ABOUT…PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCES

PUNKAST GUESTS INCLUDING MIKE WATT

AND LISA FANCHER (FRONTIER RECORDS)

ADOBE PUNK:  THE CONCERT

Performed By Nina Diaz (Girl In A Coma)

March 15-16-17, 2024 At Frida Kahlo Theater

March 22-23-24, 2024 At Lineage

Performing Arts Center

February 20, 2024 (Los Angeles, California) – About…Productions announces all six Punkast guests to be interviewed by Jessica Schwartz live on stage kicking off each performance of Adobe Punk: the concert. These Punkast mini-sessions will feature notable punk trailblazers. Adobe Punk-related topics include the meaning and evolution of punk, punk ethos and artistic freedom, L.A. punk geography, punk feminism, and squatting. The program is presented at two venues over six nights: March 15-16-17, 2024 at Frida Kahlo Theater and March 22-23-24, 2024 at Lineage Performing Arts Center. Tickets available at aboutpd.org.

Punkast Interview Schedule:

March 15: Nina Diaz (Girl In A Coma, Elvis Costello)

March 16: Jesse Velo (Los Illegals)

March 17: Mike Watt (Minutemen, The Stooges)

March 22: Lisa Fancher (Frontier Records)

March 23: Teresa Covarrubias (The Brat)

March 24: Jimmy Alvarado (East L.A. punk historian)

Visit thepunkast.com for more information.

Adobe Punk: the concert is Nina Diaz (Girl in a Coma, Elvis Costello) and the Adobe Punk band (D.X. Machina FKA Isaac Cruz on drums, vocals; Giselle Etessami on bass, vocals) performing songs co-written by Diaz and Theresa Chavez (About…Productions). Diaz and band members will weave in stories from the original Adobe Punk 2022 theaterwork which was co-created by Gabriel Garza and Chavez. The setting is early 1980s working-class Bell Gardens where punk music finds life in one of L.A.’s oldest adobe homes. Inspired by the bands X, the Minutemen, and the Bags, a young punk trio builds its songbook as they define their artistic identity and find their place in the musical, and historic early California landscape of Los Angeles.

NINA DIAZ PUNKAST INTERVIEW MARCH 15:

Nina Diaz (co-songwriter and musician/performer) made her theatrical debut in 2019 as part of The Neighborhood Band in About...Productions’ Evangeline, the Queen of Make Believe. Now off-stage, Nina has co-written with Theresa Chavez the punk songs for About...Productions’ 2022 premiere of Adobe Punk. Nina Diaz's musical career began at the age of 13, as main writer and front woman for San Antonio all female punk band Girl in a Coma. By the time she turned 17 the band was signed to Joan Jett's Blackheart Records where they released four albums. The band toured widely sharing the stage with Morrissey, Tegan and Sara, and The Smashing Pumpkins to name a few. Nina Diaz' vocals and songwriting style compares to artists like Bjork, Jeff Buckley, PJ Harvey, Garbage, The Smiths, Patsy Cline, Patti Smith, Hole, Stone Temple Pilots, The Breeders, Alanis Morrisette, Nirvana or Gwen Stefani. Recently, her vocals were featured on the Spanish-language reissue of Elvis Costello and The Attractions’ This Year’s Model titled Spanish Model. Nina kicked off the album with her version of “No Action.” Now a full-time solo artist/producer/engineer, Nina released her sophomore solo album in 2022, I Could Be You, You Could Be Me, under the label BeatGirlProductions. Visit ninadiazsolo.com for more information.

JESSE VELO PUNKAST INTERVIEW MARCH 16:

Jesse Velo co-founded Los Illegals in the late 1970’s. Jesse says “With our backs against the wall, facing an impenetrable, almost segregated Hollywood industry we partnered with radical elements and (OSF) nuns of the Catholic church to co-found Vex, the first alternative music and art space in East L.A. We kick-started an Eastside L.A. Renaissance that brought together major world class artists, musicians, actors and writers with elements of agitprop in a display to the world as a show of unity across racial and economic lines. Our signature song (“El Lay”), with its Dickensian description of the plight of Latinos, and all marginalized people, garnered accolades and endorsements in major world media segments from Italy, France, Japan and the UK. The recognition also included accolades from notables such as The Clash, MC5, Rage Against the Machine, and even the likes of Mick Jagger. Not to mention an appearance on “Late Night with David Letterman.” Velo has also been cited/quoted in Rolling Stone, The Harvard Crimson and major local news publications across the U.S. and in over 30 political, music and art university textbooks. He is a retired US Federal Civil Rights Analyst/Investigator.

MIKE WATT PUNKAST INTERVIEW MARCH 17:

Mike Watt is an American bassist, vocalist and songwriter. He co-founded and played bass guitar for the rock bands Minutemen, Dos, and Firehose. He began a solo career with the 1994 album Ball-Hog or Tugboat?, and has since released three additional solo albums. He is also the frontman for the supergroup Big Walnuts Yonder, a member of the art rock group Banyan and is involved with several other musical projects. From 2003 until 2013, he was the bass guitarist for The Stooges. In November 2008, Watt received the Bass Player Magazine lifetime achievement award, presented by Flea. The Red Hot Chili Peppers dedicated their best-selling album, 1991's Blood Sugar Sex Magik, to Watt. Watt continues to create and perform a wide array of projects. He wrapped up a 58-date North American tour with mssv in the fall of 2023, and more of his musical collaborations will be released in 2024. Visit mikewatt.com for more information.

LISA FANCHER PUNKAST INTERVIEW MARCH 22:

Lisa Fancher’s venerable Frontier Records celebrates 44 years of independence, its initial releases include debut albums by the Circle Jerks, Adolescents, TSOL, China White, Christian Death and Suicidal Tendencies. Two decades after this impressive string of hits, Frontier discovered Portland’s Heatmiser, featuring the great Elliott Smith.

Fancher is a San Fernando Valley native. She worked at record stores like Bomp!, Vinyl Fetish and Licorice Pizza in North Hollywood. She recalls: “We were the black sheep, punk store with Cliff Roman from the Weirdos, Kid Congo, writer Don Snowden and members of the Quick…” In high school Fancher wrote about the Runaways and lines from the piece became part of the inner sleeve of their self-titled debut album. Also while attending John H. Francis high school, she mimeographed her first fanzine, Academy in Peril, and went on to publish subsequent ‘zines, Street Life and Biff! Bang! Pow! as well as writing for Bomp!, Back Door Man, New York Rocker and L.A. Times (fired by Robert Hilburn for being “too enthusiastic”) and L.A. Herald Examiner. She witnessed punk shows at the Masque, Cuckoo’s Nest, Starwood, Whisky a Go Go, Fleetwood et al, somehow finding it completely routine to run like hell from cops wielding batons before, during and after gigs, including the Elk’s Lodge riot and infamous Black Flag gigs at the Whisky.

In the early ‘90s, Fancher revived the legacy of the great, pre-hardcore L.A. punk label, Dangerhouse Records (X, Avengers, Weirdos, Bags, Blank Randy, The Eyes). Switching gears and morphing into a “punk rock Rhino” (OC hardcore combo, Middle Class; the Stimulators; reissues by Lilys). Fancher now owns a streaming radio station: predictably, the call letters are KXFU! She explains: “After being stiffed again and again over and over by dozens of record distributors over 30+ years, I co-founded Independent Label Distribution with Mike Beer from Beer City Records in 2011.” Visit frontierrecords.com for more information.

TERESA COVARRUBIAS PUNKAST INTERVIEW MARCH 23:

Teresa Covarrubias was born and raised in the Boyle Heights section of East Los Angeles and became the lead singer for The Brat, a Chicano punk rock ensemble (lead guitarist Rudy Medina, and alternate lead and rhythm guitarist Sidney Medina) originating from the barrios of East Los Angeles, California. From their conception in late 1978, to their eventual break-up in 1985, The Brat contributed to the customization and intermeshing of multiple musical and cultural models that culminated in the distinct East Los Angeles, Chicano punk sound. They are best known for their five song EP Attitudes, released in 1980 (Fatima Records), while contributing to the understanding of the many ways culture transforms and challenges dominant hegemonic ideologies. Musicians such as Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Benny Goodman and David Bowie had a heavy influence on Covarrubias and inspired her to seek alternative forms of music that deviated from the mainstream. This drive to seek alternative forms of media was only heightened when her sister shared D.I.Y. punk fanzines sourced in Germany.

JIMMY ALVARADO PUNKAST INTERVIEW MARCH 24:

Jimmy Alvarado has been active in East L.A.’s underground music scene since 1981 as a musician, backyard gig promoter, writer, poet, bouncer, flier artist, photographer, podcaster, and historian. He has authored numerous interviews, articles and shorts spotlighting the Eastside scene, and an episode of his Eastside Punks documentary series, about first-wave East L.A. punk band The Brat, was named Best Documentary Short at the 2020 Highland Park Independent Film festival. He writes for Razorcake and also plays guitar in the bands La Tuya and Our Band Sucks. Alvarado says "while punk has been an inspiration and refuge to many in Los Angeles County, precious little attention has been given to the greater Eastside's contributions to the scene until very recently. A richly diverse, multi-generational, multi-disciplinary group of artists are now being heard through a variety of avenues, resulting in a more holistic history of the Eastside, and Los Angeles, underground music scene that counters the long prevailing myth that punk has always been a "straight white boy thing." Visit latuya.bandcamp.com and razorcake.org for more information.