The Mormons
By Joe Piasecki 10/04/2007
True to their name, these Eagle Rock-based punk rockers actually perform in the missionary attire of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — complete with white dress shirts, black slacks and ties, backpacks and, to surreal effect, bicycle helmets.
But they are no gimmick band, said guitarist and co-founder Vince O'Campo: “Who wants to dress like a Mormon? It's an anti-fashion uniform. It brings the music to the forefront because we're not like this glam band up there with $100 haircuts thinking we're rock stars. That's faking it.”
The music of the Mormons stays true to the gospels of punk and post-punk with straight-ahead beats, pounding rhythms and forceful, in-your-face vocals that work with the band's incongruous image in a way that, sure enough, starts making sense somewhere in the middle of their first song.
O'Campo and his bandmates — drummer Kelly Kusumoto, bassist Jimmy Castillo (who also hit on the idea for the costumes) and spastic frontman Patrick Jones — all attended Eagle Rock High School together in the mid-'90s. They played in various bands and survived several configurations of the Mormons until the current lineup congealed through divine providence earlier this year, the band's ninth in existence.
“We never had goals of being famous or anything like that,” said O'Campo. As it stands now, they aren't, but through ingenuity and a reckless spirit the band does get a fair share of attention.
The Mormons crashed last year's Eagle Rock Music Festival, playing without a stage using battery-powered amplifiers, marching-style drum setups and a megaphone — an idea inspired not only by roaming missionaries, but also by traditional mariachis who traveled bar to bar. They have also deployed with their “mobile unit” to Warped Tour and Coachella music festival parking lots, an Indie 103.1 FM broadcast from a Santa Monica restaurant where management unleashed a garden hose on them, and in front of Amoeba Music store in Hollywood.
“Man, did they freak out,” manager Joey Welcher, who was drumming for the band until he fired himself last year, said of Amoeba security. But that's the punk-rock brilliance of the mobile unit, he said: “We can actually run and play music!” He added that the band has developed a theme song for fleeing from authorities.
The Mormons have developed a solid local following from countless performances at Mr. T's Bowl (if it's Tuesday and they're not playing, they booked the bands that are) in Highland Park and a recent residency with the Sunday Night Bowling & Drinking Club at Eagle Rock's All Star Lanes.
Only once at a gig in Utah did any actual Mormon ever take offense to the band, said O'Campo. But now he can relate somewhat to the caffeine- and alcohol-free proselytizers charging on despite door after door slammed in their faces: “We're kinda on our own mission.”
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