Miscreant – Violent By Design: A Retrospective (CD)
Disclosures – DCD-02 - 2021 - USA.
"Miscreant was most definitely one of the most unique and aggressive Power Electronics acts to come out of the Bay Area fucking period. Surrounded by few interested in tackling these sounds, Miscreant would forge and burn their path for 5 years. During those 5 years they played many shows and it was in those live arena’s where the power of their music would come alive. Violence was always a part of the set, whether Lucas was getting in your face, or Sam was stomping around with a disgraced American flag he always had draped over his shoulders in their early days like a NWPJ wrestler with a belt. It was to be expected. You might get hit with a mic, you might get hit with a piece of metal, you might catch some hands…But describing Miscreant is hard outside of the typical PE/Industrial terms. Their sound was whatever it was going to be for a release or a show. Never repeating, never following any trend or path. Still to this day it blows my mind how they managed to capture this “Broken Flag Era” vibe but yet make the topics/themes of their own. They used everything, from scrap metal, tape loops, and crude synths to construct these tracks. Instead of true crime and the stereotypical themes, Miscreant went the route of Anti-America/American politics both local, federal, and international. Preaching of the crimes of America against Mexico, Central America, South America, and to its own. Singing hymns of hatred involving the use of torture on middle eastern “terrorists” at Guantanamo Bay. They wrote songs that stem from their views and experiences as Chicano men in the Bay Area. All quite a drastically different view and approach from the the standard Western European influence normally found within the genre. In fact I feel their music was a protest to all of that. It was an absolute honor when Sam told me “you are the honorary third member, you are the only fool we ever let join us live to perform.” Those early days were pure magic in terms of what could happen, however life has a way that pulls us apart in certain directions but foos remain the same. Miscreant may no longer be around but these two kept it G and never switched up, not like you motherfucker. " - Mack “Macky Boy” Chami