Every pollinator that you know

wants to get a little piece of that c—

"The c—" is a vulgar Spanish word for buttocks commonly used in popular reggaeton music. "But it would never appear in print in La Opinión [L.A.'s Spanish-language newspaper]," Sanchez said laughing. "But you know, those guys are having sex with plants; you almost want to put a partition up because the bees are enjoying it so much. It's like, 'You've got to calm down! Do you not know I'm looking at you right now?'"

The lyrics, mostly written by Sanchez, can be biting at times, as in "PSA," a hard-driving song about white sage poaching. They also can be poignant, like in the song "I Wanna Be a Native Plant." In a video posted on YouTube, Sanchez roams the stage, jumping, crouching, rubbing his head and shout-crooning, "I wanna be a native plant, I wanna grow where they say I can't. ... Mama, make me a native plant, so I can grow where they say you can't."

More often than not, Sage Against the Machine's songs are funny, even when they have an edge. The band's most popular song, "Baby I'm a Botanist," has about 18 versions, Sanchez said, because he's always improvising new lines while the basic premise stays the same: A plant lover falls in love with a botanist.

"It's funny because so many people think that song is about them," Sanchez said, "but really it's just me, who doesn't have a degree and barely even went to school for plants, saying, 'You don't have to have a degree to be a botanist.' Some of our greatest plant people have hands too hard to shake because they got [them] working with plants. But the native-plant world can be super stuffy — 'Oh, you're not pronouncing Salvia apiana correctly' — and we're just trying to break down some of those barriers and have fun with plants."

Their catalog has tender songs too, including the romantic ballad co-written by Meyer and Sanchez, "Your Love is Like a Manzanita, Slow to Grow, Quick to Die," instantly understandable to anyone who has ever been in love or tried to grow a finicky manzanita. They already have one live album on Spotify, and plan to drop another this month.

They're such a unit when they perform — professional, focused yet still having fun — that it raises the question: Will Sage Against the Machine ever hit the big time? It's something they all say they would love, "if my boss would give me a year and half off to tour," Ramirez said jokingly, but the bandmates aren't holding their breath. Major success is probably unlikely, Cervantes said, because their songs are too specific to California and its plants. "If it goes that way, then it's meant to be," Cervantes said, "but we've built a little niche for ourselves that's pretty much our own."

Then again, who knows. If the Beach Boys could make surfing a national phenomenon, who says Sage Against the Machine can't get everyone excited about California buckwheat and white sage? It's like what Sanchez screams in his favorite song, "Connected:"

If you are the lightning, then I'll be your fire and she'll be the wind; what does that make us?

If you are the clouds; then I'll be your rain and she'll be the earth; and what does that make us?

Connected! Connected! Connected!

We are all connected!

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