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Chicano rock reunites many in scene from 1960s
Several generations of musicians and fans attended a concert last night at East Los Angeles College. Organizers were promoting a new book chronicling the history of Chicano rock and roll in Los Angeles. KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez has more.
Several generations of musicians and fans attended a concert last night at East Los Angeles College. Organizers were promoting a new book chronicling the history of Chicano rock and roll in Los Angeles. KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez has more.
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez: Bobby Espinoza of the band El Chicano was in the audience. Their 1970 hit song “Viva Tirado” led to a concert at the Apollo Theater in New York. [“Viva Tirado”]
Bobby Espinoza: Viva Tirado hit the R & B charts so they didn’t know whether we were black. They thought we were black, so when we came out on stage, we had the long hair, we were Indios to them, what’s this?
Guzman-Lopez: 1980s punk rockers and younger Latino musicians also attended. Their histories are documented in the book, “Land of a Thousand Dances: Chicano Rock and Roll from Southern California.”
Musicians Chris Conde and Israel Ramirez came to the show because many of those bands inspired them to start their own group. [Regime Noir music]
Guzman-Lopez: Teens on the Eastside, Conde says, are hungry for good music.
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Chris Conde: Every time we look around these streets we see kids that are just loitering, nowhere to go. We can relate to that.
Guzman-Lopez: Conde says his band failed to break into the popular Westside music clubs, so now they want to start their own club on the Eastside.
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