Deceptivos” which translates to “Deceptive Dreams” in English - can you speak about that a bit? Why is that the title and what is the broader meaning? How does it sum up the themes of the album?

Monse: It has to do with our background. How our families came as immigrants from Mexico and who's experience in the US was a lot different from what they imagined. 

Kevin: It's about the "American dream" and the real cost of chasing it

Monse: It's about all the systemic bullshit that our families have endured to be here, stay here, and to progress. A lot of the themes of our songs are about that experience and the emotions around it.

Do you view yourself as a political band? Why or why not? What does being ‘political’ mean anyway?

Kevin: Yes and no. 

Lemon: It's not a theme

Corrina: But it is involved around the music

Monse: We are just singing about our lived experiences and some of those have politics interwoven into them. A lot of it is coming from our identity. It's what directly affects us not just a political stance

Kevin: Yeah we're not trying to present ourselves as an audio infographic. We are just sharing the feelings we have from the way we've lived 

Lemon: It's definitely not what drives the band. But to be clear, fuck ICE and fuck the border.

What’s next for Tozcos? Anything to add?

Corrina: A 10 year anniversary show?

Lemon: Fuck god damn already huh haha

Kevin: I want to hopefully go play Colombia and Spain

Tozcos wants to give a big ass shout out to:

Mark and Baby Olivia. Vondo, Yecatl, Toxic State crew, Tejas crew, and all the LA and Santa Ana homies.