Born out of a long-standing disillusionment with systemic failures in the Bay Area, Malinformants emerged in 2024 with a deliberate blend of East Bay melodic punk and fast, uncompromising hardcore. Their debut EP, Central Location, is a 16-minute burst of seven razor-sharp tracks—a sonic diary that dismantles capitalism, gentrification, and institutional abuse with precision and urgency.
Guitarists Duane Harris and Chris Matulich, drummer Cory Cunningham, bassist Vincent Flores, and vocalist Jesse Rosemore are veterans of the underground. Their collective past in bands like Allegiance, Nothington, and Enemy You fuels a sound that marries memorable hooks with raw, aggressive energy.
Forgoing a traditional demo phase, they recorded Central Location at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland with engineer Ryan Ellery, capturing a live-wire narrative that hit digital platforms in summer 2024 and landed on cassette via New Knee Records in January 2025.
Each track on the EP is a pointed commentary on modern injustices. On “Rent Hike,” Rosemore lays bare the suffocating grip of capitalism on everyday life, declaring, “if your landlord is fucking with you, talk to your neighbors, when you organize you can better exercise your rights!” “All We Need” takes aim at the misguided shift from public services to policing, while “N.O.A.” channels personal anguish inflicted by toxic authority and “shitty bosses.”
In “Central Location,” the band crafts a rebuttal to gentrification—a direct response to the legacy of songs like “Welcome to Paradise”—and “Moderates” cuts through political hypocrisy with the blunt statement that “The Democratic Party is currently a fucking dumpster fire.”
“Water & Power” exposes the crippling inertia of bureaucracies, and “Warning Signs” is a rallying cry against the platforming of those who perpetuate abuse, insisting, “this shit isn’t acceptable. The price of letting bad behavior go without confronting it is fucking high.”
Looking forward, Malinformants are already hammering out new material with plans to reconvene with Ellery at Sharkbite.
Whether the next recording emerges as a 12-inch EP or a full LP, tracks like “In Our Hands” and “400 Years.” promise to dissect the pervasive influence of dystopian capitalism and a nation’s troubled racial history with the same raw honesty.
Embedded in the fabric of the Bay Area underground, the band draws strength from venues like 924 Gilman and finds kinship with acts such as Urban Sprawl, Minus Numbers, Greyhound, BIG, and Clique.
Read the full interview below for an in-depth look at each track’s meaning, upcoming releases, and an expansive view of the Bay Area’s underground scene.
How did Malinformants come together? What sparked the idea, and how did your sound take shape along the way?
Duane Harris, guitar: Malinformants started practicing in 2023, and by the end of the year we solidified our lineup and the tracks that we were going to record. Initially, the idea for the band’s sound came together by Chris and my love for East Bay/Lookout Records melodic punk and The Explosion from Boston.
However, once the lineup came together, our hardcore roots started to shine through more than anticipated, and the music, while still leaning heavily on melodic punk, became a hybrid of straight forward fast hardcore mixed with melodic hooks reminiscent of bands such as The Explosion, Pinhead Gunpowder/Green Day, Lifetime/Kid Dynamite, Lifetime, etc. Or so that’s what we think.
We bypassed a traditional demo and decided to just release a 7 song debut EP called, “Central Location,” that was released digitally in summer of 2024. New Knee Records then released a physical release in the form of a cassette in January 2025 – Leroy at New Knee is an old friend and has released friend’s bands, and even my other band, Caged View. Everyone should follow that label, he’s releasing some cool bands.
Anyway, we’re happy with the reception that we’ve received from the EP and the shows that we’ve played so far, and we’re taking this momentum into 2025!
Can you break down the meaning behind each track on Central Location? What themes were you diving into, and what message did you want to get across?
Jesse Rosemore, vocals:
Rent Hike
This is the first song we wrote lyrics to. Rent is a huge piece of how capitalism dominates our lives and is therefore also the focus of groups like Tenants and Neighborhood Councils (TANC) to organize tenants unions so that renters can fight for their rights in the face of exploitation. Despite the implicit messages of capitalism, you have the right to be where you are. If your landlord is fucking with you, talk to your neighbors, when you organize you can better exercise your rights!
All We Need
In city after city there is a push for more cops at the expense of the social services that help our neighbors and actually keep us safe. There is a ‘zero sum’ argument that services for those in need take from our pockets. This isn’t true because these services are public goods, they lift all of us up! But even if that argument were made in good faith, it falls flat because we already have all we need. We definitely don’t need to be giving more money to a racist street gang that puts our neighbors in danger.
N.O.A.
I, like far too many, had an awful character high up in the agency that I worked for that was ruining my life and the life of my co-workers. I watched my colleagues break down and cry at work. After having to deal with this for multiple years, this was an incredibly easy song to write. It’s for everyone that has personally had to deal with people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or shitty bosses.
Central Location
Old Green Day is a clear influence of Malinformants. I felt the need to write a response to the song ‘Welcome to Paradise’ all these years later, in this same city. Like so many across the United States, we are watching gentrification come in and rip off the same disenfranchised communities again, that have been systematically ripped off by the State through practices like red lining. Capital seems to always win, and subsidized city services seem to follow it, even in so called ‘progressive’ cities.
Moderates
The Democratic Party is currently a fucking dumpster fire. For the sake of any kind of future not covered in darkness we hope this changes. We know we have to vote for these corporate war-mongers because the other side is so much worse. The future of the Democratic Party should be Congresspeople like Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman, but the assholes that run this party celebrated them being pushed out with the most expensive primaries in U.S. history last year. We wrote these lyrics in 2023 before everything we saw in the 2024 election. I had never hoped more that I would be proven wrong…
Water & Power
This song is about trying to affect change within government agencies, to make these bureaucracies that were originally built under a century old patronage system do a better job of serving the public. Many other public sector employees have the exact same frustrations. It really is like trying to land a fractured plane. I came up with the title of this song after driving past an LADWP vehicle in Owens Valley. It’s probably the most abstract lyrics of the seven songs on this release because it isn’t just public sector workers that deal with struggles like this.
Warning Signs
Upon joining a hardcore/punk band, I unfortunately felt obligated to write a song like this. In many scenes, this one included, people have been “platformed” that have used that platform to seriously abuse and harm people, specifically women. The point of this song is to do everything I can to stop these things from happening again. The message is that if you see or hear about your ‘friend’ treating people badly, call it out, even if that is an uncomfortable conversation. Let them know that this shit isn’t acceptable. The price of letting bad behavior go without confronting it is fucking high. We are the only ones who keep each other safe, so let’s be responsible and do that.
What’s next for Malinformants in 2025? Any upcoming releases or plans in the works? And how do you see your message evolving with the new material?
Duane Harris, guitar: Malinformants are currently writing new music with the goal of recording it by the end of the year. We will certainly record again with Ryan Ellery at Sharkbite Studios, as Ryan understands the band’s sound and dynamic in the studio. Ryan knows hardcore/punk, and sings in an amazing hardcore band from the Bay Area called Greyhound.
Ideally, our next recording will be in the form of a 12” EP, but we’re not ruling out an LP if the creative process continues to flow and a label situation materializes. Anyone who’s read Jesse’s lyrics on the Central Location EP knows that he does not shy away from directly addressing the injustices unnecessarily ubiquitous in modern life, and this will certainly continue with the new music Malinformants is working on.
Jesse Rosemore, vocals: For example, we have a new song called ‘In Our Hands,’ which is about what we’re doing with our phones in dystopian capitalism, and another called ‘400 Years.’ which addresses racism in the United States of America. This country has a history of scapegoating the poor, immigrants and the homeless for the crimes of the rich. As this becomes a cruel characterization of itself in our current times, we will have plenty more to say and to write about.
Chris Matulich, guitar: On the Central Location EP, we definitely have a connection between the music, lyrics, and visuals, and we will bring this to the table again as our next release materializes.
What’s your take on the current state of the Bay Area’s underground scene? How has it changed over the years, and are there any bands, labels, or spots that deserve more attention?
Duane Harris, guitar: I’ve essentially lived in the Bay Area for my entire adult life, and one of the things that has kept me here for over two decades is the local music scene, specifically in the punk and hardcore world. I feel as if there’s always new bands coming up that push the envelope with their creativity and talent.
The Bay Area will always be the Bay Area, and the punk/hardcore scene is always going to be healthy and thriving. It obviously has peaks and valleys, but I feel like the valleys here in the Bay are never too low, and there’s always bands who come along and bring something to the table that’s special. Maybe there’s something in the water here, or it’s the aftermath of the counterculture era of the 60’s still keeping the Bay interesting, but I like to think that it’s because we have a constant place to play and cultivate the independent music scene in 924 Gilman. That place is so special and means a lot to me, and I fear that if it wasn’t around, the dynamic of the Bay’s music scene would change a LOT.
I know I’m going to miss some bands, but currently, I’m a big fan of Urban Sprawl, who are an amazing band who play fast hardcore in the vein of early Agnostic Front. They have a new record coming out this year that I’m excited for. There’s also Minus Numbers, who are some of the guys from older SoCal hardcore bands, Outspoken and Drift Again, and they recently released their debut album online. It’s pretty catchy post-hardcore stuff that rips.
On the younger band front, there’s the already mentioned Greyhound, who play fast gnarly hardcore.
There’s also BIG, who have their debut 7” coming out very soon.
They are a band that I REALLY like – fast hardcore that kinda reminds me of some mid-2000s bands like Look Back & Laugh or even early Trash Talk.
Oh, and there’s Clique, who play metallic hardcore with political and socially progressive lyrics. They kinda remind me of a modern Make Move and if you know that reference, then you know they gotta be good.
I gotta admit that my favorite band in all of the Bay Area these days is hands down, No Lights.
They are essentially punk and hardcore dudes who play melodic post-punk/hardcore. I like to think that if you took Dear You-era Jawbreaker and threw that in a blender with the atmospheric and spacey melodies of modern Quicksand, then you’d have No Lights. In fact, our new bassist, Vince, is actually in No Lights, so we’re pretty stoked to have that connection.
Also, there’s ExEverything, who share an amazing drummer with No Lights in Dan Sneddon, and play chaotic hardcore meets mathrock stuff that’s reminiscent of Converge at times.
Continuing to piggyback off of No Lights, I have to mention that my other band, Caged View, who play a punked out version of post-hardcore, have a record coming out later this year on GGT Records, which I’m obviously excited about!
Outside of bands like this, there’s the long-time bands from a variety of genres, who are still keeping things going, such as Powerhouse, Western Addiction, Second Coming, Neutrals, Drainer, Kowloon Walled City, Discourage, and King Woman, Hell, Chris and my old bands, Nothington and Allegiance are even reuniting in 2025!
