Los Malos with We Destroy Tokyo

Los Malos with We Destroy Tokyo: a Purple House Party At the Anza Club... There’s been a buzz around Los Malos, a group that has been sought out by many bands in Vancouver - bands wanting to add them to their bill....

While strolling down Main St, I noticed a poster for Los Malos at The Cambrian Hall, a few steps later there was one reading Los Malos at The Anza Club. I had to run back to the first one to double check. Yes, I read correctly, they were actually playing two shows in one night. Righteous!

I headed home to grab my camera and decided to head down to their second show. I couldn’t pass up seeing a band play a second show after they already had played a first!

It was rather sloppy outside and part of me was thinking there probably won’t be too many people out anywhere due to this sort of weather. But I was wrong. There were a pile of people outside and inside there was this energy that slapped me when I walked into the room.

The Anza was decorated like my parents basement at my sister’s jr. high dance parties she used to have. Christmas lights hanging, a DJ was spinning and there was some sort of video show going on. Vintage Ninja Classics and Animae. OK my sister’s parties were not that cool… and she definitely didn’t have a guy in the corner doing a portrait painting of Frankenstein but needless to say, people were having a good time.

At the end of a trancy DJ set you could hear the rock and roll sort of feedback coming from the stage. The audience seemed to have some sort of alter ego when Los Malos came blaring out of the speakers. The band’s energy was unstoppable. It seemed to me like a band of best friends who just love to play together but the best part was, they wrote the catchiest songs I have heard in a while! Each member had his or her own style of playing that seemed to fit so well together.

In Los Malos (The Bad Guys) we have: Alejandro on acoustic guitar and lead vocals. His singing style is like no other. It’s not quite a melody; it’s more like a chant or a calling in key and in time with the music. He plays rhythm guitar on his stickered-over acoustic and has some sweet dance moves as well.

Manola is a badass kind of bass player. She throws out the lines in this, bass heavy sort of post punk rock, so solidly and it really pulls your ear into the tune of the song. She carries herself on stage so confidently in leopard print tights and an Iron Maiden T-Shirt while carrying a baby in her belly whom which she later informed me is due this June.

Francisco has paired his sweet guitar skills with his sweet guitar. Using an amp to make natural effects and play leading lines, he would sketch over the song glittery bits of ear catching notes that the audience would feed off of.

I was told that Javier was their drummer normally but he had just been deported to Mexico so they had a sub for the two shows. The drums were poppy/ heavy dance-rock driven beats which drove the violin player Amelia to a frenzy of notes that tied the songs together.

The band played an amazingly high energy set, my only complaint is to the decorating committee: you couldn’t see them all too well because all of the lights were around the bar and the Frankenstein painter and not on stage showcasing the bands, therefore getting a decent picture was almost out of the question.

As Los Malos left a packed room screaming for more, the trancy DJ set had begun while We Destroy Tokyo (the organizers of the party… and probably the decorating committee) came on stage to re-introduce everyone back to live music. The septet was geared to keep everyone dancing to their funk sort of Tower of Power inspired music. It was clear to me as my eyes wandered to the stage and through the crowd that there was a theme to this party.

There were lots of topless guys who shouldn’t be topless, gorilla costumes, ballerinas, you name it and … the theme was “inappropriate.” I guess ballerinas are inappropriate. There was an inappropriate bari-sax player, an inappropriate trumpet player, an inappropriate keyboard player, an inappropriate drummer, an inappropriate bass player and 2 inappropriate guitar players.

They sounded like a tightly knit group of friends who liked to jam. Underneath all of the sound issues the sound guy was having, I could decipher a creative sounding funk that sort of had a mediocre quality… like a grade 10 jazz band. I don’t mean to bash in anyway because the band definitely had its scene: kind of a psycadellic hippie crowd. Most of the music was instrumental except for one song, which had lyrics reciting, “ I like to party and have some fun, but all I crave is a little one on one.” And, “You rock the groove with your moving moving move.” It’s no wonder they’re mainly instrumental.

Now I would like to present the awards:

The award for best performance goes to: Los Malos
The award for the catchiest music goes to: Los Malos
The award for most original costume goes to: The ballerina
The award for the most creative décor goes to: The guy who painted the Frankenstein that hung on the wall for the rest of the night
The award for best lighting goes to: The disco ball
The award for great party hosts goes to: We Destroy Tokyo
The award for most dated lyrics goes to: We Destroy Tokyo
The award for best decorations goes to: My sister and her friends for their Jr. high basement dance parties!

http://www.myspace.com/losmalosrock

Kristen Cudmore