Following up on yesterday’s piece, we’re continuing our post-election series, asking friends, basically, what now—what can we do to promote positive change in the coming days, months, years. Today’s piece is from Paul Singh, Principal at the bi-coastal creative collective Pel, of which we are part.

I am not a politician or political commentator. I am not an expert on these matters. I am not even a writer.

I am an American who cares deeply for his country and tries his best to pay attention and contribute to the political process.

As someone who believes strongly in progressive policies, this election has left me reeling and I realize that I must come to terms, not just with Trump’s win, but with my own failure to do enough to prevent him from reaching the Presidency.

These are the ten main lessons that I am taking away from this election.

There is no bubble.

I live in New York City and on a daily basis I interact with people of dozens of different ethnic backgrounds, religions and native languages. I interact with immigrants, children of immigrants and red-blooded Americans whose ancestors came here hundreds of years ago. I interact with straight people, gay people and transgendered people. I interact with poor people, rich people and what’s left of the middle class. I interact with tourists from Europe, Asia and everywhere else.

We are all Americans and no one’s experience is more legitimate than another’s. Urban areas are no more a bubble than anywhere else.

Democratic politicians need to speak to rural voters.

Rural America has been decimated over the last several decades and we need to elect candidates who can speak to these voters. Progressive policies would significantly benefit the people in these areas and, in large measure, Republican policies are creating the hardships they face. Our candidates need to communicate this better.

…but not at the expense of minorities, women and LGBT communities.

There is clearly a disconnect between the social outlook of the Left and the Right. In an effort to reach more voters and accomplish the above, we must not sacrifice our policies of inclusion towards all Americans. We have no need for more Blue Dogs.

Don’t blame the poor.

Trump won because of rural America. But it wasn’t poor rural America. Exit polls show that Trump won the majority of voters who earn over $50k per year and Clinton won those who make less. Trump won the Republican base just like any Republican candidate before him. That’s it.

We didn’t vote.

So if there was no Trump surge? Why did Clinton lose?

Democrats lost because we didn’t show up to vote. That’s the ultimate takeaway.

If this is because Bernie supporters didn’t want to vote for Hillary, then shame on them. The strength of the Republicans is that ultimately they tend to come together — even when the candidate is overtly racist, misogynistic and xenophobic.

We must find ways to energize and select the most progressive candidates during the primary. And then we must get excited and fight for the candidate we select because the alternative is much worse.

Electoral college has to go.

Of course, Hillary Clinton did win.

When all the votes are in, Clinton will win the popular vote by approximately 2 million votes. More Americans want her to be President but because of the archaic Electoral College, which disproportionately rewards smaller states, Trump will be President. With over 120 million votes cast in this election, if less than 54,000 voters in 3 states had voted for Hillary instead of Trump, she would be our President.

The last two Republican Presidents lost the popular vote and will have come into power despite the fact that fewer Americans voted for them than the Democratic candidate (George W. Bush won the popular vote only in his second term).

If all Americans are equal, then there is little justification for the electoral college. Amending the Constitution is a daunting task that will likely never happen because it would require the vote of smaller states and they will not want to lose power. But there is an alternative approach called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and it’s gaining momentum. Essentially, if enough states pledge to give all their electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote (rather than the winner of their state) then the Electoral College is effectively abolished. Currently, states representing 165 EC votes (out of the necessary 270) have already made this pledge and bills are currently being debated in Michigan and Pennsylvania. I need to research and support this initiative more and would encourage you to do the same.

Supreme Court is not doomed. But it’s up to us.

One of the scariest aspects of a Trump Presidency is the potential impact on the Supreme Court which could last for decades. Because of Republican recalcitrance and their refusal to vote for Obama’s choice, Merrick Garland, Trump will fill the current vacancy. Since the appointee will replace Antonin Scalia, who was a stalwart conservative, the new Justice won’t shift the balance of the Court.

If there are no further vacancies in the next two years, Democrats will have an opportunity to once again take back the Senate, and possibly even the House of Representatives (if we are smart about redistricting), thereby assuming the Congressional power needed to block any new Trump appointments. This only happens if we come out and vote in the 2018 mid-term elections.

We must root for Trump. But must not forgive.

We have to do all we can to help President Trump succeed. As one person put it, the opposite would be to wish that a pilot you dislike fails when you are on the plane. That doesn’t mean we have to accept and normalize the hateful manner of his campaign. We have to hold him accountable (as well as the politicians who supported him). We must be the resistance.

Silver lining? Infrastructure.

Infrastructure improvement was one of the only substantive agendas Trump mentioned in his victory speech. Progressives have pushed for more investment here for decades but the GOP has allowed little progress. Obama has had some success but not nearly enough. Perhaps with a Republican President, Congress will now allow these bills to pass, which will ultimately benefit the country and the economy, while creating new jobs.

Silver lining? Obamacare.

The Affordable Care Act was a monumental first step in the fight for universal health care but it does suffer from many issues. Trump has started walking back promises to gut the act completely and has mentioned he wants to keep provisions which require insurance companies to offer coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions and allow young Americans to stay on their parents’ policies until they reach 25 years of age. In order to guarantee coverage for pre-existing conditions, providers need to bring healthy members into the plan, which is currently accomplished by mandating that everyone purchase insurance. Otherwise the system would require huge premium increases or risk insolvency.

Maybe the GOP will see an opportunity here to make some necessary modifications while keeping the basic system in place. They can then claim victory and the “new” plan as their own. A loss perhaps for Obama’s legacy but ultimately beneficial for us all.

More likely, I’m being rather naive and the GOP will use the opportunity to privatize and destroy Medicare.

Organize. Make a plan!

We must channel the anger and frustration we feel now into sustained action. It’s not enough to make some donations and post in the Facebook echo-chamber (I’m guilty on all counts). We must make a plan on how we will contribute in the long-term.

Personally, I’m starting by organizing seasonal fundraisers, looking for volunteer opportunities with some key organizations and researching how to get involved with the effort to eliminate the Electoral College via the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact mentioned above. It’s not enough, but it’s a start.

Some organizations I recommend include ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, Planned Parenthood, Everytown for Gun Safety, Muslim Community Network and The Sikh Coalition.

So now what?

Americans (and the rest of the world) have had nearly six days to process what is, for many of us, a shocking, frightening result in the election for the highest office in the land. One can make the argument that we shouldn’t have been shocked at the result, that this shock is just further evident of the massive disconnect between those of us who live in urban centers and those who don’t—which I largely agree with. But, reasonless or not, many of us have nonetheless essentially been moving through the various stages of grief since Tuesday night.

There seem to be myriad reasons that things went the way they did, but beyond email servers, or low voter turnout, or outright fear of the other in all its various forms of phobias + isms, I see a great fatigue in the American public—we as Americans are tired of, exhausted by, and done with politics as usual and politicians as usual.

In the long-term, I hope that ends up being a good thing; that we have candidates on all sides that more truly represent their constituents and that we start to shed this falseness, this dishonesty that’s so prevalent in politics today. It may be naive to say out loud (and sounds it as I do now), but that’s my hope in the long-term.

Regardless though, in the short-term, in the here and now, it means we’ve elected someone into the presidency who is, at worst, a racist, xenophobic, woman-hating man who willfully spreads fear-mongering and hate, urging our general population to do the same; and at best is simply a power-hungry, highly egotistical individual primarily concerned with everyone seeing him as the most powerful man in the world…which he now is.

So my main concern circles back to—now what?

In all my thinking about this late at night and talking with friends as we all essentially turn every possible real-world meeting into a massive group therapy session, I keep coming back to two things that loom large for me as action items in the (let’s hope) four years ahead. And, it should be very keenly noted that I am by absolutely no means an expert in any of this, merely one of many people who is navigating relatively unchartered, extremely rough, gigantic-murder-shark-infested waters.

First, I think we have to stop with the finger-pointing and name-calling and, just in general, the real-world and computerized screaming at each other. Yes, I’m fucking mad, but calling some dude I went to high school with who didn’t vote how I did a racist bigot and asking him to unfriend me on Facebook or wherever doesn’t do anything constructive other than allow me to vent, which is what I have real-world friends for. And maybe he’s not a racist bigot—I don’t know, I haven’t seen the guy since we all thought acid wash jeans were cool (the first time). Maybe he’s just tired of not seeing his every day reflected and acknowledged anywhere else, Washington especially. But the point is, I don’t know, because on the macro level we just don’t talk to each other any more, we instead try to get the last word in on gigantic, time-consuming back-and-forth social media rants and feel like we’re the ones in the right. And that greater ill is seen mirrored back at us at all levels of representation too. Senators in Washington used to spend their entire day fighting tooth-and-nail against each other on issues and then those same people would go get a drink together afterwards and shoot the shit. That doesn’t happen any more. We’re programming ourselves to hate the other; hate and fear any ideas or opinions that aren’t our own, and I think that’s toxic. We’re poisoning ourselves. And we’re also insulating ourselves, less geographically, more with the opinions we come into contact with on a daily basis; with the news agencies we choose to play audience to and our social media habits, building up these yes-networks where all we hear is what we already think and we’re constantly reassured that, yes, we are right and they are wrong. I think every single one of us, myself very much included, needs to work to change that; needs to work to talk with everyone, because there are clearly a lot of people with a lot of opinions in this fine country and it’s dangerous to write everyone else off as racist or woman-hating or un-American or elitist and not listen.

Then, second, I fear that there are many worthy causes and movements and issues that are going to need us to fight for them in the coming years. If this administration does half of what it promised in its campaigning, many of what I consider friendly causes and their recipients are in very real danger. For us and a lot of people we’ve been talking with over the past days, that means donating to the causes we both believe in strongly and believe will be endangered by this seismic cultural shift. We’ve also reached out to some to offer design services and are working now to figure out other ways we can volunteer. But we need to support our local leaders who we do believe in too because A) we’re all on fixed budgets of money and available time, and B) that’s exactly what they’re there for, to represent us and fight for what we, their constituency, believes in. I for one am super-excited that we elected Kamala Harris to Senate last week—she’s exactly who we need right now.

We’re not even six days in, and, technically, the guy’s not even President until January 20th of next year. All that to say, we don’t exactly what’s down the road. I get how it’s easy to slip into a feeling of despair and powerlessness. I also get that we’re all at different stages as we work through all this. I personally tend to be a short griever; I’m ready to get some shit done and am doing my best to channel my anger and anxiety into constructive action that will have positive results in my community. I’m ready to fight. And I don’t think I’m alone.

In that spirit, I’ve asked a number of friends and acquaintances—people whose opinions I respect—to share what they’re doing post-election and how, in their view, they can positively affect change in the near- and long-term in light of last week’s results. I hope to share those thoughts in the coming days and weeks in an effort to both inspire action in others and allow us all to process and open up discussion beyond the social media shouting.

Let’s do this, America.

Print by Nikki McClure.

When I was a kid in the 90s, our high school introduced us all to the semi-educational, oft-laughable television programming of then fledgling Channel 1. One such laughable segment was on the “new” musical trend of something called techno music and included the reporter (who may or may not have been Lisa Ling, if recall correctly) deconstructing the music, its performers, and events called “raves.”

Happily, much of electronic music has evolved past that phase, integrating with analog sounds and incorporating what draws many of us to other pop music, namely melodies, musical hooks, humanistic vocals, and far more depth in song-writing. One band that’s doing all of that superbly of late is Maryland-based trio Prinze George, who’ve just released their debut full-length and a short lister for our top albums of the year, Illiterate Synth Pop.

We took a few minutes to talk with the band’s singer Naomi Almquist (right) and producer/instrumentalist Kenny Grimm (middle) as they wind down their national tour and prep to play a sold-out show at Los Angeles’ storied Troubadour tonight.

raven + crow: Alright, let’s start at the beginning—who makes up the band?

Naomi Almquist: Prinze George is Kenny Grimm, Isabelle De Leon, and me.

I’m originally from Virginia and lived in DC for a while, so I get the name, but what made you want to name the band after PG County?

Naomi: Kenny and I grew up together in PG County. It’s where the project was conceived and it’s also where the three of us met.

Makes sense. You all have always had a sound that I thought showed depth and maturity beyond your years and I feel like that’s illustrated even more strongly on the new album. Was that a big step for you all in terms of evolution, both personally as a band and in terms of the music you were producing before Illiterate Synth Pop?

Naomi: Thank you. I have always felt older than my age, even if I don’t always act in a way that reflects that. My lyrical writing was definitely less cryptic on this record; I opened up about a lot of my own past/present experiences/relationships in a way that I never had before in previous releases. Sonically, we were trying to go for more of a live feel anyway, especially with the combination of acoustic/electronic drums for the first time. We were also really wanting to incorporate Isabelle’s drum ideas more. I guess what was happening sonically from an evolutionary standpoint was happening simultaneously with the lyrical writing, and I think that everyone involved in the making of this record was trying to honor the rawness/freshman nature of it too; which affected the music even further.

Where does the album title come from?

Naomi: The album title actually came from one of the earliest blog reviews for “Victor.” It was a smaller blog that had reposted the song with the tagline “Illiterate Synthpop”. We assumed it was a dig at the way we spell our name and we loved it. I knew immediately it would make a great first album name, and we didn’t come up with anything better after we made the thing, so there you go.

Nice. I feel like I hear a pretty wide range of influences in your music, from dance to electronic pop bands to more analogue ones—who are some bands or musicians who are doing things you really admire or are impressed by these days, whether you feel like they direction inform your sound or not?

Kenny Grimm: Naomi and I are extremely obsessed with The National. There is something about their sound both lyrically and musically that is so honest. I read an interview talking about how they hit a point where they stopped emulating bands that they wanted to sound like or be like and just embraced their own sound. I think it’s very difficult these days not to compare yourself to other artists and criticize the things that you do not bring to the table. As a producer especially you are constantly analyzing other people’s music. You spend your time wondering how they created that synth patch, or got that great vocal reverb. While making this first album we spent a lot of time perfecting the songs and the sound but at the end of the day really tried to go with our gut and just be honest with how we were feeling and tell our story the way we tell it. The National helped us to embrace that.

Man, yeah, we’ve long loved The National. I’m sure the guys would be pleased to hear they inspired you in that way. Ya’lll are just wrapping up a tour supporting Lewis Del Mar, right? How’s that been going?

Naomi: It’s been awesome! They are really great guys and we have been having a blast; it’s gone by super-fast. It’ll be weird not ending the night listening to their set, it’s good shit and they are really fun live. It’s been an awesome experience.

Are you all excited to get home or more forlorn to have the tour draw to a close…or both?

Naomi: Well, our bodies are pretty tired at this point, but our spirits are inspired. We are all sick right now from these crazy climate changes we’ve been dealing with every day for the past couple months. It will be nice to be home for Thanksgiving and sleep in our cozy beds…but we typically prefer to be on the road.

I’m sure. We first heard you all back in the summer of 2014, when MS MR included your song “This Time” on their regular Track Addict mixtape. Was that a big break for ya’ll and any idea where they heard you first?

Naomi: That was really awesome of them. They put us on early and got in touch with us to let us know about it and to keep encouraging us to continue making music. It was so sweet. I’m sure that they helped bring awareness to what we were doing early on, but they are also very plugged into the New York-electronic-music scene, so I think that Hype Machine/NYC were probably where they heard us first.

I think that track’s the only older one that makes an appearance on the new album—did you all just feel the desire to re-introduce it to the world in a way?

Naomi: Actually, “This Time” and “Make Me” are both older releases that we re-released on the album. They were included on the record because we and everyone on our team agreed that they were strong enough to make the cut. I actually don’t love “This Time”, but I was outvoted and understand that it is a good dance track. I’m glad it makes some people happy.

Definitely does me. What are some post-album-release, post-tour hopes/dreams/fears/desires/plans for world domination?

Naomi: I don’t feel the need to dominate, personally. I just want us to be writing/touring full time and keep making music that reflects who we are and what we have learned so far. I am really into movies and theater, so my dream is getting to hear our music be a part of the soundtrack to a movie I love, or featured in a kickass play.

I love that aspiration. Switching tracks, are ya’ll political at all? Worried/excited about next week’s election?

Naomi: If by political you mean do we read the news and do we vote…then the answer is fuck yes. We’re from PG County and politics is part of the environment we’ve grown up in; a lot of our best friends work in government and/or education. My dad worked for the government my whole life. This is my second election. I voted for Obama when I was 18 and was in Grant Park in Chicago the night he was elected. I voted for Hillary in the primaries and we are all voting for Hillary in the general election from the road tomorrow. Got the absentee ballots on lock. We are hopeful but aware of Trump’s appeal to certain voters, so of course were worried.

Likewise. Worried but hopeful. Well enjoy these last few shows and thank you so much for taking the time to talk.

Prinze George is playing the sold-out Troubadour tonight before moving on to Santa Ana + San Diego and then heading home. Catch ’em if you can and give their excellent Illiterate Synth Pop a listen.

On top of this confounding, bizarre national election season, Californians have a deep, somewhat confusing pool of state and local ballot measures on which to vote this year. We reached out to friends for a little guidance through the murky flood of information, and they answered. Damian Carroll is 1st Vice Chair of the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley and a self-described a progressive activist and proposition nerd who helps us all keep a cool head as election day approaches with his proposition haikus, yoga poses, and zen mentality, to which we lent a little graphic rendering.

Is that 224-page voter guide sitting in your mail pile stressing you out? We all want to do our civic duty, but researching and deciding how to vote on this year’s 17 state propositions (and added local ballot measures!) is making us clench up in anticipation.

It doesn’t have to be so. Here are some easy resources and practices you can use to get up-to-speed on the state props without raising your blood pressure.

HAIKU the PROPS
Start by getting acquainted with each of the seventeen propositions, summarized below in just seventeen syllables.

YOGA the PROPS
Got the basics? Great! Now use these classic yoga poses to quickly get up to speed on how to vote, without losing your chi.

Downward Facing Dog: Stretch out in front of ballotpedia.org and look down, down, down, at the bottom of each proposition page, at the list of supporters and opponents. As you open up your hips and ribs you’ll also open your eyes to how leaders and organizations you trust are voting on the issues.

Upward Facing Dog: Gracefully curve your torso upward as you glance at the top of the ballot descriptions for short summaries of what a “yes” or “no” vote means. Some propositions are written confusingly, where a “yes” can mean “no” or vice versa. Particularly on referendums that seek to overturn existing legislation (like this year’s Prop 67), make sure your vote will accomplish what you think it will.

Warrior Pose: Don’t be a pushover! Many propositions are placed on the ballot by special interest groups who want to sidestep the state legislature. If you’re not convinced this issue needs to be addressed through direct democracy, it’s better to stand your ground, vote “no,” and let our elected representatives do their jobs.

Mountain Pose: Stand tall, breathe easy, and assess the landscape of newspaper editorials around you, from the San Francisco Chronicle to the San Diego Union Tribune. Editorials can often provide crucial context, insider information and background that doesn’t make it into the ballot guide.

Bridge Pose: As your shoulders and feet support your torso, consider what funding sources are supporting each proposition. For example, Prop 65 is largely supported by the plastic bag industry, while the prison guard union is funding Prop 66. Ballotpedia lists the industries and organizations spending their money to influence your vote.

ZEN the PROPS
After you’ve done your research, fix a cup of hot tea, find a comfortable chair, and mark up your sample ballot. You can relax in the knowledge that you don’t have to know every last detail to be a responsible voter. These issues are complicated, and the onus is on backers of each proposition to convince you their approach is the best one. There’s no penalty for voting no, or even leaving an issue blank if you’re unconvinced. Don’t let the complexity of the propositions intimidate you from adding your voice to our democracy. Bubble in your ballot, mail it in (or make a plan to cast it on Election Day), then go get a foot massage. You’ve earned it.

Our monthly mixtape this October is an eclectic accumulation of new sounds that’s largely more restrained and introspective than usual; we blame autumn finally arriving in Los Angeles.

We’ve got a brand new track from favorite Mr Little Jeans (you can read our 2014 interview with her and/or check out our Mr Little Jeans-inspired new year’s/holiday card [we’re fans]); a catchy number from Brooklyn’s Acrylics; new new wave post-punk from Amsterdam’s Klangstof; upbeat indie pop from LA’s Ghost Lion; a beautifully subtle electronic track from Australia’s Woodes; a song from Louisiana weird-core artist froyo ma featuring Nick Hakim; power pop from Minnesota’s Hippo Campus; some good vibez from the new Lykke Li–Miike Snow–Peter Bjorn + John Swedish super-group Liv (described as Li as “the love child of ABBA and Fleetwood Mac”); a dance-y number from London’s Annabel Jones;  some shoe-gaze-y pop from Philly’s small circle; beautiful strangeness from Cuddle Magic; breezy, driving pop from Little Children—AKA, Stockholm-based producer Linus Lutti; real talk from Swet Shop Boys—Heems formerly of Das Racist + Riz MC, AKA the dude from HBO’s The Night Of (which you should totally watch if you haven’t already); and a soaring, broad-scope symphonic piece from Montreal’s Plants and Animals.

Enjoy!

Last year, we were turned onto + wrote up WOMAN PRODUCER—NYC duo The Blow‘s “exploration of women as creators of sonic worlds.”

Now, The Blow’s Khaela Maricich + Melissa Dyne have gone from URL to IRL with a series of WOMAN PRODUCER live events, the last of which is being held tonight at National Sawdust in Brooklyn. Previous events have combined conversation and performance with an impressive lineup of artists and tonight’s event serves as an appropriately star-studded wrap panel conversation on music production with Neko Case, Suzi Analogue, Zola Jesus, and Miho Hatori.

As they put it:
“The data on female performers who are the authors of their own sound is often skewed by imagery and information about these artists as characters as opposed to creators. This panel provides a platform for conversation about the process of creating the sonic spaces inside of which artists perform.”

Khaela + Melissa will be moderating the panel and, at the time of writing, tickets are still available online (they plan to have some general admission tickets available at the door as well).

The Blow premiered a new song last week too (below) and MTV just premiered an interview they did with Khaela + Melissa on the WOMAN PRODUCER project that you can also check out below.

We recently reached out to Khaela about the series and she’s assured us that there will be more events to come—in NYC and in other cities—so stay tuned.

Last week, we were driving around Los Angeles with a friend of ours in from New York when, suddenly, on the northbound 110, we all realized we were listening to a song about Donald Trump.

The song—being played on KCRW—was Death Cab for Cutie’s new track “Million Dollar Loan” and it kicked off the new project 30 Songs, 30 Days—”an independent website that will release one song per day from October 10 until Election Day” from “artists for a Trump-free America.” It’s the brainchild of Dave Eggers and McSweey’s + co., the creators of 90 Days, 90 Reasons, “which sought to motivate voters to give President Obama a second term.”

From the 30 Songs site:

SEAN HANNITY is mid-interview with presidential hopeful, DONALD J. TRUMP on FOX News.

SEAN HANNITY: Now Donald, have you heard the new song written about you by the indie rock band, Death Cab For Cutie?

DONALD TRUMP: I haven’t but I hear it’s terrible. Just a terrible, terrible song. Nobody I know has ever heard of these guys because they have no talent. Absolutely no talent. Small potatoes if you ask me. And that band name? What a bunch of losers. Bad!

SH: The singer sounds like a lady but he’s actually a 40 year old man!

DT: Well like I said I haven’t heard it but you know, it’s terrible. Everyone is saying this.

As of writing, 30 Songs is on song number nine and includes new originals from Aimee Mann, Jim James, Thao, Franz Ferdinand‘s “Demagogue” with an accompanying Shepard Fairey print, and—released yesterday—an EL VY song that’s paired with a Richard Walrus video game.

You can listen to a few of our favorites below and keep up with the full list and day-to-day new releases at 30 Songs’ site.

Current studio vibes courtesy of Lizzo’s new Coconut Oil EP, out now.

We included the stupendous Minneapolis-based hip hop queen Lizzo—AKA Melissa Jefferson—on our March mixtape this year, which, according to our self-imposed rules on these mixes, means we can’t include work by her for another year. But, as we put the finishing touches on this month’s mix, we feel we have to call her new EP out; it’s simply too good not to feature.

You can stream the whole thing below via her YouTube page and get it via all the other usual suspects via Lizzo’s site.

For the record, our full list of mixtape rules is as follows:
1. No artist repeat for one year;
2. No covers;
3. No remixes;
4. No instrumentals;
5. No shirts, no shoes, no service.

Photo: Jabari Jacobs

Los Angeles has a longstanding, well-documented love of fast food. It’s waxed + waned over the years, embattled by every possible health food trend from gluten-free to all things kale. Today, though, fast food and more indulgent eats seem to be enjoying a pleasant and peaceful coexistence with more health-centric foods as the city’s eaters and culinary taste-makers embrace a love of diversity in menus and a more popular focus on fresh produce across the board.

Two current stars in LA’s nouveau fast food scene are brothers Frederick and Maximilian Guerrero—sons of chef Andre Guerrero of Oinkster fame and owners along with close friend Kevin Hockin of their own venture, Chinatown’s Burgerlords, a quick-serve burger joint that focuses on simplicity and quality with their food. We wrote Burgerlords up last fall because we were so excited to hear that they featured vegan burgers on their menu and they quickly became our favorite vegan burgers in town.

Now, about a year in, the Guerrero brothers and Hockin have announced new, monthly collaborations with local chefs (also vegan-friendly), and we took the announcement as an excuse to reach out and talk with Frederick Guerrero (pictured right, jamming) to find out more about the collaborations and the origins of Burgerlords in general.

raven + crow: So, thanks for taking the time to talk—I know you guys are beyond busy right now. Sooooooo, you guys like burgers. A lot. What’s the story, first, behind the overall obsession, then behind the Tumblr account and restaurant predecessor?

Frederick Guerrero: Hmmm….where to start? Well, my family owns a few restaurants, which includes The Oinkster. My brother Max and I helped open that and worked there up until 2013. We were always brainstorming different ideas, and he came up with the name “Burgerlords” during one of our meetings. We never really knew what to do with it, so it was just this idea we had on the back burner. While we were doing research for the second The Oinkster location, I was cataloguing tons of burger inspiration photos that I would gather online. One day I just decided to make a Tumblr called “Burgerlords” to host a bunch of it and then integrate our own content into it. Tumblr really loved it, so they promoted it all over the site and the audience grew to 200K followers.

When we left the restaurant, no one really knew what to do with it, so we decided to just turn it into the burger restaurant we always wanted to make. We thought it was funny to name such a simple restaurant after a site known for posting the most over the top burgers.

Yeah, some of those burger pics over the years were…intimidating, is the word, I think? So, alright, question for you then—NYC’s got pizza; Chicago, dogs; do you think burgers are LA’s thing? Or is it just one of many?

I think burgers and fast food are definitely LA’s thing. We grew up here and it’s such a huge part of the culture. I’m not sure how many people are familiar with the story, but fast food was invented here with restaurants like In-N-Out, McDonalds, etc… The unofficial In-N-Out biography tells a really great history about not only their origins, but fast food as well.

Yeah, no, that makes sense, especially paired with the emphasis on cars + driving here—it’s just logical, to an extent, that fast, convenient food would evolve alongside LA’s commuter culture.

Was there a specific desire to strip things down with the concept of Burgerlords (the restaurant)? You guys really seem to focus on the essentials and work to get those right, low to no frills—was that a reaction to the preciousness or over-complication the food world sometimes presents?

Definitely yes to all of that. We really wanted it to be simple and straightforward. Nowadays it seems like people are so focused on one-upping each other, that they lose sight of their original vision. We would much rather develop as we go rather than to start out big and have to scale back because of operational issues. We really learned that firsthand working in our family’s restaurants. Also, by having such a small operation, it gives room to do more collaborative projects like “Burger Merger.”

Nice segue—tell us about that. Where did the idea for the Burger Merger come from?

It’s a new monthly chef residency we’ve started. Each month we’re partnering with a new chef to come up with a special regular burger and vegan burger. We’re calling it a residency because it’ll only be served on Mondays. Our restaurant is 235 square ft, so it would be impossible for us to add anything else to the menu and serve it all month long.

You’ve got vegan options with that too, right?

Yup, part of the requirement is to have a vegan option.

I feel like you all benefitted from a decent amount of pre-opening buzz and you both come from a pretty significant LA restaurant lineage, so it strikes me that you could totally have gotten away with having a meat-only burger joint—where did the desire to accommodate vegans come from?

My brother and I are actually both vegetarian and have been since we were kids. When we were venturing off to do our own restaurant, we were leaning more towards a vegan burger concept. Having it be our first restaurant independent of our family, we were a bit nervous to start with an untested concept, so we decided to just stick with what we knew. Knowing what we know now, we probably could have done it, but we’re really happy with the way it turned out. We have something for everyone and no one is excluded or needs to feel weird about their dietary choices!

Nice. I feel like a lot of places that do accommodate vegan diets seemingly do so with the approach that it just needs to be ‘good enough for vegans,’ like that audience has a lower bar when it comes to taste level or is more accepting of sub-par food in favor of ethics and/or health benefits. It seems to me you guys didn’t settle for that mentality though.

It’s important to us that everything we serve in our restaurants is at a consistent quality level. It’s frustrating to go out to an amazing dinner, and then end it with a crappy espresso. That still happens so much, and it’s like “why not just put the same thoughtfulness into everything?” You are doing the same amount of work to make something bad as you are to make it good. It’s just changing your conciousness and approach. I think in the past chefs did have a mentality of just putting something together that would pass as “good enough for a vegan,” but I think we can really see that changing. Good food is good food, it really doesn’t matter if it’s vegan or not.

How did you come up with the recipe for the vegan burger patty—was it a long, pain-staking process for you all?

It was definitely a painstaking process. We came up with a good base recipe and then just continued to tweak it to taste. Now that it is catching on, we are still making adjustments to do them in larger batches and keep it consistent.

You recently started doing a vegan take on ‘beast fries’ too, right, “Lord of the Fries”—fries, covered with vegan cheese and grilled onions and Thousand Island?

Yeah, we had all the ingredients already, so it was just a matter of figuring out how if we could pull it off. Like I said earlier, it is easier to add things on later once you see if you can do it.

I know your kitchen’s small, but any plans for other vegan meals or sides down the road?

As of right now we don’t have any plans to add any other menu items, vegan or not. We just don’t have the space. We’ve talked about adding shakes or soft serve, so if we do that, there will definitely be a vegan option.

Was having the vegan option on the new collaboration a hard sell with your first Burger Merger partners—Otium + Chef Hollingsworth—or were they game out of the gate?

Chef Tim is so easygoing and chill, that it all went down really smoothly. We had met a few months ago through mutual friends and this idea was kinda shaped around us partnering up.

Do you plan to have vegan versions for each of the coming collabs too?

Yup, there will always be a vegan version, if not only a vegan version for some. There are a few vegan chefs on our list.

Oh, hell yeah! That’s awesome. If you end up doing this long-long-term and need any ideas, let us know—we know a lot of vegan and vegan-friendly chefs.

You launched the Merger last Monday night, right? How was that?

The launch went really well. We were a bit nervous because it was the first time running it and we didn’t know what to expect. We had a really great turnout and sold out of burgers by 8:30PM. There was also a cocktail reception at General Lee’s with Otium’s Mixologist, Brian Hollingsworth guest bartending.

Yeah, we saw that—looked awesome; we’ll totally make the next one if you do it again. That reminds me though—I’m sure you likely field this a lot, but why Chinatown? I love the square and the neighborhood in general, but I didn’t really think of it as a burger destination before ya’ll moved in.

Growing up in Northeast L.A., this was always a destination for our family dinners, so a big part of it was nostalgia. There’s a really strong sense of community down here which is getting lost upon other bourgeoning neighborhoods in LA. It’s really great to be a part of that. We also saw a need for a QSR down here. A majority of the restaurants here are sit down.

Well we love having you so close to our studio. So are you able to talk yet about whom you plan to team up with in the coming months or is that top secret shit?

We’re keeping all the future chefs a secret for now. We’ve gotten such positive feedback for the project that there are a lot of chefs who are game to partner up. This is a really exciting project for us, so we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeve. There will be some big names people definitely wouldn’t expect. Best way to stay up to date is through our instagram @burgerlords. We’ll be announcing the next one real soon!

Awesome, man—we’ll be on the lookout for that.

Burgerlords is located at 943 N Broadway in historic Chinatown and is open seven days a week (11AM-9PM Sun-Th; 11AM-10PM Fri + Sat); Burger Merger collaborations are available Mondays only, and last one month until moving on to a new collaboration with a new chef/restaurant, so get em while you can.

Pictured, said Lord of the Fries and the vegan option for the October Burger Merger—the most excellent Burgerlords vegan patty with shaved carrots, carrot top pipian, avocado spread, and habanero pickled onions, around for the rest of today and only two more Mondays after that.