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Joe Tapia could probably play the bass line to a Bootsy Collins song in his sleep, but during a live performance you’re more likely to hear him playing stuff that’s significantly faster, and way heavier. He likens his bandmate Mike Chino to rapper Old Dirty Bastard because “there’s no father to his style” on the drums. Despite the fact that the dudes in Laughing Dog listen to a lot of hip hop music, the band is probably Albuquerque’s most well-known and prolific grindcore band. Camden Chino (keys/vocals), Jeff Montoya (guitar) and Fred Chino (bass/guitar) complete the crew whose unique and innovative brand of grind is known to extreme music connoisseurs worldwide. Tapia says the band as we know them today has been active for about 20 years, but they’re probably experiencing the height of their popularity right now. On numerous occasions I’ve heard well-established touring acts say they dread following Laughing Dog on stage. A literal robot drummer (from the band Captured! by Robots) excluded Mike Chino when it challenged “anyone besides that guy” to a drum battle during a night of technical metal debauchery at Sister Bar. Even though their skill and style rivals any band they encounter, rather than gloating, they aim to motivate and unite a new brood of death metal dealers and punk rock pimps … as long as you’re “Down With The Down.”
Will you describe your sound for us?
Laughing Dog is Nihilistic Native Grind or Old Town Grind.
Could you explain what grind means? Like, what is grindcore?
It’s the meeting of hardcore punk and death metal. The original lyrics were always protest lyrics — like Napalm Death. It’s extreme hardcore punk but faster. Fast, fast, fast. It was popularized after the year 2010, and there’s so many types of grind now. It’s insane. There’s so many genres, you know? Now you’ve got powerviolence, screamo-violence, it goes on and on and on. It’s punk and death really. A grindcore set’s only 15 to 20 minutes, you know? You know the joke, you go use the restroom, you miss the grindcore set.
What are your favorite venues to play and why?
D.I.Y. or die, baby! DIY [do it yourself] gigs all across the U.S. are the best. I prefer to play a mixture of both on a tour — a DIY show and then a venue like a bar — but DIY is the best or just playing a party. Joe Anderson had a couple DIY spots. He had Club Hell in Sunshine [Theater]. I saw a Coffin Break there and crazy local punk rock bands like Cracks in the Sidewalk. Iron House was a legendary spot. Dystopia played there.
As far as local venues go, Ren’s Den, but also Launchpad, Moonlight Lounge, Sunshine, El Rey, Black Wall Gallery, The Minnow, Longhair Records and Juno are bad ass.
What makes a good show for you?
Really it’s the crowd that makes it amazing. It’s really when the crowd is going off. Mike Chino’s already like 60 years old. And we didn’t think that we were going to be grinding past 50. And now we’ve surpassed that. We’re going to take it as far as we can, and we’ll have our kids to keep the legacy going. Mike Chino’s son is the youngest member now (and the singer) and hopefully our kids will come up and keep it going forever. I can’t believe we have a whole new generation of grindcore and powerviolence fans, and to see the scene grow in Albuquerque is incredible. I thought that everyone hates grindcorecore — it’s always kind of like the underdog of metal and punk — but to see it grow and expand with the hardcore scene and the metal scene being so sick out here, I can’t believe it. Shows for days in a row. Packed, sold out, well-attended shows. I like the new-school generation.
What are your lyrics about?
Protest lyrics and deep streams of consciousness. Our lyrics are motivational. It’s harder to write positive lyrics than negative lyrics. “Down With the Down” is about how we’ve been down with the whole scene. It was co-written by Dave Rodriguez from Logical [Nonsense]. That’s down right there.
What bands or genres inspire your music?
Napalm Death, Bad Brains and lots of crossover [punk], grind and thrash influences — Celtic Frost, Voivod, Cryptic Slaughter. We also listen to a lot of hip-hop. We love Dead Horse. We do a medley of Pretty Flowers and Peaceful Death, and then we play “Scottish Hell” in the middle of it.
What is the best show you’ve ever played and why?
Our favorite shows we’ve played were probably the first 505 Grindfest at Ren’s Den and Hong Kong Fuck You (at Ren’s as well.) That first Grindfest was off the chain [although] the second one was equally badass. We played outside in the day and went the fuck off. It was crazy, I wasn’t expecting that. Good crowd with good energy.
It’s good that we decided to actually go on the road, and we worked hard to get there. We represent for New Mexico.
Watch the band destroy Ren’s on March 23, 2025 here.
If you’d like a taste of that 505 Grindfest show at Ren’s Den, it’s on YouTube here. Search around on the site and you’ll find more videos.
Peep an older video of the band live at the Siberia bar in New Orleans Feb. 25, 2012 here.
You can jam and purchase Old Town Grind Vol. 1 on the RFL Records Bandcamp page.
You can listen to Laughing Dog’s epic split record with the band Catheter here.
Name your price for their 2009 split with Fobile Instinct from Kiev, Ukraine on bandcamp.
Hit up their Facebook and Instagram pages for upcoming shows and other cool media. They’re always spreading the word about extreme music coming to Albuquerque and promoting the homies.