Today we’d like to introduce you to Degenerates.
Hi Degenerates , thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Degenerates got its start from the mind of Jose (lead singer). All the members of Degenerates were part of the Orlando punk scene, but in separate bands. Jose Velez (lead singer) and Nate Martin (Drummer) were friends from school and were in a band together, later, called “Suburban Misery” After a short run, “Suburban Misery” ended up disbanding. Jose was approached by another band (Manera) looking for a lead vocalist. After a few sessions Jose became their lead singer. The bridge starts to form for “Degenerates” from three different bands. Those bands are “Manera”, “Rat Basturdz”, and “Ripped Pitts”. Dustin Easterday (Degenerates Bassists) is the guitarists and back up vocalist from the band “Rat Basturdz” with Nikki Likks (lead guitarist and lead vocals) and Queso Sucio (Rhythm Guitar) from “Ripped Pitts” are playing the same venues where we all started to get to know each other and play the same venues. After some time and many shows, we all became tight friends and started to hang out more and more. “Manera” had a need to be filled at bass and Dustin “Rat Basturdz” stepped up and filled the role. After a good run, “Manera” ended up disbanding because of creative differences. Jose and Dustin started jamming together, which included some songs that Jose had written well before any of the other things started. They began to catch a groove and Jose reached out to Queso “Ripped Pitts” with some of the music that we were doing. Queso was feeling it and wanted to jam with them and in his words “help tighten up some guitar” The three met up at Queso’s house and had an acoustic session with what we become one of their debut singles “Disguise”. The Lyrics and melody existed, but that night it started shaping up. Needless to say, things were coming together and Jose, Dustin and Queso were getting pretty hype on what was unfolding. Initially, Queso was there to help write, not necessarily join anything new, but there was something different, something special about what was happening. After jamming and stepping on the back porch, Jose looked at Queso and asked, “What are we going to call the band?”. Queso grinned, and the wheels started spinning. We jammed a little more, then started discussing the drummer situation. Jose said, “I’ve got the drummer, he’s the homie, we grew up together and he was my drummer for Suburban Misery”, and just like that we had a band. Jose reached out to Nate and scheduled a kick-off practice at Dustin’s house. We literally had 3/4 of a song complete and a bunch of ideas. Practice day shows up. Jose swoops up Queso and they head to Dustin’s. After setting up and getting tuned up, Nate pulled in, introductions were made, and Nate came into the room and set up. We started practice with 3/4 of a song and ended up with two almost complete songs (Disguise and So Below) The music and the chemistry were solid, but we felt we needed another guitar. After a few more practices and was getting more and more apparent that we needed another guitar. Jose, Dusty and Queso met up with Nikki Likks (Ripped Pitts) to help get some scratch tracks laid out to a metronome for “Disguise”. This was the first time that Nikki heard what Degenerates (unnamed at the time) was putting together. That was the same night that the riff for our other debut single “Anarchy” was born. Unknowingly at the time, we had our 2nd guitarists in the same room with us. After laying down tracks and hanging out that night, Jose and Nikki got to talking and shortly after, Degenerates solidified their lineup, and Nikki Likks became the lead guitarist and backup vocalists. The Degenerates were born.
With Jose, Dustin, Queso and Nikki all being song writers with their own unique, distinctive styles, Degenerates music started to shape into what you hear today. We all kept putting in time to getting tight and creating new music and finally got to the point where we were ready to debut. Here we go! As a band, we started discussing dates and venues and came to the decision to debut at West End Trading Company in downtown Sanford, FL. The date was set 9/26/2024.
We were hitting practice twice a week and as our debut was approaching, we were getting more and more hype. We get to the week of show, and here it was, time to introduce the world to Degenerates. Well as luck would have it, Hurricane Helene decided she was coming to the show. We literally debuted our band as Hurricane Helene’s outer bands made landfall and were over top of us and the venue as we took stage as Degenerates for the first time. If that’s not an epic introduction to the world, we don’t know what is. The show went great, our set was tight, and the crowd was into it. Considering the circumstances, it was gnarly show.
We really started getting into our groove and we were coming up with new music almost every practice. The more venues we played, the more we were getting offers to play bigger and better shows. We got to play Florida Underground Fest, Delandapalooza, Sanford Punk Night. We’ve been featured on Rock Rage Radio and their syndicates, and KSOI FM radio. We’ve been blessed and honored to play alongside of so many talented bands and be included by so many venues and promoters.
We felt it was time to get into the studio. After reaching out to Red Lion Studio, we connected with Caine Lee and set our dates. It was set, 11/24/2024 and 11/25/2024. We kept the twice a week practice habit up until studio weekend. We spent two full days at Red Lion Studios recording our Ep “Whatever” As a band, we were so tight that we got everything recorded in two days. We did go back a few times with edits after first and second mixes, which put our EP into mastering in the beginning of 2025. We got our masters back around the second or third week into January, we were stoked. We promoted heavily for about a month before releasing our double singles “Disguise’ and “Anarchy” on February 20, 2025. and later releasing our EP “Whatever” on 04/25/2025.
This is how Degenerates were created, established and move. “Peace, Love and Anarchy”
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We have faced some adversity on our path. Overall, the road has been good to us but three of our members had deaths in their families that were very close to their hearts. They kept their heads up, and we kept moving forward as a band. Our band is our family, we lean on each other and lift each other up, and we made it through.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Our work is our art, and our art is our music. We feel like what sets apart from the rest is our individual influences that we combine to create our unique sound. We’ve been compared to a lot of legendary artist from the late 90’s/ early 2000 grunge/ alternative/ punk bands, that you can hear through our sound.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
We’re currently working on new material for our new debut LP, coming this year. As well as booking out a tour for early next year! We do have shows coming up for promoting the new LP, which will be starting around September.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://degeneratestheband.wixsite.com/degenerates
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearedegenerates_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61561596847995
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DegeneratesFL
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4eNSJ8SAVMsQQT89tboPXJ
Image Credits
Photo Credit – Chistian Saab
Photo Credit – Tiffany Marie (Evolenoshot)
