SOMOS LOS MOCOSOS
"Los Mocosos is a gumbo of everything we grew up listening to, like salsa, hip-hop, soul, jazz and the Monkees," is how trombonist and co-bandleader Victor Castro described the sound of the band whose name translates loosely to snotty-nose-brats in a San Francisco Chronicle article in 2004. “We all love what we do, and I think it shows when we perform that we're having a good time."
After a several year hiatuses, the good times are back for Los Mocosos as they return to the world stage with a new album to be released on September 18, 2020 titled, “All Grown Up.” But to inspire their fans until then the group is busting out with the single, “United We Stand,” that speaks to the blatant authoritarianism plaguing the streets of police brutality, immigrant persecution, deportation, racism, and protest turbulence.
BROWN AND PROUD
Los Mocosos grew out of a series of 1996 garage jams in the Mission District. Formed by bassist Happy Sanchez and Victor Castro, the band got its recording legs hanging around the halls of now-defunct Aztlan Records, the first Spanish-language rock label in the country. Their first album, “Mocos Locos” was an underground barrio classic with themes like “Brown and Proud,” and remakes of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass’, “The Lonely Bull,” and cantina classics, “La Boa” and “Volver Volver.”
Out the box people saw Los Mocosos as a continuance of the 1970s Bay Area Latin rock movement, a scene that never really went away. Santana, Malo, Azteca, Sapo, Dakila and others, served as inspirations but the group added a twist that introduced audiences to new sounds in Latin pop like reggaeton, ska and rap.
“We made sure we didn’t leave out any of the sauce of the Mission District, all that Soul and Latin Funk,” says Shorty Ramos, saxophonist with Los Mocosos. “People would ask if we played Salsa and we’d say No, yeah we put a Latin beat in there, but we twist it around. We had a band member that would say we take the clave and turn it in knots.”
On the strength of “Mocos Locos” (Crazy Boogers), it landed them on the first WATCHA Tour, the pioneer Latin alternative cavalcade. Los Mocosos got rave review performing alongside Café Tacuba, Molotov, and others as the world was becoming aware of the neophyte Rock-en-Español movement. But the group fell apart when it played the San Jose stopover at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds and the lead vocalist refused to go onstage. But in a matter of months Los Mocosos were back on the scene with a new singer and a new attitude. (DISPATCH CONTINUES HERE)
