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know the blues... Artists
Blues From East LA – a chat with Los Lobos Mark Thompson talks with Cesar Rosas, guitarist, singer and songwriter with Los Lobos, following the band’s performance at Marinelli Field in Rockford in July. MT –“It was a great show! Glad you were able to make it to Rockford.” CR – “It was a good vibe. The people were into it – we were into it. I had a nice breeze where I was. Man, I was happy!” MT – “So – 30 years!” CR – “That’s right – 30 years of nothing but the blues!” MT – “ The band has been together with the same members all that time. That’s pretty unusual these days.” CR- “ I haven’t heard of it except for the Rolling Stones, maybe.” MT- “ What is it about you guys that keeps you together?” CR- “ I don’t know – we’ve got to pay our mortgages.” MT- “ There are a lot of different influences in your music but there has always been a strong blues influence. Is that from you, David (Hidalgo), everybody?” CR- “ It’s from all of us. The blues is the foundation of all rock & roll. We love rock & roll, so we understand the blues. We bought a lot of blues records when we were growing up – learned about all of the greats. Loved the three Kings – grew up with them and Hubert (Sumlin), Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy. Those are the guys that wrote the book, laid the foundation for all of us to have what we have now. I think Los Lobos understands that and we have a deep respect for what they did. There is also a commonality with Mexican music. There is some sort of same thread that goes through both that brings the same sort of vibe, especially in the Tex-Mex music and all of that. Zydeco and Tex-Mex – there is something common there that hits the heart for us.” MT – “ I’ve attended many of your live shows and I’ve always noticed a fair number of tapers recording the show. You’ve become known as a taper-friendly band. What is your thought on that subject?” CR – “ Don’t fight the feeling!! Let them do it – it’s good for everybody. I think for us it means that they really, really love the band. They want to share it – that’s cool, it’s alright with me.” MT- “ Doesn’t that go against what the recording industry is trying to do right now?” CR- “ Not really – it’s a different thing. The types of recordings they do are a little different than a full studio production.” MT- “ From what I heard today, it’s sounds like you’re going back to your roots – lot’s of guitar and rock & roll.” CR – “ We’ll always go back to the roots somehow. That’s where it all began. You can’t get any purer than that. It’s good. Over the years we tried to shake things up a little bit, change it a bit. But it all comes from the same well. Thank God that our well hasn’t run dry!! Not yet, anyway. With us, we’ve been very fortunate in our business and careers to be able to maintain that integrity. We feel we been given the chance to do what we’ve always wanted to do. When that day happens, when people start telling us what to do, they’re gonna kill it. I don’t think we can continue with that. We always have to be free spirits and continue to do the music we feel the way we feel it. If the record companies don’t dig it, well, the hell with them- we’ll go somewhere else. But we’ve been fortunate enough to have that respect from the record companies.” MT- “ When you’re at home, what do you listen to?” CR- “ I’ve been listening to a lot of Wes Montgomery lately. It’s really good – some Coltrane. I like jazz - instrumental stuff has been good. It means I don’t have to listen to anything else other than single-note melodies. I just get into the music. But I listen to plenty of Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery – organ trios.” MT- “ What can we look forward to from Los Lobos?” CR- “ We’re starting to track for our new record, which is going to be 50% with invited guests. We’re giving the artists that we’ve chosen to be involved a choice – to either share one of their songs with us, or we can write one together, or they can choose one of our old songs from our catalog – bring one back and revive it. Tomorrow we are going to be in Chicago. We invited Mavis Staples to do one of David’s songs called “Someday”. We’re doing that one with her. We gave her the arrangement – real gospel, kind of Al Green-ish. Then we had the most amazing – we were so gassed about having Bobby Womack. So we invited Bobby and did a session with him. We did two songs that we incorporated – we did one of his and one of our songs. We did one of my tunes called “Wicked Rain” and did Bobby’s song “Across 110th Street”. So we put them together and, man, he sang his ass off !!! It was so awesome. Bobby Womack is somebody I grew up listening to, loving his music. His voice is so unique – such a wonderful voice. He is one of my most favorite soul singers. So we’re doing that with Bobby and Mavis, then we are going to invite Tom Waits, Elvis Costello and Richard Thompson and a few others. It’s going to be fun – it’s already fun doing all of this! There’s this guy, Charles Wright, from 110th Street group who David and I grew up listening to when we were in junior high school. We loved that band so much. I grew up really digging the R&B, funk and lot’s of soul music – Sam & Dave, Aretha, all the great soul stuff. CR (cont.) –“ That’s my bag along with the blues. I grew up listening to and really appreciating – having a deep, deep love for all that stuff. I have a big record collection with lots of those records. There was a station in LA in the 60’s, KGFJ, that was on AM radio and was purely soul. It was cool – they played everybody. So that’s what we’re doing with the new record. Our target is to have it out by next spring.” MT- “ One thing that isn’t in your catalog is a live recording.” CR- “ We’re way, way overdue with that! It’s coming, man – just hang in there, everybody! I’ll tell you what – if I had a nickel for every time I slam my fist on the table about that! I’ve really been fighting everybody about it – I have so much live material, we could do 25-30 live records – lot’s of great stuff. We’ll do it down the road.” MT- “ Anything else you’d like us to know about the band or yourself?” CR- “ I just want to say thanks to all of our supporters and all of the blues lovers. I hope they continue to support the blues and I suggest that they buy as many blues records as they possibly can.”
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