Voodoo Glow Skulls

Obscr Thoughts presents the Dr. Strange Records 30-year anniversary celebration at the Glasshouse in Pomona, Ca.

The good doctor hand-picked lineup consists of The Voodoo GlowSkulls (Record Release Party) DI, Left Alone, DFL, Kung Fu Monkeys, and Thee Azmatics.

Lots of limited-edition swag for fans in attendance and other surprises. https://www.drstrange.com/

Voodoo Glow Skulls were formed in 1988 by Eddie Casillas, Jorge Casillas, Jerry O’neill and Frank Casillas. After a few years of backyard party shows, cassette demos, 7” singles and first club gigs, they released their debut album “Who is, this is?” for Dr. Strange records in 1993, gaining the attention of Brett Gurewitz, owner of Epitaph records. The band then signed to Epitaph records and released four albums, starting in 1995 with “Firme”, their most successful album to date, then followed by “Baile de los Locos”, “Band Geek Mafia” and “Symbolic”.

The band began to tour worldwide with their first European tour in 1996 followed by Japan, Australia, Mexico, and South America.

The band has been featured on several of Epitaph's Punk-O-Rama releases and has had music featured in video games, TV and movies.

The song "Shoot the Moon" from the band's Firme album was used in the Pauly Shoremovie Bio-Dome and the band's version of "Used to Love Her" (originally written and recorded by Guns N' Roses) is featured in the Mr. & Mrs. Smith soundtrack.

In 2002, Voodoo Glow Skulls signed to Victory Records. The band released three albums on the Victory label and continued to tour.

On January 18, 2012, the band released its self-produced ninth album, Break the Spell, through Smelvis Records.

In June, 2017, Frank Casillas announced his retirement from the band and was replaced by Efrem Schulz.

In May 2021, the band released Livin' The Apocalypse with Efrem Schulz and continues to do shows.

“Forget Stars and Stripes forever, we’d rather pledge our
alliance to Left Alone’s Checkers and Plaid!” -Ska Punk
Daily
Left Alone’s sixth album, Checkers & Plaid, is coming
in dangerously hot - featuring a heavy dosage of high
energy Ska (Checkers) and Punk rock anthems (Plaid).
Recorded in a mere five days and engineered/coproduced
by TJ Rivera (Mighty Mighty
Bosstones & Rancid), the album’s 10 tracks find the
California band at its most focused, relentless, and
personal - unleashing a constant one-two punch of
danceable ska and authentic punk hits. Vocalist/guitarist
Elvis Cortez “We went into the studio to record this
album like never before. The songs were not over
rehearsed and we built them as we went along.”
Checkers & Plaid sees Left Alone continue their
Southern California and Mexican culture clash with Te
Quiero Ver, which features guest vocals from Big Javy
of Mexican Ska legends, Inspector. Elvis shares, “Javy
was on vacation over the weekend in the states and I
invited him to a family fiesta on Saturday night. Left
Alone was recording Monday so I asked him if he would
be into singing on a song idea I had and thankfully he
said yes. He is one of my favorite singers and sang his
parts in one take, a total pro.”
The album kicks off with ska firecracker The Darkness,
which was recently featured on Ska Against Racism,
the socially important and bestselling ska
compilation, which raised over $80K for Black Lives
Matter related charities. While the lyrics of The
Darkness touch on the struggles associated with
maintaining sobriety (and a little thing called
love), Scars stresses the need to move on from toxic
environments, and Blackhole is a cautionary tale about
avoiding getting sucked into a relationship vortex.
You could be mistaken for thinking the album
closer, The Fix was written in response to the pandemic
and our desperate need to attend a sweaty punk show
amongst our fellow music lovers. However, the song
was written and recorded over a year ago. Elvis says, “I
wrote this song about how music makes me feel and
how important it is to us all. From the artist to fan music
is the language we all understand and feel that can unify
us all.”
Checkers & Plaid is out... on Smelvis/Hellcat Records.

Host or Publisher The Glass House Pomona