Are They “Punk” Enough?
Bad Brand of Justice guitarist, Ryan
Local Crap Records is an independent record label here in Las Cruces.The label has not only musicians, but loyal fans, local pushers and even graffiti artists that are involved with the effort. Home base is Haphazard
Hall, located in a run-down warehouse on the dead district of Picacho street, with one half-working bathroom, graffiti riddled walls and broken
floorboards. Despite the lack of real-estate value, this is home.
From the graffiti artist, to the knitters, Local Crap Records is home to a variety of vagabonds who no longer care about the happenings of the outside world. They live in their art and they paint their masterpieces with hard, heavy and grungy punk rock. Bad Brand of Justice (BBJ) is an example of this. Their music is heavy hitting and not for the punk rock unfamiliar. Mendel & Meiosis along, with Hometown Letdown, deliver a more melodic form of this music to offset the others. The three remaining band have something different to offer their listeners. The Desert Ratts offer up a mix of old time folk with heavy punk rock while the Homegrown Outlaws offer a mix of heavy punk with hip hop. Finally, we come to the Casual Fridays, who are far bust keeping the old ska music of Jamaica alive in modern punk rock, utilizing horns and classically trained drummers.
Most of the time here at “The Hall” is spend jamming out tunes or writing new music, and every so often, people pour in and all six of the bands on the label put on a get together show, much like that of a family reunion. There is no anger, there is no judgement, there is no animosity, unless you bring up the subject of the “tattoo” lady who calls the police for noise complaints all of the time.
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