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When Ezequiel “Ziggy” Pelayo says, “We started Yeah Buddy Fest because we really just wanted to barbecue and party and hang out all day,” you believe him. The good times really are that simple, and the 30-year-old promoter, musician, label head, bartender, recreational chicken griller, and all around nice guy has made it a lifestyle.
When he isn’t pouring drinks at Eleven, Tower Bar, or Ruby Room, he’s booking bands under Another Zeke Productions (eight years and running), playing drums with energetic pop punk outfits Moosejaw and Beside Myself, pressing vinyl with La Escalera Records, and silk-screening (Escalera partner William Castro owns B Street Hill screen printing company) shirts, posters, and record sleeves.
Oh, and he just picked up another job at Starbucks to support the label. It may sound like a lot (it is), but Yeah Buddy is a way of life - a San Diego samadhi – and Ziggy is Buddha.
So grab a beer, Buddy! Have a good time!
“It was all about spending the whole day raging, you know? Just celebrating,” Ziggy says of February’s third annual Yeah Buddy Fest, which grew out of Yeah Buddy Tuesday shows at the Zombie Lounge (before it was Radio Room before it was Eleven) three years ago (before Jersey Shore). The festivities at Shakedown in Midway included 10 bands, a hundred-some friends, and 25 pounds of Ziggy’s Love Chicken - a sweet and spicy recipe from back home in Guadalajara with a homemade honey whiskey BBQ sauce.
“It’s all our friends,” Ziggy says. “We’re all Yeah Buddy. We all say hi to each other that way.”
The salutation is extended in La Escalera’s Yeah Buddy series – limited 500 copy split 7” runs of mostly pop punk groups but also bands such as A Scribe Amidst the Lions, Sour Soul, Otro, and The Marsupials.
Available online and at shops around San Diego, Sacramento, Seattle, and Mexico City, Yeah Buddy sleeves include a photo of each record’s two bands hanging out together.
“It’s the Yeah Buddy tradition,” says Ziggy, who recently connected with Eager Beaver Records in Japan to broaden La Escalera’s distribution. “Just keep it fun and party.”
Spanish for “the staircase”, La Escalera’s dedication to supporting and elevating the music they love is evinced by nine record releases this year on vinyl, digital, CDs, and soon, cassettes.
“I always buy stuff from touring bands,” says Ziggy, a regular host to out-of-town acts at the North Park home he shares with his girlfriend and the designer of Another Zeke Productions’ show posters, Jillian. “I have a huge record collection. I’ve been in their shoes. I know how it is to be on the road broke.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB5G6UXbeec
From La Escalera’s website: "We are here to set the record straight on the loss of the relationship between the record buyer, the label, and the bands. Do not allow yourself to feel disconnected from the music, the people who make it, and the people you purchase it from.”
And later: “Remember one thing, we can all do our part. La Escalera is not a group or a faction. It's not a band or a label. It's a movement. It's up to you."
Go do your part and have a good time at the Tower Bar on Thursday, April 12, from 6 to 2, when La Escalera Records will be celebrating their 1-year anniversary with four album releases, six bands (Prosthetic Arms, The Shell Corporation, The Mighty Fine, Bastards of Young, Beside Myself, and Kids Say The Darndest Things), and of course, a mountain of home-marinated Ziggy’s Love Chicken.
“This is all D.I.Y.,” Ziggy says. “I just want people to support the local scene. I believe in these bands.”
La Escalera Records 1-Year Anniversary
Thursday, April 12 - 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Tower Bar - 4757 University Avenue - City Heights
7 bucks.
When Ezequiel “Ziggy” Pelayo says, “We started Yeah Buddy Fest because we really just wanted to barbecue and party and hang out all day,” you believe him. The good times really are that simple, and the 30-year-old promoter, musician, label head, bartender, recreational chicken griller, and all around nice guy has made it a lifestyle.
When he isn’t pouring drinks at Eleven, Tower Bar, or Ruby Room, he’s booking bands under Another Zeke Productions (eight years and running), playing drums with energetic pop punk outfits Moosejaw and Beside Myself, pressing vinyl with La Escalera Records, and silk-screening (Escalera partner William Castro owns B Street Hill screen printing company) shirts, posters, and record sleeves.
Oh, and he just picked up another job at Starbucks to support the label. It may sound like a lot (it is), but Yeah Buddy is a way of life - a San Diego samadhi – and Ziggy is Buddha.
So grab a beer, Buddy! Have a good time!
“It was all about spending the whole day raging, you know? Just celebrating,” Ziggy says of February’s third annual Yeah Buddy Fest, which grew out of Yeah Buddy Tuesday shows at the Zombie Lounge (before it was Radio Room before it was Eleven) three years ago (before Jersey Shore). The festivities at Shakedown in Midway included 10 bands, a hundred-some friends, and 25 pounds of Ziggy’s Love Chicken - a sweet and spicy recipe from back home in Guadalajara with a homemade honey whiskey BBQ sauce.
“It’s all our friends,” Ziggy says. “We’re all Yeah Buddy. We all say hi to each other that way.”
The salutation is extended in La Escalera’s Yeah Buddy series – limited 500 copy split 7” runs of mostly pop punk groups but also bands such as A Scribe Amidst the Lions, Sour Soul, Otro, and The Marsupials.
Available online and at shops around San Diego, Sacramento, Seattle, and Mexico City, Yeah Buddy sleeves include a photo of each record’s two bands hanging out together.
“It’s the Yeah Buddy tradition,” says Ziggy, who recently connected with Eager Beaver Records in Japan to broaden La Escalera’s distribution. “Just keep it fun and party.”
Spanish for “the staircase”, La Escalera’s dedication to supporting and elevating the music they love is evinced by nine record releases this year on vinyl, digital, CDs, and soon, cassettes.
“I always buy stuff from touring bands,” says Ziggy, a regular host to out-of-town acts at the North Park home he shares with his girlfriend and the designer of Another Zeke Productions’ show posters, Jillian. “I have a huge record collection. I’ve been in their shoes. I know how it is to be on the road broke.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB5G6UXbeec
From La Escalera’s website: "We are here to set the record straight on the loss of the relationship between the record buyer, the label, and the bands. Do not allow yourself to feel disconnected from the music, the people who make it, and the people you purchase it from.”
And later: “Remember one thing, we can all do our part. La Escalera is not a group or a faction. It's not a band or a label. It's a movement. It's up to you."
Go do your part and have a good time at the Tower Bar on Thursday, April 12, from 6 to 2, when La Escalera Records will be celebrating their 1-year anniversary with four album releases, six bands (Prosthetic Arms, The Shell Corporation, The Mighty Fine, Bastards of Young, Beside Myself, and Kids Say The Darndest Things), and of course, a mountain of home-marinated Ziggy’s Love Chicken.
“This is all D.I.Y.,” Ziggy says. “I just want people to support the local scene. I believe in these bands.”
La Escalera Records 1-Year Anniversary
Thursday, April 12 - 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Tower Bar - 4757 University Avenue - City Heights
7 bucks.