“There’s more Middle Eastern influence, which is something we have been experimenting with the last couple of years,” says Will Abers a.k.a. Wil-Dog, bassist and vocalist for Ozomatli, about the evolution of the band on their new album, “Street Signs.”
“That’s just one thing. We had a 60-piece orchestra on this record, and we’ve never done anything like that. We also got Serben Ghenea, this mixer who’s like pretty much the top dog in the pop world as far as mixing records,” Wil-Dog says.
Ozomatli represents a definition of world music with enough breadth to defy a simple genre label. The multiracial band has members from African-American, Japanese, Cuban, Filipino, Jewish and Mexican descent, bringing cultural elements into a high-energy sonic bombardment.
The result is a spicy blend of hip-hop, ska, salsa, merengue, funk, jazz and rock, often with those variations in style happening in a single song.
The band thrives on live energy and builds upon their solid songwriting by improvising on stage.
“We have a bunch of open sections where you can pretty much do whatever you want within the phrasing, or the key,” Wil-Dog says. “For instance, there’s a song called ‘Ya Viene el Sol,’ where Ulises [Bella ] and Jiro [Yamaguchi ] come to the center of the stage. Ulises plays this little guitar called a requinto, which is a guitar from Vera Cruz, Mexico, and used in jarocho music. Jiro comes and plays the darbouka or doumbeck. During that part, [drummer] Mario [Clarie] and me can set up all kinds of rhythms over it. Every night it’s totally different,” Wil-Dog says.
Ozomatli was assembled in 1995 to play benefit shows for the Peace and Justice Center, a Los Angeles community center encouraging urban arts such as graffiti, music and skateboarding.
The band continued to be politically and socially active. In 2000, they played outside during a rally against the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. Wil-Dog says the rally was broken up by police. After Sept. 11, Wil-Dog says the band remained outspoken against government corruption, despite being labeled unpatriotic.
“After 9/11, it was very unpopular to be critical of the government in any way or say anything really. That goes for people in the left. It was really unpopular, and we still did it. It wasn’t like an easy time for us,” he says.
“For us, we just need to state our case and just stay on our path of what we believe. I think that has been a lesson over the years,” Wil-Dog says. “For us, we just need to continue doing what we know to be the right thing.”
As the presidential election draws near, the members remain independent yet active.
“We’re definitely not Democrat supporters, but we’re definitely against Bush,” Wil-Dog says. “So whatever that means to you is fine with us.”
Ozomatli
When: 9 p.m. Thursday
Where: House of Blues
Tickets: $26.50
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and alBerto Trevino (atrevino@tribune.com)
