{"id":16602,"date":"2015-06-24T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/colorlines.madeostudio.com\/article\/breaking-presents-kominas-conscious-punk-band\/"},"modified":"2015-06-24T19:30:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-24T19:30:00","slug":"breaking-presents-kominas-conscious-punk-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/colorlines.com\/article\/breaking-presents-kominas-conscious-punk-band\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Breaking’ Presents The Kominas, a Conscious Punk Band"},"content":{"rendered":"
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‘Breaking’ Presents The Kominas, a Conscious Punk Band<\/h3>\n

\n By Sameer Rao<\/span> Jun 24, 2015<\/span>\n <\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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Welcome to <\/em>Breaking<\/em><\/strong>, a new Colorlines series where we highlight under-the-radar artists of color. For our second feature, we\u2019re breaking The Kominas.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Hometown:<\/strong> Various\u2014Boston, New York and Philadelphia<\/p>\n

Sound:<\/strong> Vintage-style punk mixed in with surf, psychedelia and classic South-Asian and Middle-Eastern rock. <\/p>\n

Why You Should Care: <\/strong>The Kominas exist in part to challenge people\u2019s underlying assumptions about what \u201cpunk,\u201d \u201cindie\u201d or any of these descriptors mean. Some consider them leaders of so-called Tacqwacore<\/a> punk movement, but labels like that don\u2019t get at the variety in their music.These four South Asian-American, mostly Muslim men specialize in punchy, riff-heavy rock and their lyrics address the experiences of people of color and Muslims in America. (They say at least one group member is on a government watch list.) They also grapple with racist rock fans, a tokenizing music press and an underground that seems uninterested in politically aware groups of color.<\/p>\n

The quartet\u2019s latest album, \u201cStereotype,\u201d is a raucous collection of 10 songs about Islamophobia, racism, American paranoia, non-representation, and\u2014like all great rock bands\u2014fun times with friends. It’s a mix of staticky guitars, subtly intricate bass lines and bombastic drums that reinvent garage rock as something ripe for experimentation and reclamation by artists of color.<\/p>\n

Ahead of this week’s album release we spoke to bassist\/vocalist Basim Usmani, guitarist\/vocalist Hassan Malik (a.k.a. \u201cSunny\u201d in Sunny Ali & the Kid<\/a>), guitarist Shahjehan Khan, and drummer Karna Ray about working as a band of color in a predominantly white scene, artistic responsibility, and their favorite moments on \"Stereotype.\"<\/p>\n

You tackle themes in your music that most artists with your visibility don\u2019t. In your words, how would you describe your creative M.O.? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Usmani<\/b>: It’s pretty sad when most punk bands are better known for their stance on stage-diving than their stances on anything going on in the world today. What we do is sociopolitical, first. One of our first priorities is what kind of statement we are putting out. It’s never been about being cool or appealing or profiting for us. Most of our music is available for free. The shows that have been the most fulfilling for us, the ones we had the biggest audiences for, were the ones we did free of charge. This has always been about putting a message out into the world. <\/p>\n

Khan: <\/strong>We are a product of 2015 America and we express what we express unapologetically. Our identities\u2014both personal and as a group\u2014cannot help but find themselves in the material that we have produced. We are doing our best to be as authentic as we can about how we feel as artists, and that certainly can and should make people uncomfortable. <\/p>\n