It’s been a long trip from Venezuela to New York City for . discovered the band after purchasing one of their albums at a music shop in New York in the mid-’90s, and the rest is history.
More than 20 years with the same line-up is unheard of, especially when there are six guys involved. Their brand of Afro-beat, funk, disco, jazz and Miami Sound Machine-on-steroids renders any chairs useless at their performances. The Venezolanos are currently supporting their new release via , “Not So Commercial,” on the heels of their 2009 Latin Grammy award for Best Alternative Album for “Commercial.” A campaign has been started to help fund “La Casa del Ritmo,” a film about Los Amigos Invisibles, which you can preview below and donate .
Reverb had a chance to catch up with Jose Luis Pardo, a.k.a. DJ Afro (guitarist/songwriter for Los Amigos Invisibles), who is also supporting a new album (under the DJ Afro moniker) titled, “Free.” You can catch Los Amigos Invisibles tonight at the here in town or tomorrow at the in Boulder — both nights with .
What was the decision behind using the B-sides for “Not So Commercial” instead of launching into another round in the studio for the new release?
“The decision has a lot to do the fact that we love those tracks and we didn’t want them to stay in our hard drives forever. We are currently working on what will become a new album, but we know that it is going to take a little until we think it is good enough to fly. Also, we thought it would be interesting to see how people react to tracks that we love but (might be) ‘not commercial enough.’ ”
How did the tour with Trombone Shorty come together?
“That is Matt’s (our manager) baby. He came up with the idea since we are both party bands from totally different angles. Both ends thought it was a great idea and voila!! This is the longest tour we have done in a lot of time. It’s been really fun so far.”
DJ Afro is about to drop a new release. Why now?
“After we finished working on Los Amigos’ ‘Commercial,’ I was totally wired, full of ideas and on a roll of recording. I didn’t want to stop, so I kept going. I didn’t want to do more remixes, which is what I usually would have done. Instead I started inviting in whoever wanted to make music with me, from my heroes to a friend of a friend that is an amazing opera singer. It was a mind-blowing experience to work and learn from so many different musicians.”
What are some dream collaborations that could possibly be on the horizon?
“We are chasing some of our heroes to do stuff — nothing is impossible! I already met Eumir Deodato; Still trying to hook up with Nile Rodgers, Robert Smith, Prince, Santana or Juan Gabriel.”
What Latin rock legend proved to be a huge influence for you guys?
“I need to say Hector Lavoe, but he was not a rocker. Soda Stereo was for sure the Latin band that we looked up to like rock gods.”
from on .
Los Amigos Invisibles tour dates, with Trombone Shorty
2/15 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
2/16 – Boulder, CO – Fox Theater
2/18 – Austin, TX – ACL Live
2/19 – Houston, TX – House of Blues
2/20 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues
2/23 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
2/24 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
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Julio Enriquez is a Denver writer and photographer, editor of the blog and a regular contributor to Reverb.
