Kevin Bronson on June 4th, 2019

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Are you in shape for LA Pride Week? WASI certainly are.

Fresh off unveiling the “workout” video for the single “Run” — the release party was held at a Crossfit gym — the L.A. quintet will release their debut full-length on Friday. It’s titled “Riot Pop,” which is WASI’s name for their brand of music, which mashes electro-pop, hip-hop, dance-punk and garage-rock into a cocktail of self-affirmation and inclusivity. The band, founded by Buena Park natives (and now newlyweds) Merilou Salazar and Jessie Meehan, has become a beacon of positivity for youth whose identity, body type or politics has left them feeling as if they’re on the outside looking in.

“I’m a fighter / outsider,” they sing buoyantly in the chorus to “Outsider,” leading to rap verses like “It starts right here / In the mind, body and willpower.” WASI turn such messages of empowerment into reasons to dance. “So we rage off and on the stage / It’s not another phase but a fundamental wave,” they sing in “Pussy Grabs Back.”

The band has embraced activism along with music. They founded L.A.’s Women Fuck Shit Up Fest, which last year made its Washington, D.C., debut and have worked with LGBTQ youth centers around the country spreading a message of pride and acceptance — something they again will do on their forthcoming Love Is Gay tour.

You don’t need to be at the gym for “Run” to get your blood pumping. It’s a flat-out fun dance track that’s also a call for unity: “We may be small in numbers / But we are here for each other / Together we create a space to make / A better place.”

||| Watch: The video for “Run”

||| Also: Stream “What Is Riot Pop?”

||| Live: WASI kick off their Love Is Gay tour with a show on Monday, June 10 at Que Sera (1923 E. 7th St., Long Beach), joined by Lucy & La Mer and Polartropica.

||| Previously: Live at Buzz Bands LA’s Echo Park Rising showcase