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Howling at the moon
Los Lobos is known for its musical fearlessness and restless innovation
Los Lobos performs Thursday at the Flytrap Music Hall. From left, Steve Berlin, Cesar Rosas, Conrad Lozano, David Hidalgo and Louie Perez.Courtesy
By JOHN STANCAVAGE World Staff Writer
Published: 10/25/2009 2:20 AM
Last Modified: 10/25/2009 8:48 AM
"This year has been incredible," he says on the telephone from his home in California, describing a whirlwind of activity that's included separate acoustic and electric tours, a recent show at the White House, a new record and a label switch.
All that would be enough to exhaust a band of teenagers, let alone a group that's been together 36 years.
Right now, though, Perez and his bandmates — vocalist and guitarist David Hidalgo, vocalist and guitarist Cesar Rosas, bassist Conrad Lozano and horn player Steve Berlin — somehow have managed a 10-day recuperative break, their longest of the year.
"We don't tour like other bands; a few weeks on, a few weeks off," Perez says. "We go out with a vengeance."
The heavy schedule is partly due to the group's ingrained work ethic, which was shaped by the childhood friends playing dances and weddings for years in east Los Angeles. But it's also economic, as the realities of the modern record business are such that even a multi-Grammy-winning band like Los Lobos doesn't make much money selling albums.
The group's latest is "Los Lobos Goes Disney," a family-oriented album scheduled for release Tuesday.
There's a considerable risk of disaster when you have a go at "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" or "Heigh-Ho," but Los Lobos pulls it off by retaining the charm of the originals while still taking liberties with the arrangements. Standouts include a hard-rocking "The Ugly Bug Ball" and a surf version of "When You Wish Upon a Star."
"It's
like everything else Los Lobos does — we just put it all in a big pot and stir it around," Perez says.
Indeed, the band has built a strong track record for musical fearlessness and restless innovation. During the last three decades, Los Lobos has moved effortlessly from Mexican folkloric tunes and Americana to movie soundtracks and blazing rock and roll.
Yet, it still remains best-known for "La Bamba," a 100-year-old folk song the group took to No. 1 in 1987.
Perez says the group is proud of its Latino roots, but they don't define the band.
For proof of that, one only has to give a listen to "Kiko," the group's 1992 genre-defying masterpiece that turned pop song structures upside down, or 2006's "The Town and the City."
The experimentation reached similar heights on both, but where "Kiko" was the delighted squeals of kids thrown into a room full of new toys, "Town" was painted in much darker hues.
Perez, who writes lyrics to many of the band's songs, says the difference reflected where he was in his own life, as a man in his 50s knowing "there is more sand on the bottom of the hourglass than there is left on top."
But don't get too worried about him. Perez laughs frequently on the phone and says he loves what he's doing and his place in the band. As for the latter, he's moved out from behind the drums in recent years to become a front-line guitarist. Keep an eye on him in concert — more often than not he'll be the one firing off crunching riffs and "shredding" on solos.
"My guitar playing's stuck in 1972," he says with a chuckle. "Jimi Hendrix always has been the guy for me. I enjoy dissonance."
Los Lobos' next break will come around the holidays. But studio time is booked for January for new album on the Shout! Factory label.
"We're not in panic mode yet, but David and I do need to start writing," Perez said. "Even after all these years, it can be intimidating.
"I'll think back to a song like 'One Time One Night' (a standout tale of friendship and loss from 1987's 'By the Light of the Moon') and wonder, 'How can I write something that good again?' But once you get in the zone, time slows down. It's an amazing feeling."
Wolf tracks
Check out these three Los Lobos songs,
which all are streaming on the band’s Web
site, tulsaworld.com/loslobos.
“Will the Wolf Survive?”: from “How Will
the Wolf Survive,” 1984. Louie Perez’s
drums ring out like gun shots and cowriter
David Hidalgo sustains a mournful
howl as the title character is “running
scared now/forced to hide/in a land where
he once stood with pride.
“Dream in Blue”: from “Kiko,” 1987. An
intoxicating mix of punchy horns, bluesy
guitar licks and a repeating melodic line
that swings out and snaps back like a yo-yo.
“The Valley”: from “The Town and the City,”
2006. Guitars buzz like mosquitoes over a
foreboding tempo in this story of immigrants
struggling to survive in a land of plenty.
Los Lobos
When: Thursday, doors open 7 p.m.
Where: The Flytrap Music Hall, 514 E. Second
St.
Tickets: $25 advance, $32 at the door; 794-
3592
John Stancavage 581-8314
john.stancavage@tulsaworld.com
By JOHN STANCAVAGE World Staff Writer
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