MySpace a place for friends

I will periodically upload songs from the vaults, as well as fresh recordings, documenting my musical journeys over these past couple decades.

My YouTube page is at http://www.youtube.com/victorgarciarivera

The following bio pretty much describes "Where I Come From":

Cuban born guitarist Victor Garcia-Rivera is a veteran of the 1980’s North American underground scene, and comes from an extended family that includes luminaries such as actors Andy Garcia, Dominik Garcia-Lorido and Jordi Vilasuso, jazz guitarist Al DiMeola, acclaimed Cuban painter Oscar Garcia-Rivera, Cuban jazz drummer and teacher Fausto Garcia-Rivera, and drummer Alex Garcia-Rivera [Shelter, Piebald, Saves The Day].

Christened “Johnny Cuba” by Joe Strummer of the Clash, Victor toured with his band The Edge, playing gigs with the most important bands of that scene, such as Dead Kennedys, Husker Du, No Fx, Conflict, Gang Green, Dinosaur Jr., Descendants, DOA, and dozens of other legendary bands. He released several records and CDs and had a video on MTV. Foreign bands as far ashore as Japan have covered and recorded his songs. In the 1990s, he formed one of the first Spanish rock bands in the USA, Arranca, and caused controversy when his punk reworking of the Cuban national anthem was censored, both by the Cuban government and by militant Miami exiles

The first song on this page, "No Return",as well as "Soy Roquero", is from Arranca, one of the first Spanish language bands to originate from the Midwest!

The other songs on this page- "Fire Bay" and "All Rise" are from my most recent band, Last Gang In Town

Last Gang in Town's MySpace page is at http://www.myspace.com/lastgang and our web page is at: http://lastgang.com

After The Edge, I formed my second band, Arranca, in 1995.

Here's some of the critical reaction:

Arranca is a punk-rock Cuban-American band which has taken Marti's belief that "Poetry is suffering," and poured their pain out in their first release Exile on Pain Street (Exilio Doloroso).

Their album has already been banned in Cuba and heavily criticized in Miami.

Their 10th track: Rational Anthem (Himno Racional) is an all out assault on Cuban sacred cows.

It's a powerful song of protest which has been adapted from the Cuban national anthem.

It is the equivalent of turning a flag upside down: a symbol of distress and national disaster. Exhorting Cuban youth in the island to "renounce the dictatorship, the hardships and the restrictions on liberty which they currently suffer."

-by John Suarez, published in Yara! July 1st 1998

Imagine the Ramones and a little bit of the Clash if they were from Cuba and you have Arranca.

10 songs that fuckin' rule! Cover songs include a 1940's Latino classic by Trio Matamoros called "Oye El Cha Cha".

Originally from Cincinnati, these guys have even had their share of controversy surrounding them since they do the "Cuban National Anthem", their version called "Himno Racional (Rational Anthem)", but with upbeat punk rock music behind it. The Cuban government has banned the song from the radio.

Mr. Garcia-Rivera is also the producer of a Miami-based radio show called "Radio Roquero" on shortwave radio station (9955 kHz) at 6 PM on Sundays through Radio Miami International. It's the first Punk Rock Show to Cuba.

Miami and Cuban officials have jammed the song when it's played on his show.

Arranca was formed from the ashes of 80's Cincinnati/Boston punk band, The Edge.

I think I saw them at Fender's Ballroom with Conflict and a young and untalented NOFX back in '85 or so.

If they were from Los Angeles they would probably be one of the biggest Rock en Español acts around, even out-Español-ing Calavera.

-published in Censor This

Cuban Native Victor Garcia-Rivera mixes punked-up Spanish folk tunes with disarmingly naive bilingual three-chord anthems on this Cincinnati trio's debut release Exile on Pain Street (Roquero).

"Himno Racional", a racous take on the Cuban national anthem, has been banned by one Miami radio station and the Cuban government; you can't get much punker than that nowadays!

-published in the Chicago Reader, September 21, 1996

Well here's a nice change of pace -- an intelligent, hummable, politically aware (though not PC), billingual (half in spanish) indie rock album.

Can't say I ever expected to see the day.

Hey, it isn't perfect, but it's pretty damned catchy, and quite entertaining (never heard "Guantanamera" as a punk song before).

A rare thing -- something different and good.

-published in Punk Planet

The rock I've heard in most Latin rock seems to be derived from such pathetic sources as Journey, Foreigner, Styx, and Loverboy -- slick, glossy stuff that reeks of formula whether the vocals are in English or Spanish.

Not so with Arranca, a Cuban-American rock en espanol trio from Cincinnati whose debut album "Exile on Pain Street" (Exilio Doloroso) screams and wails like the Rolling Stones album from which it scavenges its name.

Led by one-time Miamian Victor Garcia-Rivera, Arranca mixes the confrontational assault of three chord punk with daring rewrites of Latino classics such as "Oye el Cha Cha," a Forties hit first recorded by Cuba's Trio Matamoros.

-from Miami New Times

Arranca play a natty, heart-felt brand of Punk that largely gets passed over by the more sugar-sweet brand.

Led by Victor Garcia-Rivera, Arranca spits and rolls out feisty, intellectual and immediate messages about Garcia-Rivera's and his familiy's experiences with a personal and honest depth that is largely unrivaled.

The band's debut, Exile on Pain Street, operates on the level of a conceptual magnum opus and is one of the best releases of the year so far.

-from Cincinnati City Beat

With the imminent death of Fidel Castro in the news lately, I feel that these songs are more timely than ever!

Cuba libre!

-Victor Garcia-Rivera