HEYOKA

 

If it weren't for a very prominent piece of graffiti on the back wall of 924 Gilman, HEYOKA's self titled cassette might have faded completely into the shadows. Instead, it's just mostly in the shadows, but there might be a little "hmmm, I swear I've heard of the band somewhere" at the mention of the band's name from anyone who's seen live photos of their favorite bands playing the storied collective in the mid '90s...because there's a decent chance that you can see "HEYOKA" painted behind them. As for the contents - you can hear 1990s Bay Area the instant "Wrong Side" starts, and they maintain that scrappy, catchy 'kinda hardcore but also kinda pop punk' vibe throughout. Throw in a few ska parts (it was 1995, that's a thing that bands did...well, some bands...ok, a lot of bands) and maybe almost too many backing vocals and poof! The content here is dated, but that's precisely what makes it all click while listening with hindsight - there were so many bands like this, and so many of them were fucking great. So here's to some adolescent graffiti, here's to timeless Bay Area (I think they repped Belmont?) adolescent punk, here's to rediscovering the things you missed the first time around.

HEYOKA