Hawaii is known for beaches, volcanoes, surfing and bananas, but punk rock?
Oahu has had an active punk music scene for decades, but the outer islands, Kauai, Maui and Hawaii (aka the Big Island), are pretty darn quiet. Live music on the outer island is primarily targeted towards the tourists – so expect 80s cover bands and a lot of ukuleles.
There is not a single ukulele to be found on Our Part in the Darkness, the debut album from El Sancho, a punk band from a little town on the Big Island. They blow through eight songs in less than 20 minutes, starting with the barely-a-minute-long “Never Listen”, which guitarist Alan Kasameyer describes as “It was supposed to be a song for my kids and how they never listen to me, but turned into a diatribe about information bubbles and confirmation bias and social media. And after all that, my kids still don’t listen to me.”
The rest of the album follows just as quickly, with only a couple songs breaking the two and half-minute mark, and most following a similar lyrical vein as the lead track. “It wasn’t on purpose but it is hard to write love songs in the Trump era, so they all just came out kinda angry and political” added Kasameyer.
Our Part in the Darkness takes nods from the early 1990’s California Bay Area punk scene, where Kasameyer lived before moving to Hawaii. “When I was in high school we’d head to Gilman Street almost every weekend to see bands like Jawbreaker, Green Day, Fifteen, Angry Samoans, and every band that came through on tour. For me, that’s the golden age of music.”
Kasameyer is joined by bassist Nate Werneck, and drummer Tony Joyce. Joyce takes over lead vocal duties on “How to Kill a Zombie” while Kasameyer sings the rest of the songs.
Our Part in the Darkness is available on Bandcamp, Spotify and all streaming platforms.
Disclosure: Some members of El Sancho are part of the Punk Rock in Exile staff.
