Craig Ibarra

Photo: Craig Ibarra wearing the crown that D. Boon wore in the Minutemen video, "King of the Hill."

Craig Ibarra was born and raised in San Pedro, CA, where he was turned on to punk rock in mid-1981 by his older brother. On April 23, 1982, he attended his first punk show at the age of 13. In 1984 he met local high school punks, some that were in bands and soon enough he became part of this new emerging Pedro (teenage) punk community.

In September 1987, he was hired full-time at SST Records where he worked nine years in the art department. Also in 1987, he started a cassette label called S.A.D. Cassettes and documented an abundance of Pedro punk bands on various compilations. From 1988-90 he sang for a band called No Comprende. In 1991, he co-founded and sang for a band called Rig that lasted until late 1997. In 1995, he published a Pedro band calendar called The Punch Line (10 issues).

In 1996, he learned the art of stencil making by his mentor and SST Records art department co-worker, Victor Gastelum. In 1998-99 he worked for his friend Aaron White’s animation company called 23D Films where he helped with animation on numerous music videos and spots. In 2004, he published a fanzine called The Rise and the Fall of the Harbor Area (14 issues).

In 2007, he started work on an oral history focusing on the early history of San Pedro punk rock. He self-published said book in 2015 on his own publishing house, End Fwy Press. The book is titled: A Wailing of a Town “An Oral History of Early San Pedro Punk and More” 1977-1985. In 2008, he started a record label called Water Under the Bridge Records. Craig has always done his part to help build up and inspire the Pedro punk community by staging gigs, releasing records and publishing literature.