Finally Home
Challenging the Status Quo
Written and Photographed by Rick Perez
Artist and musician Omar Sandlin talks about his punk band Who Cares, how young people are lost, and finally finding his community in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles, USA
On a warm, sunny day in the San Fernando Valley, Omar Sandlin and I walked through a wooded area to a secret shoot location not to far from his house. As frontman of the punk band Who Cares, being polictically active on social media, and part of the art collective Other People’s Children, I was interested to know his story.
Every artist who comes to Los Angeles has a narrative of why they moved here. As Omar and I walked through open fields and trees, I asked him about his life before L.A. “My story is that I’m a hungry fuckin’ dude on a mission to restore to the true ethos of punk rock and address social bullshit going on right now.,” Omar says confidently. “I was born in Ohio and moved around to Florida and back a couple times before moving to North Carolina for high school. That was the last placed I lived before I moved to LA.”
Having grown up in California, I asked him what it was like growing up in those places. “All of the places I’ve lived In before Los Angeles have been otherworldly in comparison. Small, small towns filled with even smaller people. Small minds, thick necks, thick heads in general,” he laughs. “I had a hard time growing up, being different from everyone else and being basically ridiculed for every aspect of my being because I’m not a fuckin’ redneck. Ohio has a good skate scene that was cool growing up, but I’ve been held back my whole life as far as my environment. I’m home now, though.”
I understood the feeling of being different growing up. I was a closeted gay teenager with untapped artistic potential in an environment that only valued Christianity and toxic masculinity. It was my desire to feel like I belonged somewhere and that desire took me to big cities like New York and now Los Angeles to pursue art.
What was Omar’s reason to come to Los Angeles? “I came to LA to accomplish the goal, to charge,” he says. “To fight the narrative and continue on a lineage of people and bands I look up to and have influenced me and my whole life. I’m here to challenge the status quo and to challenge the social police, the neo-marxist parasites that have been controlling culture for too long now. Through rock n’ roll, of course. You can only change culture through art. Politics will always be corrupted. The artists are the true thought provocateurs.”
I really resonated with the fact that culture is only changed through art. As artists we are constantly changing and growing and culture is made by us. As we crossed a little stream, I wondered if Omar always thought of himself as an artist. “My history with art and music,” he explains, “I’ve been singing since I could make noise and I’ve been playing the drums since I was about 11 or 12. I played the trumpet in 6th grade hahah. Good to times. I paint, I draw, whatever I can do; expression is great.”
He went on tell me that even though he wishes he moved here sooner, his life before L.A. has taught him so much. “I’ve got a love hate relationship with my path so far. I graduated high school early and I could’ve come to L.A. way sooner in life. I always struggle with that but I’m working with the cards I’m holding. As much grief and ridicule people from my other homes have given me, it’s showed me a real severe side of psychology and sociology. People are harsh. But that’s only because they’re dumb and emotional. I’m no genius, I just try to be better than my shitty human hardwiring.”
The trail opened to a clearing, and at the other end of the clearing stood a gigantic concrete structure. I was hyped at the idea of taking photos, but first I wanted to know how life in Los Angeles has been treating Omar.
“There have been a couple people in and out of the band that put a bad taste in my mouth,” he says honestly, “but there are no shortage of poor quality humans. In L.A., however, there does happen to be a dense population of sick ass cats that I still consider myself fortunate as fuck to have meet and known and worked with etc; this is fertile ground for hungry people with a mission like myself. I wake up every day very thankful. Even in the worst 5:00pm shithouse traffic, I still think back to a time where I would tell myself I would suck 3 horse dicks to be stuck in LA traffic, so I can’t be fucked with, man. I’m in this shit!”
His excitement to be here excited me as well; to be around hungry and excited people was my goal of moving here. To get even deeper, I asked him what sort of things he’s been discovering since being in L.A. “I’ve learned so fuckin much, man,” Omar laughs cooly. “That’s a separate interview but I can tell you it’s cool navigating the industry I work in and navigating the Los Angeles underground. Lots of people I have met know other people and it actually has turned out to be the biggest small town I’ve ever lived in. I guess I’m just actually happy to know these people for once, even the shit heads and social justice police. This place has everything; I’m exposed to all aspects of being a human. I can learn every second if I pay enough attention. I’ve also learned how to play the guitar which has been the most important thing I could’ve done probably ever.”
Standing next to a concrete river, Omar told me about his punk band Who Cares. “The band has a fucked up starting story but it’s one that’s taught us a lot. I started the band with two cats I met at a party. We shared enormous musical differences and even bigger interpersonal ones. And that may as well be the story regarding every other band member that’s been in and out. We’ve had multiple members on all instruments. Until I decided enough was enough and called Elijah (the bassist) after I found his flyer looking for band members at Amoeba Hollywood. We had met up initially before the band really even started but after he and I got dicked around by a few people, we stopped communicating . But I always knew he would be my right hand man the day I met him, we clicked instantly. So Elijah came in towards the end of the era where we let other people ruin our sound. Until I took over on guitar and made it a three piece and played our friend Gonz, (the bassist and vocalist for Haiz) birthday show January 17th was when Who Cares was actually born. I can’t really explain why it wasn’t ever always that way in the first place, except for I’m lazy and don’t learn things in ways a lot of people do. Like wrapping my brain around the guitar only came after being abused as fuck and basically having to do it; cutting the fat and taking total control. So now it’s Elijah and I and Clemente, he also plays drums for a hard ass local band Pull Your Card which I’ve had the shit kicked out of me multiple times to their songs. Great band.”
Taking a drag of his joint, Omar continues.”Now it’s full on, 3 dudes that all share the same ideas and want the same things and we’re all in. And we’re coming for all of you. Especially those easily offended and looking to police others, we looking for you specifically. People need to remember, nothing is stable under heaven. Only the artist can remind them.”
The light was getting good and I wanted to get to shooting, but not before asking him how he was doing in quarantine and his thoughts on everything. “The strain of neo-marxist, social justice warrior, virtue signaling mental illness that’s been gripping the nation and my generation especially,” he says. “People talk about hating Nazis then literally behave exactly like Nazis when you don’t behave the way they want. We’ve been totally pussified, in the words of the great George Carlin. That’s another part of our band, we don’t wanna be political necessarily, but sociopolitical. Young people are lost and more tribal and polarized than ever. It’s the job of the strong willed to lead the way and remind people of our individual freedoms. And to quit the group thinking virtue signaling shit that has dug us deep into the state you find society in today. ‘Cancel culture’, what a joke. These people need help, even more a hug. We’re trying to give you a psychological hug through music.” He adds,”And a slap if the face!”
Rolling up another joint, Omar continues. “This quarantine is the biggest bunch of bullshit ever played and it’s a sorry excuse for empathy. It’s virtue signaling. It’s ‘follow the rules’ it’s the Boy Scouts. I never went to that shit, fuck that shit. People act like it’s because they care for other people and even if they do, their empathy is being taken advantage of to trample on our civil rights. No one cares because they’ve been trained to care more for the pack mentality and keeping people in line with that than true freedom. In other countries, the police lock them in. Here we lock ourselves in in the name of empathy. It’s twisted, it’s dark. I’m fighting it.”
If being quarantined during this pandemic isn’t the answer, I asked him, what is the answer? “My solution is don’t wash your hands after you shit and go outside,” He says unapologetically. “The weak will always be taken by nature. It’s dark but it’s true. My generation tried to create fake safe spaces and things of that to hide from the harsh realities of life. Life is dark. Don’t make it darker by behaving out of fear and ignorance.”
As we headed back toward our cars, I asked Omar what the future has in store for him. “We have illegal as fuck underground generator shows coming, everyone stay tuned!!” He says excitedly. “We have 2 label opportunities that we are swimming around. Trying to figure out the best move. Big things are coming and they’re coming whether people want it or not. There’s no cancelling the truth. “
Although our paths were very different, Omar’s determination to find his place in the world sounds very similar to mine. Growing up, we both felt strange in comparison to our peers and did what we could to find a community we could call our own. It makes me happy knowing that an artist like Omar is finally at a place where he can identify with others and creatively express himself with no ridicule. I’m excited to see how he continues to grow, where his passion would take him, and what kind of change he could make through his art.
