I/O is a new group featuring lead singer and bassist Tatiana Velazquez and members of Free Mortal Agents and Wild Pack of Canaries. Photos courtesy of The Prognosis.
A robust roster of Long Beach musicians and artists is taking over The Airliner in L.A. this Saturday in a full-blown, three-stage music festival.
“The Prognosis” is the new brainchild of friends and housemates Mike Becerra and Ronnie de Leon. With their third roommate Matisse Ibarra, they live in what they’ve named the Prog House, which overtime has become a creative hub in its own right.
Between the three of them, they are each involved in a multitude of projects, many of which naturally cross over: Becerra plays lead guitar in math-rock group DON’T TRIP, comprised of the rhythm section of Wild Pack of Canaries. Ibarra, who does sound manipulation for WPoC and will be joining Rudy De Anda on stage Saturday, also partnered with de Leon to start a clothing line called Four Figures. De Leon is also involved in a new music project called Miraj with Johann Carbajal, the multi-instrumental lead singer of Furcast.
Rudy De Anda, recently named this year’s Best Indie Band by O.C. Weekly, will take the stage Saturday.
“It really felt like Disneyland and the attractions were these musicians and artists,” de Leon said. “In the first two weeks of living there I knew I had to showcase this somehow.”
That opportunity came along when The Airliner—the L.A. venue that hosts the popular weekly EDM showcase Low End Theory—became available to them. Becerra and de Leon decided to bring on an arsenal of other Long Beach musicians and artists whose work they admired. The roster includes 12 bands, six DJs and seven vendors.
“These are our friends—community is at the core of this festival,” Becerra said. “The music scene in Long Beach is so diverse that I want to show people that we’re not about a certain sound or genre—we’re just about creativity and collaboration.”
The three stages will showcase a lineup that includes Eureka The Butcher, the solo electronic project of Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez of The Mars Volta, as well as Porch Party Record’s psych rocker Rudy De Anda and hip hop duo The Natives. Coming from across a beatific mesh of genres, I/O, Furcast, Dennis Robicheau, DON’T TRIP, Crimewave5150, Furcast, Secret Garden, Wax Children, Rules Follow Us and Meow Twins will also play a set.
The Natives are a hip hop duo from Porch Party Records.
On the decks, the lineup includes The Goodfoot’s DJs Dennis Owens and Rodi Delgadillo, as well as Eusebio Akasa and Desireable D, London Guzman and Desi Ambrozak. Vendors will include Stacks FX, Porch Party Records, 3 Pt. Studios, TeeVee Art, Soulific Records, Four Figures Clothing and Robicheau’s Shady Grove Foods. MC Yonatan Zeray will host the night.
“The lineup is fire,” de Leon said. “I want for someone who has nothing to do with the scene in Long Beach to be able to come to The Prognosis and get a feel for what it’s like. Long Beach is such a culturally diverse city that you can’t really pinpoint what genre of music is being made or is booming. It’s like the gumbo that Dennis [Robicheau] makes with hella flavor and that’s what we’re serving.”
Saturday’s event is just the beginning for The Prognosis. The idea is to have a “traveling image” of Long Beach, taking the homegrown showcases around L.A. County. They have their sights on a venue in Downey for their next event in February, de Leon said.
“I don’t think Long Beach is so much of a bubble, but people stay true to their city,” he said. “Once they’re solid, they migrate, and I think it’s about that time.”
“Hopefully with the events we put together we not only get Long Beach bands out to an L.A. audience but also get that same audience to come out to Long Beach more,” Becerra added.
Secret Garden is a collaboration between members of Wax Children, Furcast, Dabble, and Freeman’s Dead.
The Prognosis, a 21+ event, takes place Saturday from 5:00PM to 2:00AM at The Airliner. The Airliner is located at 2419 N Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90031. Cover is $10. For more information, visit The Prognosis on Facebook.
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