Los Fabulocos Rock Gruene Hall Again!
Like their debut performance back in February, Los Fabulocos played to a packed house when they returned to Gruene Hall.
Crowds came from all surrounding cities for their first show and the same thing happened this time around. The East Los Angeles band band kicked off their Tex-Mex/Cali-Mex show at 1pm on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, the first of three shows that included two evening shows later that night in Austin as part of the South by Southwest Music Conference (SXSW). It was their first appearance at SXSW and meant exposure on a wide scale.
Los Fabulocos at Gruene Hall, pictured left to right: Jesse Cuevas, Mike Molina, Kid Ramos and James Barrios
To say the band performed a blistering set would be a major understatement. The crowds that wandered in off the street witnessed a band at the top of their game. Vocalist Jesse Cuevas has a voice tailor-made for this type of music. When you combine his vocal prowess with his amazing button accordion skills, you have a match made in Tex-Mex heaven. Guitarist David Ramos, or "Kid" Ramos as he’s known in music circles, often lends a hand on vocals but it’s his 6-string skills that make the fans shake their heads in amazement. Whether he’s cranking out classic blues licks on his trusty Fender Telecaster or playing a traditional conjunto lick on the bajo sexto, Ramos and his instrument become one. Watching him cut loose on an extended solo will make young up and coming guitar players put aside their axe and try their hand at playing the trumpet. Yes, he’s that good!
Drummer Mike Molina and bassist /vocalist James Barrios may reside in the background, but they are the true backbone of this band. It’s Molina and Barrios that keep the beat going while Ramos and Cuevas venture into the great wide open on guitar or accordion solos. Often Barrios will step aside and stop playing while Molina hammers out a driving back beat, then expertly join back in to bring the groove back down to earth and light the runway for Jesse and Ramos to safely land back on solid ground. Barrios, who did a rousing rendition of Folsom Prison Blues, wrote the one country-flavored song on their CD, "You Keep Drinkin'".
Vocalist/Bassist/Songwriter James Barrios
It is a thing of pure beauty to watch this band play a live gig, especially in an intimate venue like Gruene Hall. The crowd consists of true fans mixed in with weekend tourists and winter Texans that have wandered in out of the sun to enjoy a cold beer and see what all the fuss is about. Regardless of the category you fall into, you will leave knowing you have just seen one of the best bands in the business and in sheer disbelief; you realize there was no cover charge. Is this a great country or what?
Trust me my friend; it won’t be this way for long. Soon the secret will be out and they will be playing to packed venues all across America. Until then, don’t miss any opportunity to catch the band and to pick up a copy of their debut self-titled CD on the Delta Groove label. If your local music outlet doesn’t stock it, just go to amazon.com or deltagrooveproductions.com and pick up a copy online.
They cut the CD live in the studio on a shoestring budget. “We cut the CD live in just a few days,” recalled Cuevas, talking in the beer garden outside Gruene Hall prior to their show. “We set up our gear just like a live gig and knocked it out. There was very little overdubbing on this album. We’ve all been writing songs for our next CD and hopefully we’ll have a little more time in the studio, but we’ll still cut it live, just like we did the first one. It just sounds better and you can play the songs in concert and they will sound just like the record.”
Jesse knows what he’s talking about, because it’s in a smoky dancehall on a hot afternoon in Texas that this little ‘ol band from East LA won over the packed crowd and made hundreds of new fans. Believe me, we’ll all be watching the calendar so we can be front and center when they come back to Tejas.
David "Kid" Ramos plays the bajo sexto.