Meet Street Play: Local Band

We had the good fortune of connecting with Street Play and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Street Play, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
We’re from west Los Angeles, California. Our adolescence and early adult life has consisted of going to and throwing local shows. Through this medium we have been fortunate enough to find a community of diverse artists to collaborate with and share a creative home within the city. Our upbringing in the city influenced our creative output in so many ways, whether through musical influence or our exposure to different cultures that continue to shape our collective voice. Street Play, as a name, directly represents all of our individual, yet different, experiences in the city that give us the freedom to express ourselves as young people. Like many other young people living in the city we found solace in the streets and back alleys of LA; the nooks and crannies that satisfied our lust for adventure. Being the big city that it is we have been able to explore a myriad of artistic mediums, from art galleries to warehouses to backyards and local record shops to express ourselves. 

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Our music conveys the feminine experience and it’s fluidity of both strength and softness; warrior and nurturer. Our passion for horror films and stories gives a dark influence to our sound through heavy guitar riffs, intense rhythms, and deep bass lines. We’re able to express our truest emotions with these kinds of themes and plots. Though the three of us have a lot in common, we still bring different and unique flavors to the collaboration. Much of our beginning started in the underground punk scene of west Los Angeles and word of mouth. Our shows grew right before our eyes and each gave light to new connections and opportunities. That being said, we still consider ourselves a band of the scene and continue to exist in these spaces with hopes of elevating the scene further. Coming from such a DIY-experience, we’ve had our fair share of battles, especially as young women dealing with misogyny and male patriarchy. This kind of behavior has only led us to want to create a space where not only women but non binaries, trans individuals, the LGBTQ+ community and the BIPOC community feel empowered and safe. It is never easy independently starting any band from scratch, but it sure is gratifying. At this point we are most proud of our music and being able to express ourselves with each other. Our ability to be vulnerable enough to write music together is something we hold very dear to us and sharing it with the audience is one of our greatest joys. After a couple years of playing local shows, we were able to put out our first album in 2019 called “Sirens”. Of course, we are proud to have played so many shows together and to have gained the amount of respect we have in the scene; it is something we never take for granted. As for the future, we are very excited about our newest project we’re working on because we feel that it encompasses where we are creatively today. This next project we hope to release as a double record. These two sister albums hold common themes and many songs that we have been excited about for a long time. We are looking forward to seeing how people engage with these new sounds.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Prior to COVID, we would always suggest going to a local LA show. Some of our favorite venues and spots include; Timewarp Records of Mar Vista, The Smell in Downtown LA, or the atmosphere of UCLA’s art collectives in the heart of the student housing district. For some delicious authentic food we like La Fiesta Brava in Venice, Piece o’ Pizza in Mar Vista, or Sunny Grill.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We’ve been very fortunate to find friends and other creatives that share our love and support for local music and art. It is because of that mutual support that we get to share in each others’ successes and witness each other grow as people and artists. Many of our closest friends today we met through playing shows together and collaborations. Aside from the friends we can share stages with, we are also eternally grateful to anyone who comes to a show to support local art and diverse representation in music. Knowing that people come out to watch us and listen to us makes us feel heard and understood. When you can share that kind of connection with a stranger it is so fulfilling.

Website: https://streetplay.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/streetplayy/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/streetplayy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/streetplayofficial/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj6_xxB5to-ylH5QrSyX9TQ

Image Credits
Photos by: Tula Jussen, Yordy Garcia, Rachel Allen, Kai McNamee, Sam Cranis, and Sarah Kanan.