Victoria Marie moved to New York City from San Jose, California around 20 years ago, to attend college at Columbia. In addition to being the powerhouse vocalist for the beloved, raucous, politically cogent band Downtown Boys, she is also a Chicana activist and the granddaughter of a farm worker named Lupe.
When Marie wasn't around, Lupe found an enjoyable way to feel connected to her granddaughter: "Law & Order: SVU."
"For a lot of working-class people, that's how we first see New York," said Marie of her grandma, who died last year. "It's such a crazy show with the craziest storylines that are way too pro-cop. But my grandma didn't like the show because it was pro-cop, she liked it because it was the city her baby was in."
Marie's grandmother is all over "Public Luxury," Downtown Boys' first album in nine years. A photograph of her bedroom graces the cover art. "Sirena," a grinding guitar track featuring her granddaughter's powerhouse vocal shout, is inspired by Los Dandys' version of "Gema," one of her favorite songs. The song "Enemy Without" and its urgent vocal whorl, references Palestinian activist Leila Khaled's "My People Shall Live," which Marie read on a plane back to California to visit Lupe. And the very idea of "Public Luxury," both the album title and a dreamy, synthy track written by guitarist/singer Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, hearkens back to, essentially, the bread and roses ideal of a society that's actually nurturing of all people—a concept Marie thought about as her grandmother was sick.
"My family fought for her to get the best care she could under Medicaid, and I can't help but think, what if we actually had a real health care system for all? What if there had been something that could have helped her?" Marie said through tears. "I saw a nurse one time pull a bedpan from under my grandma so violently that my grandma got this little ball in her back that she had for the last four years of her life. I think about that when I think about why we don't have the public luxury we need to live."
Marie also has felt echoes of her grandmother in the city itself. She was a student of our new mayor's father, Mahmood Mamdani, when she was at Columbia, and some time before the mayoral race, she recalls seeing her former professor at Selva, the bar in Bushwick, during a Palestinian film festival. "I remember going up to Mahmood and being like, 'I can't believe you're here,' and he was like, 'Oh, my son brought me.'" she said. "Seeing him on the couch at this DIY film festival reminded me of my grandma coming to my shows."
And her grandma's love for "Law & Order: SVU" was also prescient: Marie has been an activist for long enough that she's practically memorized the areas around Centre Street and Foley Square, where Olivia Benson and her friends also spend a lot of time. In the interim, she's logged a list of favorite places to pop in and grab a dumpling or coffee on her way to a show, band practice, or a protest.
Hell Gate asked her to talk us through her most beloved spots in Chinatown for a sort of walking restaurant guide for activists. "We love Chinatown and the Lower East Side not because of TikTok, but because we have that experience of getting to be totally anonymous, but feel like you're not lonely," she said. "I think that's ultimately what New York is about, and that's ultimately what punk is about. I really hope that Chinatown never gets sold out."
Downtown Boys' album release party is Thursday, July 23, with Ratas En Zelo, at Baby's All Right. "Public Luxury" is out now on Sub Pop Records.