When the five friends in Hexed get together with their instruments to make some music, get ready for some loud and innovative sounds. The psych-punk band from Pomona have been busy playing around the Inland Empire for just over a year now. Using two guitars, bass and drums – and the recent addition of a synthesizer – Hexed creates a sound that builds upon the members’ familiarity with various forms of punk, surf and indie music going back to So Cal’s punk heritage of the ’70s and ’80s, alternative of the ’90s and 2000s, and beyond.
The psych element comes in the form of a strong experimental impulse in the group’s efforts. Mike Hopkins (fast and agile drums) Ian Contreras (energetic pulses of bass) Mel Macias (atmospheric and aggressive rhythm guitar) and Cristian Acevedo (melodic and searing lead guitar) together create a sonic whole that frequently bursts out of straightforward punk conventions into melodic and rhythmic explorations where the group’s formidable skills come into play.
Keyboardist Josb Salcedo made his debut appearance adding melody and sound effects with the group at Bud’s Pizza in Fontana on August 24, where a capacity crowd came to hear a two act Battle of the Bands, which also featured outstanding performances by Upland’s Set Blasters. (The Battle of The Bands was organized by Jesse Gonzalez of Basrev Promotions.) Hexed won the Battle with a majority of votes.
Everybody in Hexed sings, though drummer Mike, whose voice is suitably intense, performs the main vocal duties. Ian also adds vocals, contributing primal shrieks and melodies along with a very physical bass performance. And though Mike ostensibly leads the band from his drum set, the process of creating the music is more complex than that, with songs going through “major upgrades,” as Cristian puts it.
Ian explains: “Mike has written a good majority of our songs so far. So the way that we write our songs, the way that we piece everything together, is that somebody will write a song and they’re like ‘we’re going to present it to the group.’ I don’t want to say orchestrated, but it’s kind of like pieced together in that way where everybody has their own parts.”
Mel: “I feel like in the end like we all just f* with it, we all just kind of make it our own kind of part. ‘Cause in the end we have what it was originally written as, and then we add more to it until it sounds kind of cool.”
Hexed’s upcoming album, “A Heart With No Home” is being mixed and mastered for release very soon; the single “Us/Refugee” is available now on Bandcamp.com. Previous releases including 2016’s “Adolescent EP” are also available . The thematic approach on the upcoming album remains to be seen. Mike insists that the audio clips that add a political edge to the new single were inserted by their producer. Mike and Ian both assert that being political is not a priority for the band.
Mike: “We kind of stay neutral about stuff, be cause we don’t want our music to be tied down to a certain audience, you know.”
Ian: “In a way, I see the importance of understanding what’s going on and speaking out about that and having your own voice heard. At the same time, I don’t want to…kind of taint what we have. I feel like this underground that we’re playing in at all these shows, it’s something away from all that. We don’t need to think about all the outside stuff. We kind of like having fun — we don’t have to worry about all of that.”
Since forming more than a year ago, Hexed have played so many shows in the Inland Empire that they’ve stopped counting. Their first L.A. performance will be at the oddly named club “The Smell,” on August 25, a benefit for L.A.’s homeless.
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Booking: hexedca@yahoo.com