He Watches, He Waits, He Takes: The Making of Fatima Recordz

By  Michellas Baca

Special thanks to Teresa Covarrubias

ART BY DAN SEGURA

Editor’s note: Music is a huge part of our culture and identity as Latinos and, little known to the others is our love for alternative music. We relate to this feeling of being othered and through lyrics, we can escape machismo and really embarrass emotion and experience. Punk created this space for the oppressed to call out the oppressor and didn’t require a big budget to back it. In the late 70s, early 80s punk really started to grow with the Latin community, especially in Los Angeles. However, there was limited space for chicano punks to perform and record their music, so they made it with spaces like The Vex, Starwood and Club 88 but these bands still couldn’t find any major label backing.

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It’s Los Angeles 1978, Tito Larriva has just formed his punk band, The Plugz just shy of first moving to LA some three years ago. Punk bands like The Bags, The Zeros and Black Flag have been making a name for themselves in the punk scene for the past three years, there was no denying the popularity of Chicano Punk in California. Though most of the scene was in West Hollywood, East LA was determined to prove their stake in the game. 

Into the 80s, bands like The Brat and Larriva’s very own, The Plugz dominated this scene and helped to bring places like The Vex to icon status. Yet, they still weren’t able to secure label deals with big companies, so with an investment from his brother Larriva and help from Richard Duardo and Yolanda Ferrer, Fatima Recordz was created.

Duardo was a well-known Chicano artist and master printmaker and Chicano music promoter icon, Yolandda Ferrer, both came on board to really help bring this record label to fruition. Fatima Recordz was a grassroots project, created in the spirit of punk’s DIY (do-it-yourself) nature and brought up by love. This label released The Brat’s debut LP Attitudes and The Plugz second album Better Luck and various singles. They also would go on to produce various Pee-Wee Herman Show and movie soundtracks. 

Fatima Recordz worked to give a voice to the Chicano people. These punk bands often sang about their political unrest with songs like The Brat’s The Wolf and The Plugz American, that paired with their Chicanidad, often make it hard for these bands to get noticed by big labels. Fatima worked hard to give a platform to these bands who didn’t get noticed by these corporate labels and worked to empower minorities. 

Unfortunately, we lost a great piece of Chicano history, shortly after its inspection. However, it still lives on with those who remember it and pay homage to the famous short-live record label, through t-shirts and works of art.