Battered drums and old guitars
Singing songs of passion
It’s the truth that they all look for
Something they must keep alive
Will the wolf survive?
Los Lobos emerged from East L.A. into the national spotlight 40 years ago with the release of the album How Will the Wolf Survive? and have been on the road and in the studio ever since.
Win a PAIR of FREE tickets to see Los Lobos this Friday, October 11 at the Paramount. Email publisher@rivertownsmedia.com with the subject line Los Lobos. Please include your name, email address and phone number.
The group’s 1987 cover of La Bamba cemented their stature as a headliner during a stretch that has yielded 17 studio albums, seven live LPs, and five Grammy Awards.
The band, founded in 1973, draws upon its members’ Mexican and Latin American heritage as well as incorporating soul, R&B, doo-wop, blues, jazz, and rock‘n’roll.
The lineup has remained intact since 1984 — David Hidalgo (vocals, guitar, accordion), Louie Perez (drums, vocals, guitar), Cesar Rosas (vocals, guitar, mandolin), Conrad Lozano (bass, vocals), and Steve Berlin (saxophone, flute, harmonica).
As Los Lobos’ 50th anniversary tour comes to the Paramount Hudson Valley in Peekskill on Oct. 11, Steve Berlin spoke with River Journal about the band’s success and longevity.
This Q&A has been condensed for clarity and brevity.
River Journal: The song “Will the Wolf Survive” came out 40 years ago and you’ve certainly answered that question. How have you lasted this long and did you ever think when you started out that you’d all be together after 50 years?
Steve Berlin: Definitely did not anticipate hanging around this long. But I’m happy that we did. We’re not restless people, everybody’s still on their first marriage, it’s not like we’re out there looking for a better deal all the time. And also we’ve been incredibly lucky that we had some success right from the beginning and it certainly was enough to keep us rolling.
Part of it is that whenever anybody wanted to do something outside of the context of the band like do a solo record, or in my case produce other artists, it’s never a problem. We allow for lots of latitude as far as extracurricular activities so if anybody has anything in mind like the Latin Playboys — the band that David and Louie have — as long as everybody’s there when we start to make a record and hit the road, nothing else is a problem.
RJ: Your music crosses into so many genres. How has the fact that you can’t easily be pigeonholed affected your career?
Berlin: I think it’s a benefit. We chose early on to have lots of different genres to learn from and use. I know speaking for myself, the most satisfying stuff that we do on records is when we get to combine different genres, like a rhythm from a 200-year-old Mexican folk song with a rock’n’roll guitar. That’s the stuff that all of us in the band enjoy most, just trying to come up with a new twist, ‘cause, rock’n’roll is pretty old at this point. Anytime you can come up with something that hasn’t been done before, it’s a good day.
RJ: Who’s coming to your live shows during the nationwide 50 anniversary tour, is it more rock’n’rollers, or fans of your traditional folk albums?
Berlin: it’s all over the place. We’ve been very lucky, we draw from everywhere. The most gratifying thing for me is to see some folks our age and some young folks there, too. We have no boundaries, it’not like we’re playing oldies for old people. We welcome everybody and we’re not not just running down the hits. Every set, every show, we try to bring something different to it.
RJ – What keeps performing fresh for you after all this time?
Berlin: It’s changing the set lists and this year we decided early on that we’re going to slow it down a little bit, so we’re not hitting it quite as hard as in years past. That helps keep it fresh and we take a couple of weeks off every couple of weeks. We’re not grinding with the same intensity we have in the past, which I think helps keep everybody’s interest up. We’re just really blessed, our fans are into it, it’s not hard to get excited, it’s not hard to get up for it if we’re all having a good time together.
RJ: What are you planning for the upcoming show in Peekskill?
Berlin: We try to change it every night. Sometimes it’s an educated guess, just getting a sense of whether people are up and dancing early on. Is it a standup crowd versus a sit down crowd? None of it’s written in stone. We try and touch on every era of the band. Our new record is three years old now, it’s not like we’re hustling something new, so hopefully there’ll be a little bit from every era if not every single record.
But every show has at least a couple of accordion songs because that’s kind of where we all started. I look forward to that part of the set every night because people always get up for it.
Opening for Los Lobos will be Cosmic American Derelicts, a honky-tonk blues band that’s been recording and touring for more than 25 years.
Visit paramounthudsonvalley.com/events/los-lobos-50th-anniversary-tour/ for information and tickets
Paramount Hudson Valley
1008 Brown Street, Peekskill NY 10566
914-739-0039
Boxoffice@paramounthudsonvalley.com
