Desde la bahía - noticias musicales de San Francisco - TT: From the bay - TA: news from the San Francisco music scene

Latin Beat Magazine, May, 2001 by Jesse "Chuy" Varela

Los Mocosos grew out of garages in the San Francisco Mission and the halls of Aztlán Records, the first Spanish-language rock label in the country headed by John Melrod and Happy Sánchez (to which Orixa was also signed). Formed by singer Piero Ornelas (El Malo) and bassist Sánchez with horn-player Víctor Castro in the late 1990s, they carved a heads-up reputation with their Brown & Proud album on Aztlán (one of the label's last) and made deep inroads for the group that took them across the country.

Aztlan Records planted many seeds in the 1990s, but when the label collapsed after several years of operation, the situation left a lot of bands in a sink of swim position. The Berkeley Square also sank, but Orixa swam and formed Eleguá Records. They landed on the pioneer WATCHA Tour, a Latino rockapalooza. Los Mocosos were also on the tour, but it was at the San José stop that the band fell apart when El Malo refused to perform. They didn't miss a beat, got Manny Martínez on lead vocals and kept performing other gigs.

"When you're veterans from the streets you got to make things happen," said bassist-bandleader Happy Sánchez at the Velvet Lounge in North Beach, where Six Degrees and Los Mocosos were celebrating their signing with the San Francisco indie. "Being Latino and all, you've got to keep it positive and believe in something. It's not about business for us, it's about our passion for playing. We're a real barrio rock band and represent a sound that's traditional in our neighborhood."

Los Mocosos' first album for Six Degrees is due out in May and will unveil a whole new set of songs under the title of Shades of Brown. Caliente, a song from the new album that's on the Escena Alterlatina collection, is a sample of the Mission dancehall sounds they've meshed fusing R&B, salsa, Latin rock, rap, ska and other flavors. One of the new tunes that shows their Mission pride is El Barrio Está Loco, a song that talks about urban neighborhoods around the country that are being gentrified.

"We wanted to touch on that and tell people that there is a way to maintain your culture even though you're being invaded. We do it in a fun way even though it does have its jagged edge," adds trombonist Víctor Castro. "We're the second wave of the Latin rock movement that grew out of guys playing in the garage and having fun. One thing led to another and here we ate. It's a grassroots approach and the same path that Carlos [Santana] walked. I think its time for this kind of music, given the changes around the U.S. All of a sudden, there's all these brown folk."

"We represent a demographic," says Sánchez, "that is about people coming from other countries and embracing the popular culture here. It might take two to three generations, but it changes them and their families. Los Mocosos are still eating Mexican food, talking Spanish to their grandmothers but doing their own thing."

¡Hasta la próxima! Any questions or comments can be forwarded to chuyvarela@aol.com.Paz.