This week we excrete and expulse our way into the pan-holiday season via an infusion of chainsaw clowns and pro-ice toddlers before embarking on a journey deep into the mysterious western coast of A-ME-RI-CA where a town named SAN-DI-E-GO exists simultaneously in all latitudes. Enjoy the signature yet troublesome sounds of this omnipresent constituency's local troubadours, SPANAKORZO.

Episode 160 - Spanakorzo

Swing Kids was one of Justin Pearson’s first bands, formed in the mid 90’s out of a mix of obscure punk, hardcore, and geography-specific social politics. The young band drew inspiration from jazz and swing era ethics, creating a strand of music with DNA unlike those surrounding it at that time. Swing Kids was short lived, documenting their entire existence in just a handful of songs over a couple years. After a few short tours, the band called it quits due to drummer Jose Palafox relocating, but they did manage to track one last song before that: “El Camino Car Crash.” Decades later, this band has remained influential to many.
Impressively, Swing Kids’s music maintains something special and unique. Perhaps depressingly, many of the ethics and frustrations of the time it was created seem to be just as relevant and frustrating today.
Which is where Deaf Club comes in. All these years, Pearson has continued the pursuit of genre-defying music with something to say. It makes sense, then, that Deaf Club, which is rooted in the same sort of attitude, now records their own version of “El Camino Car Crash.” Recorded by Alex Estrada, mixed by Daniel Schlett, mastered by Nathan Joyner and set to be released digitally as a single on December 11th, 2024 via Three One G, this cover serves as an homage to the past as well as a herald to the fucked up future.

El Camino Car Crash

Deaf Club "El Camino Car Crash"


Three One G is in a sense, a family owned business…and basically a family in itself. I started the label in hopes to better the quality and creativity of things  that I was part of, as well as the music culture that I am part of. Three One G quickly developed into a family of artists who were all intertwined, or on the same page as one another. For me, it is the truest definition of family; people who are of the same breed and people who are from the same way of life. In the beginning, I started off by releasing music by Swing Kids and Unbroken, both of which shared a member, and were part of a musical community that I was submerged in. It was something that I was really a part of and more so, something that was obtainable, tangible, and real. Over the years, Three One G has loosely been related to a band that I’m part of, and better known for, The Locust. The relevance that The Locust had to Three One G brought amazing artists into the picture, either through meeting them on tour, musical collaborations, or other various things that The Locust was doing. This really helped to diversify the label and the sounds that it encompasses up to this day. To me, having bands under the Three One G umbrella like Cattle Decapitation, Arab on Radar, Quintron, Zs, Black Dice, Orthrelm, and so on, all makes sense, regardless of how different any artist's approach to music or their sound may be. We could all conceivably tour together, even sometimes collaborate and share members. To me, this is interesting, bringing so many new avenues of creativity, which are things that the music industry in general has since forgotten. 
The family members who currently make the wheels spin for Three One G, aside from the actual bands and artists are; Sal Gallegos (who also played in Some Girls, which were comprised of members of other label mates such as The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower, and Unbroken), as well as myself. Over the years we have expanded, not only musically, but geographically as well. Even though Three One G is below the radar of the who’s who of labels, the bands manage to grow and reach out beyond the label’s grasp, giving a glimpse into the all too interesting underbelly of an unrefined culture. The bands manage to amaze, challenge, inspire, and essentially blow minds. The labor of love here shows sincerity, as well as integrity. The family here is solid, legitimate, and is here to stay.
 
- Justin Pearson

Two dying old men formerly active in the Albany hardcore scene rate and review obscure metal and hardcore 7" records as the light slowly fades from their eyes. Formerly and occasionally-still known as BORDER BOSS, a Taco Bell appreciation-cast.

New tracks tagged #Swing Kids