Just prior to Stoic Frame's recent move from Albuquerque to the West Coast, the band was near the top of its form.
The band had just convincingly won the New Mexico Showcase, a "battle of the bands" of sorts, and its sets at the small Burt's Tiki Lounge were some of the most powerful ever performed by a local band. The band was also regularly selling out weekend shows and drawing major label interest from Warner Brothers Records, as well as touring regionally with success.
But the band's journey to the top of Albuquerque's rock heap and beyond has certainly been a circuitous one.
It has taken its members from Monday nights at grimy local dive bars to Long Beach, Calif., where they currently reside, and into famed L.A. clubs like the Whiskey A Go Go, where the band has dates scheduled.
They're now back to being small fish in a big pond but one can sense that the drive that made Stoic Frame synonymous with activism and incendiary rock and roll in Albuquerque is still present, and the band's members still remember their formative years in the Southwest well.
"I found it to be beautifully appropriate that it was happening in our desert there in Nuevo Mexico," Keith Sanchez, Stoic Frame lead singer, said from the band's Long Beach digs. "When people would come up to me at shows, they'd say,'Look, I'm not into the leftist politics necessarily, but bro, what you're singing about is what I grew up with - being poor - that's what I appreciate.'"
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Whether the band was inciting awareness, as in the early track "Call to Rise," or providing the plans for the mass escape of prisoners in the beautifully aggressive "Rooftops," Stoic Frame has always had the "political" tag assigned to it because of its views. Now Sanchez said the band's stance has come into question with the widespread attention it is currently receiving.
"One of the things I relish in is irony," Sanchez said. "People say, 'How can you say you're going to try to propagate certain ideologies and sign a major record contract; what an oxymoron,' and I say, that's bullshit. It's about the way that you hit people, and that's the only thing that matters."
What matters now for the band is making waves in L.A., but not before two New Mexico shows. One in Albuquerque, at The Launchpad, and the other in Belen at The Mesa Inn, March 14 and 15, respectively, which will serve as release parties for the band's latest CD, a four-track EP entitled Maniac Boulevard.
Drummer Matias Pizarro said the band is happy to be providing New Mexico the first listen of its new material, which is, in his opinion, the band's finest yet.
"Part of capturing it was limiting the overdubs and second takes," Pizarro said. "There's a certain natural feel to what we played, and as far as songwriting, we've taken it a notch higher."
Pizarro pointed to the track "Velvet Pill" as being the band's current favorite and said heavy grooves, punk rock and the percussive mix that has become a sort of trademark are the rule on Maniac Boulevard.
Also included on the EP is the song "Demonios," which is sung in Spanish and is the band's third attempt at its recording. The other two versions can be found on "Rooftops" and "Calle De Callejon."
"For one, we wanted to include something in Spanish just so we can continue to hit both worlds - north of the border and south of the border," Pizarro said. "Of all our Spanish material, that's definitely the strongest song."
Even with the song's inclusion on Maniac Boulevard, Pizarro said the band's members are not looking to make their use of Spanish a novelty.
"We want to represent where we come from," Pizarro said. "And it opens us up to a whole different level; on one side, musically and lyrically, but also to a whole different audience."
Sanchez said playing to audiences in L.A. and the experience of the band's relocation has been both thrilling and full of trepidation.
"It's a trip out here, there's so much to be experienced," Sanchez said. "It's also a monster that can eat you up. I think what keeps me going is that there's something deeper going on."
Friday's show at the Launchpad at 8 p.m. will also feature local bands Blunt Society, Rebilt and Concepto Tambor, among others. Saturday's show at The Mesa Inn in Belen begins at 9:30 p.m.
