Punk rock will not be the very first thing one would possibly affiliate with a youngsters’s puppet present. However on Sunday morning on the Ford Theater, L.A. punk pioneers Juanita y Juan and puppeteers from the Bob Baker Marionette Theater put native children to the take a look at.
After a morning spent crafting their very own paper marionettes within the lobby, youngsters marched in direction of the stage to revel within the weirdness of Juanita y Juan’s electro-cumbia guitar jams — a musical fusion they name “loud lounge.”
The duo was accompanied by classic marionettes and their handlers, who performed backup dancers within the shapes of jellyfish, cats and aliens. Households bounced and gently moshed alongside to the drum machine beats as “Juan,” often known as Child Congo Powers, regaled them with a narrative about his hair catching on fireplace whereas taking part in a candlelit punk present with the Cramps.
And when a few rowdy children began to climb onstage, bouncers swiftly intervened. “Oh, that’s very punk!” mentioned “Juanita,” higher often known as Alice Bag.
(Evelina Gabrielle Perez / For De Los)
It was a well-recognized situation for Bag and Powers. When the 2 first crossed paths within the Nineteen Seventies — one being the entrance girl of the Luggage, the opposite a guitarist in such bands because the Gun Membership, the Cramps and later Pink Monkey Birds — they may hardly surmise how influential their scrappy neighborhood would turn out to be in its nascent years.
“We were all trying to create some kind of new subculture or protest against the bland music of the day,” mentioned Child in a Zoom name earlier than the present. “We bonded under the flag of punk rock,” added Bag.
Within the storied historical past of the Los Angeles punk scene, Chicanos have been, and stay, everlasting fixtures. However after predominantly white bands like Germs, X and the Go-Go’s have been commemorated in numerous books and documentaries as architects of the style, Bag and Powers determined to start out sharing their very own views as Mexican Individuals who broke the mildew.
First, they dedicated the tales of their lives to the web page. In 2011, Alice Bag revealed a memoir titled “Violence Girl: East L.A. Rage to Hollywood Stage, a Chicana Punk Story,” and in 2022, Child Congo Powers adopted with “Some New Kind of Kick.”
However it was after collaborating on a tune for the 2022 Peacock thriller sequence “The Resort” that their duo, Juanita y Juan, was born. They spoke to De Los about their salad days, their new album, “Jungle Cruise” and the way younger Latinos can navigate this time of upheaval within the U.S.
The next interview has been calmly edited for size and readability.
(Evelina Gabrielle Perez / For De Los)
Inform me about your supergroup, Juanita y Juan. What sparked this concept for you?
Child Congo Powers: Juanita and Juan are the alter egos of Alice and I. Our reference was Marty & Elayne, who have been a cabaret covers act on the Dresden Room [in Los Feliz]. They acquired an enormous following; they have been within the film “Swingers.” And the songs are enjoyable.
We first reconnected as associates after Alice [released] her e-book, “Violence Girl.” Then we acquired requested to jot down a tune for a [2022] TV present on Peacock known as “The Resort.” Me and Alice are on the identical label, Within the Crimson Information, out of L.A. They requested for a tune by “a beach lounge act,” they usually wished it to be in Spanish. We’re each Mexican Individuals, Chicanos, however I believed, “Alice is much more fluent in Spanish.” She was like, “Why don’t we try to do it as a duet?” They usually preferred that concept.
Alice Bag: With “The Resort,” we had a springboard of this “loud lounge” thought. However it morphed into a number of various things that have been very a lot our persona, and really a lot not one thing we might usually do — exploring totally different rhythms, like Latin rhythms and tropical rhythms. I spent a month in Tucson, and we really wrote and recorded songs [that became the album] “Jungle Cruise.”
So how did this puppet present come into play?
Ok.C.G.: The [Bob Baker] Marionette Theater heard our music and thought it could be applicable for a children’ punk factor.
A.B.: I’ve really labored with Bob Baker’s Marionette Theater earlier than. We did a video collectively for a tune on my “Sister Dynamite” album, which was launched in 2020. Additionally, I’m a former instructor. I used to take my courses to the outdated theater, so I’ve a really heat affiliation with childhood and the way enchanted children are once they see a puppet present.
(Evelina Gabrielle Perez/For De Los)
You each are actually inspiring to me as Latinos who helped form punk in its very early days. Studying about you and different Latin punks like Jeffrey Lee Pierce (The Gun Membership) was affirming to me as a younger Latina and punk. How did you two join over your Mexican American expertise?
A.B.: There have been a variety of Latinos within the early punk scene. Not simply Child and I, however like, Trudie Arguelles, who was the face of L.A. punk.
Ok.C.P.: Yeah, she was the it lady.
A.B.: And Margot Olavarria, who was the unique bassist for the Go-Go’s, was an enormous shot within the scene. Tito Larriva, who fashioned the Plugs. Robert Lopez, Hector Penalosa, all of the Zeros! There have been a variety of Latinos round. However I believe one of many issues that occurred is — I’m Alice Bag, though Bag will not be my final identify. Our final names acquired misplaced, and folks simply considered the band names as our household names, just like the Ramones! We banded underneath the flag of punk rock.
Our ethnicity was current, however it wasn’t at all times the very first thing that you simply seen about us due to how we dressed. Individuals didn’t know what punk was. They might make feedback like, “Is the circus in town? Are these people in a gang? Are they they gonna beat us up?” So we bonded, and we had to hang around collectively as self-defense. We have been the weirdos.
Alice, in your memoir (“Violence Girl”) you spoke concerning the rigidity between the Mexican cultural mores that you simply grew up with and what you have been creating anew with punk.
A.B.: I believe individuals acquired the incorrect thought about me very early on as a result of they knew I used to be from East L.A. I grew up round gang tradition and realized to stay up for myself, so individuals thought I used to be scary. Even Child Congo Powers mentioned I used to be scary.
Did you suppose she was scary?
Ok.C.P.: I believed she was intense. Something may occur when Alice Bag acquired on stage. And that was what drew me to her and the band. There was a menace to them, one thing risky. This may very well be a riot, or it may very well be an orgy.
And Child is aware of chaos very nicely. You held your personal in bands just like the Cramps. May you consider a Latin entertainer who helped affect your personal efficiency?
Ok.C.P.: Iris Chacón.
Wow, I didn’t know you bought down like that!
Ok.C.P.: My mother watched her on TV. That was thrilling.
A.B.: That’s the place he acquired his maraca work from.
Ok.C.P.: And my outfits. However there was Ritchie Valens, after all. I like outdated rock ‘n’ roll. After which once I met Jeffrey Lee Pierce of the Gun Membership in 1978 or ‘79, we bonded on being Chicano. We both grew up in San Gabriel Valley — me in La Puente, Jeffrey in El Monte. We’d reference riffs popping out of a storage in La Puente, some Chicano storage band taking part in Santana or Battle. We shared the outsider-ness of being born in America, however we have been in Chicano world. And throw in the truth that I knew I used to be queer from a younger age … I didn’t know if I used to be in or out.
A.B.: My influences have been from Spanish-language music. Raphael was a Spanish singer who’s very intense and really dramatic. And I additionally am an enormous fan of José Alfredo Jiménez, who wrote all these ranchera songs that have been very emotional. I believe there’s a connection between ranchera music and punk — it’s for everyone. It’s higher when everyone joins in and sings alongside. Punk and ranchera are the individuals’s music.
That calls to thoughts the resurgence of corridos amongst younger individuals. A number of the songs generate controversy, however it’s attention-grabbing to see a equally rebellious spirit as punk. What do you suppose?
Ok.C.P.: Individuals are at all times saying to me, “Don’t you feel sorry for young people today? They don’t have what you had, this and that.” However I’d by no means in my life underestimate youthful individuals. There’s one thing happening, and I don’t find out about it. You don’t find out about it, as a result of it’s not for us to find out about.
You each have proven many Latinos methods to stay authentically to your identification, to your values. What’s a fast chunk of encouragement or recommendation for younger, bizarre Latino children? Particularly now, when it’s laborious to not really feel demoralized about what’s occurring throughout the nation?
Ok.C.P.: Effectively, to stay authentically is a path that may be lonely. However it’s additionally very empowering. And I get to be in my 60s and say I’ve performed music precisely as I’ve happy. That’s attainable. I had no thought methods to play guitar till Jeffrey Lee Pierce mentioned, “Here’s a guitar. I think you can do this. And you’re gonna do it.” I believed, “If this one person believes in me, then I’m gonna try it.” You simply should say sure to your self.
A.B.: I’d additionally say you’re not alone. Daily, there’s a bombardment of issues on the earth and within the U.S. that you really want to withstand. It’s very simple to turn out to be despondent and overwhelmed. However you don’t should really feel such as you’re lifting this complete weight by your self. It’s essential to know that you simply do have a neighborhood that stands with you. We’re all working in several methods. We’re all a band. We’re going to make it via this collectively.
