by Marcella Ortega
Daily Lobo
One has to wonder where a band gets a name like Leftover Crack.
"I made it up," said lead singer Scott Sturgeon. "It's an oxymoron. It was funny once - once upon a time."
The band from New York made a sold-out appearance at the Launchpad on Sunday. It graced its followers with a set of politically saturated punk rock tunes.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"The point of Leftover Crack is to be as offensive as possible without being racist, sexist, homophobic or fascist," Sturgeon said. "A lot of bands like to shock people by being racist, sexist or homophobic. Our point is that if you are smart, you don't need to use any of those things."
Sturgeon said Leftover Crack is anti-capitalism because the greed of humans is ruining the world. Sturgeon said everyone is going to die because people want too much money, food, water and air.
"They don't need it all," he said. "They need some. They can share it, but they don't want to share it."
Sturgeon said humans don't want to share resources because they are greedy. He said humans are greedy because they are animals. Sturgeon said the band believes in equality.
"I think everybody is equal regardless of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or whatever," he said. "There are a million things you could segregate people for. I think all people are the same, and there are some cool people, and there are some bad people. You can never tell by what they use as a label."
Sturgeon said the band's music is a fusion of punk rock, ska and metal. He said some of its musical influences include Jawbreaker, the Beatles, Subhumans and Chumbawamba.
"Old Chumbawamba," he said. "Not their big hit, but their original shit from the early '80s."
Sturgeon said he likes hip-hop artists and groups like Tupac, the Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep and Run-DMC. He expressed his appreciation for the genre as he showed the audience a velvet painting of Tupac and a marijuana plant he bought in Tijuana, Mexico.
Sturgeon said he was politically influenced by bands like the Dead Kennedys. He said Leftover Crack is atheist and autonomous. Sturgeon said being autonomous means you want freedom.
"It's like anarchy, except it has nothing to do with government," he said. "It has to do with everybody leaves you alone, and you leave them alone. It doesn't involve government. It's self-government. Autonomy is self-government, and it's a beautiful thing if you can get away with it - somewhere."
Sturgeon said places exist where autonomy can flourish.
"Yeah, like a boat or an island in the middle of nowhere - the moon, mars, sure," he said.
Although the places for Sturgeon to live autonomous are few and far between, he had a great time in Albuquerque.
"I love that there is a New
Mexico," he said. "Any time they make another New Mexico, I'll keep going to every new one because I like Mexico itself. So, there is a new one here, they can make one in Canada - wherever - I'm there."
