Psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll, hip-hop and traditional Mexican Banda music don’t typically go together, but the new all inclusive music shop, Everydaze Music, has proved otherwise in East Los Angeles.
Six band mates opened Everydaze Music on Whittier Boulevard between Atlantic Boulevard and Arizona Avenue on Sept. 20.
The band, Levitation Room, has been trying to bring in all types of art and music into the shop to ultimately change way the artistic community is perceived in East Los Angeles, according to the group.
“We want to spread music awareness and music culture in East L.A. The area has a lot of music, but it’s more traditional Banda music and other types of music are often hidden. So we’re trying to bring all types of music together and make all artists proud of what they do and believe that they can do this for a career,” Everydaze Music owner, Julian Porte, 26, said.
Everydaze Music is not your traditional music shop. According to the band, the store is a music and clothing boutique that sells vintage clothes, old records, instruments and instrument accessories. They also provide amplifier and guitar repairs, tattoos, guitar lessons, green screen filming, hourly recordings and rehearsal studios.
“It’s an art music collective, and basically, it’s comprised of a few different businesses. It’s very reminiscent of the sixties, I mean, me and this guy are huge Beatles fans,” other owner, Gabriel Fernandez, 25, said. “The whole general idea is to bring a sense of community to music in the area because there is so much music in this area and there is just no real positive outlet besides a general music store where you can buy something and that’s it. We hope that here you come and find a new lifestyle, a change of life, really.”
“You come here and you throw on a record, and you sit down, you look threw a magazine and talk to us about music. We try to be more inclusive than any other store,” said Porte.
Previously, a more traditional music shop, Solutions, inhabited 5134 Whittier Boulevard, but their business slowed and Porte was approached to revitalize it. Porte had always envisioned opening an alternative music shop, but didn’t know how to run a business alone so he brought on his fellow band mates to help manage the shop, according to Porte.
“We all did a lot of stuff on the side, aside from our band, so I was like let’s do this store and let's incorporate what we do on the side too as funding for the store to keep it alive and going,” Porte said. “Everyone’s doing a little bit of everything. One guy is doing recordings and he’s bringing in clients and another guy is doing screen-printing and then another guy gives tattoos. What we're trying do is keep our hobbies, but also be able to translate that into some funding for the store.”
Everydaze Music has certainly gained traction in the community and brought in many new artists to the shop. More than 300 people came by for their grand opening and on a daily basis they serve three to four bands, according to Fernandez. Recently, they just shot a music video for Rem Sleep at the shop.
“The place is awesome, it has everything you need as musician and it’s really affordable,” Rem Sleep lead singer, Ish Guerrero, said. “I hope they stick around, I’ll be performing at their open-mike next week.”
And even competing businesses are happy about the positive change Everydaze Music is bringing to the community.
“Julian and Everydaze are definitely changing the music culture in the neighborhood,” fellow musician and employee at Olvera Music across the street, Mathew Saldana, said. “They’re making people see music as a profession, rather than just a hobby.”