The boys of Kardoid play music from their ranchera-loving parents’ nightmares. Mostly Mexican-American teenagers native to Chicago, these four up-and-coming rockers prefer Slipknot and Molotov — bands that can sound like airplanes taking off in their near-Midway neighborhood — instead of the rural ballads and bandas of México lindo y querido.
But when I telephoned guitarist Ivan Duarte at home, his mom answered excitedly in Spanish that he was busy practicing, as she passed the phone through a wash of feedback and amp distortion. “They really don’t like the music we play,” Duarte says of his family’s more traditional tastes. “But now that we’re getting attention, they have a little more respect for what we’re trying to do.”
In a city bred on blues, where immigrant musicians might make more money playing regional music from the motherland at cotillions and weddings, a rock invasion has been cooking (literally) in Latin kitchens around town since the late-’90s. Balancing underground cred with a strong web presence and word-of-mouth publicity, Chicago Latinos have put together their own tight-knit network of indie radio shows, Mexican-restaurant rock venues, and rockero tiendas vending paraphernalia and spreading news about shows. With weekly concerts at La Justicia Restaurant (www.justiciarestaurante.com) on 26th Street on Fridays, and Club PM (2047 N. Milwaukee) and Los Cazos Restaurant (5945 W. Fullerton) on Saturdays, the scene continues to reach beyond neighborhood, genre, and linguistic frontiers that once kept choices limited to a few touring shows at the same venue every year.
Now, Latin rock is in the loop, literally. In a no-man’s-land near a chicken-shack bar at Lake and Halsted, Rooster Blues & Bar B.Q. (www.roosterblues.net) used to bill itself as “the only blues club in the West Loop area,” but now the Rooster can claim fame as the most centrally located professional venue for weekly Latin rock in town. Owner Rufus McCullum built the club in 1999, from a cold-cut factory and print shop where he set up two stages, wooden benches and bar stools, exposed-brick décor, and a kitchen serving barbecue and shrimp. Turns out that the blues did not draw enough throughout the week, so McCullum diversified the calendar, which he is still tweaking with underground hip-hop, house music, Chicago Samba, and blues-rock. When Rooster cook and booking manager Francisco Villa suggested rock-en-español, McCullum was skeptical. “We still want something more like cumbias and salsa, for people to dance to,” says McCullum, “but we finally tried the Spanish rock [starting in November], because that’s what Francisco likes, and it’s working out.”
McCullum doesn’t like everything he hears on Saturday nights, but the weekly shows have so far drawn a growing crowd for four bands that typically mix it up, from industrial-goth to speed metal to garage rock. Promoter Antonio Cordova — a 21-year-old Ace Hardware worker called “Vampiro” because of his strangely sharp canines — has been working shows at La Justicia and Rooster from the get-go, building on his experience throwing high-school house-parties in his basement at home near Midway Airport. He appreciates McCullum’s gamble on Latin rock and loves the venue for its pro sound system and capacity.
Cordova hopes more of Chicago will come out for a local “Latin Rock Expo” that will feature 20 bands for $10, lasting from 4 p.m. until the early morning. With an egalitarian spirit based on a sense of community, the Expo schedule is the result of a lottery drawing that randomly assigned a 30-minute spot to each band participating. Using Rooster’s twin stages advantageously for quick set-up and transitions, the Expo should prove to be a shotgun-sampler of the various tastes, languages (Spanish or English, and in some cases both), and styles that mingle within the local scene. These bands are just as likely to cover the Who as Juan Gabriel.
The lineup includes:
Bajo Cero: Young Latin rock/pop tastes seem forever wed to ’80s New Wave, the stuff both from this side of the border and beyond (The Cure, Soda Stereo). With a sometime jangly sound that says these boys “don’t cry,” this quintet updates the brooding sounds of yesterday in a tight synth-rock effort. (www.bajoceromusic.com)
Descarga: 30-year-old manager Sandra Treviño — who grew up listening to norteño, classical Mexican trios, and Tejano — sums up her band and the scene when she says, “There are so many styles … that it doesn’t even make sense to categorize it all as just Spanish rock.” With a clean, focused sound, this quartet of Chicago-born Mexican-Americans contrasts elements of international pop-flavored vocals against harder-edged rhythms. With a gig at NYC’s 2001 Latin Alternative Music Conference under their belt, Descarga capture bits of the Chicago alter-Latino psyche with the savor of Caifanes and Foo Fighters. (www.descargazone.com)
El Guapo: The live backing band for local hip-hoppers Los Marijuanos, El Guapo boast a diverse list of venues and lineups, including a spot with Survivor, .38 Special, and Night Ranger in South Barrington a few years ago. With a straightforward pop/rock-in-Spanish sound, they’ve found their way onto Mancow and Q101.
Kardoid: This rookie band’s sound is raw, sometimes sloppy, but spirited, turning Molotov’s “Puto” into an even more frenetic experience than the original and pelting out speed-metallish growler-rock with songs titled “Maldito” and “Desmadre.” (www.kardoid.com)
Loner: With a history of collaborating on Christian Spanish rock projects, suburban guitarist/songwriter Larry Kahn says he used to play mostly in English-language venues, but he likes the respectful reception from such spots as La Justicia. With nods to classic and grunge rock, the band is not particularly Latino but enjoys the benefits of assimilation as a spin-off from locals Biblia Negra (also on the Expo bill).
Monospit: “Blah blah blah,” reads the bio scrawled on construction paper that the band handed to me. Their point: “This is not about us — it’s about the music.” Hailing from Aurora, Monospit mixes punk attitude with hard-rock execution for an aggressive, energetic performance. (www.monospit.com)
Planeta de Crystal: Their cover of the classic Who cut, translated as “Mi Generación,” comes off as a mini-manifesto for local Latin rock and update of ur-rockeros Los Locos del Ritmo: “Todo el mundo me quiere pisotear/porque me gusta desmadrar.” With traces of trad-Mexican son, PDC are evocative of ’80s power-pop. (www.planetadecrystal.com)
Vendima: Citing influences from Rush to Siouxsie to Sheep On Drugs, Vendima grinds out tunes with melodramatically dark names like “Hasta Morir” and “Oración” that amble along with heavy bass, synth programming, and Exene-like, pedal-distorted vocals from lead “Vixen” Brenda, who wears bilingual goth-influences on her sleeve, whether Mephisto Walz or Santa Sabina.
Zamandoque Tarahum: Having experimented with Afro-Cuban and folkloric Mexican music, los Bros. Amaro put together a rock combo whose name is inspired by the Mexican states of Chihuaha and San LuÃs PotosÃ. Mixing catchy riffs from Santana and Jaguares, ZT draw a rowdy crowd of SLAMistas. (www.zamandoquetarahum.com)
Expo bands not listed above include: Alebrije, Biblia Negra, Blister, Los Borrachos X, CF3, Jaula, Miseria Urbana, La Muerte, Norge Glass Company, Sacramento, and Uno de Mas. Juan “Fito” Salinas, rhythm guitarist for Uno de Mas, speaks for many of his friends when he says: “All of us, at some point or other, have been outcast . . . all of my friends growing up were into rap music, but now the Spanish rock scene is a place for me to get away.” With reports of two more restaurants on the South Side featuring Latin rock, and a February 9th mega-concert at the Congress Theatre set to start at 11am with 30 bands, local Latino rock transgresses boundaries just as its sources come from all over the world to make it here in Chicago.
February 2002, Illinois Entertainer
