"La Armada transform adversity into community... With the EP series 'Songs of the Exiled,' the Dominican-born hardcore band honor the cities they’ve called home... They also continue to challenge themselves as musicians, increasingly injecting Afro-Caribbean rhythms into their ripping hardcore, punk, and metal."
–Chicago Reader
La Armada has posted new track "Gun Nation," from its upcoming new mini-EP, Songs of the Exiled I: Chicago.
Stream the track, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CehJ6FKslYc
Read an extensive new interview with the band, here:
https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/armada-songs-exiled-hardcore-dominican-immigration-marte-rivera/
Of the new song, La Armada's Paul Rivera states: "'Gun Nation' is a look at the possible underlying causes of mass killings in America, a phenomena that has become almost normalized. We tried to look at it from an objective angle and pose questions like, 'why does it continue to happen?' and 'why are the the killers overwhelmingly white males?'"
New mini-EP Songs of the Exiled I: Chicago drops Friday, March 27th. It is the first installment in the Songs of the Exiled series, which pays tribute to the various places the band has called home.
Founded in the Dominican Republic in 2001, La Armada played a major role in building up the hardcore punk scene in its home country in the '00s, before then emigrating to the US – first to Florida, then to Chicago. The band's highly unique story, of having made its mark in the Dominican Republic, then uprooting and starting again in the US, will be expressed and honored through Songs of the Exiled.
A self-described "crossover" band, the quintet's sound blends influences from metal, hardcore punk, and Caribbean music. In La Armada's hands, thrashing hardcore, inspired by bands ranging from Bad Brains to Death, is intensified by traditional Latin rhythms.
Just as its music reflects its background, so does its message. La Armada describes its political stance to be that of "decolonizing and anti-fascist lyrics, which criticize the politics of both the US and the Dominican Republic." Denouncing historical atrocities and also pointing out flaws in modern-day society – racism, police brutality, prisons for profit, to name a few – the band has put its money where its mouth is, with a long history of organizing concerts and events to raise funds for causes such as the American Civil Liberties Union and for grassroots organizations in the Caribbean.
Band photo by Nessa Teruelo
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