L E F T // A S T R A Y @leftastrayhc - Tumblr Blog

4 years

This blog is 4 years old which means this band is 4 years old as well. Went through the a few guitar players, done some awesome tours and played probably close to 250+ shows I think? I'll post the 4th installment of the U.S. tour tonight/tomorrow. -Marcel

threeontheteeth

LEFT ASTRAY Bandcamp / @leftastrayhc

March 26, 2016 Dynamite Vinyl Fresno, CA Pink Teeth DIY

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My accounts: YouTube / Twitter

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DfPsrM-F7c)

leftastrayhc

Heyyyy

2015 in Review pt.3

This is the 3rd installment of posts of the band’s experiences in 2015. We’re picking up where we left off last time during our U.S. tour, leaving Charleston, SC en route to Asheville, NC.

Day 10 Asheville, NC

This was the longest day ever, starting at 5am and ending at like fucking 1am the next night. We began our drive to Asheville late at night. The drive was pretty easy, and there weren’t too many cars on the road either. Ivan took the wheel for a few hours while I caught some sleep. I took the third shift, it must have been about 7am or so and now that the sun was up we could really admire all the lush green forests around us softened by a light mist. Maybe after 2 or 3 hours we finally got into town. From the highway the city looked like Endor or some other forest planet, or at least that’s what came to my mind. By this time we were all hungry and decided to find something to eat, we settled on going to a Whole Foods in Asheville, Erik spent $17 on his breakfast consisting of items from the hot food bar, Yerba maté and a muffin. We hung out for about an hour before going to a Guitar Center. I think we went because Alex’s hi-hat stand was broken and he wanted to use his coverage to replace however the store gave him the runaround and said he had to take care of the issue at the location where he originally got his policy. I ended up sleeping in the van for a bit in the drivers seat for maybe an hour. I woke up because I left the window down and sky started sprinkling and stopped once I woke up, cruel. Afterwards we stopped at a record store for a bit downtown and found a park to hang out at. I fell asleep in the park, I’m not sure how long it was. Erik, Ivan and Alex were playing with the soccer ball for the most part. Like an idiot I woke up with more bug bites on my arms and legs. When we were done with the park we spent the next few hours in a CVS parking lot. Watching Erik skateboard, eating snacks watching videos of our friends playing shows that we’re going on back home while we were gone. By this time now it was maybe about 7pm and I got a text from our contact, James, that we could head to the house we were playing at, Fox Manor. The house was not far from where we were but it required us to drive through a path that went through the woods. There were maybe only 3 or 4 houses going down this path and Fox Manor was at the bottom of a steep hill. We unloaded gear into the house and decided it would be best to park the van at the top of the hill instead of leaving it at the bottom. We figured that when we loaded back up again the van may have some trouble trying to climb the hill plus the weight of us and gear. We met up with James and his band Asherah inside the house and they introduced us to the owners of the place. They fed us vegan-chili-mac and it was so good I think we spent about 45 minutes hanging out before anyone played. The first band that played was James’ band, Asherah. They were the first crust band we played with on this tour and it was so refreshing to see and play with something other than emo or screamo bands for a change. We played second, we felt really good about the set that night. Erik started the set with a few words regarding Charleston, I remember getting chills and I’m pretty sure everyone else in the room felt the same way. Afterwards the third band played, I wish I could remember the name they were a really fun to watch. Once the show was finished we spent probably another 2 hours just hanging out with Asherah, they were so sweet and made us feel super welcomed. The third band that played moved there van downhill to get their stuff. They packed quickly and tried driving up but had the most difficult time. We could hear their engine working like crazy and a few times there van started skidding back. They needed people to help push before they got out. We then started packing up our gear by carrying all our shit up the hill. It was so tempting to want to move the van downhill but we chose to tough it out, plus Asherah gave us a hand so it wasn’t too bad. Once we said our goodbyes we made for Richmond, VA.

Day 11 Richmond, VA

I don’t remember most of this drive, I think I took the 2nd shift. I do remember waking up in the morning at like 9am as we got into Richmond and still being tired. The show tonight was at a house called Haunted Mansion where our friend Will from Caust and Swan of Tuonela let us come by early before the show. The rest of the guys decided to check out a river with Will and his housemate Stephanie. I was too tired so I set up my sleeping bag in the basement. I slept for like 5 hours and looking back I wish I went to the river. When I woke up I went upstairs to see if anyone else was around but no one else was in the house. I went outside to the front porch and sat in a rocking chair for a good hour just hanging out. Though I hate the summer heat, humidity and smelled like shit, I felt at peace in that rocking chair, felt really fucking American. I remembered it was Father’s Day so I gave my dad a call and talked with him for a bit. Eventually everyone came back and we waited around for the show to start, we brought out the soccer ball once again and killed time by playing soccer in the backyard until one of us (probably Erik) kicked the ball underneath the patio. We didn’t get it because there were spiders and shit in the way. Finally the show started, I believe there were three bands playing, including us. I wish I could remember the first band, I believe they were a straight edge band or something, the next band was Venomspitter. They were a really cool chaotic hardcore band with a guitarist who shredded like no one’s business. They were really friendly people. We had a good time playing here and I’m surprised people came considering it was a holiday. After the show we helped clean up the place and Will let us stay the night again. Ivan and I decided to use the money we made from donations to buy food for all of us and we went to a Kroger to get stuff. Stephanie came along with us as our guide and hooked us up with her discount card. We returned back to the house where we were all able to cook food and wash up. We ended up watching an Insane Clown Posse/Juggalo movie that both Will and Erik were super stoked on. After the movie we talked for about an hour and went to sleep.

Day 12 Washington D.C.

Once we left Will and Stephanie’s place we made for D.C. This was our first proper day off that we actually planned for. We were all excited to spend a day hanging out. The drive from Richmond to D.C. was pretty short and was the start of the short drives for the rest of the east coast dates of the tour. We got into D.C. around noon, maybe a little later. Driving from this point on in the tour was a lot busier than the southern states so we had to be a bit more careful with the van. While looking for a place to park we noticed that all the signs had very short time limits/confusing wording on them so we figured it be best to find a meter. Erik and Ivan got out of the van because they had to use the restroom and we told them to go on ahead and we’d catch up with them after we parked. Alex and I spent the next fucking hour and then some trying to find both parking that didn’t have a bunch of confusing restrictions and enough clearance for a 15 passenger van. It was a fucking nightmare, it was hot as fuck humid as fuck, and the air conditioning is busted. Luckily Alex kept me sane as we made conversation during the hunt for parking. I remember accidentally running a few red lights because of how confusing the streets were, a guy jogging yelled at me. Finally we found street parking at the very end of where all the monuments were. We paid the meter and made our way to regroup with Ivan and Erik who were waiting for us at one of the museums scattered around D.C. Once we all met up we made our way to the Washington monument and took pictures of all the touristy stuff around. This was one of the few places where I personally took pictures since I had been lagging or forgetting to document the tour via photos but I kept a log of the tour in a note book and you’re reading it here so shut the fuck up. After the Washington monument we made our way to the Lincoln memorial and saw the reflection pool. We made our way up the steps of the Lincoln memorial and took a few more pictures. I talked Erik into sliding down the the side where the steps were at and filmed it, he slipped and a few little girls started laughing and it was really funny. My good friend Mike (Kimchi Murda) who Was in drumline with me high school was now going to college in the city and with wanted to meet up with us before we left D.C. We headed back to the van and met Mike outside of a Whole Foods and grabbed dinner. I haven’t seen him in more than a year and it was great catching up with him. He even paid for all our dinners, we were all super grateful. After dinner we said our goodbyes and drove to stay the night with our friends Daniel and Tanya at their house just outside the Baltimore area. The drive was short and when we got to their place we all hung out for a few hours listening to records and hearing Daniel and Tanya’s stories about their move and time spent on the east coast. We then spent a little bit of time goofing off before falling asleep.

Day 13 Baltimore, MD

By the time we woke up Tanya brought us all a bunch of muffins for breakfast, it was really sweet. We were all able to shower which is always a luxury and felt extremely good because the heat and humidity sucks so fucking bad. We then all decided to drive into Baltimore and Tanya and Daniel came with us. We stopped at a cool record store and browsed around for a while. I purchased a copy of Rogue State’s “EMIC vs ETIC”, shoutout to Ethospine Noise! We went to a bookstore/comic shop on the same block and checked out what they had. The area we were was pretty cool and really quite. By the time the show was was getting ready to start we made for the venue. Tonight we were playing Charm City Art Space, I was so excited to be playing here, I heard nothing but great things about this DIY spot for years.while we were unloading our gear into the space the weather outside was becoming stormy. This unfortunately affected the space as there were several leaks in the ceiling. Luckily this didn’t stop the show and everyone just hoped that the storm would just pass through quickly. There were 5 bands playing tonight and we were up third. We were definitely the band out of place as everyone who played and attended the show were very much into a really macho/tough guy hardcore. Lots of camo clothing and varsity font band shirts all around. The opening band was their first show. They said a few basic 101 anti-racist statements that I commended them for, but a few songs in they then said some stupid misogynist bro shit about that turned me off to them. The 2nd band was a bit more melodic but really wasn’t my thing, they were really nice though. By the time we played more people started to fill in the space. Before we played I said what we I usually had to say that we didn’t need to beat the shit out of each other to have a good time and respect everyone’s space. I’m glad people stuck around, there wasn’t much of a reaction but for the most part people were pretty receptive of our set. The next bands that played were some bro macho bands. One of the bands started their set by telling everyone the exact opposite of what said and said “don’t be a coward, beat the shit out of someone.” They decided it would be a good idea to fuck up the space by throwing the box fans and buckets catching leaking rain water into the crowd. It was ridiculously dumb and I felt bad for volunteers of the space who ended up cleaning up the mess, we could hear them muttering under their breath from frustration. Once the show was finally wrapped up my cousin who lived in Baltimore met us for dinner at a cafe down the street from Charm City. Once we were done with with we went back to Tanya and Daniel’s place to sleep.

Day 14 Hammonton, NJ

After leaving Daniel and Tanya’s place we were on the road to Hammonton, NJ. The drive was only two hours long and we got into the city around maybe 2pm or so. Upon arriving at the location we noticed that some of the area looked like it got fucked up with trees uprooted and traffic lights inoperable, it looked very strange. We were told that there was a tornado or hurricane that swept through the city the day before or something. The show was being set up by a group of local promoters called Grandaire Booking at what looked like a small veteran’s hall. Apparently when they book shows they are like mini fests that run all day. We met up with one of the bands, Teeth For Teeth, who were my contact for the show. We hung out with their guitarist Anthony and vocalist Brandon for a bit. Since the space was still preparing for the rest of the day we decided to grab a late lunch and brought Anthony with us. After eating Erik was a bit concerned with his amp and Anthony took him to his amp guy to get it fixed. While setting up merch I was able to talk to Brandon from Teeth For Teeth and was surprised to find out that he was very into the DIY punk/emo/screamo scene back home in KALI like Calculator, No Tongue and Dream Caste. I recommended him some of my current local favorites such as La Bella, Tenthousandleagues and VRIL. By the time Erik and Anthony came back the first bands were playing. The lineup was pretty mixed as there were pop punk, emo and hardcore bands playing. We played towards the latter end of the show and had a really fun set. This show was a bit different as there seemed to be some younger people in their mid teens present at the show amongst people in their twenties. Everyone at the show seemed to have a good. Kids in New Jersey mosh funny though, they aren’t hurting people but they do this weird running man move into a donkey kick in their circle pits and everyone was all about it. some of these people definitely looked coked out of their minds. There were two other bands that played that were pretty cool and then Teeth For Teeth played. Teeth For Teeth were definitely the local favorites and everyone went fucking nuts for them, they were a very melodic yet frantic hardcore band. They closed out the night and we went to a gas station to get some snacks afterwards, Brandon then invited us to his apartment for us to stay for the night.

Day 15 New York, NY

This was another day off for us. As we were leaving Hammonton we stopped by to pick up Erik’s amp from Anthony’s tech guy. Once we picked up the amp we made for NYC. The drive was short which was nice but right as we crossed the bridge from NJ to NY we were pitted directly into the chaos that is the driving of NY. I remember every moment being tense and since I drove into city, I was automatically the person who would be driving the van for the remainder of the time spent here. Erik told us about this all vegan diner called Champs and we decided to eat there. The food was good, but the waiter got on our case because he didn’t get a good enough tip, dude was a butthole. We then met with Erik’s friend, Dylan who used to live by Erik back home. I also learned that making right turns on red lights in New York are illegal, luckily Dylan warned me before I was I got into trouble. We parked the van in a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood, we got weird looks being that we looked like outsiders. We were told that those neighborhoods are safe and our van wouldn’t get fucked with if we parked there. We took the subway and Dylan served as our guide taking us all over the place. Visiting Time Square and Grand Central Station was really cool, again this was probably the only other time I personally took pictures. Once we had our full of sightseeing we decided to head back to the van. We drove to Dylan’s apartment where the rest of the guys including Dylan went out for pizza and to a bar, I was pretty tired and didn’t feel like leaving the van unattended. Dylan warned me that the neighborhood he lived in was known for lots of car break ins especially if the vehicles had out of state license plates. So I decided I would sleep in the van underneath a streetlight to make sure all our stuff was okay. It must have been around midnight but I couldn’t fall asleep because of how hot and humid it was in the van. By the time I was getting tired it was about 3am and I was dozing in and out of sleep until I caught this car drive slowly down the street and once it passed the van it suddenly braked and went in reverse and got directly behind me and was slowly getting closer and then parked. FUCK. I was scared shitless and was thinking of what I could possibly do. There I was in the van in my underwear and a dumb emo shirt holding onto my pocketknife. I then decided to sit myself up on the bench seat that way the car behind me could see me through our back window. This whole instance lasted about 15 seconds but felt like forever. Eventually the driver pulled back a little and then drove slowly past me down the street until he was out of my sight. This kept me up for a while and I decided that I would sleep propped up against the window in case anyone else had a similar idea. I eventually fell asleep, then all of a sudden the van doors sprung open and Alex rushed in quickly asking me, “DID YOU HEAR WHAT HAPPENED?!” My first thought was oh fuck, the people from last night came back and somehow fucked with the van while I was sleeping or something, Alex laughed and calmed me down then eloquently said, “Dude, same sex marriage is finally legal in America now!!”

Part 4 coming soon. -Marcel

#left astray #punk #sombras del progreso #sadcore hatepunx #crust punk #punkxzs

2015 in Review pt.2

So here is the second part of our overview of 2015. The last post left off right before we started our U.S. in the summer, so I’ll begin the post from the first day of tour onwards. I’m going to attempt to describe every day of our 39 day tour to the best of my memory and my notes in a paragraph or two. Forgive me if this post is insanely long, but I enjoy reading tour stories and I figure some of you may enjoy as well.

Day 1 La Puente, CA So I just got done with finals the day before and I was so excited to go on tour again. I woke up pretty early this day because the mechanic who had been working on our van prior to our trip was going to check out an issue we experienced a few days prior. The mechanic said it was a very small issue and wouldn’t take much time, so I brought the van into AAMCO at 11am hoping to be done in about 2 hours. Unfortunately this turned into a whole day event and I was there until 6pm, past closing time. I read a bunch of old TIME Magazines, until the van was finally ready. I drove home real quick, packed my gear into the van and left for Bridgetown. This was our tour kickoff and a great show overall. Our friends in Recluse(RIP) opened the show. Next was Cabin Fire from Fresno who we haven’t played with in years came to do a weekend of shows out here. Waste Age played after and is always such a great act to experience. We played afterwards followed by Dharma. After the show we did last minute packing and drove to Alex’s house to sleep.

Day 2 Tempe, AZ Before we left to drive to Arizona we ate breakfast and made sure we had everything packed. We stopped by an Autozone to pick up a rear view mirror because there wasn’t one installed in the van. The kit had an adhesive that required us to leave it in position overnight, so out of laziness we kept it in the glove compartment until much much later and began the drive to the extension of San Bernardino known as Arizona. Drive was hot and sweaty, Erik peed in his designated Gatorade bottle. We finally got to the venue, 51 West in Tempe at about 5pm, Cabin Fire met us shortly after and we spent much of the evening talking with them while the venue was getting ready. The first two bands opened the show were very different, one of which was a very jam like emo band and the other was a sludgy band, then Cabin Fire played. Our friends in American Thunder Band from Kansas City, MO and Adobe Homes FROM Albuquerque, NM played. This would be our first day of a three day stint with ATB and Adobe Homes. We closed out the night, it was our second time playing at the space so we weren’t too nervous about playing but I just don’t like the way it sounds in that room there’s something about it. Fortunately there were more people this time than when we did our last tour in 2014. After the show we parted ways with Cabin Fire, they even gave us their share of gas money they made at the door, it was extremely generous and we couldn’t appreciate it more! Since our next stop was in Albuquerque, NM and were planning on doing an overnight drive, AJ from Adobe Homes invited us to his house with ATB so we can hang out before our show together the following night. We took them up on the offer and started the night drive. This drive was pretty weird, I remember driving through the canyons for about 3 hours until we finally came up onto the surface not too far from the AZ/NM border. Erik kept me awake by telling me the story about a guy who thinks he was abducted or something and has no recollection of anything. We got into Albuquerque maybe around 10am.

Day 3 Albuquerque, NM Longest day ever. We were at AJ’s place for a while and watched American Thunder Band smoke weed and tell us there drug stories about crossing the Arizona border and almost getting arrested. Ivan and and I used this downtime to get an oil change in the city. When we got back to the house we eventually got burritos and AJ bought us and ATB the entire order, we were really grateful. Given that we still had a lot of time to kill we all decided to watch a showing of Jurassic World! When the movie got out we returned to AJ’s place and then to the show. It was held at a house in Albuquerque and we saw some familiar face from our last time there. It was only us, ATB and Adobe Homes that played. We played last but unfortunately the cops shut the show down when we were 3 songs in. AJ hooked us up with some gas money and offered us his house to sleep but we decided to drive straight to Denton, TX the same night. The drives from New Mexico to Texas are always shitty and we figure that driving through the night will be less strenuous on the van had we done the drive during the day. Since we drove overnight it option gave us time to break up the drives and enjoy the day once we arrived in Denton.

Day 4 Denton, TX We got into Texas early in the morning, we got pulled over for driving in the left lane, it’s against the law to be in that lane if you’re not passing another car. Luckily it was only a warning.by the time it was noon we got lunch at Spiral Diner in Fort Worth. Our second time eating there, definitely a place to go if you’re vegan and in town. We then got into Denton at about 2pm and washed up in the bathroom of a Starbucks and checked out the house where the show was at. We had time to kill so we stopped at a sporting goods store for a bit and bought a soccer ball. We played in soccer in a park for about 45 minutes and spent the next hour goofing off. We went to a 7-11 down the street for water and were hanging out in the parking lot for a bit when the cashier realized we were traveling from out of town and gave us a pizza for free. The gesture was so genuine and it felt amazing to know that there were people who enjoyed helping others out. We made our way back to where the show was at, Macaroni Island, and met up with American Thunder Band for the last time. My friend Jeff who from back in California surprised us all by coming to the show with his friend Jenny, he was in town visiting her and found out we were not too far from them. They gave us a bunch of goodies like snacks, wet naps, hand sanitizer, and other useful stuff for a long road trip. Our friends Liz and Faith from Austin drove up to see us play too. The show started with the band, Clear Acid opening. It was our second time playing with them and it was fun to see them again, then we played, I felt really good about the set that night, we played to a bunch of new and familiar people. ATB played after us and then Mimisiku closed out the night. Mimisiku is our friends Parker and Miles’ band who also play in Two Knights and Flesh Born together, they rerouted the last few days of their tour so that way they could play with us. After the show Parker and Miles invited us to their house down the street for a place to sleep. We grabbed a few things from the market(Kroger shoutout) ate some food and then most of us went to bed. ;)

Day 5 Austin, TX It felt good to get some sleep that was longer than 3 hours at a time. We said our goodbyes to Parker and Miles and started our way to Austin. I believe we got into town around the afternoon. This was our 3rd time being back in the city and it all felt so comfortable. We met up with our good friends Karl and Dani. Karl showed us around the house he just moved into and then we went to the infoshop down the street where the show was at. We hung out for a bit and got some Yerba maté with a bunch of other Texas homies. The place the show was at tonight was called Monkeywrench Books. It was an anarchist space and first infoshop we played that tour. First band that played was Femoral, they were this sick two-piece grind screamo band, some really gnarly shit. Then we played, Austin is always great to us and everyone who was there were people who’ve seen us before so it felt so natural it was a really fun set. Amygdala played after and they just keep getting better and better. It was our 3rd time playing with them and one of my favorite bands of the tour. After the show we ended up going to this bar down the street to drink and catch the band Sex Tunnel or Sex Cave or somewhat I don’t remember. This night was one of my favorites of tour, we were surrounded by great friends we don’t get to see too often all having a good time. We got back to Karl’s house after and called it a night.

Day 6 Shreveport, LA Upon leaving Karl’s house Liz was able to get us a bunch of free food from the co-op she was working at. Today we were supposed to be in New Orleans, LA, however there had been a storm watch going on the past few days in Eastern Texas that was moving its way to Austin which fucked up our plans of driving to New Orleans. Because of the storm we had to skip New Orleans and we reroute ourselves to Shreveport in hopes of avoiding the storm while still heading in the general direction of where the tour was heading. I did the whole 8 hour drive whilst being hungover with an arm covered in bug bites. Turns out the storm followed us and we spent about 30 minutes driving through it, everyone in the van was very encouraging and put their hands on my shoulder to send me good vibes, this was one of the scariest driving experiences we had, visibility was low and we would hydroplane briefly every now and then. After we cleared the storm we had about another 2 hours left till we hit Shreveport that night. Once we arrived we saw lots of casinos and figured we’d still treat this like a day off and make the most of it. This place fucking sucked, it’s like the saddest casino we’ve ever been to. I mean it was a Tuesday at 10pm but still this was so bad we were the 4 out of 15 people there. While searching for a motel to rent out I snapped a bit at Ivan as he was finding out directions. We stopped by a Walgreens and I apologized to him. I was still tense from being hungover/bug bites/storm shit/ and sad casino experience. Erik got us all to group hug and we all felt way better. After picking up some ointment and bug repellent we got to a motel. There was no hot water, no lights in the bathroom and their TV didn’t work, but despite it all we were still refreshed and got to enjoy sleeping on beds for the first time in a week.

Day 7 Athens, GA After checking out of the motel, I went to email/call my contact for our show in Decatur, AL who for some reason ceased communicating with me 2 weeks prior. I couldn’t find any info for our show anywhere and since the guy didn’t give me anything else other than once saying "there's a show happening in Decatur", we decided to skip the show and continue to Athens, GA. I believe this was when Erik started playing lots of Linkin Park and changing the lyrics to “I can’t rely on myself!” to “I can’t rely on Marcel!”, how clever. I think we had Faygo for the first time on this drive, Rock n Rye is definitely the best flavor. Also, Ivan and Alex went to Dairy Queen where this cashier lady tried to clown on the way they spoke. Saw a huge racist sign as we were driving through Alabama, “Illegal Immigrants closed our borders.” When we reached Athens it was late at night, our friends Erin and Will from Under A Sky So Blue were kind enough to let us sleep at their place a day before we had originally planned on getting there. We played a round of Super Smash Bros and all went to sleep.

Day 8 Athens, GA

When we woke up we were able to wash up. Erin had to go to work and Will showed us to this cool burrito place. It was very much like a Chipotlé type place so I had very low expectations added to the fact that I’m getting a fucking burrito in the south. The food turned out to be actually really good and exceeded our expectation/pre-conceived notions about good Mexican food outside the west coast. We all went back to to hang out and see Erin and Will jam a bit. They went through their set and played a cover of “Breaking The Law.” We got to where the show was at, this bar called The Globe. They had us play upstairs and we had to load all our shit up there but it wasn’t too bad. I think the lineup was 4 bands in total, some pop punk band, another band with the word “bathroom” in their name, us and Under A Sky So Blue. Under A Sky So Blue fucking killed it. This was the first bar we played on tour and it went over fairly well, there had been some scheduling errors but Erin was able to handle it no problem and the show was overall successful. We all went back to Erin and Will’s place ate some food and watched movies until we fell asleep.

Day 9 Charleston, SC

After we left Will and Erin’s place at noon and we made another stop at that burrito spot Will took us to the day before one last time. The drive wasn’t too bad, we got in around 6pm. The show was already starting by the time we were there. The show was at a house, taking place in the living room and there were people scattered all over the backyard the whole time. There were like 6 bands playing that night, I only remember one band which was pretty technical but not much else. We played last, the set was insane, it was so packed and people went nuts. After the show was over the house offered us a place to crash, however during the whole show we got some weird vibes from the people attending the show, some dumb ignorant shit being said and such. What was even weirder is that just yesterday was when the mass shooting at the historically Black church in Charleston happened and no one was even addressing it. It just seemed like a party atmosphere. So we decided we’d take off on another overnight drive. Before leaving Charleston we decided to pay our respects to the lives lost at that church, we figured it was the only right thing to do. The church was only a few blocks away from where the show was which made me wonder why there was no discussion about the shooting. We got to the church parking lot and walked to the front of the church passing a few news crews waiting for their next segment to start. As we got closer the atmosphere felt to have changed drastically. We saw candles, flowers, notes and pictures along the walls. Other people were walking and leaving flowers. With all these people there it was still so quiet, only the sounds of footsteps and a few cars passing by were the only sounds you could hear. The gravity of it all was so heavy. When we decide to leave back to the van Erik became teary eyed and we all embraced him silently, the emotions were so overwhelming. We didn’t know what to do but it felt like being there for Erik was the right thing to do. Once we collected ourselves we started on our drive to Asheville, NC.

Part 3 up soon. -Marcel

#left astray #punk #diy #hardcore punk #crust punk #punkxzs #left//astray #sadcorehatepunx

danieljtorres1

Left Astray recording in Orange, CA August 2015

leftastrayhc

We recorded a few songs this past summer, we'll talk about it more soon!

#leftastray #punkxzs

2015 in Review pt.1

Part 1. It's been an extremely long time since we've had anything posted on here and I feel that a recap of all the stuff we've done(or at least remember) would be a nice way to end the year. Before we dive into 2015 we'll start with this. A few months after our first southwest tour in September 2014, our guitarist, Ivan Ngo, left the band to further pursue his career in writing. We love the guy and we know he'll kick ass. He played his last show with us on November 12th at Bridgetown DIY with Self Defense Family, Goodtime Boys and Wild Moth. Prior to Ivan N leaving, we had our friend, Erik Adams, join the band. He fit in perfectly and got along great with everyone. The transition to a new member was seamless and we began working on new material and plans right away. Late December of 2014 we went to record a demo and a track for a compilation with Alex Estrada at The Earth Capital. It was a short demo consisting of two songs and the other track was to be featured on for the comp, "Sordid States", to be released on 10" through Middle Man Records sometime soon. Now that it was 2015 and had some new music, we were ready to start playing again. Our first show of the year/Erik's first show with us was on January 24th. It was a house show in Fontana just down the street from Alex's house with a bunch of local bands. It was so great to be doing stuff again and things were looking hopeful for the most part. The next shows we had lined up were on January 30th and 31st at the Austin Blood Alliance Fest(ABA Fest) in Austin, TX with Ampere, Lord Snow, Two Knights, Flesh Born, Coma Regalia and more. It was quite strange that just a few days prior to this we were playing a show in a backyard and now we were boarding a plane with guitars as carry-ons en route to play a festival. "Surreal" was the only word that came to my mind. We played two sets that weekend, one at The Spiderhouse Ballroom where the main fest was and the next day we played a pre-show at the House of Commons. Both shows were awesome but the pre-show was definitely the better show of the two, it was way more intimate and the energy in the house was insane. Pretty much everyone who went to the fest the night before was in attendance. What made the fest special is that we made new friends, hang with friends from the last time we toured and see a bunch of bands that we've played with when they toured through KALI a few years ago. Lots of partying and karaoke and it was my first time drinking Yerba Maté. We thank our good friend Blake Given for setting everything up and for the continued generosity and hospitality! March 14th we played Ché Fest, a benefit for The Ché Cafe Collective. March 16th we played with Bleed The Pigs(TN), La Bella, and Maladjusted at Bridgetown DIY. March 20th we played at Bridgetown DIY with Days of Struggle from Mexico and Recluse. March 22nd we took a trip to Oakland for the weekend and played at The Hive with Bay Area friends, Renais, Crush and Sloths from Portland. Alex had a day where he ate nothing but sweets: waffles, donuts and an ice cream sundae or crepes, I don't remember. Thank you Tomm, Josh and Rita from Renais for treating us to dinner and breakfast and watching fail videos for hours together. April 11th with Crush Fugue, Mossbreaker and Pedestrian. For some reason, I still don't know why, but we played extremely loud, like way fucking louder than we usually play to the point that the notes were indistinguishable and every time there was a pause there was most piercing feedback. I remember literally everyone plugging their ears with their fingers. It was kinda funny. April 18th was the day we bought our first tour van! Later that day we played with a bunch of friends; Leer, Winter Break and VRIL at Claremont College. Thank you to Jennifer Rennick who set up and has hosted the event for the past three years!! April 26th we returned to the Ché Cafe to play a show with Crime Desire and the homies in Moxiebeat. Show was pretty punk. Moxiebeat crashed into the van we just bought. It was in broad daylight and we were parked. May 8th we played a new spot that opened up in Fullerton called Programme Skate Shop. The show consisted of us, Erik's band Sophie, VRIL, Maladjusted and Feel Nothing. May 23rd was Saturation Fest in downtown Riverside. We played at Back To The Grind with Moxiebeat, Walle, Waste Age and a bunch more. Thanks to Josh and Saturation Fest for putting everything together, May 27th was the first time L//A played in LA in the 3 years we've been a band. We played at the now defunct Space 42 with our friend Rollie's band TEETH, Cursed Graves and a few others. May 30th we played with Ostraca(VA) and Recluse at Bridgetown DIY. CRUUUUST June 11th-July 19th was L//A's first U.S. tour. Since this post is too fucking long I'll continue with the tour post soon. -Marcel

#left astray #leftastray #sombras del progreso #punk #hardcore punk #did #diy or die

renaisca

our first family photos from a lovely night with sloths, left astray, and friends

leftastrayhc

I love and miss you all.

#renais #leftastray #sloths #KALI

danieljtorres1

Left Astray Manny’s Depression Chamber, Fontana, California January 24th, 2015

leftastrayhc

By Daniel Torres! freepancakesforlife danieltorresphotos

danieljtorres1

Left Astray Manny’s Depression Chamber, Fontana, California January 24th, 2015

leftastrayhc

Pictures by the always amazing, Daniel Torres. freepancakesforlife danieltorresphotos

whatascheme

Left Astray- Confines 12”

kellyzhuphotography-deactivated

Left Astray (leftastrayhc) Austin Blood Alliance Fest 2015 Austin, Texas

leftastrayhc

From the Austin Blood Alliance Fest this past weekend. Photo by kellyzhuphotography

#left astray #sadcore hatepunx #KALI

danieljtorres1

FINALLY got around to scanning the negatives from NUX fest, which happened this past February. I decided to do a majority of them in diptych from, using frames that were next to each other on the negatives; there are a few singles which should be just below this post!

These are in chronological order and were taken in and around San Luis Obispo, California on February 15 + 16th, 2014.

February 15th 1-2 + 3-4: Left Astray - 2k7 Broad Street 5: outside 2k7 Broad Street 6 + 7-8: La Bella - 2k7 Broad Street 9-10: walking to Frankie Teardrops from 2k7 Broad Street 11-12: Dharma - Frankie Teardrops

February 16th 13: Laura + Cam outside Andy Z. #2’s house 14: Somebody playing at some park across the street from Sally Loo’s 15-16: Stopping at a nude beach on the way home

Flickr | Facebook

danieljtorres1

NUX VII IS NEXT WEEK I AM SO EXCITED

freepancakesforlife

!!!

This is a new demo that we recorded last month at The Earth Capital in Los Angeles and it's free to download. We'll be playing the Austin Blood Alliance festival in Austin, TX this weekend with Ampere and Lord Snow. So if you live in or are going to be in the area, come hangout with us! -Marcel

#left astray #sadcore hatepunx #diy #DIY or die #punk #hardcore punk #screamo #skramz #Austin blood alliance #ampere #lord snow

danieljtorres1

Left Astray - Confines. September 2013 http://leftastrayhc.bandcamp.com/album/confines Photograph in zine insert 1. Bridgetown DIY, La Puente, California August 11th, 2013

leftastrayhc

We are almost sold out of "Confines", we might repress it in the near future.