The Kominas talk about being brown punk rockers in a white music scene

The Kominas get a lot of press for being Pakistani and Indian-American punk rockers navigating a white music scene. But they kinda just want to rock. 

"The Kominas are just badass," says punk music fan Aziza Ahmad in Karachi, Pakistan. "That's it."  

For the last decade, the four Boston-based punk rockers who make up The Kominas have produced music and social commentary that criticizes stereotypes of brown people and Muslim culture. Just one example: the cover of their 2015 album, "Stereotype," takes on Pakistani gender roles by featuring a woman in a sari feeding candy to a handcuffed man in a bra.  Singing in Hindi, Urdu, and English, The Kominas are multicultural, multilingual, and — there's no other word for it — badass.

But that all comes at a cost. The band often deals with casual racism at their shows, in dealings with venues, and in defining their musical identity in the press. A few weeks ago, they were in the the middle of a set in front of a mostly white crowd, in a show featuring mostly white bands, and they were disturbingly heckled. The heckler was white, angry, and eventually got kicked out. But not for his behavior toward The Kominas. Rupa debriefed that experience with them.