Latest / San Joaquin Sound / Munoz Boxing Gym: Boxing Gym by Day, Punk Venue by Night

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Munoz Boxing Gym: Boxing Gym by Day, Punk Venue by Night · San Joaquin Sound

0:23
This is Cubicle from the Pines' debut self -titled
0:26
album. It's just been re -released on Going Underground
0:29
Records. You're listening to the San Joaquin
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Sound Podcast. I'm your host, A .J. Rodriguez.
0:37
This podcast is about music in Bakersfield and
0:40
the surrounding San Joaquin Valley. For this
0:43
episode, I traveled to Going Underground Records
0:45
to interview Ron Ramirez about the Munoz Boxing
0:49
Gym. This was a legendary venue on East California
0:52
Avenue. Imagine going to a show where the band
0:56
is playing in the middle of a boxing ring. I
0:59
first met you probably in like 2005, 2006, maybe
1:04
even 2007, when I took two bus transfers to go
1:07
downtown to look for records. Bakersfield downtown
1:10
looked different back then. People weren't really
1:12
into records yet, I would say. There was like
1:15
gigantic vintage. I think you were on a store
1:18
next to World Records at the time. Yes, we were
1:22
there first, though. Yeah, and I was some punk
1:26
kid. I probably rollerbladed. to get to the bus
1:29
and I came inside and I, I said, my favorite
1:32
thing to tell people was like, what type of music
1:35
genre is your favorite? And I remember asking
1:37
you and you just said the germs. Wow. Still to
1:47
this day. Yeah. Yeah. And, and that's my first
1:50
memory of, and I went to your store here and
1:52
then as a kid, yours was the last resort. I would
1:56
go to Goodwill. They had Tencent records. There
1:59
was one on Chester. There was one on Rosedale
2:02
Books that I like to go to and just dig through
2:05
every single crate. And if I couldn't find it,
2:08
I would come to you because you had everything
2:11
organized and you had everything from A to Z.
2:15
One time you gave a speech on Zoom that I attended
2:20
and you talked about basically that for Bakersfield,
2:27
A lot of people can sometimes get down on Bakersfield
2:30
for a lot of different reasons, but one of the
2:33
things that you said you believe in is to build
2:39
up Bakersfield music, because if people from
2:43
Bakersfield don't do it, then who will? Bakersfield
2:46
is often looked down upon, so we have to put
2:51
it on a pedestal. And we have to do our best
2:54
to make sure that people know that this is as
2:57
good as any place else. And that's what I wanted
3:01
to do with this podcast called San Joaquin Sound.
3:06
And I wanted to talk about a lot of the different
3:08
music that comes from here that a lot of people
3:11
maybe don't know about. This episode is going
3:13
to be about the Munoz Boxing Gym. And so I want
3:19
to talk a little bit about... Before you had
3:22
a venue, before you had a band, what was it like
3:24
growing up as a kid listening to punk? I probably
3:28
started listening to punk rock early, you know,
3:33
early 90s, maybe late 80s through my dad. But
3:40
got serious maybe like 92 -ish. I guess I remember
3:43
hearing... You say that you got to go to a Suicidal
3:48
Tendencies show. At the Civic Center, yeah. Yeah,
3:51
in 1993. Okay. And did you like punk before then?
3:55
I did, yeah. You did? I was familiar. I used
3:57
to watch 120 Minutes, Headbangers Ball. Nice.
4:02
Every Saturday, Friday, or whatever it came on,
4:05
I would stay up and watch it. So anything that
4:07
was kind of out of the ordinary would always
4:09
pique my interest. And that's how I learned about
4:11
a lot of... underground stuff from from those
4:15
shows your dad loved loved uh punk music already
4:19
he was into punk he was more so into heavy metal
4:22
but he would show me discharge new york dolls
4:26
social distortion exploited uh you know like
4:29
like kind of standard classics um that were i
4:33
guess weren't classics at the time but you know
4:35
kind of normal punk rock that's how i learned
4:39
a lot of that stuff nice And what about your
4:42
mom? What type of music did you learn from her?
4:44
She did not like punk rock. She still doesn't.
4:47
She's into like Earth, Wind & Fire, Al Green,
4:50
Marvin Gaye. Soul music is what she's always
4:54
enjoyed. Fleetwood Mac. Yeah, nice, nice. Classics.
4:59
Yes. Classics in their own right. So what about
5:03
your grandparents? I know when we talk about
5:08
the gym, the gym was... Paul Munoz, your grandfather.
5:11
What type of music did he or your grandmother
5:14
listen to? My grandpa was really into country
5:17
music. So if you would go into the gym before
5:21
everybody got going, he would be playing KUZZ
5:24
on the radio every day. And it was without fail.
5:28
It would be on. Usually during the training,
5:32
too, it would be KUZZ. Sometimes the boxers would
5:34
change it, but it would always be country music.
5:37
My granny wasn't really into any kind of music.
5:39
She listened to talk radio. She had no interest
5:42
in really in music. You mentioned that he loved
5:46
country music. It makes me think of my grandfather.
5:48
And I have a KUZZ keychain on my keys, but I
5:52
did not like country music. But it's because
5:54
my grandpa gave it to me. And so he loved KUZZ
5:59
and he just loved it. He loved Buck Owens because
6:03
he was from Bakersfield. He liked country music,
6:05
especially because he... He was from Texas. Okay,
6:08
but do you go back and listen to country music?
6:10
Do you go back and listen to Buck? Yeah. And
6:13
it works. It works more than it ever did, right?
6:16
I like it. It's like, yeah, I don't like it as
6:18
a genre, but I like Buck Owens because of one,
6:21
he's from Bakersfield. How can you not like someone
6:24
from Bakersfield that sang about Bakersfield?
6:27
You know, as I went to see Kyle Burnham, he was
6:31
the drummer at the time. I think he still is,
6:33
but I would have to double check on that. for
6:36
Buck Owens' son's band that plays all his songs.
6:41
And going into there was just so cool because
6:47
I just was thinking about my grandparents who
6:50
just loved Buck Owens, loved country music. Buck
6:56
was the man. Yeah. Still is. Yeah, my grandpa
7:00
loves Buck Owens and KUZZ. And I didn't really
7:04
appreciate it at the time. But I will say every
7:07
time we get the Buck Owens Greatest Hits Volume
7:09
1 LP, it gets played throughout the whole day,
7:12
and it's great. One of my best memories of my
7:17
grandfather that I still talk about with my dad
7:20
sometimes is when we were in his car, and my
7:23
grandfather was very proper, I don't know is
7:26
the right word, but he didn't like swear words
7:29
and stuff to be around me at all. So if there
7:33
was ever a song, on the radio that swore he would
7:37
turn it down. And so there was this one time
7:40
we were in the car and there was this Toby Keith
7:42
song where he says, boot up your ass. And that's
7:46
the lyric. And my grandpa got ready to turn it
7:49
down, but instead he cranked the volume right
7:52
when it said ass. And my dad and me were just
7:56
laughing so hard. And my grandpa was laughing.
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It's just one of my best memories. Of music and
8:04
my grandfather is that moment where he just cranked
8:07
it up instead of turning it down. Yeah, that's
8:13
good. You stayed interested in punk rock. A lot
8:17
of people just suddenly don't like it anymore
8:20
when they get older. What kept you interested?
8:24
I think it's just a big part of my life. It was
8:28
when I was a teenager and I guess it still is.
8:32
I was just drawn to it. Did you do any other
8:36
stuff than music? Did you skateboard a lot? I
8:39
did skateboard. Early teens up until, I don't
8:46
know, early 20s. My body doesn't really feel
8:48
like it needs to ride a skateboard anymore, so
8:50
I opt out. Kind of hurts. Skateboarding is always
8:56
connected, and rollerblading by extension is
8:59
always connected. punk rock for me. I remember
9:03
the first time I really heard like a real punk
9:06
song was when my friends invited me over to play
9:10
Tony Hawk Pro Skater on the Nintendo 64 and just
9:14
we started up the game and it would always warn
9:19
you you don't have the extra memory pack you
9:21
don't even have a rumble pack you don't even
9:24
have a memory card you can't save this and then
9:27
once you get past all those warnings then all
9:30
of a sudden you just hear Dead Kennedy's Police
9:33
Truck, but an instrumental version because the
9:35
lyrics were too crude to go on a Nintendo cartridge.
9:38
It was on the PlayStation 1, but not on the Nintendo.
9:41
And I just remember that blowing my mind, hearing
9:48
that song and all the songs on that game were
9:53
just, are burned into my memory. That's a classic
9:57
soundtrack now. Are there other people in your
10:00
family that work in music? I think the most notable
10:04
one to the local area would be my cousin Timmy,
10:08
Tim Gordea, who at this point would be considered
10:12
a legendary promoter in Bakersfield. Did you
10:16
get to go to a lot of shows? I did. I did. I
10:19
went to a lot of shows. A lot of the times when
10:23
I was really young. 13 14 my mom would like work
10:26
she would sit at the front table and like kind
10:28
of like take your ticket my dad would be like
10:30
doing backstage stuff if anybody was acting up
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so they would all be there but my mom just stayed
10:35
around my dad was just crazy but my mom would
10:37
stay around just to make sure i wasn't getting
10:39
into any trouble is what her job was so that's
10:41
why she was there she didn't give a damn about
10:43
who's playing she just wanted to watch me make
10:45
sure i wasn't getting in trouble so your grandfather
10:48
and his brothers were boxing promoters and now
10:51
You and your cousin are music promoters. I wouldn't
10:55
consider myself a promoter because I've never
10:59
made any money on it. But Timmy is a legitimate
11:02
promoter, yes. And some people might have a concept
11:06
of Timmy from the 90s because their band didn't
11:10
get paid $75 to open some show and Timmy gave
11:14
all the other money to the touring band or whatever.
11:17
I hear that kind of stuff and it's annoying.
11:20
Let it go. Like, you're talking about 80 bucks
11:22
20 years later. Don't worry about it. Who cares?
11:25
What do you care? Timmy's a good guy. Well, I've
11:29
never heard any of that, but now you told me
11:32
it. How could you spread this? It's out there.
11:34
It's out there. I'm just kidding. I don't want
11:36
any crying because I mentioned about Timmy. Yeah.
11:39
Leave him alone. Timmy would book, like, all
11:41
the, like, when Offspring played here on the
11:43
Smash Tour, he booked that. That's cool. Or,
11:46
like, Face to Face would play here. He booked
11:48
that. RKO. sublime i always remember seeing his
11:53
name on uh on posters like it always said tim
11:58
gardia presents yeah so me and my dad used to
12:00
do promotion we would go he would like drop us
12:05
off with a box like a bag and then staples and
12:10
then just like like massive amounts of flyers
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but this is back when it was spilt milk production
12:14
so that's like the old school like Real deal
12:17
one. But when you would see those red and white
12:20
flyers on the polls and stuff, it's because me
12:23
and my dad used to go up and tape them. So that's
12:25
how I learned how, okay, this is how you put
12:26
up flyers on a poll for the concert. This is
12:29
how you promote because of that. So that's why
12:31
I learned all that kind of stuff from. You don't
12:33
pay somebody. You just get out and fucking do
12:35
it. It'll be all right. Who cares? I want to
12:39
talk a little about the DIY ethic. And I think...
12:45
because the gym is in a space wasn't built you
12:49
know for to host music that i think that it would
12:52
apply that you're just using the diy ethic but
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first could you could you define like the diy
12:59
ethic for people that may have never heard of
13:00
it i don't know what it's supposed to mean to
13:03
other people but I would say to me and our crew,
13:07
we don't wait for other people to do something
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for us. If we want to do something, if we want
13:13
a show to happen, we're going to call the band.
13:14
We're going to email the band. We're going to
13:16
get a hold of them. Hey, I'd like you to play
13:18
here. What do you think? Can we make it work?
13:20
So I guess in a general idea, if you want something
13:24
done, you just do it. Just like anything else.
13:26
You don't have to have money. You don't have
13:29
to have a sponsorship or any kind of backing.
13:34
make it happen you don't have to also profit
13:36
from something you just do it because you want
13:38
to do something yeah i think for me a lot of
13:43
times i do it myself for a lot of different things
13:47
a lot of creative projects and stuff just because
13:51
it's just out of necessity that it always it
13:53
always has been whatever a lot of times i'm working
13:56
on stuff that uh other people aren't interested
13:59
in and so if i want I mean, this podcast is a
14:04
perfect example. I wanted to listen to a podcast
14:07
about Bakersfield music and the history of it.
14:10
And there's not one. So then I just have to make
14:13
it then. No one else is going to do it. Exactly.
14:18
Maybe they'll do it wrong. Maybe they already
14:20
did it and they did it wrong. True. Or it's about
14:23
Jerry's Pizza or something boring like that.
14:28
Oh, man. I think. I think there's just something
14:33
powerful about creating something, whatever it
14:37
is. And a lot of times we wait for something.
14:43
Do I have the right equipment? Do I have the
14:47
right budget? But at the root of it all, those
14:50
are all just excuses. Sometimes you just have
14:53
to make it with the stuff you have now. Yeah,
14:57
we never had good equipment. We never had money.
15:01
We just got whatever we can get and we made it
15:04
work. We would always get a new PA. We'd blow
15:06
it up and beg my friend Darren for another one
15:09
or try to borrow one just to get these shows
15:12
going. We didn't have anything, but we had a
15:14
lot of shows. So I guess we did something right.
15:16
You did something right because people wanted
15:20
to play there. You started out, like you said,
15:23
people were skeptical because it's not like any
15:27
other place. Oh, it's unheard of. I remember
15:31
reading about and watching about like Bones of
15:37
Brundage and seeing like there's all these venues
15:39
I'd never heard of. But then they interviewed
15:42
you and I was just like, it was only like a couple
15:46
of minutes. And you said there was this boxing
15:48
gym. And I just remember thinking, what? Go back.
15:52
What? Tell me more. No, I didn't want to. That's
15:55
why that's all there was. I didn't want to talk
15:57
to him about it. I see. Me and Nate were fine
16:01
to an extent. He was kind of spicy at first with
16:07
the gym. He was still flyers, and I would catch
16:08
him stealing flyers, and we had words. But him
16:12
and Drew were good friends, so we never had any
16:13
problems after that. He knew that the stuff that
16:16
we wanted to do wouldn't make him any money,
16:18
so he had no interest in it. So he left us alone,
16:21
and we didn't have any problem with him. We had
16:22
a great relationship after that. I didn't want
16:25
to share something with him. that i didn't feel
16:30
that needed to be shared i see what you mean
16:32
we were our own world yeah and if you're in that
16:35
world you're in that world and it was for us
16:38
that's it yeah well i mean i'm lucky to to hear
16:43
hear this stuff then do you have any advice to
16:48
maybe just some young punk musicians that are
16:51
trying to make music right now no None. Do it
16:55
yourself then. They'll figure it out. They don't
16:58
need to listen to me. I don't know anything anymore.
17:01
That's fair. They got it all figured out. The
17:06
kids are doing it better than we probably did
17:08
right now. That's true. And they have more resources.
17:13
I remember trying to buy at the Wooden Nickel
17:17
like a TASCAM recording unit to try to record.
17:21
And I didn't know how to work it at all. It didn't
17:23
come with a manual. And yeah, but now in your
17:28
phone, you could have a whole box right there
17:32
to record multi -track for free. There you go.
17:36
To understand the Munoz Gym as a music venue,
17:40
you just can't understand it if we don't know
17:42
about your grandfather. And he fought so many
17:46
boxing fights in the 40s and 50s. He even knocked
17:52
out an Olympic champion on December 13th, 1948.
17:56
He was boxing in Strelitz Stadium at the time,
17:59
which became Strongbow Stadium and then the Dome.
18:04
So what was he like and how did he run his gym?
18:08
He was the best. How did he run his gym? You
18:11
would just come. It didn't matter if you had
18:13
money or not. If you wanted to learn, if you
18:16
were serious and you wanted to learn how to box,
18:19
he would show you. If you just needed to get
18:21
off the streets for a little bit and you wanted
18:23
to hit the bags, you could come in and do it.
18:26
He wouldn't kick you out, nothing. So he was
18:30
there for the community for the whole time. And
18:34
he took great joy in helping people out. How
18:37
did your grandmother influence the gym at all?
18:40
I know that they both ran an egg business in
18:44
the same location. Correct. The gym was originally
18:48
for where the chickens were. So they built it
18:50
to house the chickens. The eggs would be stored
18:53
in what we called the icebox, which was in the
18:56
building in between the gym and the house. It
18:58
was like a brick building that was constructed
19:01
to store the eggs. So she and him had the egg
19:04
business. After he quit boxing, he worked for
19:07
Farmer John Egg Company. And then he had a falling
19:11
out with them. And then my granny and him started
19:15
an egg business, which did very well until...
19:19
They couldn't do it anymore, and then he did
19:23
a lot of boxing, and he worked at Milt's in Oildale.
19:27
Paul had five brothers, Sammy, Lupe, Rudy, Sal,
19:31
and Joe, and they all were boxers. Lupe wasn't
19:35
a boxer. He was the manager. But every other
19:38
brother was a boxer. Oh, okay, so he was a promoter.
19:42
Yeah, he would take care of the promotion. I
19:45
read that he took over Steve Strelick's... when
19:47
he was promoting that he took over eventually
19:50
yeah all of them were it was all the whole family
19:52
they went from working in the fields to boxing
19:55
was he a quiet person or was he more of the type
20:01
to just talk to anyone i wouldn't say he was
20:03
quiet um he would talk to you though if you got
20:08
him yeah he no he's not quiet he's very i mean
20:10
that that guy was a celebrity at one point you
20:13
know yeah I mean, it's crazy that, I guess crazy
20:19
is the wrong word, but it's incredible that he
20:22
boxed here at Strelitz Stadium as, you know,
20:30
a teenager and then went on to teach so many
20:36
people boxing. I mean, it could be hundreds,
20:39
thousands, I don't even know how to count how
20:41
many students he had. It had to be easily thousands.
20:44
Thousands? Easily. He would have never stopped
20:48
if his health didn't stop him. Yeah. Did he have
20:55
any life lessons that he liked to teach? Do you
21:00
remember any lectures or different speeches he
21:03
would like to give to the boxers? He wasn't really
21:06
a speech giver. He would just tell you things.
21:10
Like phrases, like certain aspects of things
21:13
to say. It could be anything. It could be like
21:15
when you're driving, watch out for the other
21:16
guy. Just stuff, simple things just like that,
21:19
that like click and you don't forget. It wasn't
21:22
like, oh, you know, here's this long -winded
21:24
speech about this, this, and this. No, it was
21:27
just, hey, put your hands up when you're boxing.
21:29
They're going to hit you in the face. Keep your
21:31
hands up. Nice. I mean, I'm sure there's a lot
21:34
more, but that's a couple of things. Did you
21:36
ever box? I tried. It wasn't for me. He wanted
21:39
me to. At the time, I just wanted to skateboard.
21:42
I should have listened. Yeah. I know a little
21:45
bit. No, you knew enough to handle yourself.
21:49
Correct. You know, I was telling Alex earlier
21:53
when we were looking through your timeline that
21:54
you sent, which was a great timeline. I hope
21:59
to see more. He was asking me about the boxers
22:05
that would come and train. He was like, well,
22:08
there's always... a lot of people there and it
22:10
reminded me when i was a kid there would be guys
22:13
just in like sweatsuits like jumping rope on
22:16
the sidewalk on east california we're talking
22:18
10 15 trainers every day training my grandpa
22:23
would be out there just boxing teaching these
22:25
guys what to do but it was like the place to
22:27
be for a long time for these these guys that
22:30
wanted to learn how to box so you go there i'd
22:33
get home from school and i would go to my granny's
22:34
house and these guys would just be out there
22:36
just boxing All day. It was insane. It's insane
22:42
to think about it. You look at East California
22:44
and you just see guys just jumping rope. It's
22:46
just another time. One of the most interesting
22:49
things is I never saw anything about like Paul
22:56
Munoz trades anyone or Paul Munoz sells except
23:00
for one that he traded a guy's contract for a
23:04
Cadillac. And it became his name. The boxer was
23:09
named Kid Cadillac from then on. That's fucking
23:12
cool. Do you ever remember him rolling around
23:15
in that Cadillac? Sadly, I didn't get to see
23:18
any of that Cadillac. He was a fancy guy at one
23:22
point, though. But I think by the time I was
23:27
born, he had a station wagon, which was cool,
23:31
I guess. He used to drive, he had a van and he
23:35
would drive down to Mexico and pick up boxers
23:38
and then smuggle them back over. Nice. Often.
23:42
Wow. So he had a van for that. And for egg deliveries
23:46
as well. I read an article where your grandfather
23:52
talked about he's always waiting for his champion.
23:57
What did you think he was looking for in a champion?
24:01
He would have guys that were projected to be
24:07
really good. He knew they were good. They were
24:08
good. And then he would have other people that
24:11
he thought were his friends steal them from him.
24:13
So I think what he meant by that is that he was
24:16
waiting for a champion that wouldn't leave him.
24:18
So he would have people that were close to him
24:20
that would turn on him, take the guy, and the
24:23
guy would go nowhere. So it's almost like sometimes
24:28
he was like that. that tiny label that discovers
24:32
an artist. And then the artist tries to go with
24:35
a major label and yeah, he would, he would have
24:38
trust in people and they would hurt him. That's
24:40
all it was. That's difficult. It happened numerous
24:44
times, but he's not going to make you sign something.
24:47
He's just going to shake your hand. Yeah, we'll
24:48
do it. So that's probably it. I think he gave
24:51
up. Even though he didn't find, uh, some world
24:57
champion or something like that. It really does
24:59
seem like he had a bunch of people that he taught
25:04
to be champions in their own way. Yeah. You know
25:09
what? The people that weren't champions are the
25:10
people that went in there and just trained and
25:12
made a connection. And I see a lot of people,
25:14
they come in and they see my grandpa's picture
25:15
on the wall and they ask like, how come Mr. Unios
25:19
is right there? That's my grandpa. Oh, I used
25:21
to train there. Okay. That's great. I love to
25:24
hear it. So even him just being in a mural that
25:27
Omar painted on the wall is just special. People
25:29
see that, and they still remember him, which
25:33
is really cool. He should be in the Hall of Fame,
25:39
like in the Bakersfield Sports Hall of Fame or
25:42
something. Do they have that? Is that a thing?
25:44
They do have it, but we should get him in there.
25:48
It's like the Bob Elias Hall of Fame, and I don't
25:50
think he's in there, but he should be. Okay,
25:52
that's your job. I will do my best. Also, when
25:57
you go to the Centennial Garden or whatever they
26:00
call it now, Robobank or Dignity Health Arena,
26:04
they have all these people. I like walking around.
26:07
If I ever go to a Condors game and seeing all
26:10
the sports people, he should be in there too.
26:13
See what you can do. I guess we should talk about
26:16
some of your bands. Your first one was Struggle
26:19
With Fate, and then you had Prolapse. The Kill,
26:22
Death Valley Driver, The Contaminators, and Human
26:25
Mess. Yes. At first, you were playing shows around
26:28
town, before the gym was a venue. Correct. And
26:32
where were you playing? We would play at Jerry's,
26:36
and this is when you could just book your own
26:38
shows at Jerry's. There was no... Nate, Monopoly,
26:43
so anybody could book shows. So we would book
26:45
shows there. We had a lot of successful shows.
26:47
We played at houses. There's a place on the east
26:50
side called Big Daddy Rick's. I think we only
26:52
played there once or twice. We got kicked out
26:54
and no more shows from us. But that was probably
26:59
about it. There wasn't a lot of places for kids
27:01
to play. I read that you got kicked out of Jerry's
27:04
Pizza, and that's what really led to you making...
27:08
the Munoz Gym into a venue. Yes, that is true.
27:13
You ended up making the Munoz Gym into a really,
27:16
a home for punk rock in Bakersfield. It became
27:21
legendary. People talk about it in, I was reading
27:26
a bunch of different zines and people are listing
27:29
it as the best show that they played on their
27:31
tour. Was it always like that at the beginning?
27:34
No. It was hard to get people to come to the
27:38
shows because they were scared because it was
27:41
on the east side and they didn't want to go to
27:42
the east side. Or they would look at it and not
27:46
think much of it, which, yeah, it was a rough
27:48
building. But it's punk rock, so what do you
27:50
expect? It's supposed to be scary and it's supposed
27:53
to be dangerous. And that is the perfect setup
27:56
for a punk rock show. Yeah, that's what you want
28:00
with your first show, to have people coming back.
28:03
That's good. If you were walking into the gym,
28:07
could you just describe what it was like when
28:10
you walked in? Sometimes it would smell like
28:15
sweaty boxers. Not like your underwear, but like
28:18
men boxing and sweating a lot. That was a strong
28:22
smell. So if nobody threw out the bucket of spit
28:27
before, it would have a really gross smell. So
28:30
I would have to do that if my grandpa didn't
28:32
do it. Sometimes it would smell like cat, which
28:36
was disgusting. That was typically either smell
28:40
you're going to get. So if you went there a lot,
28:42
you knew what it smelled like. Ironically, I
28:45
miss that smell a lot. It's kind of a bummer,
28:49
but oh well. It doesn't have a stage. The stage
28:55
became the ring, right? Correct, yes. So how
28:58
did that change shows compared to other places?
29:04
So there's no stage. So instead of there being
29:07
a barrier from a band to the crowd, now you're
29:12
free to go into the ropes and walk up right to
29:16
the band. And you're going to stand right to
29:19
where the microphone is. You're right here to
29:22
the band. I'm holding two hands close together.
29:25
You're as close as you want to be. So no security.
29:29
It basically broke down all the barriers. We
29:32
had no security there. We probably had two fights
29:34
over close to 20 years. No one came there to
29:37
fight. That's surprising when you, like, if you
29:43
watch Bones of Brundage, you get the vibe that
29:45
there was a lot of violence. Not that people
29:48
that went to shows were violent, just that every
29:51
once in a while there would be some huge fight.
29:53
They talked about a few massive fights. And punk
29:57
music... has a very aggressive tone it's very
30:02
loud so how were you able to keep such a a peaceful
30:07
atmosphere i wouldn't say it was peaceful but
30:10
i think in our little world that we knew that
30:13
we weren't the enemy um so you know that time
30:19
and place that we're it's you against everyone
30:22
else not to be cheesy but like it's a good record
30:25
to not have fights there we literally a couple
30:28
fights maybe three that's it ever you're not
30:32
going to act up because everybody there is friends
30:34
everybody knows each other so there was just
30:37
a level of mutual respect among everyone for
30:40
the majority yeah i would say and there has to
30:43
be and even then i know you got the cops called
30:46
on you before and your grandfather was respected
30:49
in the community and was able to say hey it's
30:52
just a concert you don't have to worry yeah He
30:55
did. There would be, it was, I think, the second
30:58
time the Locusts played. And there was probably
31:01
200 to 300 people there. And we had never had
31:05
that many people there. But you couldn't walk
31:08
in. There was people outside, out front. And,
31:11
of course, the cops are coming. It's loud. And
31:14
my grandpa's in there just hanging out. And he
31:17
talks to the police. And they say, okay, Mr.
31:19
Munoz. And they left. He let them know that it's
31:22
under control. And he had it under control. respected
31:25
him and they let us do this insanely illegal
31:28
activity. And I think the only other time the
31:31
cops came was when the span hail shock and war
31:35
tumor plane, but it was like 1am and it was loud.
31:37
It was too late. So I understand that. So we
31:40
try to like keep it over by, you know, be respectful
31:43
of the neighbors. We figured it out. Another
31:47
thing about other venues is that there's always
31:50
a bar, like it's always a dive bar or something
31:52
like that. but you had no bar. How did that change
31:57
how the shows went at all? Or did it even affect
32:00
anything? I think the bar is there for the venue
32:03
to make money. So the whole point of the gym
32:06
is not to make money. It was to have a space
32:09
for bands to play, for our band to play, and
32:12
for people to be able to see these bands. There
32:16
was no interest by anyone else that was booking
32:19
shows to book. So if you wanted to bring the
32:22
beer, that's fine. You can bring it. Just throw
32:25
away your trash. Which wasn't always the case,
32:27
but whatever. The dynamic of having a bar and
32:31
making money wasn't an option. I don't drink,
32:32
so I had no interest in that. Is there any straight
32:35
edge scene in Bakersfield? Everybody that ran
32:38
the gym was straight edge. Me, Adam. Steven was
32:44
maybe when he was younger, but as he grew up,
32:48
not so much. But mainly me and Adam. You know,
32:53
me, Stephen and Adam are the ones that made that
32:55
thing work through the duration of it. So two
32:59
out of three of us were. Yeah, that's cool. Your
33:04
grandfather ended up using the gym as a safe
33:08
haven for some of the people in the neighborhood
33:10
to just have a place to go and something to do,
33:14
especially the youth. And so. Do you feel like
33:19
you continue that legacy? It certainly seems
33:22
so with the way that you had punk rock shows.
33:27
I think so. I didn't mean it at the time, but
33:30
there's a lot of people that I know now that
33:32
I knew when they were little kids there. Not
33:34
in a weird way, but I knew they would come to
33:37
shows when they were kids and I still see them.
33:39
So I think that's important. A lot of people
33:41
went there, maybe they were drugged out and they
33:44
needed someplace to hide or they needed or they
33:46
couldn't go home or something. So that's where
33:49
they went. That's amazing. So your first show
33:55
in 1998 had Prolapse and Feces and Blood. What
33:59
was that like? That show actually did really
34:02
good. A lot of people came to it. Somehow it
34:04
was like a decent opening. Roger and Kurt from
34:09
The Pine, they played in a band. They covered
34:12
this other band called Link Songs. So they would
34:15
play all Link covers. because they were really
34:19
into that. Fat Chance played and the Lebecs played.
34:22
So it was like a big mismatch of local bands.
34:27
You know, ironically, I don't think Fat Chance
34:30
ever played or wanted to play again. And same
34:33
with the Lebecs. But everybody else played there
34:35
all the time. The Pine was like a house band.
34:38
Obviously, our band was a house band. What about
34:42
any other shows? What was the most packed show?
34:46
Was it that Locust one you were talking about?
34:48
That was huge. Excuse me. The most packed one
34:51
was probably the last show when Infest played.
34:54
It was like dangerous packed. We had a lot of
34:59
pretty good sized shows, but that was probably
35:02
like the finale. Yeah. How many people do you
35:07
think won if you had to guess? 350 -ish, I would
35:11
say. Yeah, it was wild. It's important to know
35:16
that when I've read about the gym, they've explained
35:20
it as smaller than a two -car garage. Those 350
35:23
people packed in, that's a lot of people. Yeah,
35:28
it's dangerous. Yeah. Extremely. Okay, so you
35:32
mentioned something earlier that would make it
35:34
different, a show at the gym, right? So in the
35:37
first days of the gym, there was the ring, like
35:39
a typical boxing ring. Throughout the years,
35:43
the rings would get ruined and they'd be replaced,
35:45
but eventually it was just done. There was no
35:47
ring. It was just a square. But so what happened
35:51
with that is that the kids in Bakersfield created
35:54
like a side -to -side style of the mosh whenever
35:57
the bands are playing. So you would have this
35:59
thing that no one's ever seen, maybe an HB strut
36:03
back in LA, which was kind of forgotten about
36:06
at the time. So you see this certain style where
36:09
the kids go from one side of the ring, to the
36:12
next back to back like in a in a line like a
36:14
side to side and at the time you would not see
36:17
it i've been to a million shows everywhere you
36:20
would not see this style anywhere unless you
36:22
came to bakersfield and played at the gym and
36:23
it wasn't like they were trying to be cool it's
36:25
just adapting to your surrounding you would go
36:27
from one side of the rope to the other side and
36:29
they would like fly off of it and go back and
36:31
forth so we had our own kind of style and you
36:34
would play here you would see this it was very
36:37
unique that's awesome did Did any of the bands
36:41
incorporate the ring into their shows in some
36:44
way? I know I saw one where it looked like people
36:47
were doing wrestling in the middle of the shows
36:49
and stuff like that. That was one of our bands.
36:52
Oh, nice. Yeah, they did do wrestling, yeah.
36:56
The bands, no, I think most of them, there were
36:59
some bands that didn't really like it. Maybe
37:02
there wasn't a lot of people there. But I think
37:05
a lot of bands appreciated it, especially like...
37:09
Looking back on it, if you were in an underground
37:13
DIY band through that era, you probably played
37:17
there. Especially if you're looked upon nicely
37:22
now. You most likely played there. Were there
37:27
any shows that had only five people, but yet
37:32
the band played it like it was a sold -out arena
37:35
that you couldn't even tell? Yeah. I mean, these
37:39
are bands that maybe their show in L .A. had
37:42
20 people. So they're playing in Bakersfield
37:44
to seven people. It's like, OK, this is the way
37:47
it goes. Not everything is going to be perfect.
37:49
But I think a lot of these bands, they were just
37:51
excited. They're just young. You know, you're
37:52
young and you're excited to be on the road and
37:54
away from home and playing your songs. So no
37:57
matter where you're at, it could be OK. I think
38:00
it's important for people to get together and
38:03
remember that they're all in the same boat, I
38:07
guess. So they don't have to, not everyone is
38:10
so separated. So if you're going to the show,
38:13
you're there because you're probably not accepted
38:17
really anywhere else. Or maybe you feel like
38:19
you're not accepted or you need someplace to
38:21
hide out. So those places are good for you to
38:23
go and know that you're going to be okay. So
38:28
the Munoz Gym, it still existed as a training
38:32
facility, right? When you were using it as a
38:34
music venue? Correct. I think I read it was something
38:39
like from 4 to 8, people would train, and then
38:43
after that, it could be used as a music venue.
38:46
Yes. The guys would be there every day, training.
38:51
Sometimes they wouldn't want to leave, but we
38:53
had to get the show going on, so they had to
38:56
go. Boxing is a very aggressive, violent sport,
39:01
and punk rock is so aggressive and violent. with
39:06
moshing and but not in a in a mean way just in
39:10
a in a similar way it seems like a teenager could
39:14
get out whatever he's feeling by boxing or by
39:17
going to a show it's almost a similar outlet
39:20
in that way have you ever thought about that
39:23
no never not once um i see your point i think
39:28
you could go either way yeah i've never no i've
39:31
never thought about that Boxing is is entwined
39:35
into my childhood. So it's like something I literally
39:39
saw every day. Yeah. So I don't necessarily see
39:43
it as violent. I see it as like a skill. Yet
39:46
it is a violence. It is a violent skill, but
39:48
it's more of an art form. The art is to not get
39:51
hit and it's hard to do properly. That's that's
39:56
interesting. The part of boxing is to not get
39:59
hit. I never thought about it like that. If you
40:02
never get hit, you win by decision. My grandpa
40:05
did get hit a lot. He did not get hit a lot.
40:08
The only reason he stopped boxing is because
40:10
my granny made him. I have it on the timeline,
40:13
but he had some crazy statistic that they quoted,
40:16
like 122 wins and four losses or something like
40:19
that. His win -to -loss ratio, I don't remember
40:21
it exactly, but it was very good. I think he
40:24
lost under four times total. He was a very good
40:30
boxer. Did he ever go to the concerts? Yeah,
40:33
he would always be there. Was he always there?
40:35
Always. We live right behind, so that was our
40:38
house. So we were always there. He would come
40:41
out. He'd be raking, making sure. His thing was
40:43
to make sure there was toilet paper in the bathroom.
40:46
Grandpa, this bathroom is disgusting. No one
40:49
needs to be going to the bathroom in here. I
40:51
don't want toilet paper. And we'd have to argue
40:53
every show about toilet paper. So why are you
40:56
so concerned? This bathroom is disgusting. It's
40:58
going to clog. Let me just turn it off because
41:01
I know these people. They did it every time.
41:03
I'd have to clean it up. It sucked. Anyways,
41:06
he was always there. He would sit down and watch
41:09
the show. He would hang out. He'd talk to the
41:11
bands. There's a picture of my grandpa in this
41:14
band from Denmark Ice Age. It's like one of the
41:16
best pictures. He's just like rapping with them
41:18
inside. He would just hang out. He was always
41:20
there. He loved it. He loved those people being
41:23
there, being in the gym, even like not using
41:25
what it was intended to. He loved it. We talked
41:30
before about your grandfather, how he was always
41:33
looking for a champion. But do you ever think
41:38
that you're the champion? Absolutely. I was his
41:43
favorite person in the world. Why do you think
41:44
he let me do shows at the gym? Ruin his boxing
41:46
gym. He helped me for everything, with the store,
41:50
with the shows, just in life. Yeah, absolutely.
41:55
Number one. Without a doubt, I was his favorite
41:58
person in the world. Which, when you have that
42:02
confidence, it means a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Someone
42:06
believes in you matters. It's more than anything.
42:09
We wouldn't be sitting right here if it wasn't
42:11
for him. Yeah, I would agree. So... That's crazy,
42:16
by the way. I've never thought of it that way.
42:18
I wouldn't give myself that much credit, but
42:20
that's crazy to hear that. Yeah, I thought of
42:23
that. I hoped it wasn't too... rude of a question
42:27
or something i don't think no i don't think it
42:28
was it's just weird when when um you're on the
42:32
receiving end i think it's just not that it's
42:34
just kind of awkward yeah but i think it makes
42:37
sense i mean i know i know how close we were
42:41
so yeah yeah and i'm only looking outside and
42:46
saying what you know i just noticed so much when
42:50
i was researching about how much he was waiting
42:52
for a champion but Well, OK, so he had three
42:56
daughters. I was the first boy. So I was the
43:00
one. He loved every one of his daughters, obviously.
43:03
But like, you know, I guess it's different. It
43:05
was different for him. He wanted a boy and I
43:07
was the one. And that was it. And we were very
43:11
close. That's good. Yeah. I would like to end
43:15
every show by talking about a current band or
43:19
some sort of current of any art that you want
43:23
people to know about. Okay, let's do it. What's
43:27
a current band from Bakersfield that people need
43:29
to hear? People should listen to Gold. That's
43:34
probably my favorite local punk band, but I'm
43:36
biased because Nate works here and my son sings.
43:39
But that's okay. I'm also putting out their record
43:42
on Friday, May 9th. Nice. Any other bands that
43:47
you think people should hear? Yeah, from here?
43:50
Or even that you... That you produce or something?
43:55
From here, there's a lot of good bands right
43:58
now. If you're into punk or hardcore, 415 has
44:01
all the shows. So that's going to be like, where
44:05
are you going to go to see the modern day version
44:07
of what we did at the gym? That's essentially
44:10
the carryover. So what we did at the gym, like
44:14
setting up this entire infrastructure of shows
44:16
in a network of people that want to play here
44:18
and a scene essentially from almost nothing.
44:23
It's continued in 415. That's what those kids
44:26
do now. They don't do it to make money. They
44:28
do it so bands have a place to play and kids
44:31
can come have some place to be. So any show that
44:35
happens at 415, pay attention to that. If you're
44:38
into underground music, hardcore, punk, it doesn't
44:42
really stray too much from that. But if you didn't
44:46
get to see the gym and you're like, oh man, I
44:48
saw that Jerome's Dream video on YouTube. Okay,
44:51
that's great, but go to 415 now because that's
44:54
right now and you can be a part of anything you
44:57
want to be a part of. So every show, pay attention
45:00
to that. And 415 is the venue? Correct. Nice,
45:03
nice. We won't give the address on here, but
45:05
they can figure it out. Look on our Instagram
45:07
or come to the store and get a flyer. But yeah,
45:11
local bands, Pump Fake, Gold, God, that's G -A
45:17
-H -D. Rough House. Let's think. Epilepsy. Sack
45:25
Tap. I'm leaving a lot of people out. Okay, that's
45:28
all I can remember. But just go look on 415's
45:31
Instagram or come by the store. You just have
45:34
to say Etcetera at the end, and then if someone
45:36
tells you that you left them out, say, no, that's
45:39
what I covered that on Etcetera. Sorry about
45:41
that. It's not because I'm not, just to put it
45:44
out there, it's not because I don't want to say
45:46
your band's name. I can't think of it. It is
45:49
hard. I feel like there's so many things I know,
45:51
but if people ask me on the spot, then for some
45:54
reason I forget it. And then non -local bands,
45:58
Gun, Pseudo Youth, The Smog, those are all bands
46:02
that we have records coming out from on our label,
46:05
Going Underground Records. So those are all available
46:09
either now or they will be by the time this comes
46:11
out. So listen to them or stream them online.
46:13
Buy the records from me. This song is Annihilation
46:17
off Gun's new album. So let's talk about this
47:04
record I'm releasing from a local band called
47:07
The Pine. Okay. So they were active. They were
47:12
playing shows at the gym, right? Have you ever
47:14
heard them? I have listened to some of their
47:18
sets on YouTube at the Munoz. Okay. The last
47:20
show, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. So those
47:24
were friends of mine, obviously, from back then.
47:27
But our label, Going Underground, is reissuing
47:29
their records. It's a big deal to us because
47:33
that band is probably one of the most important
47:36
local bands ever. Hands down. Top five, best
47:41
Bakersfield band, best emo band, anything. And
47:46
I don't just say that because I'm biased, but
47:48
I love their catalog. We have the first LP coming
47:52
out again. It's actually sitting right behind
47:54
you. But we're very excited to have that out
47:57
again. It means a lot to us, to me and Adam.
48:01
to have this record come out on going underground.
48:04
It's, it's, it's a massive deal. So when we speak
48:06
about the gym, like the pine was a huge part
48:08
of the gym, Roger booked the second show there,
48:12
um, which was flu 13. So it was flu 13. And then
48:16
he played the pine played. And that's the first
48:18
era of the pine with Roger on drums, Josh and
48:21
Kurt on bass and guitar, which was massively
48:24
different from what they ended up being, but
48:26
just hindsight. So we go all the way back. So
48:28
like the first show is like, All locals, the
48:31
second show was Flu 13 and The Pine. And I think
48:34
the third show was God Stomper and probably Prolapse
48:38
and something like that. And, I mean, there's
48:40
not really anybody at those shows. But just,
48:43
you know, we're trying. We're trying really hard
48:45
to do the shows is what I'm saying. But anyways,
48:48
back to The Pine. We're excited to have this
48:50
record come out. It's a massive Bakersfield release.
48:57
And those reissues are important. I didn't know
49:00
about the band Burning Image until you reissued
49:03
one of their... Their single, yeah. Single, yeah,
49:07
yeah. You know, it's crazy. A lot of people that
49:09
I thought would have known that didn't know that
49:11
record. People in the punk record collecting
49:15
circuit didn't know it, which is crazy to me.
49:17
I don't know, maybe because we're from here,
49:19
that's a big record. That's a huge record. Yeah,
49:22
it was crazy to see. In the 80s, it's not like
49:26
it was... It was like when this type of music,
49:28
if you... were dressing like they were and walking
49:31
down the street, people would have really been
49:33
judgmental. They were 1 ,000 % all in. Amazing.
49:37
Did you see the pictures I would post of those
49:39
guys? I didn't see the pictures you posted, but
49:42
I looked all in the labels. I even showed this
49:44
guy, this drummer named Kyle Burnham, and he's
49:49
like, oh yeah, I already knew about this because
49:51
Joe Sparks, he went to the same high school as
49:54
I did in Taft. And I was like, holy shit, small
49:57
world. Yeah. Those guys are cool. I love Mo.
50:02
That's a great, Burning Image is a great record.
50:06
Yeah, and there's just so much music from Bakersfield
50:10
and even just the surrounding areas that people
50:12
have no clue. I was a nerd in high school that
50:17
would dig through crates of records and I didn't
50:21
know about all this stuff from right here. It's
50:25
awesome. Yeah, it's very obscure. That's why.
50:28
I reissued the Terrorist 45 too, which is another
50:30
Bakersfield record from, I think, 82, 81, 82.
50:34
I forget offhand, but it's a punk record. Nice.
50:37
Really good. Very obscure though. It's like it
50:39
doesn't exist. Very rare. I noticed you have
50:42
so many music posters in Going Underground of
50:46
concerts from a long time ago. So what drives
50:51
you to collect all this stuff? I think it's important
50:53
to showcase it. It's important to show people
50:56
that there's always been music here and there's
51:00
always been stuff to do. People often look outside
51:05
of Bakersfield for importance, or maybe not importance,
51:10
but maybe guidance in what's cool. But when you
51:17
see the bands that played here and the shows
51:20
maybe someone had missed because they weren't
51:22
paying attention, maybe it makes you rethink.
51:25
where you're from and how it's not that bad.
51:28
So like if there's a Fugazi poster on the wall,
51:30
like, oh wow, Fugazi played here. Yeah, they
51:32
played here twice. Ramones played here. They
51:35
played one of their last shows here. Who else?
51:38
I don't know. Sublime. Okay, whatever. But that's
51:41
a legendary, that's a legendary show. So I like
51:43
to, I like, I don't, I don't collect stuff just
51:46
to, just because I'm like, want to have everything.
51:49
I just collect it because it's important. No
51:51
one else besides my friend Chris Goodsell, who
51:54
gave me a lot of things related to Bakersfield
51:56
and a lot of knowledge, has ever really cared.
52:00
So it's hard to even piece this stuff together.
52:03
I got a bunch of great flyers from this guy Mike,
52:06
a bunch of local early 80s flyers. And the coolest
52:09
thing that I got from him was a list of all the
52:12
shows he went to. And so he wrote down every
52:14
show. So now I get to see, okay, this guy, this
52:16
is an order of the shows. And that's important
52:19
to people like me because we want to know what
52:22
was what and when it happened. So we can save
52:26
that knowledge. Where's it going to go? If I
52:27
don't know it, where's it going to go? Down the
52:29
drain. Exactly. If there's no one else archiving
52:35
that part of Bakersfield history, and if you
52:41
don't do it, It goes away. I mean, all these
52:44
flyers are on paper. So it's important. Yeah,
52:50
I save that stuff. So me and Matt, who are doing
52:52
this archive project, are working on making it
52:55
where it's like you can just go on the computer
52:57
and look at anything you want to see. So if you
52:59
want to hear a demo from number one, you want
53:05
to hear the number one 7 -inch and you don't
53:06
have a record player, you go on this archive
53:08
site that Matt has created. And you could just
53:12
listen to it. If you want to relive, you know,
53:14
the 90s, it's all set for you. So it's like a
53:17
flyer digital archive. So I have a lot of stuff.
53:21
So he talked me into actually letting it be seen
53:25
in more places than just here. So we're working
53:27
on that. So everybody can enjoy this stuff. It's
53:30
amazing. It's just so important to archive all
53:34
of this stuff before it's too late. Thank you
53:40
for listening to the San Joaquin Sound podcast.
53:43
If you want information on upcoming episodes,
53:46
follow San Joaquin Sound on Instagram. Catch
53:50
you next time.