ESPERANZA

Victorville, CA / Los Angeles, CA

Esperanza was a short lived band from the Los Angeles/Victorville area who took their influence of 80's D.C. Hardcore and crafted 11 songs that are presented here through their complete studio recordings compiled on one release. Esperanza was important for many reasons, chief among them the ability to identify and delineate serious problems rooted in immediate experiences and connecting them to larger socio-political phenomenon while doing it in a time of relative comfort...when it is harder to be "angry" but even more important to be vigilant...as we all learned with the era that would soon be birthed on September 22, 2001...leading us the present uncertainty of COVID19 and everything thing that connects the two...One of the last hardcore punk bands out of Southern California before the Y2K takeover, whose members went on to become professors, scholars, builders and DJs.

Esperanza was:

Mike Amezcua - Bass
Raymon Ruiz - Guitar
Jake Hockel - Drums
Steve Aoki - Guitar
Rich Booher - Vocals

Photo by Joshua Peach