‘707 Punk’ throws its first show in Vallejo

VALLEJO – Punks of all ages have a new opportunity to congregate in Vallejo as 707 Punk, a concert series featuring local bands, launched on Friday evening. 

Sam Houston, Vallejo resident and founder of 707 Punk, told the Sun he was tired of driving long distances and paying bridge tolls to see shows in Oakland, Berkeley, and Richmond. So he’s bringing shows to his hometown. 

“I’m not backed by anyone or anything,” Houston said. “I came up with the idea of 707 Punk because I saw the need for more shows of this genre.” 

While hardcore punk will be a mainstay of 707 Punk, Houston said the concert series will also feature emo, pop punk, shoe gaze, and ska. Houston said he’s taking a broad definition of punk because he said he’s mainly just interested in bringing great bands to Vallejo.

The first show, which took place at Carnalito's Customs, a shop that customizes vehicles, featured four bands: Blood Compact, If You Say So, Pro-Pain, and Angry Aztecs. The Vallejo-based organization Free Music Collective helped organize it. While Houston said he’ll feature bands from all over the Bay Area, and is open to including touring bands in the future, for the first show, each band had at least one member that lives in Vallejo.

“I did that on purpose,” Houston said. “I wanted this to be for Vallejo and authentic.”

Rod Rodriguez, a Vallejo resident who plays in local bands and recently joined Angry Aztecs, told the Sun that he’s thrilled to be able to play for the home crowd.

“It’s awesome,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve been playing shows pretty steady for the last eight years. I’ve been driving all over the East Bay, San Francisco, up and down the West Coast, out to Colorado and back but not one show in Vallejo. I’ve been dying to play here.”

Houston, who’s lived in Vallejo for eight years, said punk shows occur seldomly in town, as the local music scene is active, but is largely based around hip-hop. The venues he’s been booking regularly feature hip-hop shows, and he said 707 Punk is largely “building on top of what has happened in the hip-hop scene.”

Recently though, Houston has gotten some local inspiration. A large festival called Punk in the Park was set to take in Vallejo last month but was cancelled when it came to light that the festival’s organizer had donated to President Donald Trump’s election campaign. Vallejo resident Rob Vienneau organized a punk festival at Odd Fellows Hall featuring his own band, Ajar, and six others.

Punk shows also have occurred at Vallejo’s Springstown library over the last few years. Chokechain X Collective hosted a recent one which featured several bands with youth musicians.

“It’s been pretty inspiring seeing these young people at these shows,” Houston said.

Keeping with Houston’s goal of including a broad array of music under the umbrella of punk rock, the four bands at Friday’s first show all sounded different. 

Blood Compact’s lead singer, Rupert Estanislao, who sings in both English and Tagalog, said his Filipino band’s music is a mixture of hardcore punk and noise rock. Devin Zamora, of If You Say So, called the band’s sound power emo and math rock. Kiernan Besh of Pro-Pain, who grew up in Vallejo, said his band is a mixture of surf, funk and punk rock. Alberto Becerra of Angry Aztecs said that his band performs in both English and Spanish and plays hardcore and thrash punk music.

The diverse music brought in a diverse crowd in terms of race, but also in terms of age. Roughly 100 people attended 707 Punk’s first show, including middle and high school aged kids along with people who appeared to be in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. 

Houston, who grew up in a musical family in Ohio and would regularly attend and play shows as a kid, said he’s purposely trying to make a space at 707 Punk shows for youth, so alcohol is not allowed.

Owen, a 12-year-old who lives in Benicia and attended the show with his father, said he came because he’s wanted to see Angry Aztecs for a while. He said he regularly makes it to shows in Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco, but that this show in Vallejo was special because he felt welcomed.

“It’s been great here because the people are nice,” Owen said. “These are my people here, so it’s better.”

One theme at Friday’s show was anti-authoritarianism and support for immigrants. Blood Compact played a song in English and Tagalog called “Unite Migrante,” which means “unite immigrants.” Members of both If You Say So and Pro-Pain asked the crowd chant “Fuck ICE” and “Fuck AI,” which the crowd did. 

Benicia resident Gregg Horton took the microphone in between bands to talk to the crowd about Flock, a surveillance company that contracts with many cities across the U.S., including Vallejo and Benicia. As reports have surfaced that federal agencies including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have gotten ahold of Flock data, activists have called for cities to sever ties with the company, which some cities such as El Cerrito, Santa Cruz and Mountain View have done.

In order to make the shows accessible, Houston said he keeps the tickets affordable. So far 707 Punk shows have cost between $10 and $15. Concertgoers can also get in free through a volunteer program, where if you do a volunteer slot, you don’t pay for the show and get an additional free ticket to another 707 Punk show.

The next 707 Punk show will be on Friday at Noble Cinema Studios, and will feature Vallejo based Dissociation, along with other Bay Area bands Shed, Hell Bound Pound, and No Fucking Good. Houston said all of these bands are hardcore punk.

Concerts will happen in Vallejo at least once a month for the foreseeable future, according to Houston. Future shows are listed on 707 Punk’s website and Instagram page.

Members of the bands that played on Friday said they hope 707 Punk can spark more shows and a tighter punk community in Vallejo. Estanislao, who lived in Vallejo from the early 90s to the early 2000s said Blood Compact would “jump at the bit for any chance to play Vallejo,” and that “it means a lot to play here.”

Besh said he’s happy Vallejo residents were included in the first show.

“It’s important to have people from the place where you’re trying to start some shit in the place where it’s going on,” Besh said. “As long as you keep tradition alive through repetition it’ll be sown into the fabric of the arts scene here. I’m just happy to be part of the first one and that we knocked it out of the park and the other bands did great and made people smile.”