Leaders Of The Pack | Bakotopia (original) (raw)

Los Lobos aren’t just another band from East LA.

The quintet of David Hidalgo, vocals, guitar and accordion; Conrad Lozano, bass; Louie Perez, guitar; Cesar Rosas, guitar and vocals; and Steve Berlin, saxophone, have been responsible for entertaining —as well as educating — a new generation of listeners about what it is to live and survive within the colorful fabric of American life and supplying a soundtrack to the Mexican American experience since 1972.

(Los Lobos, L to R: Louie Perez, Steve Berlin, Cesar Rosas, Conrad Lozano, David Hidalgo)

Appearing live for a free show at the Kern County Fair’s Budweiser Pavilion this weekend — 8 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 23, 2007 — Bakersfield will once again get a chance to hear what many music critics have proclaimed “one of the greatest American rock bands of all time.”

Combining rock, cumbia, Tejano, bolero, blues, soul, mariachi and a tip of the sombrero to punk rock, it’s hard to categorize these kings of East Los.

Relaxing at his present home in Orange County, Calif., guitarist Perez, who originally began playing drums for Los Lobos, is attempting to do the impossible — take a break.

“The band’s doing good,” said Perez, 53, of their latest tour in support of the group’s current release, “The Town And The City.”

“We’ve been working a lot, so it’s good to be home for just a little piece o’ change for a few days.”

By this time, you’d think that life on the road would be easier, but that isn’t always the case, even for a veteran like Perez.

“I find myself moaning and groaning about having to get up at 3:45 a.m. to drive an hour and a half to an airport, make connections, then drive to a gig,” he said. “Then I have to remind myself, ‘Just a second Louie, you got the best job in the world. What are you complaining about?’”

And what a ride it’s been for the band of friends who started making noise in neighborhood garages during their years at historic Garfield High School — the same school that also introduced the world to another famous East LA figure, teacher Jaime Escalante, immortalized in the movie “Stand and Deliver” by actor Edward James Olmos.

“We four all met in high school as friends first. We were all musicians, but we never played together,” explained Perez about how the group, with the exception of Berlin, began their musical journey as neighborhood teens.

Their lives would ultimately parallel each other after graduation.

“You know the dynamic. You’re out of high school, living at home, three square meals, mamacita is making some killer food,” he said.

But even though they were close buddies, their early musical projects developed outside their circle of friendship.

“David and I played in a rock band, Conrad had a band, Cesar had a 15-piece soul band. We’d hang out during the day, rehearse at night with our bands, but we’d find ourselves together in the back yard hanging out again.”

Busy individually, the four would finally come together as an early-morning gift for one of their mothers on her birthday.

“This is the true story,” said Perez. “We’re all hanging out, and we just figure, ‘You know? Why don’t we learn a couple of Mexican songs for her? We’ll do Las Mañanitas.’”

Digging through their parents’ record collection to find a copy of the traditional Mexican serenade to learn, Perez and company were faced with a musical challenge.

“We pulled out the records, and sat there and tried to learn a few songs to play for mom, and we realized, ‘Man, it’s not easy!’ We always took rock ‘n’ roll for granted,” he said. “That was so fascinating to us as musicians, that we just dove into learning.”

Despite being raised on rock and soul music, the foursome continued to expand their repertoire, scoring more gigs as traditionalists than rockers.

“It got to the point that we were playing a couple of local gigs like tardeadas in the park, or a VFW hall,” said Perez. “It started to collide with the bands we were playing with, and we got to the point where we had to make a decision. Do we want to do this full time?”

Disbanding all of their groups to focus on their newfound direction, the guys dubbed themselves Los Lobos del Este (de Los Angeles), parodying another traditional Mexican music group from the north. Now thoroughly immersed in folklorica style and technique, the band almost completely turned its back on rock ‘n’ roll, but not completely.

“We became aware of Mexican music, and because of the challenge it presented us, we put away our amps and Strats (electric guitars,) and it’s all we did for 10 years,” said Perez. “Rancheras, mariachi, music from Veracruz, Huasteco — all of that stuff. We collected Mexican instruments and asked older musicians how they were played.”

Fast forward 10 years, and the band began feeling the stress of familiar territory. Meanwhile, lives were changing — marriages, children. The band needed a new avenue.

“Toward the end of the ‘70s, until about 1980, we found ourselves playing in a Mexican restaurant because we needed to make an income,” he said. “All of our families supported us during this time, and I think they recognized that there was something special going on. And so it was worth the sacrifice, even though it got very difficult.”

To change things up a little, the band decided to add Tex-Mex into their sets, with Hidalgo picking up the accordion, Rosas on bajo sexto and Perez assigned to drums.

“We had started out wanting to redefine what most people perceived as ‘Mexican music,’” explained Perez. “I mean, if you look at a norteño band, it’s kind of like a rock band. Of course, we got so damn loud that we ended up getting fired from the restaurant we were playing at.”

Stuck as a wedding band, Perez and Hidalgo would make frequent concert trips across the LA River into Hollywood. It was there that they discovered punk rock and the roots revival through bands like The Blasters, The Plugz, Fear and Circle Jerks.

(The Blasters)

“The punk rock thing was just really raw and exciting in the ‘80s. We’d be packed into these basements inside Chinese restaurants that weren’t even clubs,” he said. “And there were bands like The Blasters playing jump blues and rockabilly with punk rock.”

During one of their Hollywood trips, Perez met up with Plugz frontman Tito Larriva, a Chicano punk vet who many now recognize from the vampire band in the Robert Rodriguez film, “From Dusk ‘Til Dawn.”

(The Plugz)

“Tito called me up one day and asked us if we’d like to open up for PIL (Public Image Limited, a band fronted by former Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten) at The Olympic Auditorium,” he said. “This was a big deal. We brought our wives and somebody even brought like a tia or something.”

The band hit the stage, but lasted only eight minutes.

“We were spit at, but we literally ran off as soon as they started throwing the serious projectile,” laughed Perez. “Backstage our family was in tears, but we had these silly, weird grins on our faces, like, ‘Wow, let’s do it again, dammit.’”

Now with some added punk rock street cred to their name for surviving the show, Los Lobos began to rock more, scoring another legendary gig opening for The Blasters at the famous Whisky A Go Go in ’81. This show proved to be a turning point in the band’s career.

“Finally, because we opened for them, the scene kind of opened up to us,” said Perez.
Blasters’ saxophonist Steve Berlin also became close to Los Lobos, showing up to jam with the band after his own shows. He soon joined the group permanently.

“We left a window open and he just jumped in the van one day while we were driving through Hollywood,” said Perez jokingly.

Continuing their experimentation with Latin fusion, the industry kept a close eye on the band as their “it” band reputation grew stronger. Signing with indie label Slash in ‘82, the band released an EP “…And A Time To Dance,” earning them their first Grammy win for the song “Anselma” the following year.

“It was an amazing time,” remembered Perez. “We were touring out of a 1978 Dodge Van, all sleeping in one motel room. We’d take the beds apart and have a coin toss to see who was getting the mattress or the box spring.”

When they were notified by their publicist of the Grammy win, it seemed like things were finally looking brighter.

And they were.

After they released their full-length debut, “How Will The Wolf Survive,” with Warner Bros. in 1984, every critic around the globe made sure one thing was clear: Los Lobos are leaders of the pack. To this day, the memory still amazes Perez.

“We put out that record, and Rolling Stone names us ‘Band of The Year’ tied with Bruce Springsteen & The E. St. Band. I mean, how does this stuff happen?”

After another critically acclaimed sophomore effort, the band scored its biggest success to date, being asked to be the voice and sound of the late Richie Valens in “La Bamba” the 1987 film and music project to which they will be forever connected.

“It just happened at the right time. It was really an American story that touched a lot of people, and we never had a clue it would be as huge as it did,” he said.

After the commercial craze of “La Bamba” had died down, the band was faced with a decision on whether to capitalize on that success or retain their integrity and move forward. Los Lobos chose the latter.

Releasing “La Pistola y La Corazon,” a traditional album of Mexican music, Los Lobos decided it was time to revisit the neighborhood.

“We decided to take all that incredible focus, all that attention, and direct it to something that really meant something to us — it’s the music of our culture,” said Perez. “We definitely weren’t going to make a ‘La Bamba 2.’”

Following with more critically acclaimed albums like “Kiko” and “The Neighborhood” through the ‘90s, the spirit of the Los Lobos message never showed signs of waning.

“We’re not just creating music for Latinos, and we’re not playing to packed houses filled with just brown faces,” he said. “We are taking our experience and sharing it with people around the world.”

Celebrating 35 years together this November, Perez and Los Lobos continue to broaden the scope of Mexican music to create more ethereal sounding masterpieces for generations to enjoy and learn from as a real American success story.

“We’re an example of a very seamless combination, of being American and being Mexican. It’s very natural — the way it’s supposed to be.”