By Noe Gutierrez
It’s 111° in Cathedral City, when the last member of the PSSSTOLS strolls into the
basement where the rest of the band awaits. A quick hello to his fellow members, he straps
on his guitar and drinks some wine. Joel counts it in and the music begins. This is a sample
of a day in the life of ‘PSSSTOLS’ a Coachella Valley new wave rock group who dispense
high energy and accelerated tempos. In listening to their tunes ‘Marizabelle’ and ‘Domino’ a
conglomerate of early U2 and Modern English comes to mind.
In no particular order, the band members are; Jesus Escarrega on guitar, Sal
Guitierrez on guitar, Joel Guerrero on drums, Nick Hernandez on bass and Victor Aguirre
on vocals. The origin of the band name was conceived by Gutierrez after having played with
the words pssst and pistol. Aguirre admits, “We needed something that would draw
attention by simply reading it and from this came “Pssst…. Have you heard of the
PSSSTOLS?”
“The sounds and swirls of the desert’s psychedelic nature and the stamp of desert
rock being influential in any desert kid’s musical upbringing is not something that can be
denied in our guitar strumming or our drum and bass thumping. We’ve all been influenced
by many things around the world including our culture. From the reggaeton drum beats
incorporated into our song ‘Eyes Like Rain’ to the tricky time signature math rock influence
in a song like ‘Hielo Hielo’ and our Columbian vice influenced ‘Burandanga,’” Aguirre
shares. PSSSTOLS display a pride of the desert too often distanced by other people in their
demographic. Accepting their lot they have initiated a paving of a new road for Latinos who
rock.
Aguirre elaborates about his band members’ attitudes towards desert living, “As
anyone that has lived here their entire life will tell you, as much as we love the desert,
we’ve all at one point wished to be somewhere else, maybe not forever and maybe not
actually there, just in our imaginations, but the members of the PSSSTOLS look out above
these mountains that provide a cocoon to grow musically for inspiration.”
PSSSTOLS music is not easily defined by the band members. Aguirre poetically
states about PSSSTOLS music, “Our songs are a product of space wine, a lifetime of Sex
Pistols, Joy Division, backwards peace signs and a powerful drive to wanna make people
dance any which way they please; all being blown together by the Cat City breeze. We
invite you to experience uninhibited well-dressed debauchery at any of our performances
throughout the Coachella valley and abroad. With the hope of one day becoming a piece of
desert folklore shared around the world.”
PSSSTOLS were recently the featured performers on BandWidth Mondo, a brand
new internet music talk show that broadcasts live on LA Talk Live. The show was created
by LA Talk Live producer Lixe Hernandez. Lixe teamed up with best friend Mondo Cosio.
Bandwidth Mondo is all about supporting new music in Southern California.
I did all I could to withstand the puns on guns given the band name. So I’ll say this
instead, “Their weapon of choice is music, but if that doesn’t get the job done, an AR-15 will
do.” You can find more information about PSSSTOLS on Facebook, Twitter, ReverbNation,
SoundCloud and YouTube.
Future Shows:
Friday May 10, 2013 – The Date Shed
Saturday May 11, 2013 – The Hood Bar & Pizza-The 6th Annual Concert for Autism.
Sunday June 2, 2013 – The Continental Room in Fullerton, CA
PSSSTOLS are also scheduled to perform in June at the multi-faceted cultural
extravaganza AMFM Fest as part of Coachella Valley Weekly’s Showcase. Find out more
about AMFM Fest at www.amfmfest.com
