Muslim Delgado
I was born in Upstate NY. I lived there until I was 14. Growing up I heard all kinds of music at a young age. From the music my mom and sisters dad and their friends grew up with to hip hop from my older brother and a college radio station in Oneonta where my sister’s dad was a professor. The first punk bands I heard were on that station. I remember hearing The Clash, Black Flag, Ramones and Dead Kennedys. The Dead Milkman was another favorite. I used to read rock magazines in the store or go to the library to read music books and I would find books on rap and punk and would read with curiosity. When I was 14 I moved to Vancouver, Wa which is across the border from Portland. It was a big culture shock and to top it all off I lost all my stuff due to a friend of my mom’s who decided to steal all of our things. I was a bit miserable there and music was my escape. It was then I started to expand my tastes beyond rap, funk, jazz and classic rock and into more punk things based on some of the people I was hanging out with who were outcasts like me. These were skaters, or aspiring gangbangers. I got into the Circle Jerks, Motorhead and the Butthole Surfers. I met a guy named Mike and he became my best friend and we started a band that went through all of high school. I played guitar and he played drums. We had a bunch of jokey punk songs. We even went on one west coast tour when I was 19. I think we broke up after the tour. I also met someone who turned me on to Bikini Kill which was one of my first shows. When I was 17 my mom got married again and we moved to Portland. I couldn’t stand being at home and so I had some of my first experiences with DIY culture. I hung out at an all age club called The O’Hell – formerly The X Ray. I met a lot of young and older punks passing through and weirdo arty types. I played my first show with my band there and a terrible second show which was hilarious because we had an argument on stage and trashed our stuff. During that time I discovered the Germs GI album and Pat Smear along with the Bad Brains which kinda inspired me to keep wanting to play music, as I was black and latino. Kid Congo was also an influence on me. I kept forming bands with other people I knew over the years and even toured sometimes. Eventually I fell into my on and off again project Meercaz. I just recently dropped my 5th album and 25th release. Hanging around the punk scene led me into diy and garage and helped me find myself. I also loved the idea of creating a musical community of your own or in your own bubble and living art as life.
My first punk show was The Jimmies. But I’d say my real first true deep punk experience was seeing the UK Subs in a warehouse practice space called Suburbia.
Two notable later generation punk bands I was in would be The Observers who I did two EP’s with and The Riffs who I filled in on bass for one US tour. I was supposed to be on their next album but I was kicked out before the west coast dates of the tour. I would get invited to travel with bands on tour and I met my good friend Clay going with his band Clorox Girls to SF and Santa Cruz.
I have released records of my own under label names I’ve created. Recently I started a small label with Clay called Love Anthem records. I put some shows together for my band with bands I liked. I would mix up the bills. Sometimes with good and other times bad results but it was fun. I love The Undertones first album and I once had some terrible dreadlocks to go with my leather jacket.
These days I’m a grocer in Berkeley and live in Emeryville. I missed out on kids and am currently married to my studio and my work.
More info about Muslim can be found here:
Instagram: instagram.com/meercazworldwide and instagram.com/getmuzzled.