PERU (LIMA) SCENE REPORT
Hi this is a small report about my local scene. I am form Lima, the biggest city of Peru. Perú is in south America and borders with Ecuador, Brazil, Chile, between other countries... so just have a look at a map and now you are gonna find us easily.
The scene is not too big and our poor economic situation is one of the reasons for this, setting up shows for foreign bands and also locals is quite expensive. Trying to release records here is also expensive, but people try to do the best they can. There are a few "big, but not d.i.y." bands that played here like MISFITS or D.R.I. but that doesn’t happen very often because although the scene is big it is not big enough to afford those kind of shows. However, we have set up shows for a lot of independent bands, like COCHE BOMBA (France), ARGIES (Argentina), CZOLGOSZ (u$a), FALLAS DEL SISTEMA (Mexico), RATOS DE PORAO (Brazil), etc...
Talking about bands, there are some really cool bands here. One of the favourites for foreign labels is DIOS HASTIO, they play raw grind crust with some dark and political lyrics, they are totally d.i.y with several releases aroun the world.
GRAVEDAD is a youth crust attack like MIGRA VIOLENTA form Argentina, very fast and angry with political lyrics and very committed to the scene. They will be releasing their first Cd this year and are planning a split color 7” with a Macedonian anarchist band, so labels interested to co-produce can get in touch with them : www.hxcmp3.com/gravedad.
ATAQUE FRONTAL are a legendary band that are playing again but not with the first line-up (that one from the 80’s).
Another legendary Hc band that is still rocking is DESARME, they play fast Hc with a huge D.R.I. influence (as a matter of fact they played with D.R.I. here), they have an upcoming brand new Cd these days that is produced with the support of labels all over : http://desarmehc.tripod.com
Another band that’s not so old but with have been around for a long time is ALHAMBRE ; they play old school Hc with a NyHc influence.
DESKONTENTO play angry crust grind some time bordering with noise. But the lyrics are not very smart.
Also DECISION FINAL who play melodic Krishna-Hc in a positive way : decisionxfinal@hotmail.com.
ANFO play Hc-crust they don’t get to play very often nowadays but they have a brand new Cd co-released by a lot of labels, and a new split color 7" with DFC from brasil. odiolosdiscos@hotmail.com.
There are also some new bands like ESTO ESTA MAL (positive old school Hc thrash) hc_estoestamal@hotmail.com.
UNICA x RAZON play old school youth crew Hc.
Also METAMORPHOSIS who play melodic old school Hc and have 2 releases out.
One of my favourite bands is AUTONOMIA, they play a kind of Spanish melodic Hc-punk with very committed lyrics. They got a discography Cd out (and it would be awesome if somebody ever released it on vinyl) : lucharomorir@hotmail.com.
Another band with a similar sound is SABOTAJE. They have an upcoming Cd : josetalara25@hotmail.com
A friend of theirs and the current drummer of AUTONOMIA also play in a band calls LOS REZIOS ; raw Hc with a Scandi influence and political lyrics : rabcore@hotmail.com.
If you enjoy grind core you can check out JATARY (www.jatahry.tk), this band is a bit new, but their singer is very old in the scene and has set up a lot of Hc shows.
And about punk-rock bands the best is GENERACION PERDIDA (anarchopunk), they also run a small collective called Axion anarchopunk (responsible of the 2006 international anarcho-punk meeting in Perú).
S.Q.P. is another anarcho punk band that plays more and more melodic punk, anyway... the ideas are the same.
AEROPAJITAS are really good, but I am not sure if they are still into the d.i.y. scene coz the band is getting more popular each day. Well I can’t think of any other bands that I like...
Some sites where you can find more info about these bands and mp3s are www.limahardcore.tk and www.hxcperu.com (the people who run the last one also run a small d.i.y. zine called Trascender). I forgot some contacts for bands, well in those sites you can find them ! It’s still very easy even if you don’t speak Spanish ("band" means "band", "multimedia" means "mp3s", "enlaces" means "links", "home" is "inicio", etc, etc).
Something important if you are planning to do a South American tour and play Lima, you can contact, if you are into anarchist movement, GENERACION PERDIDA (generacionperdidapunk@hotmail.com or http://www.gratisweb.com/generacion...) and if you are just another d.i.y. band it is better if you try with JATARY. If you are a Hc band with a positive view get in touch with the people behind hxcperu.com.
About labels, distros and zines, there aren’t too many. Trascender zine and Herro humano zine are the new ones both connected to the Hc scene. As for labels, there is Odio los discos from ANFO’s singer (odiolosdiscos@hotmail.com (mostly into crust bands)) and my label Solidaridad d.i.y. (hc/ punk/ ska bands). Soon to come is a brand new site www.solidaridad-diy.tk. Both work like distros too and from time to time sell stuff at shows. The other only distributor is Rabia distribucion (hc/ punk/ metal/ ska/ RnR bands) run by the LOS REZIOS drummer, Julio (www.rabiadistribucion.8m.com). Another label-only is xfairx (Hold true discography Cd + a Cd comp) ; no address yet...
Well all this is about the Lima scene. There are also scenes in small and not so small cities like Piura, Trujillo, Cajamraca, Huancayo, Huancavelica, Ica, Arequipa, Cuzco, Tacna, Puno, Cerro de pasco, Iquitos but I got few contacts. However I am gonna try to make a small list like a Peruvian report with e-mail so if you are travelling or wanna play around get in touch.
For more info don’t hesitate to get in touch : solidaridad_distro@hotmail.com especially if u run a label or a distro or play in a band communication is power !!
keep in touch, yuri