Los Seis Pistos (LSP) was founded 15 years ago in the Mexican northern state of Chihuahua where its members grew up listening to music from the other side of the border and with the combination of punk, garaje rock, ska, hardcore and the influence of Mexican rock, LSP created a unique and powerful sound that has taken the band all over Mexico, the U.S., Canada and the most important festival in the continent
To celebrate their 15 years in music and 6 albums under their belt, the band members thought that the best way to celebrate this 15 year milestone was to give tribute to the music and bands that influenced them at the beginning and thus, their seventh album, Rocktrospectiva was released in 2013
To learn more about this album and the history of the band, we sat down to talk to lead singer Iván Chavero in what turned out to be the most pleasant and entertaining conversation about music rather than a formal interview.
Al Borde – Tell us about this new album Rocktrospectiva
Iván Chavero – The album was recorded at Sonic Ranch Recording Studios and when we were recording the album we had a very gratifying feeling thinking that we were making an anniversary album with songs that influenced us when we were kids because they are not just Mexican rock bands, these are bands that came out when there was no “Mexican rock”. At that time there was the “Rock En Tu Idioma” gimmick, but it was very commercial but bands like Caifanes, Café Tacvba, Botellita de Jerez and others began to add their own very Mexican touch to the music and it blew us away.”
Would you call Rocktrospectiva a “covers” album?
A “cover” is trying to play the song exactly as the original, which is very difficult to do because one doesn’t have the same fingers or same voice and sometimes even the original artists cannot replicate their own songs on stage 100%. Our idea was to destroy each song and put it back together in our own way and style, but still containing the essence of the original songs.
How did you choose the songs for the album?
It was very difficult because there are 4 of us and each one wanted their favorite songs, so we set up some rules, one being that we all had to like the song and it also had to be a song that would work within our musical style. There were several songs that we worked on that just didn’t sound right so we had to pass on them.
What were your musical influences besides the Mexican rock that you have talked about?
My mother used to play us The Beatles, my uncles would play Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and other bands like that, my grandmother would play Pedro Infante and my grandfather would play Los Cadetes de Linares and Los Tigres Del Norte and my dad would play José José, so we took all this influences and mixed them up like in a blender in our brains and when we started the band, the main idea was to not negate any of our influences.
Los Seis Pistos will be touring the U.S. this coming July in what will be the end of the Rocktrospectiva Tour as they are already working on a new album which they will finish after this tour.
For more information about Los Seis Pistos, you can find them on their official website and Facebook.
Here are the confirmed dates for their American tour:
Wed. Jul. 16 Good Hurt Los Angeles, CA
Thurs. Jul. 17 Caravan San Jose, CA
Fri. Jul. 18 Stork Oakland, CA
Sun. Jul. 20 Blue Moon Seattle, WA
Mon. Jul. 21 Blue Moon Boise, ID
Mar. Jul. 24 Burt’s Tiki Lounge Salt Lake City, UT
Fri. Jul. 25 Double Down Saloon Las Vegas, NV
