Malinformants is a new band comprised of vocalist Jesse Rosemoore (Fields of Fire), guitarist Duane Harris (Allegiance, Caged View), bassist Victor Ordoñez (Cuffed Up), drummer Cory Cunningham (Hounds & Harlots), and guitarist Chris Matulich (Northington, Enemy You).
"I had been bothering Chris to do a band for many years," Duane tells No Echo about the Bay Area outfit's formation. "Honestly, probably since Nothington and Allegiance were both bands. Once the Pandemic 'ended' and we all had some distance from previous bands, we finally made it happen. We brought Cory in from the start, who used to play drums in Hounds & Harlots and had been a friend of mine for ages."
"From there, we brought Victor in on bass. He’s a Chicago guy that’s a close homie that I skate with. He’s an incredible drummer and bassist and has played in a lot of hardcore and metal bands, but was most recently in Cuffed Up from Los Angeles before moving to the Bay. The final piece of the puzzle was Jesse, who I met a lifetime ago during my Allegiance days, and I’d cross paths with him while he was visiting the Bay or while he was on tour with Gorilla Biscuits. He eventually moved to the Bay, so I took a mental note of him as being a possible guy to play music with. It’s a solid group of guys to make music with!"
Malinformants just dropped their debut release, a 7-track EP called Central Location. "I come from more of a hardcore background, but I’ve always had a deep love for '90s Lookout! Records punk bands. I’m also a huge fan of The Explosion, which is something that Chris and I have bonded over for years, so naturally, these two ideas were tossed around a lot early on in the band.
"I don’t think we really sound like a Lookout! Records pop-punk band, or even The Explosion, but if you listen to the actual music, you can certainly hear that stuff sprinkled in there."
Guitarist Chris shares his thoughts on the Malinformants' style: "I agree with what Duane said regarding our sound. I’ll add this - I think the fact that we didn’t set out to be a hardcore band, and we wrote these songs without having a singer, is probably what makes our sounds unique. If you isolate the music from the vocals, you’d hear one song that sounds like The Hives, one song that sounds like Pinhead Gunpowder, and one that sounds like it could have been on an old Black Flag album.
"One of them even sounds like a Ramones song on speed. But when you add in Jesse’s hardcore influenced vocal style to the music, it changes everything and becomes a cohesive set of songs that sound like a new take on an aging genre. We aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel, but we’re making a pretty cool wheel."
READ MORE: 5 Punk Songs That Changed My Life, by Brian McTernan (vocalist of Be Well)
Duane describes the surprise drop nature of the Central Location EP: "Since there’s no real 'right way' to launch a band anymore with streaming being the norm, we decided to bypass the traditional punk approach of doing a demo first and jumped straight to an EP. We recorded it with Ryan Ellery at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland and it was one of, if not the best recording experiences that I’ve ever had. Ryan comes from hardcore and punk, and brought some great ideas to the table. I’m very happy with the finished product and can’t wait for everyone else to hear it."
"I think we should give Ryan Ellery and Sharkbite some credit here and say that we didn’t really know whether we were recording a 'demo' or an EP, but after we heard how good the recording sounded, I was like 'this is an EP - let’s put some extra thought into the details now and make it our official debut,'" says Chris. "We took the rough mixes home and added a few new guitar tracks and vocals that I believe brought the songs up a level to be a release I’m really stoked about."
With Central Location out now, Duane shares some of Malinformants' future plans. "In the immediate future, we’re going to focus on sharing our music online as much as possible. The tracks went live today on Bandcamp and next Friday, July 19th they're going live on all streaming platforms. I’m pretty excited for people to hear the EP. Based on all of our previous bands, I think that these songs may surprise some people!
"In addition, we’re playing our first show on Sunday, August 4th in San Francisco with M.U.T.T, No Lights, and Caged View. That’s taking place at Thrillhouse Records, which is always fun, so we’re looking forward to that. We’re working on booking other shows as well, so give our Instagram a follow for announcements of additional shows. And lastly, you can expect a vinyl pressing of the EP in the future as well!"
Duane gives some love to the Malinformants' fellow local bands. "There are so many bands from the Bay Area that I genuinely like, so I know that I’m going to forget some here, but off the top of my head, Urban Sprawl are easily one of my favorite current hardcore bands. They're writing a new record that’s going to be absolutely incredible.
"I’m also really into that new Clique EP, it’s pretty nuts. In the post punk/post-hardcore genre, we have No Lights, and I can honestly say that their LP is one of my favorite records in the last few years. I’m very excited that Malinformants is playing our first show with them. We also have Ultra Sect, who are a super cool street punk band with an edge, which I really like. They've been around awhile and have really become a super cool band.
"And lastly, I have to mention my other band in this list, Caged View, who also have some other former Allegiance members. I guess we’re more on the post-hardcore tip, but are very much rooted hardcore and punk. Caged View is currently writing a record for GGT Records from Seattle, so I’m pretty excited about finishing that record and getting it out.
Chris also gets in on the local love action:
"I like that the Bay Area still represents a place that has underground music happening. Duane did a nice job of keeping it current, so I’ll make a shout out to the rich history of awesome bands from the Bay Area. I’d suggest checking out these bands from the last two decades as well - Dead To Me, Western Addiction, Civil War Rust, Terry Malts, Nerve Agents, and Swingin Utters."
Malinformants on social media: Instagram
Central Location will be released on all streaming platforms on Friday, July 19th.
Tagged: allegiance, in control, internal affairs, malinformants
