“GROOV(E)” by Lancaster, California based punk rock band SHIIVA has a meaning like no other. It demonstrates the true aggression in what it means to survive the hardships of life and to remain in your own Groove whether that means love who you love and/or be who you are. “We touch base on things that we feel have effected all of us in life as well as others which is love, sex, struggle, and survival.” – says the band. “In terms of lyrics we have made the choose to NOT include any type of gender designations in our songs since love is universal.” Today, we celebrate the recent release of the EP with the band’s new music video for the title-track “GROOV(E)”, more first-hand insights from the band, and their special Top 10 Live Sets to watch right now, delivered by SHIIVA’s guitarist Cole Scott! Check it out below.
For fans of: Suicidal Tendencies, The Ramones & Turnstile
Recorded by Vince Beigel & mixed/mastered by Sam Pura / Released on the band’s independent startup label Kantu Culture digitally, on CD & tape on July 8th, 2020 / SHIIVA IS: Jabril Ward-Vocals, Percussion, Cole Scott-Guitar, Vocals, Organ, Alex Aguilar-Bass, Vocals, Carlos Gomez-Drums, Vocals
Asked about their take on COVID-19, its impact on their touring plans and operations, SHIIVA commented: “Due to the circumstance surrounding COVID-19 we do not have any shows or tour dates to display at the moment but we are expecting to be on the road come 2021 or once we are eligible to travel in a safe way without putting ourselves at risk. We do eventually plan on touring the west coast as soon as possible.
In terms of COVID-19 we believe that it is important for everyone to take all safety precautions seriously. As a band, we all believe that it is INDEED 100 percent SELFISH and UNETHICAL to treat this pandemic as joke and it is URGENT that we take accountability for our health as well as the ones around us.
Curious about their take on the current political and anti-racist protests in the USA, we asked the band about their take on it. Here’s what they had to say:
“SHIIVA is a band full of minorities with racial ties connected to a multitude of different ethnic backgrounds. So with the recent events surrounding what we would call the public execution of George Floyd we were highly effected by what we witnessed. SHIIVA condemns all acts of police brutality as well as any racist prejudice. We fully support BLACK LIVES MATTER as well as other organization that are alike.”
California punk & hardcore music scene
“Our current scene is very cool! When we were coming up it was a more aggressive sound that was favored bands like Terror, The Warriors, Wintch Mob & Blood Stands Still would always slide through but also the punk scene would thrive international acts like The Adicts, GBH, Subhumans & DRI would come out but not much now a days. I will say a lot of the younger kids proceeding are taking influence from a lot of that stuff that was more popular locally in our scene and molding it in their own way its pretty cool to see evolve really.
We do have a couple aggressive bands that are still holding it down which most of us are involved in some way haha Life for a Life, All Eyez, This Place Is A Zoo, Get Greens & In Decline are all super sick. Very creative and original people all around the area, only unfortunate thing is there is a lack of venues and promoters able to get bigger acts like we mentioned would happen previously when we were younger and going to shows every weekend but hopefully we can contribute into changing that in the future I would say all in all its thriving, the city has been letting bands do live stream sets at the local art gallery so that’s something cool to stay in the local public eye during the pandemic.
Some other artists/bands we highly recommend are The Downsides, Captain Smooth Talk, JoeSNAPPED, Pour Over, Los Mangos, It’s Butter, Sweet Soul & Slowbleed.
Top 10 Live Sets to watch right now by Cole Scott from SHIIVA:
So with the state of the world we’ve been in and the lack of live music it’s been crazy how for granted I took shows when they were happening our whole lives. Between protest and quarantine I’ve been catching myself watching a lot more live sets on the internet lately on 197 Media, Hate5six and live session stuff like Audiotree & Panda Studios The Waiting Room.
Drain (Live @ LDB Fest 2020) filmed by 197 Media
This set is an insane event to watch, I first heard and saw Drain at 1720 in DTLA sometime before Sound & Fury 2019 and they blew me away. My pops is an old school punk and I try and put him onto to newer bands a lot and after a night of drinking I put this live set on the TV just to show him and he was instantly sold like I was that day at 1720.
Descendents (Live in Hawaii 4/19/2019) filmed by 808shows
The Descendents have been one of my favorite punk bands since I was a kid and unfortunately I’ve yet to see them live. Every live set I’ve watched no matter what age they are they absolutely kill it. Here’s hoping I can catch them when shows can happen again.
Oasis (Live @ Glastonbury Fest 1994) (not sure who it was filmed by)
Oasis is one of those universal bands where no matter your background or where you’re at you’ve definitely heard one of their songs. Live forever and What’s The Story are two classics and quarantine or not I wouldn’t be able to watch Oasis either way but it’s rad to watch them rip in the bands prime.
AFI (Live @ Corona Showcase Theater 1999) (Tyler Jones on Youtube)
I’ve seen AFI but I’m just a bit too young to have seen them in there hardcore punk days I know they play some of their older stuff live ( I love all AFI ) but it’s cool to see them play a heavier set in a smaller intimate venue like the Showcase.
The Menzingers (Live Scranton, PA 12.16.17) filmed by Feet First Productions
– The Menzingers are one of my personal favorite current bands, every record they drop always impresses me more then the last which is very rare for ant band to do to me. This footage is from a hometown show they played around the holidays a few years ago.
Title Fight (Live @ Branch St. Warehouse) Filmed by Cavis Tapes (rip)
This is an old school Title Fight set from The Last Thing you Forget era at some show in Sacramento. It’s cool cause its around the time when more melodic stuff was coming up in the hardcore scene. Crazy crowd reaction.
Have Heart ( Live @ Sound & Fury 2019) filmed by Sound And Fury fest
Half of us were actually at this one, one of our favorite all time bands that I personally never thought I was going to be able to see in my life so when they announced the reunion of course we hopped on it and snagged tickets as soon as they went up for sale. Very very sick set the energy is unmatched, packed wall to wall with the crowd screaming the lyrics over the PA.
Jesus Piece ( Live in the K! Pit) filmed by KERRANG!
This set is nuts, Jesus Piece is a pretty intense band mad heavy, mad riffs, mad pissed. This set is just pure raw unfiltered aggression highly recommend it.
Lauryn Hill (Live in Japan 1999) uploaded by Tonton Oldschool on youtube
I’ve been a pretty huge fan of Neo-Soul my whole life, Lauryn Hill has been a favorite and in this particular set theres an interview leading into the set starting and she says its one of her first solo performances. The full band is so on point with all of her songs and the background singers hitting all the harmonies so beautifully something I can totally listen to every Sunday morning.
Lil Peep ( Live @ Rolling Loud 17) filmed by Rolling Loud
Lil Peep is one of my favorite newer artists to come out in recent years was really bummed when he passed away. He made an impact with his music doing whatever he wanted no rules and thats something I always respected, made his own wave/avenue. This set in particular is from a rap fest Rolling Loud thats all over the world typically this is from the Bay Area one. Real great performance, one of the few full live sets actually on here from him.
Some newish records we’ve been digging on:
Mindforce-Swingin Swords, Chopin Lords
-I’m a huge sucker for NYHC and they remind me of my favorite classic nyhc bands with harder riffs. I love it.
Drain-California Cursed
-This record is phenomenal period, highly recommend. Nor cal has the sauce right now.
Lil Uzi Vert-LUV is rage 2
-Deluxe version to his Eternal Atake album which dropped earlier this year, super memorable hooks and melodies.
Slowbleed – Promo 2020
-Ventura county has always had killer music and Slowbleed is no exception their new promo tape is a skull crusher highly recommended.
It’s Butter-Not Feeling Human
-It’s Butter are phenomenal people and musicians truly believe they’re going to be one of the next big things in music, their new EP Not Feeling Human is very great. They blend various music styles into their own creative unique thing thats hard to explain just check it out is all I will say!
Extra: “SHIIVAS GROOVYS ASS JAMS” Spotify Playlist:
It’s just a collection of songs we’re listening to, we try to include our homies bands as well because we know too many talented people not to! We typically get a homie to contribute a few songs each month and keep it constantly updated with stuff we’re jamming. This month our homie that contributed a few songs was our video director Juan Abad!
