Published: September 13, 2010 8:43 PM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., MBA (Juniorscave.com)
New Music Spotlight September 2010 Edition
Los Ciegos Del Barrio
Music Now Artist/Band Spotlight Weekly Series
Los Ciegos Del Barrio
Our Webzine is delighted to introduce to our readers a special interview with Alvin Suarez and Machete of Los Ciegos Del Barrio. This amazing band has captured the true essence of Latin music with their own special original blend of the popular genre. The Latin music group from New York City uses Merengue, Bachata, Salsa, Cumbia, Reggaeton, and Rock tones in their music in both English and Spanish that will entertain music fans for hours and hours end. Check out what Alvin and Machete had to say about the plight of the DIY artists and the state of the Indie Music Industry in this honest and in-depth spotlight. Enjoy!
Isaac: HI Los Ciegos Del Barrio! You are living, working, and performing in New York City Tri-State area. Describe the music scene in your location and what does this mean to you as an artist/band.
Alvin: It really means a lot more competition...not necessarily personal competition, but just the fact that the music scene, in general in New York City is very saturated and it means that we have to find a way to stand out even more than with just our music. It's not enough anymore to just have talent.
Isaac: You have listed a ton of iconic music giants as your musical influences. Of these influences, who would you love to work with in a collaboration effort in the near future?
Alvin: I would actually love to play with a Dominican Merengue Tipico legend named Bartolo Alvarado, AKA "El Ciego De Nagua". I've met him personally after one of his shows, but I just absolutely love his
music and he represents our communities proudly. I'd also love to work with "Fulanito" who, to me, is a very creative group. They weren't always accepted by the industry right away, but kept persisting with their original blend of Tipico and dance music and have gotten some much deserved success because of their creativity.
Isaac: What’s the biggest challenge of pursuing a career in music?
Alvin: The fact that live music is not as respected and appreciated as it should be...everyone wants to go for the Karaoke thing where someone either sings along to prerecorded music, or someone who is
attractive to the eyes even when they can't sing a lick but can sure shake that rump...for whatever reason, they seem to get more respect by club owners and others who look for entertainment...maybe it's
cheaper, but it's not better and I can't honestly say it's hard work. The assumption that musicians are just a bunch of dreaming low-lives that are willing to work for nothing but exposure and that we don't
deserve to make any kind of living or even some sort of reward for our hard work and creativity, to me, is an absolute slap in the face to us real musicians. That's why we never like to trash what any other band
is doing or disrespect any approach that a band wants to take in promoting themselves and making it out there because we know how incredibly tough it is and we are all united in our struggles.
There are way too many people who don't look at what we do as work, but believe me, when you go to the studio on your free time after a hard day's work, or you go and have to sing through cigarette smoke or the stench of 18 different kinds of beer, when you have to spend your own money on promotion because no one's really backing you up, when you have to carry heavy equipment and then have to worry about not smashing your fingers because you need them to play your instrument and then when you are tired as hell, would love to stay home and spend a beautiful day with your significant other, your family or some friends, but you have to either rehearse or play a show...it's hard work.
A lot of people look at the glamorous side to it all, but many of us have to really work at it just to enjoy some of the fun aspects of why we love playing music.
MACHETE: Differentiating fact from myth. Virtually no one pursues a musical career without having some kind of vision that one day they will be influential enough to share their music and ideas with the
world at large. Keep in mind, however, I'm not talking about someone who picks up an instrument for a hobby and buys a "how-to" video just to entertain at family gatherings. I'm talking about a junior-high or
high school age lion that puts countless amounts of time, voluntarily and involuntarily, into learning the craft. When you begin to step out, you hear stories about Guns 'n' Roses being discovered at CBGB's,
or the Smithereens being discovered at Kenny's Castaways or Bitter End, and you think it's as simple as that. You play at the trendy venues, elbow-to-elbow with other bands, you get taken to the cleaners
by managers who just want in on your naivety, before you know it, you're cash-strapped, none-the-more popular than when you were in high school, and looking for a day job, recession or not.
Isaac: What do you like about performing in an intimate setting versus a huge setting and vice versa?
Alvin: I enjoy playing for anyone...no crowd is too big or too small. The only downer would be if 150 are expected, but we only have 5 in the crowd...then it could be a drag. But then it gets offset by the
shows where we expect 5 people, but get 150. Either way, we are professionals and we are there to make the room move and if all 5 people, or all 150 people, or heck even the 10,000 we played for at
some of the more major festivals we've done are all dancing, making noise, clapping their hands or even singing along to what we play...it's all worthwhile.
Isaac: What is the process you take to write? How do you go from a spark to a completed finished song?
Alvin: First, I have music in my head…then I’m usually inspired by my surroundings…maybe the experiences of others and even my own experiences…the lyrics are usually the last thing in mind. Sometimes I’ll come up with the hook or a specific phrase and then I make sure I incorporate it into one of my song ideas. I love writing.
Isaac: When did you decide you wanted to take the DIY (Do It Yourself) route?
Alvin: We have no choice. It’s not like Univision is knocking at our door and I think the industry is too afraid to try and sell an all legally blind band of 30 somethings because it is out of their comfort zone. The funny thing is that we all have our own attitudes, opinions and philosophies that really add flavor to what we do and it’s very different than what you hear on the radio…and then all we hear is how “all the music sounds the same”. And then the industry wonders why they’re not doing so well and why the playing field has leveled in the last 10 years between independent and signed commercial artists. The industry does not realize that indy bands are actually much more valuable and are actually taken more seriously for what they create because it’s not the same as one would hear on the radio…but I guess the industry didn’t get that memo yet.
Isaac: What are the pros and cons of doing everything yourself vs. working with others in the music industry?
Alvin: Doing it ourselves is good because we have control over what we do…creatively and financially…I guess in a sense, we’re not owned…but at the same time, we’re a much smaller voice because when an artist works with others…especially within the industry…there is now a much more powerful and larger entity representing the artist…not always for their interests, but some of it does help because they can get our music out there much faster than we can and to more people…but a lot of that does come with a price and it’s all a matter of what price are we willing to pay to achieve our musical goals…sometimes it’s about
compromise and other times it’s about listening to our convictions…either way…no band will ever succeed without first recognizing the balance between the two, and just being themselves and not worrying about what others think as long as they enjoy what they’re doing.
Isaac: What is the most difficult part about juggling family, life, work, and a music career for you as a performer/artist/band?
Alvin: It’s all about time management…obviously, work is our livelihood…it’s where money comes from…without money, there is nothing to offer our family or our music careers. It’s the unfortunate
reality. Anyone who is not already born into money, or already has a major label backing them, that thinks they could survive just playing music independently without a financial plan is fooling him/herself.
Nothing is free and nothing is cheap and it is our responsibility to take care of our family, music and really just our lifetime needs and without any kind of income, it’s impossible. As much as we’d love music to be our primary source of income and as much as we wish we could do it 7 days a week and 24 hours a day, the reality is that we put ourselves in a much tougher position if we are not willing to have something to fall back on. Music is feast or famine, but family and life will always be around. Only the hardest workers will be able to balance all of that and understand that it’s just the way life is…but we wouldn’t trade any of that for the world because we love our families, we love our work, we love music and we love life.
Isaac: What are your plans for the future?
Alvin: We are planning a tour in Cuba early next year with a non-profit organization called “Project Troubador”, who sends entertainers around the world every year to developing nations for free shows for
as many people as possible. Not for fame, not for money and not for recognition, but for the people. Also stemming off the success of our latest CD “¿Por Que? ¡Porque…!“, we plan on getting back to the studio
and releasing a new CD in late 2011. We’re not going to stop and the sky is the limit for us.
