Set up four long-haired guys in T-shirts, jeans and tennis shoes with two guitars, a bass and a kick-ass trap set, then throw in a few accessories like sunglasses, belts and nose hoops, and you have your basic rock & roll band. Add a crowd of casually dressed hot guys holding beer cups and beautiful women in midriff-baring halters smashed against a stage, and you have yourself a basic rock concert.
But, whoa, what’s that? “Los Muebles del Planeta de los Simios”? Huh? And what’s that tropical rhythm doing in a rock song? More to the point: Why does it sound so good? It never worked for Jimmy Buffett. (Um… sorry Parrotheads.) And look at all of those bongos, man. Do you feel that? Did you hear that? Do you understand those lyrics?
No? Well, who cares?
Welcome to the second Carlotan’ Rock Latin Rock Festival, where you’re as likely to find a Che Guevara T-shirt as an American Idiot. The members of local rock en español band La Rúa, founders and organizers of the festival, began putting in countless hours designing logos and websites, scheduling bands and fielding phone calls almost immediately following the success of last year’s sweaty festival that attracted more than 500 area fans.
“After we saw the success of the first year, we said, ‘We have to do this every year,'” says La Rúa guitarist Tony Arreaza.
You’ve heard it by now: As of the latest census figures, Latinos are the largest minority group in the US. It’s positively changed the social, political and economic landscape. It’s also changing the musical landscape, challenging North Americans’ often limited knowledge of Latin music as mariachi bands playing as you eat burritos and lick the salt off a margarita glass, or a hot night of salsa dancing after three easy lessons.
Mariachi and salsa are fine musical genres, but don’t forget merengue, flamenco, tango, vallenato, cumbia, norteño and the dozens of other Latin music genres including, of course, rock en español. This year, some of Latin music’s top rock acts are finally coming to town in a big way.
“It’s amazing, I’ve been here 11, 12 years, and if you put all of those years together, we’ve never had a year like this one,” says Arreaza. “We’ve had Los Amigos Invisibles, Juanes, Molotov, Jaguares, and we’re doing Carlotan’ Rock with a national band, Sóniko. Is this the same Charlotte?”
Juan Miguel Marin, La Rúa’s drummer and lead singer, moved here from Ecuador five years ago. He was just a guy with a voice and a drum set playing to an audience of fleas in an abandoned warehouse. Then he met the other members of La Rúa and found a local joint to showcase his talent. The band’s first gig was a smash.
“The place was packed,” Marin recalls. “Nobody knew who La Rúa was and we had almost 200 people in the place. That night, I knew that people here were starved for music in Spanish.”
Wall-to-wall people at Carlotan’ Rock 2004 was a hint, too. The crowd wasn’t there just for the beer, either, and La Rúa knew it. That’s why the rockin’ superdudes have been updating websites faster than a Johnny Ramone chord change, taking more calls than Tom Cruise’s publicist and losing more sleep than a Starbucks junkie.
But wait, not so fast: “We’re realistic, we wanted to see what the response was, then take the festival to the next level,” says Marin.
At the inaugural Carlotan’ Rock fest last year, only four bands rocked the Queen City; this year seven bands will mark time for nearly eight hours of music. Next year, the guys of La Rúa hope to take the Carlotan’ Rock fest outdoors with an even bigger headliner. And it’s not likely they’ll have any trouble, as word is spreading like some mysterious tremolo carrying the message to other Latino rockers: “Come to Charlotte, come to Charlotte at once, we need to rock en español.”
“We have been receiving phone calls from everywhere: bands from Washington, New Jersey, Florida, New York… It’s growing and people want to participate,” says Arreaza.
This year, the Atlanta-based DiaZero — which has played alongside international Latin rock acts including Juanes, Enanitos Verdes, Pastilla, Victimas del Doctor Cerebro and Transmetal — joins the line-up. “It’s a new challenge for us, it’s an opportunity to get out of Atlanta and play for a different crowd,” says the band’s 25-year-old drummer, Alex Martinez.
Sóniko, this year’s headlining act, hails from Miami and comes with national recognition. The group currently has three videos on MTV Español: “Los Muebles del Planeta de los Simios,” “Salto Mortal” and “Game Over.” Sóniko recently appeared on the channel’s “A Todo Volumen” show, which included a concert and interview with the band. The group has performed at the Latin Billboard Conference, the South By Southwest music confab in Austin and the Latin Alternative Music Conference in New York two weeks ago.
“This will be our first time in Charlotte,” says drummer Toto González. “We talked about the show a lot at LAMC in New York; a lot of people don’t know there are Latinos in North Carolina.”
Sóniko has been busy stocking area record stores with its CD, Kombustion, mixed and mastered by Marcelo Añez, who has worked with Shakira.
North Carolina is like the Wild West for bands such as Sóniko; unfamiliar territory. But González won’t be here fighting cowboys or drinking in dusty saloons. His band is coming to play for fans they see as open-minded and supportive of new music.
Carlotan’ Rock 2005 also includes the Charlotte-area bands Bakalao Stars, La Marea, One More Time and Mentes Dementes. These acts represent a mix of alternative rock, tropical rock, reggae, ska and metal with blues and Latin jazz influences thrown into the mix.
Skandalo’s manager Alfonso Coyo expects to double last year’s turnout of 500 to 600 people. “We’ve been working to make it a lot bigger, we’ve done a lot more promotion, we have two stages and seven bands this year,” he says.
The festival will travel to the Orange Peel in Asheville for an encore the following night. Owner Jack Groetsch has booked Latin acts ranging from the alt-dance rockers Los Amigos Invisibles to Barbarito Torres of Buena Vista Social Club fame, who packed the club in 2003. “We want to be as diverse as possible,” says Groetsch.
La Rúa embraces diversity as well: “At the first Carlotan’ Rock, we had people from all nationalities and there was great energy,” says Marin. “We’ve been finding that not just Latinos like our music, but people from different backgrounds and cultures.”
Carlotan’ Rock will be at Skandalo’s in Charlotte beginning at 7pm Friday, Aug. 19, and at the Orange Peel in Asheville beginning at 9pm the following night. Tickets are $10 ($15 day of show). For more info, go to www.carlotanrock.com or call 704-458-8072.
This article appears in Aug 17-23, 2005.
