Societys Parasites self-titled album will punch you in the face and kick you in the balls before stealing your wallet and using the money to buy a 40 oz. of malt liquor. The band manage to combine the rocknroll/street punk sound that was perfected by bands like Rancid with the fury, aggression and speed of genre classics like Black Flag and Bad Brains. This means the band have a sound that wouldnt sound out of place in any of the last three decades of punk rock. Vocalist/guitarist Freddy Zepeda spews forth a venomous discharge of barely discernable lyrics while the rest of the band power through this albums 15 tracks, never giving you time to catch a breath. Bassist Andy Hernandez plays in a style very reminiscent of Matt Freeman, most notably on the track "American Nightmare, which demonstrates his fret-attacking abilities better than almost any other song on the album. Drummer Jimmy Zepeda hits the skins with fury and speed, never letting up, and guitarist Vince Gurubel throws on some hyper-speed Social Distortion-inspired riffs that serve as the only reminder of what this album really is: a balls-to-the-wall rocknroll shit-kicker.
The albums really fast and aggressive. Was that important to you?
Drummer Jimmy Zepeda: Since day one weve been playing that style. Weve been playing for ten years, so weve basically been playing fast our whole lives. The neighbourhood we grew up in was never a nice neighbourhood, so we could never play a happy song. There was always something fucked up going on or somebody getting shot in the alley. Somebody got shot two days ago up the street from where I live. Our music reflects on our lives.
Do you think that playing music helped you stay away from drugs and getting into trouble?
Honestly, a lot of people tell me, "Oh, you guys probably do drugs cause you play in a band. Especially punk rock, where Id say probably 60 percent of the bands do a lot of drugs. But we stay away from that just for the fact that weve seen a lot of people come and go on drugs. We dont want to be one of those bands that start doing drugs and [starts] falling apart. We dont want to do that. Weve got lives to live after this. We aint going to waste our time doing drugs and then come home to nothing.
(Hellcat)The albums really fast and aggressive. Was that important to you?
Drummer Jimmy Zepeda: Since day one weve been playing that style. Weve been playing for ten years, so weve basically been playing fast our whole lives. The neighbourhood we grew up in was never a nice neighbourhood, so we could never play a happy song. There was always something fucked up going on or somebody getting shot in the alley. Somebody got shot two days ago up the street from where I live. Our music reflects on our lives.
Do you think that playing music helped you stay away from drugs and getting into trouble?
Honestly, a lot of people tell me, "Oh, you guys probably do drugs cause you play in a band. Especially punk rock, where Id say probably 60 percent of the bands do a lot of drugs. But we stay away from that just for the fact that weve seen a lot of people come and go on drugs. We dont want to be one of those bands that start doing drugs and [starts] falling apart. We dont want to do that. Weve got lives to live after this. We aint going to waste our time doing drugs and then come home to nothing.