BeatRoute Magazine B.C. print e-edition - May 2016

SBDC
nasty names yield positive results
by Alex Molten
While being interviewed, the gals of
SBDC are sitting on a couch in their
jam space wearing wedding gowns
and tiaras and they are having a blast. The
band plays a catchy brand of care-free punk
that prompts smiles and butt shakes while not
being afraid to laugh at themselves or their
own jokes. In fact they are really good at that.
The band is Karmin S. and Cheryl B. on
guitar, Alicia D. on bass and Kati C. on drums,
LA CHINGA
livin’ large in a black light poster world
with the vocals being sung primarily by Karmin
and Alicia and some occasional back-up help
from the others.
The premise of the band was actually
brewed up years before any songs were
actually written. Karmin and Alicia are both
are mental health workers who, through their
jobs, have been called many foul names. It was
during a discussion on which insults bothered
them most that their band name was born.
Seems to be that once in a while we all
need a musical kick in the ass to take us
away from our digitally perfect, bereft
of soul, manufactured, pooper scoop world
and take a minute to kick back, flip on the lava
lamp, pull out the ZigZags and spark one up
and get lost in your “Homework Rots my Mind”
poster while crankin’ some especially primo,
shit-kickin’, boogilicious rock and roll!
These three dudes serve up hip-shakin’
goddamned down n’ dirty mayhem like it is. A
musical trademark tattoo’d - no, BRANDED -
into their denim flare wrapped asses are the
same guys that are getting all sorts of industry
and street level lovin’ for their musical flexing.
They are completely in the NOW and are the
tres hombres that make up the MIGHTY musical
muscle known as La Chinga .
Ben Yardley serves up a dazzling display
of mind melting six string sonics. He recalls a
very tasteful and vast array of influences while
putting his own kind of heavy cream on top
to satiate the senses and satisfy the palette.
Carl Spackler brings home a knuckle-dragging
thunder on the four string as he slams
his beast into some ferocious grooves so he’s
wailing like a motherfucking rock and roll
banshee over top of Yardley and killer tubsman
Jason Solyom. Solyom, who doubles as the
studio guru, pulverizes every molecule of
space not already liquified by his band mates.
Heavy dudes who dig the La Chinga thunder
include Rancho de la Luna/Eagles of Death
Metal mastermind Dave Catching, original
heavyweight Black Flag bassist Chuck Dukowski,
Venice Beach groovers the Shrine, and BF/
Circle Jerks/Off! Lead vocalist Keith Morris!
Tidy peanut gallery eh!
Yardley, Spackler, and the newest addition
to the La Chinga rawk machine, drummer,
multi-instrumentalist, and all-round swell dude
JoJo Jones sat down to discuss usual bullshit
about where, when, why, how over a few
stubbies after a recent rehearsal.
According to Yardley, the electricity that
clearly projects their close-knit band “started
when we all got together in a one-off as the
Snakeskin Cowboys to play Jay’s wedding.”
These dudes aren’t newbies, they cut their
teeth in some of the best bands to hit the
scene over the last ten plus years. Each (Jones
included) have paid their dues, danced with
the devil and lost. They’ve played Buttfuck
Nowhere, USA to six people and have also
shared bills and played with some of rock and
roll’s real royalty before creating La Chinga a
few years back.
Spackler adds, “When my buzz band fell
apart after label insanity, lawyers, road weariness
and infighting, when it was no fucking fun
anymore, I wanted to get away from that sound
and found myself listening to bands like Free,
Cactus, the Four Horsemen. Bands I always
loved – along with TSOL, Waylon Jennings,
The Burrito Brothers, etc... but, bands I needed
to reconnect with... and, it got me excited about
writing again.”
Yardley had been through a similar meatgrinder
in his 20s. “I spent most of my 20s
on the road playing every shithole imaginable.
“Neither of us get really triggered by
anything, other than stupid bitch or dumb
cunt. That kind of pisses [me] off. There’s not a
whole lot you can say to that. And so, Nathan,
my bandmate at the time, [who] was in the back
seat, screamed out ‘Make it your own, start a
band!’ and we were like ‘Super Bitch and the
Dumb Cunts!’” laughs Karmin.
So while SBDC was born that day, it
remained only a joking idea for a couple years.
“It was like two years of us talking about this
project,” says Karmin. “We used to joke that
SBDC was not just a band, [it was] also a
lifestyle.”
Two years into living the “lifestyle” they
brought Cheryl and Kati in on the joke. In
August 2015 they released their debut album,
Pretty Shitty. Featuring tracks titled “Sluts of
Paradise,” “Princess of Pop,” and “SBDC Takes
On the NYPD,” it’s a hilarious and energetic
ride from start to finish.
The band is about to release their second
album, which is called Future Ex-Wives and are
embarking on a tour on May 23. They will be
adventuring past the border into the American
South, cutting back up through the east, and
returning west for Sled Island in Calgary. A
song called “Nothing Personal” from Future
Ex-Wives is up on their Bandcamp and it’s a
Working on my chops and playing in, and with
some great bands and players. Carl and I just
started jamming and Jay was the obvious
choice to drum. Solyom is a beast. And, from
that very first rehearsal Jay recorded and
uploaded a song to YouTube and that was the
genesis of La Chinga.”
JoJo is a great fit. While not trying to replicate
Solyom’s playing, Jones adds his own
slinky kind of swing as he pounds the living
shit out of his kit. Jones comes with his own
list of achievements: “I’ve played with a lot
of people… projects that each rocked in their
own unique way – Black Betty, Jake E Lee
(Ozzy’s guitarist) and stoner/sludge rockers
Sir Hedgehog.”
The extremely wide musical palette of
great listen. A little tighter and longer than the
songs on their first album, it still retains all the
charm the band infused into Pretty Shitty.
As an audience member at an SBDC show,
one feels like they are getting let in on a private
joke. They clearly love playing with each other
and their happiness is contagious. If they make
a mistake, they shrug through it. If they play
tight, well then all the better. One of their songs
even has a mess-up written right into it.
“There’s this whole thing that where to be
taken seriously as women doing anything
you have to do twice as good. That you have
to be better than anything. But we obviously
didn’t do that,” muses Alicia about her band’s
unabashed on-stage confidence.
“We straddle that line where we don’t take
ourselves seriously but still [are] able to play
the songs. They’re catchy and people seem
to like them, so basically I think we’ve found a
really good balance,” adds Cheryl.
“We can raise the bar and lower it at our
will,” says Karmin
“It’s our frikkin bar,” laughs Alicia
“We can drag it on the fucking ground if we
got to,” concludes Carmen.
SBDC will perform a tour kick-off show at
Antisocial Skateboard Shop on May 20.
by Boy Howdy
Yardley, Spackler and Jonas impacts their
retro-tinged boogie with some really intelligent
and ambitious writing and arranging.
It’s this attention to the craft of songwriting
and arranging that perfectly compliments
their monster musical chops and electric live
shows. This is what separates La Chinga from
the pack. No bullshit man! They are a band that
gives shout outs to as diverse a selection of
performers as Rich Hope, Goatsnake, Boards
of Canada, along with Sunday Morning. This
is not a band in black and white – it’s a band in
full black light! Fire one up and pull up a little
closer to the bumper...but be warned, they’ll
melt your face!
La Chinga perform at the Rickshaw on May 13
photo: Tiina Liimu
May 2016 THE SKINNY
17