The Rise and Fall of the Mighty L.V.G. (La Vieja Guardia). Miami Hardcore's most quintessential unit...

Sitting at a bar, getting loaded for the first time since going med-free. I am at my third drink in, with half a 'milly' of Ativan in my blood, when all of the sudden The Dead Boys "Aint It Fun" comes on in my earphones -courtesy of my meticulously curated Pandora Bad Brains Station. I focus in on the line in the last verse that sings "Ain't it fun when you've broken up every band that you've ever begun?". I laugh...

I laugh for two reasons. First, because most cretins will not understand the subtle beauty of that line, it's implications of a Punk anti-ethos before there was such a thing, and the honesty put forth in the verse -a sarcastic yet sober summation of an anti-social/sociopath, laughing at his inability to play nice with his mates. Second, I laugh because Stiv Bator's words ring true in the heart of this particular anti-social, whom has broken up EVERY band that he has ever begun as well (even solo projects.) 

A third laugh, a small chuckle pregnant with contentment barely clears my breath. Then I remember for a second, that not everything that I have put forth into the material world has been chaff... There have been some moments of artistic integrity and accomplishment, interspersed among all of the failures and greatest misses. There was a time that I had a purpose, one that solidified into a defining work of art, in this case -a piece of music, a benchmark that would never, ever be approached again. I am very proud of my old band -my most recent attempt at being a musician, that went nowhere fast; but that's okay, I would have killed it at one point or another. I suppose it is better that I doused it in kerosene and then applying a flame before the band ever had any real glory to hang on to... 

just would have made it harder to kill... 

I first published this bio/post a while back, as a backlash to an infuriating article by the fecal MIAMI NEW TIMES, in which they did not list my old band, LA VIEJA GUARDIA, a.k.a. the Mighty, Mighty L.V.G., in a list of the top 10 greatest Miami Hardcore bands of all time. Narcissistic? If so, minutely; because the fact is that in the context of this city's Punk/Hardcore scene, the L.V.G. stands as underboss to only one group of very dangerous individuals known as ANGER, which by excellence are/were Miami's undisputed kings; and I am not relinquishing nor conferring the crown unto Mean Gene and his outfit for fear of my life. A Hardcore band with the following opening line in a song, by birthright, rules these streets:

"Que pinga te pasa, te voy a matar... te saco la fuca y te vas a cagar!

A mi no me importa si tu estas empericado, a mi no mires atravezado."

[English: "What the fuck is your problem? I'm going to kill you! I'll brandish my gun and you'll shit yourself. I don't care if you're coked up, don't you look at me sideways!"]

I always had the intent of re-posting this little history of La Vieja Guardia, alias 'the Mighty, Mighty' L.V.G. on a periodic basis just to honor the memory properly because I really feel that "the L" deserves it. All of the music on the EP (save for "Pa' La Calle) was written by Harold Bosch, the Vinnie Stigma of Miami Hardcore, with not a single gram of his talents spared; and of course, all of the words were penned by yours truly, as I could never bellow nouns and verbs that didn't originate in my own soul. It was one of my few dreams since I was 19 years old, small as it may seem to a civilian, to be the bandmate of Dirty Harry Bosch before the big, long nap. Check. 

So, without further ado, I present to you this rerun of a post from June 13, 2019...

Most people never got that this logo was supposed to be a fight-cock. Sometimes detail undermines intent.

The Rise and Fall of the Mighty, Mighty, L.V.G.

To tell the story of L.V.G. we must first mention Miami melodic-punk band Guajiro. Guajiro formed in 2005. At that point they had self-released a 5 song EP which I had picked up randomly at a record store. The EP really caught my attention due to the very pronounced musical influence of Husker Du, a personal favorite. The Husker Du influence would not be all that intrigued me, but also the fact that these guys were doing it in Spanish really drew me in, since I was in a phase then of trying to reconnect with my cultural background, so I was listening to a lot more Spanish-language music at the time. I saw them play for the first time at an art gallery in Wynwood on December 17th 2005. 

That night, hours prior to the show, by sheer fluke I met their drummer Doug McKinnon at a convenience store across the street from where the gig was to take place and we sort of hit it off based on our conversation where we found the common ground of both being old Hardcore kids from the early 90's. McKinnon touted a rather impressive resume, having done stints as drummer in a few big underground names such as Boston's legendary yet abhorrent Slapshot, then over on the west coast with Ignite, the Vandals and Speak 714. We exchanged numbers and a semi-friendship formed, and subsequently through him I became acquainted with the rest of the band. 

In 2006 Guajiro ended up getting signed to I SCREAM Records who would put out their debut full-length. When studio time came around, McKinnon wanted to have at least one old-style Hardcore song on the album to show that this band had roots from that scene- a dog whistle of sorts.

So he and Guajiro guitarist Dave Santos wrote an instrumental and enlisted myself and Miami-scene Capo-regime "Dirty" Harry Bosch to throw down the lyrics and vocals. Harry at the time was doing MEHKAGO N.T. (in my top 5 favorite bands of all time), but was also known for fronting DNME and Out Of Spite. As for myself, asides from experimenting with some lo-fi hip-hop stuff, I had not done anything musically since my early 90's band Burning Strong. The song we did with Guajiro became titled 'Delincuente', Spanish for 'delinquent'. Harry and I came into the studio, penned the lyrics, went into the booth and nailed it on the first fucking take. Producer Darren Randall, who has done some knob-twisting for the likes of Pennywise (to name drop a bit) was working the boards, and he gave his respects. After a week and a half of having his prostate swollen from dealing with the prima donnas in Guajiro (the drummer and the bassist, mainly), he looked refreshed and enchanted by these two derelicts that had just knocked out a joint with "trade-off'" vocals in one take. First take! Mic drop... that's a wrap, motherfuckers. First take! First fucking T! Randall offered sincerest fist bumps, but still put forth his fist with caution. He seemed to still not be sure if the "Bulldog Boys" (Lord Frank and Dirty Harry) were friendly or not.

Everybody got super stoked by the track, and it was agreed upon by all of Guajiro's members that this song needed to be part of the live set with Harry and I singing. However, McKinnon was not satisfied with one meager serving of the musical style that was closer to his heart than the bright melodies of his main band. You can take a cat out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the cat. It was at this time that talks emerged about doing a batch of songs in the vein of 'Delincuente' and putting them on a recording. The L.V.G. had been born. 

A pic from an early rehearsal.

I came up with the name "La Vieja Guardia" which in Spanish means 'the old guard'. I felt it was a fitting name, since that's precisely what this band's  integrants were- we were old-school Hardcore guys doing a 90's revival record.  At that time, we consisted of myself, Doug McKinnon on drums, Dirty Harry Bosch and Dave Santos on guitar. We soon started rehearsing in Guajiro's practice space in West Hialeah Gardens and thanks to the riff-machine that is Harry Bosch we soon had seven songs of our own (two that would never go on to be recorded, "The Red and Black Attack" and "Para Que".) We practiced these songs till they were air-tight, over and over. We practiced until we became hostile towards each other in rehearsal. Then around that time a string of really wild house party-styled shows went down in Miami, at which we played a few with Dave switching from guitar to bass guitar duty for the purpose of the live sound. There was a tremendous response from the crowd, which in 2006 was composed of a rather eager new batch of kids at shows that were full of energy and hungry for Miami's version of the Revolution Summer, which to me, in many ways, 2006 was just that. It was a glorious time where Hardcore kids, Punks and Long-hairs coexisted in perfect disharmony -a motley army of social refuse that was ready to rumble with the world at a moment's notice. 

The time to record was now at hand. 

We went into Southern Noise studios to record the E.P. with Jon Nunez of SHITSTORM who would produce and fill in on bass guitar for the recording sessions. Jon's improvised bass solo on our song Hialeah DeathStomp still gives me goosebumps.

I think it took us about a week to record the 5 songs that ended up being put out by I SCREAM Records, no doubt thanks to affiliation with Guajiro through Doug. I didn't really feel that I SCREAM was the right label for us. I really felt that we should have gone with a Latin label, one with a distribution focus on central and south America, not a label based out of Belgium. At that time there was a lot of really cool happenings coming from Latin America in terms of Hardcore music that I wanted to be a part of. In the end I SCREAM was the one that we went with. I guess it was kind of cool, for me anyways, to be label-mates with such names as Maximum Penalty, Beowulf and Token Entry. 

I remember the night that all the dust had settled and we each all went home from Southern Noise with a finalized CD-R of the proceedings. I joyfully cried several times, I laughed several times, and despite having to be up the next day at 5AM to go break my balls for a living, I couldn't sleep, and it didn't matter. I was plugged in to something, I don't know, my Dharma perhaps, and could've gone a week without sleep. A 1AM exchange via text messages between McKinnon and myself is pretty telling...

McKinnon: U Up?

Me: Can't... Close... My.... Eyes!!!  LOL (get the reference?)

McKinnon: Dude, I've literally shed tears

Me: Dude, not more than me. We fucking did this, bro!

With an E.P. out, it was time to fill in the bass guitarist slot with a steady member. A few people were auditioned, but nobody quite fit the mold. I don't think that there was any real prerequisite qualifications that we were looking for, it was more of a certain attitude that needed to be possessed. Also, in all fairness, nobody that we auditioned could tolerate the often contentious nature of our bands' interactions with one another during practice. It could get very tense very quickly in that little room. Like I said earlier, we practiced our songs till we became hostile towards each other. The fact was that we were all guys in our late 30's at the time who were very set in our uniquely neurotic ways, and in my particular case, very angry, unmedicated and out of control. 

After an unfruitful search, finally the right fit bassist would appear in the persona (and I do want to stress the word 'persona') of former ANGER alumnus and well-known sociopath Willy "The Nasal Snowstorm" Medina. Willy was actually a tremendous lead guitarist but he really dug what we were doing conceptually and did not mind at all switching from guitar for bass duties.

There was no audition, he was in from the beginning mention. If you can boast affiliation to the mighty ANGER, you have got all the credentials you need to play in my Hardcore band. Just listen to their classic jam Winds Of Violence, just to name one of many unsung classics from this Miami band and tell that you can't put it up against anything on Age Of Quarrel, for example. Willy was, and probably still is, a fucking nut that fit perfectly with us old rusty bolts. His dexterity as a lead guitarist more than translated onto the fretboard of the bass guitar; and he was loud, obnoxious and abrasive enough to hold his own during heated band practices. The L.V.G. was complete, a motley crew of misanthropes indeed.

Unfortunately, completion of the circle would not mean that it would roll forward. Asides from playing some cool "big" shows at home and a couple of out-of-town gigs with MADBALL, and playing the Tattoo Convention, L.V.G. would pretty much die while still on the vine. There were lots of elements working against our survival as a band, from the demands of my employment which limited my ability to tour, to the fact that L.V.G. was everybody's side band; everybody but mine.

It started to feel like L.V.G. was some slut that everybody goes to fuck when their girlfriend is out with her friends. I had also come to a point personally where I did not want to be associated to Hardcore anymore just because I did not like the direction that I started seeing the scene take musically and as an attitude in general. We all came to the agreement that we had run our course, and so L.V.G. played our last show with AGNOSTIC FRONT on the 5th of February, 2009 at Churchill's Pub, Miami's version of CBGB's. What an oddly appropriate band to play a last show with, I thought, since Agnostic Front's "Live At CBGBs" cassette was among the first four Hardcore records that I got as an outcast kid in 8th grade who was just discovering this incredible underground scene. They were my "Blood In", and on that night they would be my "Blood Out" of Hardcore.

Note the SICK OF IT ALL banner behind the Drum kit... This pic is from the night we opened for them in Downtown Miami.

Do I have any regrets, as far as how far we took it, or could have? No, none at all! I was not a young man any longer, at least I did not feel like one. It became evident to me on those 'away' shows with MADBALL that I was already too neurotic and grumpy for the road, much less with four other Neanderthals in tow. I was already way too domesticated by my soon to be new-and-ex-wife and was very into the comforts of my home and my pets. Of course, had I known then what I know now, I would have administered two swift kicks to her cunt and off I would have gone to father many children in Europe (take that, Caucasoid population!) 

At the very least, I was able to scratch that itch that every old Hardcore kid gets about every 10 years or so to make a little bit of ruckus. I was able to scratch that itch with a record that I am really proud of, one that finally made MIAMI HARDCORE into a thing...

So to Abel Folgar's Charmin'-grade journalism, and anyone who may have read and gotten offended by my claim that the L.V.G. should have been on that list, I will now present my case, for your consideration....

Look, musically L.V.G. wasn't inventing the wheel. How far can you go with Hardcore without it morphing into something else? We were doing our take on formulas that already existed from the very late 80's and into the 90's. I think if you were to listen for old-school influences, one can detect a little bit of WARZONE, maybe some CRO-MAGS, even some post-Hardcore flavor of bands like ATLAS SHRUGGED or BURN is present.

Undeniably, the elements that made L.V.G. exceptional (in my view, anyways) is the sincerity of emotion and the spirit of the music. Those five songs would make the hair on my arms stand up like needles when I would perform, or even when I listen to them today the effect has not diminished. The product speaks for itself. Those songs are executed razor tight, with no emotion compromised. Of course, none of which could have been achieved without the riff mastery of Harry Bosch, one of the musicians that I have had the most admiration for throughout my years in music. Every band that Harry has ever formed has been in some way detrimental to the survival of the South Florida Hardcore scene and the man is an encyclopedia of music. I can say that I was bandmates with Harry Bosch... my career in Hardcore was now complete. I'm now an elder statesman. 

Musicality aside, L.V.G.'s lyrical content is ultimately what really set us aside from the Miami Hardcore pack. Riding on our sound was a homegrown attitude, a truly 'Miami' approach to lyricism that gave LA VIEJA GUARDIA its true unique flavor. L.V.G. would be an all Spanish language Hardcore band which up until us, and I don't believe since, has there been a band like that in Miami.

I always found it odd that there weren't other bands that wrote in all Spanish, a scene that was almost entirely comprised of Latin kids. ANGER only had like two songs in Spanish I think ("NI PINGA!" being one of them -a classic). We wanted to throw it down not only in Spanish, but in Miami/Cuban slang. I tried to incorporate as much deep Cuban slang and idioms into the lyrics and they just worked. I knew that it would be a little alienating to do so, but it was the only way to write THE Miami Hardcore record, a job which I believe we did successfully. Also, I wanted Cuba to have it's hat in the ring, up until that point, traditional Hardcore had not reached the island yet despite a burgeoning Punk scene. 

I put a lot of heart into those lyrics, which at the end of the day is what gives a Hardcore band its greatness and its legitimacy. I challenge any Spanish speaker/reader to listen to that record while following along with the lyrics and not have their emotions stirred by our track 'Entre Hermanos', or the esoteric philosophies espoused in 'Moyugba Ache'.  The spirit of Hardcore is ever present in that recording that I am endlessly proud of. At the very least, when all is said and done, we contributed something truly solid to the zeitgeist, a bittersweet testament to Miami Hardcore that will stand the test of time, and for that I am eternally grateful to those four Neanderthals.