La Memoria

La Memoria is a band based in the songwriting of Michael Messina, an American with Latinx origins. This band is made of brothers who may not share that ancestry, but who love and accept me for who I am, and lovingly strive to share my experience through music.

It took 3 years to make “de HotBed.” Starting from the end of a chapter where we attempted a career in the music industry. We had toured for a year and a half, without the aid of a label or any structural system that promotes the arts. We came back home and kept living. Some time later, we decided to build a studio in my basement. We then enlisted the help of Manolis “Emanual” Ellinas to engineer sessions that would later be dubbed “de HotBed.” Emanual is known for many things: engineer, pedal maker, mic maker, drum maker, teacher. But chiefly he is a friend who has the capacity to understand and listen to my experience, and offer his own energy to aid in the telling of my story. That is quite rare these days. Thank you, Manolis.

We chose to name the record “de HotBed“ because it is in part the story of us - HotBed was the previous name of our group. However, as the album came to a wrap in early 2020, the world started feeling like a real hotbed.

“de HotBed” is my attempt to passionately articulate the state of my mental health, my racial and cultural identity, familial and generational trauma, truths in our society, and to tell the story of me and my friends who I call brothers.