Jimmy Alvarado has been active in East L.A.’s underground music scene since 1981 as a musician, backyard gig promoter, writer, poet, bouncer, flier artist, photographer, podcaster, and historian. He has authored numerous interviews, articles, and shorts spotlighting the East Side scene, and an episode of his Eastside Punks documentary series about first-wave East L.A. punk band The Brat was named best documentary short at the 2020 Highland Park Independent Film Festival. He writes for Razorcake and also plays guitar in the bands La Tuya and Our Band Sucks. Alvarado says “while punk has been an inspiration and refuge to many in Los Angeles County, precious little attention has been given to the greater Eastside’s contribution to the scene until very recently. A rich diverse, multi-generational, multi-disciplinary group of artist are now being heard, through a variety of avenues, resulting in a more holistic history of the Eastside, and Los Angeles, underground music scene that counters the long prevailing myth that punk has always been a ‘straight white boy thing’.” Visit latuya.bandcamp.com and razorcake.org for more information.

Links:

latuya.bandcamp.com

razorcake.org

Song Samples:

(0:00-0:20) La Tuya, “La Tuya,” La Tuya, 2019.

(0:00-0:39) Patti Smith, “Gloria,” Horses, Arista Records, 1975. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPO0bTaWcFQ 

(0:00-0:35) La Tuya, “Thirteen,” La Tuya, 2019.

(0:10-0:45) La Tuya, “Tribes,” La Tuya, 2019.

Interview Transcript: https://sonix.ai/share/uUxv73Bv8cdKBcHG6fdvo7Ah

This episode was recorded on March 24, 2024, in Pasadena, in front of a live audience at the Lineage Performing Arts Center. 

Bella Gerard edited the audio and interview transcript.