The Broken Windows: Funk Punk from Los Angeles

Meet The Broken Windows, based out of the legendary Los Angeles local music scene and ready to smash on through into the big leagues.  Unleashing a super infectious amalgamation of funk punk upon the world at large, The Broken Windows rock and rage within a live setting.  Their recent single and video Empty Bottles is garnering the band a good deal of attention, and they have a new song entitled Life’s A Beach being issued on October 11th. Highwire Daze and So Finch Photography recently did an interview and photo shoot day at Dystopian Studios in Downtown LA and invited The Broken Windows to participate.  Read on to find out more about this amazing band on the rise…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in The Broken Windows, and how long the band has been together.
My name’s Peter Reyes and I sing, play keys, and write songs for the band. My name is Allan Fajardo. I play guitar, do back up vocals, and write songs. My name’s Johnny Shankel. I play bass for The Broken Windows.

Give me a little background on the band – how long has the band been together and where did you all meet?
Allan and I met in middle school in band class. He needed to borrow my phone and I didn’t want to give it to him because I was afraid that he’d run away with it so I was staring at him from around the corner while he was calling his mom. We’d walk home from school and jam with our friends while Allan’s parents weren’t home. We started off covering songs from bands like Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet For My Valentine, and Ghost. There would be days where most of our friends wouldn’t jam and it would be just me and Allan. That’s when we started writing our own songs. That was in 2016 but we didnt call ourselves The Broken Windows yet. It wasn’t until our senior year of high school when we had 5 songs that we wrote and really liked and asked our other two friends Rafael Rosas who played bass and Andrew Moreno who played drums to play these songs with us and start a band. We got the name from a video by “Foos Gone Wild” Broken Windows is apparently slang for Crystal Meth. Not that we do it or anything, we just thought it was funny and sounded cool. That was in 2020. Then in 2021 we started playing backyard shows. At our first show we played we met Johnny through his band at the time. we had a bass player so we didn’t say anything at the time, we just got each other’s socials and kept seeing each other at shows. After that we saw each other again at music school and started jamming, writing songs, and playing shows.

What do you think of the local Los Angeles music scene and how does The Broken Windows fit in?
We can’t really say much about the local LA scene because we haven’t played a line up with any of the rock bands here but we do have friends that have bands and they’re great people. we’re still trying to find where we fit but we’ll find out when we play more shows in the area.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the lyrics and song Empty Bottles?
The lyrics from Empty Bottles are from experiences we’ve had with drugs, being at parties, and intimacy.

What is the story behind the lyrics of previous song What I Want?
The lyrics from What I Want was just us being inspired from what was going on around us in 2020 with all the riots, quarantine, and protests. So we wanted to make a song that fit in what was happening. We also wanted to just get in the studio to have something to put out.

How close is The Broken Windows to releasing an EP or even a full-length album?
We aren’t planning on making a full-length album yet. We considered releasing an EP but decided to release all the songs we have as singles to build more hype and a bigger audience.

What could one expect from a live The Broken Windows show?
Our backyard shows turned out to be the most energetic. A lot of people came through and there’d be mosh pits with people crashing into our equipment. We fed off that type of energy and if it wasn’t for the rules they have at bars or venues, that’s what you’d expect.

If The Broken Windows could open for any band either now or from the past?
Turnstile would be the band we’d like to open for only because of how crazy the crowd is, they have the best stage presence we’ve seen so far, and they’re also one of our influences right now.

If the music of The Broken Windows was a donut, what kind would it be and why?
We’d be a green and purple hairy donut, kinda like a Kiwi but with sprinkles.

Are you involved with any other bands or projects outside of The Broken Windows?
Peter: Focusing on my band is my main priority.
Allan: I’ve been hired to play with other projects. I contribute most of the time to The Broken Windows.
Johnny: I play as a session musician for other artists in the Los Angeles area but the only two bands I’m a concrete member of is The Broken Windows and my other band Vella La Vella.

What is up next for the band?
We’re recording the songs we have right now and planning to release 5 songs in total before the end of 2023. If we don’t then we’ll blame it on ice spice.

Any final words of wisdom?
Peter: Stop touching your worm.
Allan: Don’t stop touching your worm.
Johnny: Br Br Deng

(Interview by Ken Morton – Photos by Vivian Ortega of So Finch Photography)

The Broken Windows on Instagram