We started CVLT Nation in Los Angeles, in the Boyle Heights area. At the time, we worked out of a little space the Lip Service warehouse. Many of the people we worked alongside in that warehouse were undocumented Mexican immigrants. Accountants, warehouse managers, seamstresses, pattern makers. Just normal people, working, living, and paying taxes just like citizens do, because while the U.S. government likes to spend money thwarting and hunting undocumented immigrants, the IRS has a loophole that allows people without SSNs to pay taxes so that the government can take in billions annually from them. These people lived in a city that used their money to pay for I.C.E. buses with bars on the windows. Sometimes not seeing family members back home for decades for fear of losing their entire life in L.A. That’s the definition of politricks.
Those are the kinds of politricks I’m thinking about when I listen to Pittsburgh punks DE RODILLAS (on knees) new single “Run.” After the Sahara Crossing, the U.S.-Mexico border is the second deadliest land crossing in the world, claiming the lives of thousands who are crossing back into the land of their ancestors. “Run” is fast and furious, a scorching hardcore punk track that lights a molotov cocktail of rage and injustice in my heart. None of us is illegal, and all of us are being controlled and manipulated. Nothing gets my blood boiling like some raw, raging hardcore punk energy flowing through my veins! “Run” is off their debut Implacable 7″ out now on Dirt Cult and Cruel Noise — get it here. Today we’re excited to share their music video for “Run” right here:
De Rodillas is a hardcore punk band from Pittsburgh PA. Fronted by a formerly undocumented Mexican immigrant, the band’s songs explore political topics from a personal perspective, and are steeped in raw, visceral emotion. Slathered in feedback, anchored by a rapid rhythm section and propelled by inventive riffing that pulls equally from 80s hardcore classics and modern inspirations. The band paints with an extreme but inventive sonic template that serves to imbue the lyrics with an increased sense of urgency.