Page 38 - the NOISE August 2014

Some bands hit you like the call of a werewolf in the night. They take so many tones from so many insane, righteous memories and combine them in a way that speaks directly at
some long forgotten corner of your soul only compared to a howl echoing through a swamp. Embrace the fear that ac- companies the fearful knowing that you’ve finally come home.
Lo Cash Ninjas are one of those bands. Fusing infectious ska, dance-along punk, crust, thrash, and black metal with math rock precision, the Navajo Nation-based band manages to dive into the last 30 years of raw, underground alternative culture and resurface with some of the freshest jams this writer has had the pleasure of encountering in years. Catching up with Codi “Coyote” (guitar), Jacob “Beatbox” (drums), Darren “Sugar- bear”(bass), and Jordan (guitar & vocals) on yet another of their constant tours, here’s what they had to say.
Any sordid tales of insanity from this tour?
Yeah! We’ve been touring all year on our breaks and, in Buf- falo, New York, our bass player and another bass player did a sumo wrestler challenge where they wound up going through a restroom window. While someone was inside.
Was this person taking a Number 1 or a Number 2?
Well, it was two girls ... So it was none of our business. Ha! Ha!
You’ve been plagued with some vehicle problems lately, too, right?
Yeah, we broke the key off inside the ignition in Phoenix, so we had to get that fixed and then the fuel pump broke down in the Midwest. We were stranded for about a day in Phoenix, but we were stuck in the Midwest for about three days. That was in Des Moines.
Words cannot express sympathy for that. Des Moines is a great city if you can leave it immediately. You just played Eugene, Or- egon, and Olympia, Washington, right before this, how’d that go and where are you heading from there?
We’re playing in Portland with Dirty Kid Discount, Days and Days, and the Vampirates.
Dirty Kid Discount are a band very similar to you folks in that they’re out touring, recording, and living the music completely DIY while actually making it. Have you played with them before?
Yeah, we played with them a few nights ago, too, they did the show for us in Eugene. It was really fun.
As far as bands playing what has been retroactively dubbed “Crack-ska,” the genre fusing black metal, ska, punk, and crust, what are some of your other influences?
Lo Cash NiNjas: From aLL over the PLaCe, With souNd aLL over the PLaCe, touriNg aLL over the PLaCe
interview by
mike WiLLiams
Mostly from where we come from. We’re all from the res- ervation, which is basically a Third World country, where our families have nothing. It’s been through their support that has helped us and allowed this band to grow because a lot of other bands just don’t last that long.
Your Facebook page says that you’re based out of Window Rock, but we had always heard you were from Tuba City ... Where is the actual homebase and how did you start?
Our band is from all parts of the Navajo Nation. We got mem- bers right now, Jordan and Jacob, are from Windowrock, the place where the band originated and we have our bass play- er from Lukachukai. Our lead guitarist is from Red Lake, which is like Tuba City, so basically, when we go on tour, we just get everybody together. We formed playing covers of our favorite bands when we were in high school because there wasn’t any- thing else to do, but, eventually, started playing our own songs. Then we found out there were punk shows on the reservation and started playing out here.
Being based out of the Northern Arizona, we here at The Noise love Rez shows. The passion and attitude one encounters is un- paralleled with most other parts of the this region. Have you played shows on reservations beyond the Navajo Nation and what was it like?
We try to ... There just hasn’t been any luck with getting promoters or contacts, but we have played the Apache Reser- vation a bunch. It’s always bomb out that way.
Your sound runs parallel to Leftover Crack in many ways, and lead singer STZA is renowned for his willingness to support un- derground bands with indigenous and feminist leanings. Has Lo Cash Ninjas done any work with the infamous L.O.C. or any of the offshoot projects?
Yeah, we played a couple shows with them out on the reser- vation, but that was Star F*cking Hipsters.
Getting completely, deathly serious now ... As we speak, how many butt-flaps is your bass player wearing?
Ha! Ha! Only two right now. I got holes in my pants, so they need to be there. There’s only one pair of short pants that comes on tour.
Is there a new album in the works?
Our CD release was a demo we did released after high school called F*ck Your Team and we’ve been touring on that for the last two or three years. Now we’re trying to get a new CD together.
Just hopefully take some time off tour and put a lot more energy into recording. But it’s pretty hard with everyone spread out.
Where was the demo recorded? It sounded great!
We did it at a place called Eagle Sounds Studio in Durango, and part of it in Tuba City. We used an iPod to record some of it, so it was really hard to get the levels down, and did the rest inside Darren’s hogan with our friend Speedy on an eight-track. All of it’s live, none of it’s mastered.
So, as we all wait anxiously for a new album, is there going to be more tours?
Yeah, definitely. The only time we can really tour is when we’re not working or for when school lets out for a break because some of us are enrolled in Dine College in Tsaile. So the next tour we’re going to head out in December toward the South again, which will be really humid but really fun. Last time, the South was one of the places where we actually got to make some of the money back from touring, but we toured in a small Subaru so the gas wasn’t that bad. And we managed to sell all of our t-shirts, so it was pretty successful.
So, you’ve managed to make it from New York to Seattle and all through the Midwest and South, a feat most bands will never accomplish. Are you currently looking into any record label sup- port or is this going to remain a strictly D.I.Y. project?
We’ve always wanted to keep it D.I.Y., as it’s more fun. And, we can say we did it for ourselves.
Have you done any of the standard punk outlets like submit- ting albums to Maximum Rock ‘N’ Roll or Profane Existence for reviews?
Not really, no. We’re really bad when it comes to interviews because different people will send us that stuff that gets stuck in our inbox and we won’t see until we get back. Ha! Ha!
Wait ... Are we the first newspaper that’s managed to get our evil talons into your project?
Ha! Ha! I don’t know ... A lot of the press has been for the Navajo Times and indigenous outlets like R.P.M. There’s been a lot of zines that are distributed throughout Arizona, too.
Awesome! Thank you so much and best of luck with the next tour and album!
| Mike Williams knows his punk. music@thenoise.us INTERview
38 • AUGUST 2014 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us INTERview