Homework can wait for L.A.'s hardcore upstart Xcomm, whose youngest member is 14, as it focuses on the release of its debut album, 'Time to Burn.'
Los Angeles band Xcomm features, from left, singer-guitarist Michael Gatto, bassist Adan Escoto, drummer Revel Ian and DJ Hunter Grogan. On a late Monday afternoon in early May, three members of the band Xcomm sit behind the control board at multiplatinum producer Ross Robinson’s studio in Atwater Village during an afternoon hang while bassist Adan Escoto joins via Zoom.
Usually at this point in the year, a teenager would be counting down the days until the end of school. Instead, the young band just returned from dazzling audiences at Las Vegas’ Sick New World Festival and is focused on the release of its debut album — homework be damned.
The members of Xcomm, which consists of singer Michael Gatto, 19, drummer Revel Ian, 14, DJ Hunter Grogan, 20, and Escoto, 16, carry themselves with the ease and confidence of music lifers as they sit confidently and explain the past few years. The band was formed in 2023 when Ian and Escoto began writing riffs together. The duo are family friends and at the time, Ian played guitar.
After adding a guitarist, Ian moved to drums.
“One of the main reasons I broke up with my old band in January 2023 was that I wanted to start a heavier, hardcore band,” Ian says. “Originally, I wanted to be more metal, like Slayer and Mastodon. ”Following its formation, the emerging outfit needed a singer. Instead of putting up fliers around town, Ian did what most young musicians would do today: He posted a digital flier in an Instagram Story.
The band was formed in 2023 and consists of, from left, drummer Revel Ian, 14, bassist Adan Escoto, 16, singer Michael Gatto, 19, and DJ Hunter Grogan, 20.
“It read something along the lines of ‘I’m starting a new band, it’s hardcore and sounds like Discharge, Black Flag and Bad Brains,’” Ian says. “Michael immediately replied to it. ” A few months earlier, Gatto met Ian after attending his previous band, the Minor Threat and Circle Jerks cover band Minor Jerk Brains’ show. The duo stayed in touch, with Gatto still a member of 2dust.
After seeing them perform, Ian was mesmerized by Gatto’s skills as a frontman. After bonding over a mutual appreciation for Queens of the Stone Age, Gatto joined Xcomm in late 2023. A few weeks after Gatto took over vocals, they knocked out four songs, highlighted by the aggressive doom of “Time to Burn” and the blasting guitars that echo Gatto’s melodic angst on “Hot Pursuit.
” Armed with those, along with some covers, the band played its first show, which was inside a dispensary on the Venice boardwalk. Since then, Xcomm has aggressively honed its sound without losing its pursuit of hardcore purity. They got tighter and crisper, as reflected in the reactions at their frenzied live shows, where fans flying through the crowd and the hurricane swirl of their mosh pits are commonplace.
Xcomm then caught the ear of current Ministry drummer Roy Mayorga, who would go on to produce the five-song 2024 demo “Westside Punks. ” That sampler captured the band’s brand of thrash punk in its purest form. Ahead of a release party in Venice in August 2024, the members, through a family friend, invited Robinson to the show. They thought it was a long shot at best that he’d come watch them play.
After it started, Gatto and Ian saw Robinson standing on the side of the stage, impressed by what he saw.
“I caught myself laughing out loud as they blasted through their set,” Robinson says. “For me, that’s an instant yes. That youth needed to be captured — raw and fast. ”Over four months beginning at the end of 2024 into 2025, the group hunkered down with the producer at his studio, where it knocked out 12 tough-as-nails tracks that comprise its debut full-length, “Time to Burn,” which is out May 22 through the Robinson co-owned Blowed Out Records.
“Luckily, they’re way cooler and more talented than I could’ve hoped! ” he says.
“The future is absolutely unlimited for these kids. I can see them inspiring their generation to play music with an unfiltered fire — 100% real instruments with authentic expression of feeling — embracing the imperfection of being a human. ”In the studio, Robinson pushed the young group as hard as he did with Korn, Slipknot, At the Drive-In and Limp Bizkit.
“The standard Ross held for us during pre-production was extreme to a point where if we didn’t give him chills, we couldn’t go into the studio to actually record,” Gatto says. “His attention to detail is why his records sound how they do. ” In addition to Robinson’s plaudits, Xcomm has earned praise from artists like Sid Wilson of Slipknot and Pennywise guitarist Fletcher Dragge.
“I was immediately caught by the simple but hooky straightforward guitar riff, and ripping drums holding it down,” Dragge says. “With vocals that are gritty, unforgiving, with just the right attitude, these guys are delivering exactly what I love to hear. The future looks bright, and I’m in. ” It wouldn’t be punk rock if Xcomm faced naysayers who question the band’s credentials for a variety of reasons.
Not that it bothers them at all.
“If you get hate comments, it means you’re attracting people to your music,” Ian adds, “and the more people hear about it, it gives us more publicity. Thank you for helping us! ” “I’ve heard the social media rumors that these kids’ parents are all in bands and are helping them fast-track their careers … I’m calling bull—,” Dragge says.
“These kids are earning everything they have achieved. Trust me when I say these kids were born to be punkers. ”After celebrating the release with a show at the Palladium opening for Dethklok, Xcomm is ready for a different type of summer vacation. It’s performing on the Washington, D.C.
, and Long Beach editions of thealong with additional festivals and bigger plans to come. Despite not being able to legally drink , the bandmates have the chops and the attitude to propel them forward, which Gatto succinctly sums up. Nate Jackson is a deputy editor for Entertainment and Arts. Previously, he served as a news editor for the Wrap and the music editor for OC Weekly.
He returns to The Times after being both a Metpro and a staff writer in Calendar from 2009 to 2012.
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