DELTA GROOVE RECORDS LOS FABULOCOS – STRAIGHT OUTTA EAST LOS ANGELES WITH MUSIC THAT’S STRAIGHT OUTTA EVERYWHERE
AN AUDIENCE FROM WHITTIER BLVD. TO GERMANY ’S AUTOBAHN
http://www.myspace.com/losfabulocos
Los Fabulocos, Chicanos all, is the latest - and musically all encompassing - group to emerge from East Los Angeles, home of America ’s largest Mexican-American community and ground central for the musical and cultural revolution called Chicano Rock, that started decades ago and remains ongoing and vibrant today.
Los Fabulocos’ label (www.DeltaGroveProductions.com), the independent blues and roots music Delta Groove Records calls the group’s sound, “CaliMex” - music that fixes a strong Southern California groove into musical DNA produced from a confluence of a Mexican heritage, a Mexican-American upbringing and exposure to one of the most musically creative centers in the country. Home and neighborhood to Los Fabulocos.
Here, on the streets, fixed between various cultures, each with its rich music and traditions, Los Fabulocos evolved, first as individual musicians and now as a group.
Many different streams of music ebb and flow within the ranks of Los Fabulocos as a glance at the titles on the group’s first CD will show. From rock standards to recreations of material from classic Mexican cancionero singers, with nods to Doug Sahm, Lloyd Price and Rockin’ Dopsie. Added to this mix are Los Fabulocos’ own originals, again drawn from all these areas. Singing in English and Spanish, Los Fabulocos travel the rock, blues and Mexican routes, always laying down a good time groove. Fused together it becomes, as one critic noted “The quintessential Roots album of 2008.” Fans of Los Fabulocos would not disagree.
But the CD only unveils part of Los Fabulocos. Seen live the band can rock apparently effortlessly and endlessly. A six hour gig is no problem. “We don’t have a set list before we go onstage,” says guitarist Kid Ramos. “We react to the audience…”
These audiences are, like the group’s music, also diverse. From Whittier Blvd, East LA ’s most celebrated street, to the autobahns of Germany , audiences welcome Los Fabulocos. The band is particularly popular on the blues festival circuits in Europe , having made several trips there. Los Fabulocos are missionaries of a sort, for the kind of gritty, relevant music that pours out of the East L.A. area.
The group began about four years ago, started by Jesus Cuevas, singer and button accordion maestro, drummer Molina and James Barrios, bass, plus another guitar player. Cuevas and Molina had worked together in The Blazers, a band – with its danceable brand of Ameri-Mex styles - generally regarded as the closest rivals to Los Lobos Del Este Los Angeles, superstars of the Chicano Rock genre. Together, they spent about seven years touring and recording with The Blazers. “I think I was the longest serving drummer,” says Molina.
When the original Los Fabulocos guitar player left, Cuevas kicked things up a notch by inviting friend and fellow motorcycle enthusiast Kid Ramos into the group.
Kid Ramos, who over the years has built one of the better reps around as a blues player (Fabulous Thunderbirds, James Harman, The Mannish Boys). And, like the other three, hails from Southern California and has been exposed to the multilingual nuances of all kinds of Chicano music.
Ramos fit right into the Los Fabulocos family. Especially after Cuevas persuaded him to play the bajo sexto to provide an even more characteristic sound to the front line. The bajo sexto (sixth bass) is a Mexican instrument, a 12 string guitar on steroids. It is most often heard in traditional Mexican settings - the conjunto, norteno and tejano music - but rarely elsewhere.
Says Ramos: “Jesse said they needed a bajo sexto player so I said I’d learn it. It’s tuned differently to a guitar and very demanding and difficult to play, like a bass on the bottom strings and treble in the top strings.”
Cuevas admits: “It’s a tough instrument but Kid really got into it and it does give the group a really strong rhythm on the right material.”
The bajo sexto is just one part of what Los Fabulocos does musically but it specifies the care and attention that the quartet pays to its music and the roots thereof. Every band has its influences and its roots but, for Los Fabulocos, they seem to be wider and go deeper than most.
Take bassist and vocalist, James Barrios, for example. Surprisingly for an San Gabriel Valley native, he finds Buck Owens, Wynn Stewart and Webb Pierce and the country music that came out of Bakersfield , California , in the 1970s, irresistible. “As a child I was introduced to it through my dad,: he says. “I just love those harmonies.” And these harmonies also find their way into the multicultural play list of Los Fabulocos. Drummer Mike Molina, who started out doing custom art work before a set of drums sidetracked him, controls the tempo and the dynamics of the group, something he learned from one of his influences, Jasper Thomas, drummer for Chuck Berry on the early Chess Records sessions.
Jesus Cuevas, singer and button accordion player, looks both behind and sideways for what influences him. There’s Louisiana accordion-based zydeco (in particular the music of Clifton Chenier) and there’s the music, from the 1940s, of Los Alegres Del Teran, pioneers of the harmonically rich norteno, corridos and rancheras.
Ramos remains firmly with the blues although he notes, “I think I bring a bit of rock ’n‘ roll to Los Fabulocos.” He has been obsessed with blues guitar since 14 when he discovered that Eric Clapton worshipped B.B. King. King’s “Live At The Regal” was Ramos’ tipping point - one that sent him into the blues world. It could have been different, “Both my parents are opera singers,” he says. “My step dad sang at the Metropolitan Opera. As a kid, they’d have these parties with people hanging around singing Arias.
“But the blues became my thing, not as a protest, I just loved the music. You go all over the world and there will always be people who love the blues. Because it’s real. It transcends age and race and economics.”
The statement can also be applied to the transcending power of the music and style(s) of Los Fabulocos.
Los Fabulocos featuring Kid Ramos's Friend Space (Top 8)
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Hey Guys, come on down to the Redwood Room in Maywood, CA Sunday, August 22 from noon to 9pm. FREE food, NO Cover, plenty of raffle prizes! Big Manny hits the stage from 5-9pm.
Hey Guys, come on down to the Redwood Room in Maywood, CA Sunday, August 22 from noon to 9pm. FREE food, NO Cover, plenty of raffle prizes! Big Manny hits the stage from 5-9pm.
I'm looking for bands to play at The Blue Cafe(s) for every night of the week and select saturdays at the Puka Bar in Long Beach. You can refer to my booking blogs for what is available or send over a message of what sounds good and I can shoot over some dates for you. Hope to hear from you soon -Amy
Hey Guys, Awesome time at the Benefit on Sunday. Kid mentioned you have something coming up at Irvine Lake. Let us know the details so we can take the girls!
Hey guys!!! Great job last night at Fullerton Marketplace!!! It was a blast !!!! Had a great time dancing & getting the dance floor started !!!! ***SUNSHINE****
