Un Poco de Punk, Un Poco de Rock and Roll.
Walking into the garage of David Belmar’s home you can hear the bass guitar and drums rattle the metal and surrounding doors adjacent to it. A Puerto Rican flag is hung with hints of Psychedelic tapestries or art in the garage as they practice. With no lyrics, just instrumentals, you can begin to feel each instrument. It’s something you probably haven’t heard before.
Pichea is a local band here in Arcata. Their signature sound is inspired by a wide range of sub genres from rock and roll to punk. Each member of the band comes from a different background with different personal styles. Pichea comes together to create their own subgenre.
“Genres fit in our box,” said Nathan Conteras, the guitarist.
As for the band’s name, the name Pichea comes from Puerto Rican slang. “So Pichea is Puerto Rican slang, we say it in the island for like nevermind, or when you’re going through something and you’re like “oh whatever” you say Pichea, you know just forget about it,” said Belmar, the bassist.
Belmar, 37 years old, began playing bass when he was 14. He grew up with music all around him and was able to express this when he got older and played more. His bass followed him from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico to Arcata, CA.
“My love for music started young when my dad used to play records as a kid and then when I grew up, I picked up bass and started playing music. I’ve always been playing, never lost the love for playing. When I moved to California, actually the only thing I brought with me was my bass, my CD pack and a couple of shirts, two tye dyes, two jeans, and I headed to California,” said Belmar.
Daniel Motalvo who plays the drums for Pichea is from San German, Puerto Ricoband had a similar journey to California.bMotalvo had previous musical experience with bongos and djembe. It was only a year ago when Motalvo sat down and developed his skills on the drum set.
“I left Puerto Rico in July of 2017. I needed a change in life and just took off at 3 a.m. without saying anything to my family or my job at the time. I was 24 years old. I flew into San Francisco but quickly departed to Eureka/Arcata. I came to Humboldt specifically to learn how to grow cannabis like a pro,” said Motalvo.
The guitarist in the band is Contreras, the “gringo” of the group. Contreras grew up both in Los Angeles and Eureka because his parents were separated and Contreras wanted to live with both of them. In 2014 Contreras stayed in Eureka and then made a small move to Arcata in 2021. Contreras started his music journey in middle school continuing into highschool and he now has 10 years of experience.
“I was in all the bands, jazz band, symphonic band, orchestra, beginning guitar, and then basically you know right out of music by that point I had a lot of friends who were like ‘oh yeah let’s play music, let’s play shows eventually,’ and just kept practicing, then met more people, and basically here we are,” said Contreras.
Coming from different backgrounds and experiences, Pichea has a unique flow that helps them create their art. The band formed in November of 2023, and has been making music since. Although not on streaming platforms yet, they are in pre-production recording an EP.
“In terms of making music, I think that when we all sit together and I show an idea or we show an idea we are able to blend and communicate effectively. Not much of a blockage, if anything we have too many things to get done,” said Belmar.
Pichea is playing at different venues across Arcata and Eureka. Their next show is on October 23, for venue and showtimes you can follow them @Pichea_band on Instagram.
