Cristy Road
Where you are from/where are you now?
I was born and raised in Miami, FL— I lived all over west Miami between '82 and '99, led to Sarasota for school, found punk communities in Gainesville, Pensacola, The Bay Area, and ended up in Philly, then eventually in NYC, around 2005.
You've been heavily immersed into the Latinx punk scene since the 90's, leading a handful of bands, including your most recent band, Choked Up!. Punk rock has various subgenres. For the record, how would you describe your music to someone who has never heard Choked Up!'s style of punk rock?
I'd say it's what happens to melodic punk rock (like The Ramones) when it's listened to too much Celia Cruz, Yuri, Juan Luis Guerra, and Broadway musicals. I love rock, and pop-punk, and it's easiest to tell people “We're like Green Day” — as they're my favorite, and also very renowned— but I think how deeply influenced I am by stuff like Yuri’s “Que Te Pasa” (that hook is vital)! My bandmates in the past were heavily into emo and metal, as well as Oi and hardcore. I love playing with folks who are into heavier influences because it can deepen my pop music. My mission for Choked Up! was to take on more opportunities, write more slow jams and power-pop songs, write more songs en Español, but maintain the tool that music has always been for me—a place to process love, sex, destruction, trauma, healing, and the complex topics that I tackle in my art, but even more personally and abstract (as lyrics tend to be).
How do your music and your Cuban roots connect?
What appealed to me about punk beyond its sound, but its intent to heal the soul and exist whether or not its funded— was a foundation of art and music in Cuba that wasn't so popular in America. Even as members of el exilio, my family held those customs that revolved around the beauty of art and music; despite whatever chaos or instability the government is instilling. The older I get the more I want to experiment stylistically with more instruments that are not traditional to rock. I think that stripped-down acoustic versions of my songs echo a lot of the guitar ballads I loved as a kid like 'Caballo Viejo' by Simon Diaz. I can't even say how many of my bridge / breakdowns remind me of Isabel Pantojas Chorus: “Yo Quiero confesar que estoy enamorada”.
What's the best feedback you've heard in response to your CHOKED UP! project?
“you're not pop-punk! all of your songs sound different.” — Rop Vazquez (Bass player for the Peechees, Rice)
Your visual artwork displays another intriguing facet to your personality. There are references to your Cuban heritage, your family ties, your 'growing pains', your spirituality, & your adventures in the punk scene. Did you grow up in a creative/artistic family environment? Were you supported in your creative explorations?
Yes, in both positive and difficult ways. My tia Ileana who had an amazing record collection full of Latin classics, but also American singer-songwriter stuff like Helen Reddy and Jane Oliver. I credit her for inspiring me to obsess over the weird art of record collecting that has kind of excluded women. My mom and tias all supported me and my sister’s creative interests. The difficult aspect to this was that my father — who left us when I was 3— was this amazing painter. I have so many vivid, beautiful memories of his work despite how upsetting it was to not have him in my life growing up. I can't say how this affected the rest of my family, but I definitely blame something energetic beyond genes - as If visual art was a tradition meant to follow even though music always felt way more exciting. I was never in an art scene, always in a music scene making art within it— and I was mesmerized by “Rock n Roll” as this distant abstract concept that existed in the world but hadn't yet been practiced by anyone in my lineage.
Your style seems very raw, bumpy, gritty, emotional...how did this style manifest? How did you settle on your current style?
I think it's a mix of what I found visually interesting in the art I loved (punk art, Coop, Ren & Stimpy, Frida Kahlo, Kathe Kollwitz, Archibald Motley, Hieronymus Bosch) — although I overall always preferred creating bold, outlined cartoons— like pop-art and Lichtenstein. I admired all kinds of stuff— soft outlines, abstract shapes— but I wanted to create a mix of the stuff that touched my soul. And there was something about that bold outlined imagery that says a story on its own— of its stress and dire need to get a message out.
What advice would you give to a young person from the diaspora who wants to do what you do?
I say to really let go without expectation or goals. And then latch on to the practice that gives you literal joy. Not just joy because it might make you rich, but joy because it fills your soul with purpose. Then, investigate that. Find out if it's something you want to market or something you want to keep to your community. Grow organically. If you're interested in merging creativity with stability, see how your gift can exist in marketable or profitable spaces. I chose teaching and freelance illustration because it merged all of my gifts. Eventually I released the Next World Tarot, which is the first publication I have made that’s impacted thousands of communities all over the world. But I made it for my community— so we can have an oracle, so we can heal. I did not expect that (success)! And that success feels the safest to me, because the people made it happen. I just followed my soul and my purpose instead of a specific outcome.
