Afro-punk gets lost in L.A. - 11.13.09

Continuing their trek throughout California, the Afro-punk bands left San Diego and made their way to one of the top cities on the Afro-punk scene, Los Angeles, California.

Reaching L.A. was almost a homecoming for headliner of the Afro-punk music tour, Saul Williams, after residing there for almost a decade. It's also the city where Saul began recording his first rock album, Amethyst Rock, in 1998. After checking into the hotel, the bands, including Krak Attack, American Fangs, and Saul's band mates, split up and ventured out into the city.

After picking up his car in L.A., Saul drove downtown to pick up his nine year old son, Xuly Azaro, from school. Xuly, who was born right before Saul started his first tour of the Amethst Rock album, currently lives in L.A. with his mother, Fatima. Xuly ran through his school's playground towards his dad, gripping a skateboard, that he said he's been practicing hard core for the last several months. "Xuly is pretty fearless," Saul said about his son. "It's like he's not afraid of anything." As we drove through the streets, Saul pointed out famous musicians homes, along with taking us by his former home where he recorded his Amethyst Rock album with founder of Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor. Originally from New York, Saul said moving to L.A. was more of a therapeutic transition because of the beautiful landscape and the space along with solitude that it provided for his creativity. "When you look at this landscape, it's hard to go back to living in New York," he said. Saul currently lives in Paris with his 13-year-old daughter, Saturn River Renge, who joined her dad on stage for several of the Afro-punk tour performances this month.

Here is Saul's Xuly in his bedroom in L.A. along with flicks of Saul cruising around L.A. showing off his former home

Doors opened at 8 p.m. at The Roxy, a famous nightclub located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. The Roxy has staged music acts ranging from reggae icon, Bob Marley, along with the Foo Fighters, Guns N' Roses, and David Bowie. Tagging the Roxy's walls, Afro-punk strapped our tour posters all throughout the venue.

The guys followed the signs to their dressing rooms as they admired the huge collection of stickers of famous rock bands along the Roxy's walls.

The show kicked off with the youngest band playing with the Afro-punk tour, a sickeningly cute and rocking brother duo-- THE BOTS. THE BOTS, comprised of 16-year-old, Mikaiah Lei on guitar and lead vocals (and who also writes the band's lyrics) and his 13-year-old brother, Anaiah Lei on drums and back-up vocals, showed no fear of starting the L.A. show as they played songs off of their self titled album. Before hitting the stage, Mikaiah said that the hardest part of being in a band is balancing school with performing (even though he maintains strictly A's and B's), and said that there are not enough kid bands on the punk scene. "Every where we go, people always point and say, hey, look at those little kids playing," Mikaiah said. "More kid bands should play punk music so then it would be normal," he said. Inspired by the duality of The White Stripes, the guys started playing at an early age, when drummer Anaiah, asked his parents for a guitar. Both musicians are self taught and take their music seriously, Aniah said, but are currently taking some music classes while in school. There sound is fused with punk, reggae, and a hint of Yeah Yeah Yeah's. And they don't curse in their music, Mikaiah said.

After THE BOTS duo wrapped up their set, a new local Afro-punk band to L.A. called New Kingdom took over the stage. The four-man--funk band, comprised of Evan Turner on drums, Noah King on lead vocals, Oren Yoel on key boards, and Joe Rausch on bass, started off their set strong with their electric funky song, "Burn it Down." Lead singer, Noah, who's father is an original member of famous Motown band, The Commodores, was dressed in white high top socks, black pants with glitter strips running down the sides, and an original Commodores jacket. Throughout the show, he danced across the stage as he sang his lyrics into the mic- looking like a punk remix of the 90s version of Michael Jackson. "The dance moves are part of the show," he said.

Here is New Kingdom, from left to right is Evan, Noah, Oren, and Joe, along with flicks of the guys getting down

While the show continued, L.A. Afro-punkers filled the room, and we had a chance to meet recognizable names in the Afro-punk online community, "Rosenda" (Rosenda Moore), "California African" (Beya Pasha), and "Mochali" (Stephanie Francis), all of who have been active blog users and conversation starters for the last several years. "California African," who is an assistant principal by profession, said she came to the Afro-punk show to finally meet up with her online Afro-punk friends. "We use the Afro-punk online community to talk about everything affecting us, including jokes, personal stories, and just good stuff going on," California African said. "And the best thing is, we are all across the country," she said.

Here, from left to right, is Rosenda, California African, and Mochali along with California African with Saul Williams backstage

Keith Knight, a popular cartoonist known for his socially and politically charged comic strips, also showed off his work to the Afro-punk crowd during intermission. Calling himself the "other black cartoonist" in reference to The Boondocks creator, Aaron Mcgruder, Keith's work has been collected into six books so far, four collections of his popular multi-panel strip, the "K Chronicles," and two collections of single panel strips & (th)ink anthologies titled "Red,White, Black & Blue." One of his newest works, "I Left My Arse in San Fransisco," is an auto- biographical K Chronicles strip that jokingly, refreshingly, yet strategically tracks his path as an urban hippie moving from San Fransisco to L.A. Growing up in Boston, Keith said he knows what it feels like growing up in a school with a sea of white people and characterized his experience in a dope strip that he showed off to the crowd. In one section, a caricature of Keith getting his afro pulled and touched by his classmates, made the audience giggle. "I think that at one point or another, we were all that one kid," Keith said.

Afro-punk touring band, the American Fangs, put their all into the L.A. show- and we caught up with them backstage right after they performed, as lead singer Gabe and guitarist Kenyon hurled out water because they jam so hard on stage. Hey guys, maybe you should lay off the Budweiser bottles before hitting up the stage. Yikes.

We also caught Saul meditating before his performance backstage, while the crazy boys from Krak Attack put on their stage wear to spark up their show.

CX and Tchaka Diallo from Krak Attack performed their raunchy meets electro beats performance for the crowd, as popular L.A. graffiti artists, sculptor, and painter, Mear One and other artists created live art throughout the venue. Often called by his peers the Michelangelo of graffiti art, Mear One has been a graffiti artists in L.A. for more than 20 years and is known for his "anti-war" and anti-Bush" tags. During the show, he used brushes and acrylic to create an image of a face swirling with colors that he completed by the end of the night.

It was another night for Niggy Tardust to touch the stage, so Saul came out in front of the L.A. audience, continuing his rock intermixed with social issues-- accented by an electric drum machinist, a guitarist, and keyboardist dressed in a cape and fog glasses-- and addressed his views on the disabandonment of race and color walls, while performing popular hits like "DNA" and "List of Demands." We even caught Mikaiah, guitarist and vocalists from THE BOTS, jamming in the audience.

It was a packed night of music, art, and good times, Los Angeles! Thanks for showing Afro-punk the flavor of the west coast! Next stop for the crew, Portland, OR!