After a seven-month hiatus from performing live, D.C. punk band Des Demonas are finally coming back to the stage with a multitude of previously unreleased songs that they’re currently mastering for an upcoming album release. They play the Runaway on March 21.
“This show is just a warm-up for what we’ve got planned for the rest of the year,” guitarist Mark Cisneros tells City Paper. “We’re coming out of this hiatus with a new record and a new focus.”
As discussed in a 2022 interview with City Paper, Des Demonas started out as a supergroup of experienced local musicians nearly a decade ago and have become a staple of the District’s punk scene. Since they began performing back in 2015, the band have released two major projects: Their 2017 self-titled debut and their 2021 EP, Cure for Love. “We were just a group of friends that got together to make music when we first started playing,” Cisneros says. “Now it has ended up being a vehicle to voice our thoughts on things that are important to us.”
The band’s brand of punk incorporates garage rock and instruments such as Farfisa organ, but their lyrics and the topics they sing about are the epitome of punk. According to Cisneros, that same indescribable sound will return on their upcoming album. “All of that is still in there,” he says. “I feel like it’s more focused now—and it’s sharper.” Earlier songs such as “The South Will Never Rise Again” showed the band’s interest in tackling the very real concerns of racism and police violence, and that tradition continues with new songs “The Duke Ellington Bridge” and “Miles Davis Headwound Blues.”
Cisneros says the lyrics written by lead singer Jacky Cougar Abok are one of the best and most important aspects of the album. He describes Abok’s lyrics as a weapon used to carve multiple meanings and interpretations into the songs. People can expect tracks to be both subtle and hilariously blunt while discussing serious topics. “Jacky has found a really special way of being able to voice these feelings. He puts them in a very artful and thoughtful way.”
There isn’t a definitive title for the album yet, but one of the working options is Apocalyptic Boom Boom. In their 2022, the band discussed how their songs, like the previously mentioned “The South Will Never Rise Again,” typically had a hopeful outlook focused on a belief that racist and hateful systems will always fall apart. However, when considering the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine, Cisneros says some of the band’s new songs have adopted a more disappointed view of the world. “We’re covering a lot of the same topics as before because these things just don’t go away,” he says. “It seems no matter how many generations come, somehow we just cannot shake off some of this shit.”
While less optimistic when it comes to the bigger picture of humanity, Cisneros is feeling better about the local music scene’s post-pandemic recovery. The band are still concerned about decline of local venues, which they hope to combat with their upcoming show at the Runaway, a venue that almost closed down in January. “If you like any of the local venues, you need to go and support it,” Cisneros says. “That’s how we keep the scene alive.”
Since their 2020 U.K. tour plans were canceled due to COVID, Des Demonas are making new plans and are equipped with new music. “It feels great,” Cisneros says. “It feels like starting over again, fresh and new.”
Des Demonas play on March 21 at the Runaway. therunawaydc.com.