BAND REVIEW: Ground Up

Ground Up was started in February or March of 2007. Our original singer/bandleader “Big” Chris Gutierrez had written a few songs, namely the song that became “Pushing Forward” and wanted to get something going. To be honest, part of what gave us an initial boost was an upcoming ‘battle of the bands’ type deal at the local high school. TVHS was having some sort of band war and Chris wanted us to be part of it so me and Skylar learned his song right quick. But before we knew it, however, the deadline for entry was passed, so what’s the point?

Chris kinda left the field after that, but me and Skylar had realized that there was something worth working with here. Although the type of music we were playing – straight-ahead modern hardcore without obvious punk OR metal influences – wasn’t exactly what I was about at the time, it was a lot of fun and it felt like we were making something really energetic and worth the time. As that time went on, I became a major fan and somewhat of a defender of the classic hardcore sound we were going for and I also kind of walked away from some of the anarcho/mainstream type stuff I had been into previously. We played almost every night, at Skylar’s parents house until the cops made it a point that we couldn’t anymore, and then at his older brother’s secluded hill-pad in Wildomar where we could play as loud and late as we wanted. Within a few weeks we had some badass songs written between the two of us, but I couldn’t do vocals while playing hardcore guitar. I can sing while I strum regular chords, but I can’t scream while I chugadun power chords. You gotta know your limits.
For the most part Skylar wrote all the music for Ground Up although he couldn't play a lick of guitar at first. He learned things over time, the way I can rudimentally play a few convincing beats on drums, but mainly he would verbalize what he wanted and we'd piece it together. "Be like shun dun, dun dun dun, shugadun dun wah rickita rickita peeewww".

On the other hand, his vision for what the vocals should be was extremely vague but I understood what he meant and pretty much handled that department. My aim was actually to make the most basic, to-the-point, almost intentionally boneheaded lyrics I could make so that our friends can relate to us, while still slipping in little messages about doing things for yourself and not relying on the world around you to establish your goals.

"If we don't do this, it won't get done. We've got to build this from the Ground Up."

The hardcore scene around us at the time was married to the heavy metal scene and so commercial and merched out and we just didn't identify. Skylar's fucking main influences are Terror and Comeback Kid but he hates on "mainstream" stuff even more than I do. We were so DIY about everything we did that we didn't wanna do shows we didn't set up ourselves or really work with anyone else who was trying to help us even a little bit.

We were exactly like the elitist hipster bastards that I have always hated.

Our search for a vocalist was ultimately what limited us. We were never satisfied with the death-growls that 2007-era “hardcore” kids were trying to emulate because we didn’t want to be a fucking deathcore band, but none of our actual friends were into hardcore AT ALL, so those were the only kids to try out. We recorded a few demos on cassette tape with myself doing spoken-word vocals that now sound ridiculous because I was so lax about my delivery, but for most of 2007 we had no recordings of our dope shit.

Eventually our friend Thomas came into the picture and was doing vocals the way we liked it. He introduced us to his buddy Jordan, who learned the songs on bass and we got amped on playing our first show. Our friend Nicole said we could play at her larger-than-average estate and we booked our punk friends Kirby and The Hellraisers, our indie friends Wretched Philiproy, and our hardcore friends Hellbent to play the show with us. Unfortunately, that night there was a pretty relentless rainstorm that forced us into the garage instead of the backyard where people could dance, but it was a lot of fun nonetheless.

That turned out to be our first and last show. We recorded 4 tracks at some quasi-producer’s garage-studio in Oceanside a few weeks later and soon dissolved. Thomas and Jordan wanted to play metal, me and Skylar wanted to play hardcore. At the time I was also going to school in Irvine so it just became impossible to practice consistently, especially given our stylistic differences. Those times are done.

Looking back, I’m happy that we were always true to our vision of the music that we played, even if we did isolate ourselves from the “scene” around us. We imbued our music with messages that we truly identified with, and we made songs that 5 years later I still bounce to. A lot of people make music so other people will like it, but we made music that we liked. This is for us, not for you. And if you like it, thanks. If not, thanks.