Dying Scene caught up with Diskount Vodka in Pueblo, Colorado for a short interview and visited them at the practice space that they share with The Dead End. We also visited Land of Ozz and Bishop Castle for all of the cool happenings in the Pueblo area.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Dying Scene: Tell me about Diskount Vodka. Who’s in the band and what kind of music do you play?
Diskount Vodka: I’m Pickle, I play the drums. I’m Ellie Blackbird, I play guitar and sing. And I’m Cuauhtli Gome, I play bass guitar.
Ellie Blackbird: We formed a bit over a year ago.
Cuauhtli Gomez: We’re a punk rock and roll band.
DS: Tell me, how did you guys come up with the name Discount Vodka?
Pickle: We were in Center, Texas at David Gardner’s (the Coffin Boys, Trash Idols, Horror Movie) house and David started talking about Discount Vodka somewhere and Ellie liked the name. We formed a band and we took the name. That’s how that name came about.
DS: Are any of you in any other bands? What is your connection to The Dead End?
P: I play the drums in The Dead End, a psychobilly band. We’ve done it for eight years. We have new material coming out next year sometime. We’ve been a working band this whole time doing big things. We did a bunch of stuff with Three Bad Jacks. We just got done doing another tour out to Californiia and back.
CG: Carlos, the singer and guitarist, is my older brother and L.J., the bassist, is my cousin.
EB: Cuauhtli and I aren’t in any other bands. This is our thing, our main thing.
DS: How would you describe your music to someone?
EB: It’s more old-school punk sounding. And, it’s not strictly one thing. I think there’s more…you can tell there’s influences of, you know, like rock and roll and hardcore but it’s just punk, you know, it’s just punk rock.
DS: Who are your biggest influences or inspirations?
P: I don’t know. I have all kinds of influences. I started off being influenced by the Ramones. Before that, it was like Gorilla Biscuits and Youth of Today and all those bands from my friend, Burt (…And We All Die). And, actually, he’s the one that got me into punk rock all those years ago. Him and those records, like Fearless Iranians From Hell and all that stuff. Angry Samoans. That stuff’s still good to this day. I like a little bit of everything. I like Rancid. I like The Casualties. I like Hank Williams but, then again, I like psychobilly stuff like Mad Sin, The Brains, and Rezurex. I could go off in millions of directions.
EB: I take a lot of inspiration from Joan Jett, Reagan Youth, and the Germs. I really like their styles.
CG: The Pretenders inspired me to want to play in a band.
DS: Are you guys working with a record label? If so, who?
EB: Nope, we’re all by ourselves.
P: Well, we have a split seven-inch coming out on a record label, which is Split Personality Records, in mid-January 2024. It’s a split seven-inch with Tv Tragedy from Phoenix. They’re a good punk rock band. They’ve been around for 10 years. But other than that we’re not on a label but we are looking.
DS: Perfect. I was just about to ask if you have recorded anything. So tell me about it.
P: Well, right now there’s one song called “Time is Now” we just released on November 11th. We (released) another single called “Victim” on December 1st, then a cover song called “Gacked on Anger” (by Amyl and the Sniffers) on December 30th, and then we’ll have that split seven-inch that’s coming out on January 13th. And then in February we’ll put a full-length album.
EB: Currently, we’re working on releasing that first album called Punk Salad. That should be out by February.
DS: Will it be with the same record label?
P: No, the full length will just be us putting it out independently. So, if somebody wants to pick us up, they can. We’re going to play a seven-inch release show in Las Vegas on January 13th.
DS: Have you been playing any local shows? Where have you been performing lately?
EB: Mainly we like to play at a little DIY venue here called The Bombshelter. It’s an all ages venue. It’s cool. A lot of people come out. We’ve also played in Colorado Springs at the Triple Nickel a few times. We also hit Denver. Lately we’ve been playing at Bar Bar.
P: We’ve played at The Crypt up there, too. We’ve also played at The Black Sheep in Colorado Springs.
EB: And Vultures…
DS: What has been the biggest show you’ve played so far?
EB: Punk Rock Bowling.
P: We played with Manic Hispanic, Left Alone, and The Vulturas. That was, hands down, a bad ass show!
DS: What is the music scene like in Pueblo, Colorado?
EB: It’s growing. Mainly it’s been mostly metal and that kind of stuff but, as of recent years, it’s been like growing into more like…people are interested in punk and…
CG: It’s more diverse now than it was at one time.
P: Goths. There’s a bunch of gothic kids now.
EB: Goth uprising.
P: The punk rock scene. You’re looking at it. But there’s like, there’s high school kids that do come and there’s old school people like around my age who do come to shows too that are like old punk rockers. But we’re the only punk rock band in Pueblo besides The Dead End. The Springs (Colorado Springs) is weird. It has punk rock bands but they’re all younger. They’re fun to play with. They dance the whole time. It’s fun playing places where people just dance all the time.
DS: Have you achieved what you sought out to?
P: We have over-achieved and become more than what we even expected, to be honest with you. So, we’re just gonna keep going that direction.
EB: Yep.
P: Some people must like it I guess.
DS: So, what’s next for Diskount Vodka?
P: More songs and bigger shows. Maybe some bigger festivals. Maybe a tour.
DS: If you were to play a festival, which one would you like to play?
P: Any of them.
EB: Any of them, honestly. I love it.
P: Yeah, there are fests all over the place. That C.Y. Fest looks like it’d be fun. And then there’s 40 Fest in Georgia.
DS: What bands are you listening to this week?
EB: Lots of hardcore bands. I love The Rival Mob. I’ve been listening to Gel. Conservative Military Image.
CG: They’re great. Yeah.
EB: It’s lots of hardcore for me.
P: I’m trying to think what I’ve been listening to this week.
GG: For me it’s Eddie and the Hot Rods…classic old pub rock.
P: I watched a video with Rancid playing the other day. Tried to get some inspiration off of it. Sometimes, I don’t listen to anything…I just listen to the radio, like oldies.
DS: So, do you have anything else you’d like to share?
EB: Check us out. Hope you like our stuff. Get us traveling, you know.
P: Bring us to your city.
EB: Yes. Bring us to you.
CG: Take me to your leader.
It was great catching up with Diskount Vodka. It looks like 2024 is going to be a really exciting year for them! If you are in Las Vegas on January 13th check out Tv Tragedy and Diskount Vodka for the Split Record Release Show.
Diskount Vodka Photo Gallery.
