INTERESTED IN
LOS LOBOS?

ARTIST BIO

More than three decades have passed since Los Lobos released their debut album, Just Another Band from East L.A. Since then they've repeatedly disproven that title Los Lobos isn't "just another" anything, but rather a band that has consistently evolved artistically while never losing sight of their humble roots. A rare example of longevity in a volatile music world that stresses style over substance, Los Lobos' lineup has remained uninterrupted since 1984, when saxophonist/keyboardist Steve Berlin joined original members Perez, Hidalgo, Rosas and Lozano, each of whom had been there since the beginning in 1973.

Los Lobos is a band that continually redefines itself and expands its scope with each passing year, while never losing sight of where they came from. Through sheer camaraderie and respect for one another's musicality, they've continued to explore who Los Lobos is and what they have to offer, without succumbing to the burnout that plagues so many other bands that stick it out for any considerable length of time. Their influence is vast, yet they remain humble, centered and dedicated to their craft. Each new recording they make moves Los Lobos into another new dimension while simultaneously sounding like no one else in the world but Los Lobos. As All About Jazz raved, "The genius of Los Lobos resides in their innate ability to find the redemptive power of music, no matter the style they choose to play."

It was during their earliest years that the particular hybrid of traditional regional Mexican folk music, rock and roll, blues, R&B, country and other genres began finding a sweet spot in the music of Los Lobos. "In 1973, when we first formed," says Perez, "we were four guys from East L.A. who were friends from high school who played in local rock bands. Then once we got out of high school you still had four guys who were just hanging out together. So the natural progression of things is to just start playing music again. You'd think that we'd form a rock band but then out of nowhere somebody got this idea of 'Let's learn a Mexican song to play for somebody's mom for their birthday' or something. Mexican music was largely just wallpaper for us-it was always in the background, and we never paid much attention to it. We were modern kids who listened to rock and roll. Then when we finally dug up some old records to learn a couple of songs, that was a real revelation to us that this music is actually very complicated and challenging. So at that point we were off and running."

By 1980, they began to turn up the volume, returning to rock music. At first, acceptance was evasive-at one notorious gig, Los Lobos was rejected by a hostile hometown crowd while opening for John Lydon's post-Sex Pistols band Public Image Ltd. Before long though, Los Lobos had begun to build an audience within L.A.'s punk and roots-rock world. An opening slot for hometown rock heroes the Blasters at the Sunset Strip's legendary Whisky A-Go-Go in 1982 was a breakthrough, and that band's saxophonist Steve Berlin took a special interest in Lobos, joining the group full-time for 1984's critically acclaimed Slash Records debut, How Will the Wolf Survive? As the '80s kicked in for real, Los Lobos' fortunes quickly turned in a positive direction, and they became one of the most highly regarded bands to emerge from the fertile L.A. scene.

One of the most momentous events in Los Lobos' history arrived in 1987, when the band was tapped to cover "La Bamba," the Mexican folk standard that had been transformed into a rock and roll classic in 1958 when it was recorded by the ill-fated 17-year-old Ritchie Valens. Valens, the first Chicano rock star, was catapulted to legendary status the following year when he died in a plane crash along with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper and it was a natural choice that Los Lobos be asked to remake his signature hit for the forthcoming biopic of the same name. Little did anyone suspect that the remake would spring to number one on the charts!

Los Lobos was now reaching a vastly larger audience. "We were opening up for bands like U2 and the Clash and traveling around the world," says Lozano. "You'd walk into an airplane and some little kid would be singing 'La Bamba.' It was a great time."

Since then, on equally stunning albums such as 1996's Colossal Head, 2002's Good Morning Aztlan and 2006's The Town and the City, Los Lobos has continued to deliver dependably solid and diverse recordings, a live show that never fails to disappoint, and just enough side trips-a Disney tribute album and a couple of live ones, solo and duet recordings (among them Hidalgo and Perez's '90s diversion Latin Playboys), Berlin's many production and sideman gigs-to keep their creative juices flowing.

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