Celebrating Florida’s punk scene with shows, free music compilation

CAPE CORAL, Fla.—Southwest Florida organizations are collaborating to release a physical compilation documenting the contemporary punk scene in the area.

“Out Come The Flamingos” will be a love letter to the fast, ruthless, and anti-establishment genre of music. 

Keeping to its DIY roots, punk enthusiasts will not be charged for physical collection of music, zines, and artwork, paying homage to up-and-comers who give away their music for free so the genre is enjoyed without a financial roadblock.

The compilation will be exclusively available at three accompanying fundraising concerts. All proceeds generated from the shows will go towards pressing the vinyl, printing the zine, and producing merchandise. Every band will receive 50 copies out of the 600 total pressings to give away to fans.

The first show will be on Feb. 7 at Nice Guys Pizza in Cape Coral. Doors open at 8 p.m., with the show starting at 9 p.m. General admission will be $10. 

This lineup will feature four of the participating bands: Except You, Defrauded, Dave! Ja! Vu!, and Abortion Twins—all bringing a unique flavor of punk.

The following shows are at Bradenton and Lake Worth, with dates and lineups to be announced. 

Below are the participating bands for the Cape Coral show:

• Killed By Florida

• RATH & The Wise Guys

• Except You

• Defrauded (Tampa)

• Bargain Bin Heroes

• Lot Lizards

• Dave! Ja! Vu!

• Abortion Twins (Tampa)

• Weird Times

• MLM

• The Kutoffs

• Arcane Arcade

This event is a collaborative project by Roach and Roll Records, No Vacancy Media, Love Your Rebellion, YoSoyBrianTorres, and Covered In Sound Productions.

Liz and Chris Cochran are the owners of Roach and Roll Records and Stellar Records, a record store in Fort Myers. As longtime punk aficionados, they look forward to showing the community what their labor and passion helped create.

“The idea of this comp is we want to get punk music from our scene on physical media,” Chris said. “A lot of these bands haven't been on physical media, so the idea is to establish a community through putting this compilation together and pressing it on vinyl.”

Included in the vinyl:

• 12” LP featuring songs from all 12 bands

• Mastered specifically for vinyl by engineer Chris DeJesus

• 24-page zine packed with band photos, lyrics, artwork & letters from the organizers

• Stickers

• Original Art from Jeff Kelley

“To reward everybody for attending the shows, the bands will distribute those records for free,” Chris said. “The Southwest Florida punk scene is not very big, so we want to promote it, and I think one of the best ways of doing that is getting the music out there in people's hands.”

With the two out-of-town shows, they are extending the reach beyond Southwest Florida to connect with other scenes across the state.

“We're hoping that this will help the scene establish a sense of community and unite all these bands through all the various towns that are represented in this compilation,” Chris said.

Liz said that she wants this to capture the current punk scene.

“We want to make it a historical record of what it looks like here in 2026, what bands are doing, what their life looks like at this junction,” she said.

Liz added that this project was born to bring the community together. Following the April 2024 closure of Southwest Florida’s home punk venue, Ollie’s Pub, there has been a need to glue the punk scene back together.

• READ MORE:Ollie’s Pub: 1 year since beloved SWFL music venue’s closure

“Things are kind of nebulous. It's hard to find where you fit in, and this is kind of like our homing beacon for people to lock in and be like, OK, there is a community here. There is punk, there is something worth showing up to, and then they get to have a physical reminder of that,” she said.

Once all the shows are completed, the organizations plan to throw a big celebration, welcoming all the participating bands to join in the festivities. A date has yet to be determined. 

The Cochrans mentioned consideration for a follow-up event, depending on the success of this event, as interest from other bands across the state has grown. 

They are also running an online donation campaign for people out of state who still want to support this project. Click here for more information.

Nice Guys Pizza is located at 1404 Cape Coral Parkway East. Entry is $10, and tickets will be available the day of the show.