The art that goes into music making is sometimes either overlooked or completely ignored. But to the few, the proud, the struggling musicians that express themselves through amps and mics, musical artistry is what sets them apart from musical mediocrity.
Monte Negro, who is currently heating up stages at Austin’s South by Southwest Music Conference, is scheduled to perform at Al Borde’s first acoustic session for the 2008 calendar year. Composed by brothers Kinski and Rodax Gallo, Jason Li Shing and Javier Lopez, the band was signed to Epic records in early 2008 after 10 years of congregating as a band. With influences from Janes Addiction, The Cure and the Sex Pistols, and after having shared the stage with Pastilla, Incubus, At The Drive In, Molotov and even serving as opening band for Zóe,
Monte Negro has undergone its own set of cathartic experiences.
With an earlier punk-ish band called “Anima”, Kinski (nicknamed after a German actor) and brother Rodax rode the L.A. rock scene wave alongside the indie icons Pastilla, who were then known as Juana la Loca. After a fall out with band members from “Anima”, Kinski and Rodax needed someone to fill in on guitars. They recruited non other than current guitarist Jason, who was a huge fan of “Anima” at the time. The band “Idle” was born from that arrangement but it wasn’t long before Javier joined in to complete the quartet, giving reason to once again change the name of the band. This time around, the band was known as “Madrepore”. Receiving many comparisons to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Madrepore”, also received great reviews, and was even added to KROQ 106.7’s playlist.
But as the band members went through individual changes, so did their music. Opting for worldly sounds as opposed to heavy guitars and riffs, the band no longer felt that “Madrepore” was the appropriate representation of the group. Changing their name once more to something that they felt fit, the guys chose the name “Monte Negro”. After years of deep soul searching, Kinski, Rodax and Javier began to draw musical inspiration from their Mexican cultures, an influence that was lacking from earlier compositions. And influenced by his Chinese and Japanese heritage, Jason underwent his own personal evolution as he progressed from only playing the guitar to also learning to play the harp and the koto, a traditional Japanese zither. With years of making music and experiences from previous bands, each member of Monte Negro reached a new spiritual state in his life. They each contributed to the evolution of the group, which helped them to focus more on the artistry of music making rather than on trying to find representation from a major record label.
Despite advice from their family members to opt for a “real career”, the band held their ground and refused to erase music making from their every day lives. And although Kinski received a Masters degree from UCLA and Jason had a secure corporate job, they felt that music was their calling and therefore fully committed themselves to music. After making that gutsy move, the band began to flourish and to create music that they felt extremely proud of like their 2004 LP release, “If it Bleeds, It Leads”, and the release of “The Blues Armada” EP in 2005.
The release of their “Amor Finito” EP contained one of Monte Negro’s most popular songs, “Give me Love (No Llores)”, and in 2007, the song was again released in the bands first album, “Cicatrix”.
For more of Monte Negro, read their exclusive interview. If that still doesn’t feed your appetite, don’t miss their performance at Al Borde’s next Acoustic session scheduled for Friday, March 28th, 2008. See our gig calendar for mor details. See you there!
