The sound of jingles and pow-wow drums fill a mid-sized room with more than 50 people. It’s 3 p.m. and the heat wave sweeping across Arizona isn’t stopping these showgoers from witnessing a one-of-a-kind festival. 

As hardcore music rises in popularity amongst young people, and notably Native folks in the Southwest, Stolen Land Fest is showcasing Native performers within the genre. This year, the festival returned to Phoenix for its second year thanks to a group of organizers who are carving their way through the scene on their own terms.

“You know, if you come to our rooms, it’s brown. It’s kids that are obviously from the rez,” said fest organizer Troy Valenzuela. “Like, it’s a different crowd.”

The pow-wow drums stop, and the traditional dancer soon steps out of the way as Arizona hardcore locals, Heresy, open the festival’s second day. The crowd soon parts and fists and kicks go flying. 

“They’re having fun,” Valenzuela said. “Like, that’s the one thing at the heart of it we want to keep for them. But then control [too], like, you should be able to have fun and not have this shit in the back of your head.”

He was talking about the problems some of these kids are facing at home.

“You know, hardcore fits in the reservation because most people have a crazy family story that they won’t tell, or, you know, people are gonna skip over,” he said. “But everyone has this history of violence and being brought up into violence, not understanding how to process it.”

To an outsider, the show may look violent. But to these regular showgoers, this is an outlet to express themselves and let out pent up aggression.

“People outside, and older people, will tell us, like, ‘Your shows are fun. People are coming here and getting wild,’” Valenzuela said. “And it became a thing of pride. So, we were pushing. We’re trying to change the narrative of what people think. And so, it just became this, like, uphill battle.”

Valenzuela said he had faced the challenges from non-Native organizers and performers in the Arizona music scene, which led him and a group of friends to create Stolen Land Fest.

“So, it was just this whole thing that we were going through that was really not spoken,” he said. “At the fest the first year, it was out of frustration of just being, like, if this is going to be the last thing we ever do, this is what we wanted to do.”

The all-Native hardcore festival now spans two days and brings together more than 20 acts from across the Southwest.

“We’re seeing it’s bigger than all of us,” Valenzuela said. “And we’re saying we’re not really even sure what to do with it, but we want to make sure that it’s done in the right way.”

Valenzuela said he aims to push through the non-believers and continue to work toward bettering the festival in the future. 

“And I would just gladly like if this is the one thing I do,” he said. “I’m going to do all I can and all my ability for these kids, whether I know them or not.”

Through the frustrations and uphill battles, Troy said the fest is a learning process and he hopes to bring it back next year for its third iteration — this time in Tucson.

Curious listeners of the genre can attend an upcoming one-day Native hardcore festival happening during the last Gathering of Nations event, April 25^th at Ren’s Den in Downtown Albuquerque.