Despite the two biggest figureheads of the mid-’00s Bay Area garage rock revival migrating down to LA, San Francisco is still a hot spot for the scene. Yet this isn’t always apparent—even to remaining figurehead Sonny Smith, who either as a solo artist or with his band of Sunsets has remained nearly as prolific as Ty Segall and John Dwyer over the past ten years or so.
“I was a bit of a shut-in, and I wasn’t paying attention,” Smith explains of his impetus for Rocks in Your Head Records, his new label highlighting local bands, as well as releasing new music from Sonny and the Sunsets. “I made this kind of odyssey for myself, and I realized I was pretty naïve about all the music that was happening here, and how much there is right now, and how good it is.”
On July 19, RIYH will be releasing a compilation album titled Hot Sick Vile & Fun (no need to Google—this is not the title of the Zac Efron Ted Bundy movie) to promote the label, as well as the local underground scene which has survived the “total corporate coup and massive cultural gutting of the city,” as he accurately puts it. Additionally, on July 27, the label will host its first ever Rocks in Your Head Festival, featuring a number of artists from the comp, as well as local artists peddling zines, clothes, comics, and more.
“Actually, at first I wanted a festival in Golden Gate Park that would only be for homeless people or poor people,” Smith continues. “Like, you couldn’t get in to the festival if you made over a certain amount of annual income—trying to sort of reverse what’s going on in San Francisco. But permits and red tape and the financial risk was too high for me. But luckily this Shakespeare company in Berkeley said they were into having a music festival. They just came out of nowhere and said, ‘Let’s make some shit happen.’”
Digital pre-orders for the comp are available here, and tickets for the festival can be purchased here. You can also support Rocks in Your Head by joining the RIYH Society via their Patreon.
