But honestly, I was never that involved with it until the band started.” I mean, my dad would always play 91X when he would drive me around, so I had an exposure to alternative music. “I was a Broadway, showtunes kid in middle school. “Not me - I grew up listening to Taylor Swift,” says Berlin, who attends the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts. that Pacific Northwest, Riot Grrrl stuff,” says Portland, Ore., native Denekas. So how did the band - who were born years after riot grrrl’s peak popularity in the ‘90s - stumble into the punk rock genre? “We do play 21-plus shows at Soda Bar and stuff, but I don’t think that many people come to those shows from our fanbase.” “I would say like 95 percent of our fan base is people who are under 21 most of them are about 18,” A’Hearn says. Though mature for their age, the band members are still teenagers - and The Inflorescence’s audience reflects that. “We were like children - I mean, we still are children.” “I think it’s kinda funny,” A’Hearn counters. “That’s so cringey thinking about that now,” Berlin moans. “I think we still have those photos (in costume) on our Instagram I can’t imagine why we would delete them,” A’Hearn says on a follow-up Zoom call from her childhood bedroom. At that show, they dressed up as characters from the 1989 black comedy film “Heathers” - the set complete with Denekas performing Winona Ryder’s iconic opening monologue on stage. The Inflorescence started out with house shows and small gigs, like a Halloween concert at Queen Bee’s Art & Cultural Center in North Park.
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Three of the four band members met through School of Rock, the music school in Point Loma, and Denekas brought in her high school classmate Berlin - who at the time owned a guitar, but didn’t know how to play it - to round out the four-piece. They may have a record deal now, but it took work to get there. (While A’Hearn is away at college, 16-year-old Maya Ordas fills in on bass for local shows.) Between making it to homeroom on time and working part-time jobs at places like Hot Topic, each musician’s dedication to the band is impressive. the earliest I’ve ever done met up with a band - but it’s the only time that works for the teenagers’ chaotic schedules.Īside from University of California, Davis freshman A’Hearn, all band members are still in high school. The room is cool but chilly, a mix of the garage’s lack of insulation and the early meeting time. But the room’s centerpiece is a large drum set, with a heaping pile of speakers, amps and guitar cases serving as accent pieces. We sit on mismatched furniture - from a gray IKEA futon to a red retro stool - scattered throughout the space. Oriental rugs cover concrete floors colorful tapestries and concert posters plaster white walls. I meet the band for a photoshoot at its practice space, a garage attached to a La Mesa home where Denekas lives with their parents.