Interview with Local Santa Cruz Punk Band, SA90

Upon initially entering the room in which local Santa Cruz punk band, SA90, was meeting for practice, the setting that greeted me was lavish with archaic rock and roll memorabilia, band equipment, and musical instruments.

While I was waiting for the other members of the band to arrive and quietly browsing through a hefty stack of CD’s, the bassist of the band, Mark Hanford, informs me that it was only a small portion of his collection.

He then proceeds to direct me to another wall in which there are about five shelves completely filled with hundreds of CD’s. Next to it stood an entirely separate shelf jam-packed with the same amount of vinyls. It couldn’t have been more obvious that aside from being substantially experienced and generally knowledgeable about music, the members of this band had an exceptionally eclectic taste.

Before SA90 developed, Hanford, current drummer Philip “Flip” Wheatley, as well as the current guitarist, Joe Gabent, were members of the band, The Sealants.

While this band’s history is complicated, and has existed with several different member variations, Gabent was not actually a part of the band when The Sealants eventually dissolved in 2007. After about a year passed, Wheatley, Hanford, and guitarist, Michael Escamilla were joined by their energetic and rambunctious lead singer, Celina Bottini, whose overall energy and passion for music expels an unimaginable amount of raw emotion on stage.

Eventually Escamilla was replaced by Vince Buckley, who furthermore left the band for personal reasons. They were replaced by the two guitarists, Gabent, and Mike Cox, therefore finalizing the current lineup; each member possessing at least 20 years of musical experience under their belts.

With that said, in order to understand SA90’s unique genre it is important to analyze the history of each individual member. They all encompass considerably different backgrounds in their musical careers, and are each significantly experienced, causing them to come together and create a sound deemed downright powerful.

After Cox expressed his discontent in regards to labeling their sound, he finally settles with, “If I were to call it something, it’d be a punk band, but it’s a lot more than that. It’s got a bigger sound.”

Hanford agrees and adds, “It brings everybody’s influences into one place.”Their song writing process typically consists of Bottini bringing in lyrics to Hanford, who then writes the songs around her lyrics before introducing them to the band.

“The stuff I have written hasn’t been me sitting down and saying, 'I wanna write a song like blah blah blah', it’s just like, I wanna write a song, and then I start fiddling around until I find something I like. But I’m not thinking about a genre.”

When discussing the band’s long term goals, another admirable quality is revealed; fame is not a concern amongst the members when they come together to play music.

“When you’re younger, we’ve all been open to ‘You know what, we’ll all just take this band as far as we can, and if it just turns into a great local fun thing, then that’s great, but if we could tour more, and try to get famous then that’s one thing.’ But you do it for a little bit, and it isn’t all that glamorous.”

As far as being realistic, the band shares the same common goals: playing music and having fun. “Punk rock is individuality, and individual thought, and constantly questioning what you’re being sold, what you’re being fed, or the information you’re being given. And because of that you realize maybe money isn’t the thing to go after, it’s happiness,” Cox claims, an attitude that is tremendously more inspiring than a band thirsting for fame or fortune.

“And whether that be the band, or in life, or whatever else” Hanford concludes.

When asked if the band had any advice for young people out there interested in playing music, Cox replied with a simple but sweet, “Don’t question yourself, don’t worry about your skill level because that’ll come. Just do it for the love, and everything will fall into place.” An attribute SA90 is assuredly familiar with, and most likely the reason for any of their current success.