1) Good evening! We are San Francisco natives and the only punk band in the Mission. Our trio has been playing shows through times of gentrification and evictions of families in the Mission District. We use our instruments to shed light on the unheard voices of our community and to expose the negativity in our world.
2.Recently you have released a new demo, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
2) Our new demo differs from our last releases by having more of an ambient feel to our sound which is what we mainly sound like, Live. Our latest demo release consists more of a cavernous aesthetic leaning on the lofi aspect of black metal and raw punk. We believe those two genres go hand in hand and are/can be symbiotic to the sound we want to project to our crowd.
3.The band has been around since 2011 and there has also been a few years gap in between releases, can you tell us a little bit more about the delays?
3) The band started off early in our teen years so a lot of the gaps in between our releases are due to constant change and living situations. However, that didn’t stop us from playing live shows frequently throughout those years. We have been more of a live band than a studio band and we’ve used Live shows as a form of growing with our sound, carrying our message and building connections with other bands.
4.So far all of the releases have been demo's and ep's, are there any plans for a full length in the future?
4) yes! We currently just finished recording and will be releasing our new full length album, “Mundo Triste” in digital format on our bandcamp page by July, followed by a physical LP format version later this year. Will also be available on our page. We have delayed this album for some time due to schedule reasons and getting caught up due to life, sadly.
5.What are some of the the lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored over the years with the music?
5) Our tone and meaning in our lyrical content is based on observations and experiences we’ve had in our own Latino community and other communities suffering from injustices that past generations have dealt with throughout history due to discrimination and xenophobia. We also like touch topics on what it means to exist and the things that are omnipresent to the human experience.
6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Bruja'?
6) growing up traditionally and the acceptance of the belief of stories that have been passed down to us about different forms of magic and medicine that have existed through civilizations and are still practiced today are what inspire us with the name Brüja
7.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new demo cover?
7) Our Guitarist drew this out as his own interpretation and projection of modernized ancient mayan art. We use a lot of symbolism in our art. For our latest demo release, kul-ku-kan is exhaling the head of Camazotz head while camarotz is expressing words or noises.
8.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
8) The best shows we’ve played have been in our 2 favorite local venues; submission in our neighborhood and Casa De Chaos in Sacramento, CA. Our most favorite performance was at the Migra Punk Festival 2018 in Brooklyn dedicated to helping families separated at the border during the heightened times of anti immigration in the United States which is important to us as we are offsprings of undocumented families as well. We’ve been told our stage performance is very explosive, and euphorically ambient in an alchemist way. Just raw energy.
9.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
9) To be honest, we have always done things independently although we’ve had people show interest in us, we have preferred to work with other bands and friends as collectives in helping eachother out. Specifically our friend in Kukaracha Recordings, an independent recording studio run by a friend who’s been part of the bay area punk community, has recorded some of our releases and our upcoming full length. As for big labels, we’re ill informed in that industry.
10.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black metal and punk?
10) It's been fortunate and humbling to have had other people discover and enjoy our sound regardless of being across the country through the punk and black metal community considering that we ground ourselves locally to our city, San Francisco, CA. We do get a variety of fans that are in all ranges of metal and punk show up at our shows, So we get a melting pot of one extreme to the other with different musical interests and cultural backgrounds. We have been received kindly and we are grateful for that.
11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
11) Recently, we were asked to play a big festival in Mexico called Punkytud. We plan on playing it and working on more material for our other side projects that we are focusing on after our upcoming full length release!
12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
12) Brüja’s early influences have ranged from our favorite bands like Sacrilege, Sepultura, disrupt, Disclose, and Detente. More on the crusty and thrashy side but still kept a blackened aspect to it. Later on, we began evolving our sound to a more ominous, black metal sound with more dbeat punk energy. We were inspired by bands like Asselisassath, Herejia,
As of lately, we’ve been listening to bands like Dahlak Band, Sanguine Relic, TALC, molchat doma. Just a few of the bands that gets us through these days.
13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
13) We want to thank BMSP for reaching out to us all the way from Spain. We believe this is the best form to unite different parts of the world through music and impacting history of music through the web. We are thankful for the experiences we’ve had throughout the years in hope of our genre of music staying active in our community and elsewhere. Feel free to follow us on our platforms. Thank you.
Instagram: @bruja.sf
Brujasf.bandcamp.com
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