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CHECK OUT: First Gen. Filipino – Kai – Rips It Up In 2 Canadian Bands [Canada]

By on June 3, 2025

“I’m Kai Castro (drums/bg vocals for PEOPLEVIOLENCE & BIG FIST) and I am a first generation filipino, born in Toronto. I’ve been playing drums since I started high school, and have loved punk and hardcore for most of my life now. My days in Pseudo saw me doing 2/3-month tours across the states, as well as runs across South Korea and Japan, all DIY. It was a blessing to be able to see so much of these countries at such a young age. Now, with more wisdom and experience, I hope to take things with my current projects to the next level.

Seeing other filipino/asian people in the scene these days makes me so happy, as I felt it was rare to see in my earlier days of gigging. Maybe it was just the specific scene I participated in, but I felt like I couldn’t find representation at all. Now, I hope to be on stage at the right place and the right time for a filipino kid to see me playing and feel represented!

Aside from drums, I’m also a visual artist who specializes in portraits and anime, who also participates in artist alleys and art markets. I also started to delve into the Zine world, and have released two zines focused on art, music, and mental health. In the near future, I hope to start a side/solo musical project focusing on my own personal experiences, that I can front. I’ve always wanted to be in front of the mic but never had the courage to, but with how the world currently is, and how much I feel nowadays, I’m thinking I might give it a shot.”

And now onto his two bands:

PEOPLEVIOLENCE

We’re influenced by an assortment of different styles, such as punk, post-hardcore, emo, hardcore, and r&b – the style we’re aiming to champion is what we like to call RnBemo! Specifically artists like Anxious, Initiate, The Flatliners, One Step Closer, Touche Amore, 6LACK, Moses Sumney, Knocked Loose and Counterparts, to name a few. The previous iteration of this band, Pseudo, has given us a lifetime of experience and knowledge, and we aim to put our all into these songs.

PV has multiple themes in our music such as identity crisis, race, self hatred, feeling pain towards nostalgia, being depressed, and other things we struggle with in our day to day – however, we also explore the acceptance of ourselves and our faults, self improvement, and the ways we cope and persevere. Overall, own your shit, be who you are fully and don’t be afraid to take up some space.

As of now, we have released a two-piece single called “The Crosses That I Carry” as well as a single called “ON THE SPOT” – both available on streaming services. If you’ve seen us live, you’ll know we have some spicy songs in our pocket that are just sitting and waiting for the perfect time to be unleashed. Stay tuned!

BIG FIST

This project has a lot of influences in 80s/90s hardcore, as well as early 00’s metal and punk rock. Bands such as Minor Threat, Black Flag, Gorilla Biscuits, Mr.Bungle, Descendents, The Misfits, Bad Religion, Turnstile, NOFX, Frenzal Rhomb, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Avenged Sevenfold, Strung Out, Propagandhi, The Flatliners, and Comeback Kid have really influenced the Big Fist sound.

Our songs range from lyrics about campy slasher/horror movies, to songs about our experiences and struggles, to songs about mysterious lake monsters, to songs about friendship and loss – a lot of real life mixed with a lot of fiction. Inspiration has been coming from everywhere and there’s lots of stories we wanna tell, but regardless of what we sing about, we’ll do it fast and give it 200%.

We have 2 EP’s called “Real Birds” and “Play With Me” as well as a split released with our friends in QWAN. We are currently working on a super secret project that will be announced very soon – the first project with Kai.

Photo Credit by Shania Rock @byshaniarock

UniteAsia.org is an underground Asian music news website created for the sole purpose of supporting our own world. We support all bands and genres HOWEVER we do not support nor have any sympathy for homophobic, racist, sexist rhetoric in lyrical content or band material. UNITE ASIA!
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