“I feel like there’s a lot of bands that present themselves a certain way— and I don’t believe them,” Section H8 frontman Mexi states. “I feel like it’s not genuine, like it’s more of a costume or an image. They’re trying to curate this idea and present themselves a certain way. And I was like, ‘Yo, let’s just be us.’”
Like their peers Pennywise and Suicidal Tendencies, Section H8 might look intimidating from afar, but in reality the Los Angeles hardcore act is a candid reflection of the environment they grew up in.
“I grew up listening to bands like Madball and Cold as Life, and that sort of shit,” Mexi continues. “Where it was just very honest and straightforward songs about what they see on a daily basis when they’re walking through life. I wanted to talk about that stuff.”
The band formed when Mexi and guitarist Ryan O’Connor started writing music they decided was too heavy for their other band. After solidifying their lineup, Section H8 dropped their first EP Phase One in 2019, which quickly propelled them to the head of L.A. hardcore royalty.
The members of Section H8 have a deep list of known affiliations (Downpresser, Minus, Product Of Waste, Human Garbage, Nomads, Furious Styles, D0PE CELLAR, to name a few) One listen to their official debut LP, Welcome to the Nightmare— which came out July 30th via Flatspot Records— should be sufficient evidence that this is no one’s first rodeo. But with this many lifelong players in the game, it was vital that Section H8 set their sights with clear intentions.
“We’re not really trying to say anything,” Mexi says. “It’s just us telling stories of stuff. Stuff that’s happened to me personally, or stuff I’ve been involved in. Some of it might just be how I’m feeling about the world at the time. It’s really just kind of a glimpse into our fucking minds. Because you know, we live in a certain way.”
This isn’t some new approach to songwriting— aside from some gut-pummeling breakdowns and Kerry King-esque guitar squeals, Section H8 is just writing folk music. For many who lived in Los Angeles in the year 2020, this is Americana. This is what Woody Guthrie would sound like if you snatched him out of the Dust Bowl and you dropped into present day Echo Park. The guitars got louder, the skulls got more tattoos. But the stories are the same.
To call the LP heavy is an understatement. Welcome to the Nightmare sounds like a declaration of war.
“To me the nightmare is us,” Mexi says. “That’s who we are. We’re a very aggressive band, very in your face. We want you to listen to us and hear what we have to say. That’s one thing you’ll get from us— honesty.”
For anyone living in Los Angeles in 2020, it didn’t take much imagination to see how nightmarish things could get. The lyrics on “Streetsweeper,” for example, outline these anxieties of witnessing a city on the brink of collapse. How would you survive?
“Honestly, that was like a ‘what if?’ story, you know what I mean?” Mexi explains. “What if everything goes wrong? And it kind of dawned on me— the record’s a year old. So, it was right when things started getting funny, and I was like: What if things get really funny? What are we going to do? How would we react? And you know, I would say it’s about survival, if faced with that situation. And I always feel like things always got to get worse before they get better. So, what if everything got as bad as possible? What would the reaction be?”
“I always felt like in some sort of dystopian Mad Max world type, I feel like I would prosper in that world,” he continues. “So, I mean, the song is definitely a ‘what if,’ because obviously things have not turned into that yet. But who knows, right? Maybe tomorrow?”
The single also features a cameo from Tim Armstrong, because it’s not a punk record if your friends aren’t on it.
“I was giving him a ride home one day and I was like, ‘hey you wanna be on the record?’ And he was like ‘yep!’ It’s very surreal because even though he and I are friends, I’m also a fan of his music, so that was a big deal for me. I’ve been listening to Rancid since I was seven years old. Operation Ivy was the first record I ever bought, so that was huge for me, so that was fucking cool.”
Watch the video for “Nightmare” here:
For more from Section H8, find them on Instagram, Twitter, and Bandcamp.
Photo courtesy of Section H8 and Rachael Shorr.
