The News
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Move over mariachi, cumbia and salsa. Folk and blues have come to Mexico City.
With twanging guitar solos, simple vocals and knee-tappping beats, Marc Monster and The Olives brings a unique proposition to the local music scene: U.S.-style country, blues and rock-and-roll from an entirely Mexican eight-piece band.
Vocalist Marco Olivera, 27, fronts the group, which is playing tonight at the Black Horse bar in the city's Condesa neighborhood.
"We play country, folk and blues, a little swing and rock, in the style of older American rhythms," Olivera said inside the band's one-room practice studio.
Band members also include Cristian Rodríguez on bass, Noé Sánchez on drums, Víctor Cintra on electric guitar, Cristian Uribe on acoustic guitar, Pablo Coello on saxophone, Alan Oli-vas on trumpet, and César Rojas on keyboard. Five of them hail from Mexico City, two from Baja California and one from Chiapas.
When they aren't playing in the band, they're playing elsewhere in the city, giving lessons, collaborating with groups and experimenting with all sounds and styles. All of them hold degrees in music.
Olivera, who pens the band's mostly English-language lyrics, said his love affair with "folk gringo" first developed when he studied in Boston between 2001 and 2005; the band formed in late 2007, and he's been bringing the rhythms back home to Mexico since, all the while recruiting more members.
The group released its self-titled album last year, an 11-song disc filled with lyrics of love, spite and easy-going beats inspired by U.S. folk and blues artists Bob Dylan and Otis Redding.
The track "New York is in Cuba" combines head-bopping bongos and foot-tapping saxophone riffs with an upbeat melody. "Meet Me Up" and "Along the Road" adopt a similar tempo, but add more electric guitar and huskier vocals to the mix.
"Yuhu," a song Olivera wrote about finding success, keeps the drums quick but the vibe mellow. The lighter track "Olga" is a tribute to Olivera's girlfriend.
The disc sells for 100 pesos at the Discoteca record store near Parque España in Condesa, and tracks are also available on iTunes.
The band plans to release its second album, "High Heels," this summer, although it has yet to set a release date. The tracks are already available online on the group's Web site.
"The second disc is more evolved, it's stronger, more energetic and a little more over-the-top than the first," Olivera said.
"Nobody" channels Pink Floyd, another inspiration for the band, with a slow tempo and elongated, echoing vocals. "Lady Killer," meanwhile, is more rock-oriented than it is folk - Olivera's voice is harsh and edgier, while the guitar takes on a more somber tone.
The Spanish-language songs "La Salida" and "Kumbia" are a bit of a departure from the group's discography, with the latter track imposing a folksy feel to traditional cumbia percussion and guitar.
FOLK IN MEXICO
Guitarist Cristian Uribe, 33, said that despite the band's mostly English songs, Mexican audiences embrace the music.
"If you have the chance to hear good music, you'll listen to it even if you don't understand what [the band] is saying ... there's still the melody, the rhythm and the joy of it," he said at the studio. "We have very strong live shows and it's always a fun experience."
Olivera added that the group's traditional U.S. stylings strongly appeal to English-speaking non-natives living in Mexico City.
"They can identify with the lyrics and with their traditional music," he explained. "It's as if a group of Americans played cumbia or salsa in the United States - here, we're playing the blues."
The vocalist said the band's unique niche in the local scene made it easier to enter the music world. Given that they weren't the competition, many bands were willing to help the act first get started.
The real challenge is finding new spaces to play shows, he explained.
Local bands have limited options for where they can perform, especially with quality sound equipment and a good turnout potential.
The band mostly circulates in the Roma and Polanco neighborhoods and in Condesa bars like the Black Horse, Pata Negra and El Imperial.
Olivera said that in addition to playing more shows throughout Mexico and recording more albums, one of his biggest dreams is to compete in the U.S. folk and blues scene - starting in the world's country music capital, Nashville.
And, as always, he hopes to keep bringing the twangs, thumps and tempo of U.S. folk to Mexican music.
