palabras ROB PEREZ

I’m standing on Vanderbilt Avenue adjacent to Grand Central Station, where the Earth Day festivities are taken place. A large crowd of hipsters and business suit clad folks gather around the medium-sized stage set up at the end of the street.

Against rush hour traffic, commuters rushing to the trains, and a screaming throng of New York fans await to hear their LA musical heroes.

Ozomatli’s history lies in the streets of Los Angeles that spans more than twelve years in which they’ve been releasing nonstop socially conscious and politically-inspired music and have touched the masses all over the world.

Back in New York, Ozomatli performs a full hour of loud, conscious-minded, melodic party jams. It’s one of the most exciting live shows I’ve ever seen.

Don’t Mess With The Dragon is Ozo’s most diverse album to date, with sounds inspired from South American cumbia, Honduran Garifuna, to Puerto Rican flavored reggaeton.

Ozo’s Wil Dog proclaims its his “most favorite record” that the band has ever done. Though some may dismiss the pop-oriented material, Ozo’s true fans will consider Don’t Mess With The Dragon one more masterful production in Ozo’s long history of acclaimed albums.

Describe your concerts to someone who has never attended an Ozomatli concert.
Nine guys jumping around, going crazy as well as really good music, fun music, music you can dance too, and a band that’s interested in breaking down the barriers between the audience and the band members.

So you definitely encourage audience participation, call and response, all of that.
Yeah, and also we go into the crowd which breaks down that barrier. The people see us up close and touch us as well. We’re not just there to entertain; we’re also trying to make it more of an experience.

Does the band really feed off the energy of the crowd?
Yeah. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to give a good show. If the crowd’s not into it, we will know.

Can you describe the typical Ozomatli fan?
I don’t think there is a typical one. Just like us as a band, our audience is pretty eclectic and very diverse. Depending on the city, the look changes, but for the most part they’re working people who just want to have a good time.

What inspired Don’t Mess With The Dragon, and how does it differ from your previous albums?
The inspiration came from a different way of writing this record. On Beverly Boulevard in LA, just west of downtown, there’s an art gallery called Tropical de Nopal where we did this art installation. Each of us got a corner of the room and we just set up the room however we wanted to. My space looked more like my bedroom where I record in, and everyone else had whatever they wanted to do.

Then we had an art opening, and with that each one of us could do whatever we wanted to do. So some of us chose how we write music, but each one of us is like sitting in our own perspective spaces in the room with the audience in the middle. So I would go, 'Justin give me a drumbeat.' Then I would record the drumbeat. Then I would play bass back to it. Then I would put a guitar on it, Raul would put a guitar on it, then Jiro and Justin would put percussion on it, Ulises would put in sax, and vice versa. Then we would come up with a chorus right there in front of them, so that they could see how we record and how we write. People would come by and watch us work.

At the end we had a closing where 200 people came and we showed them what we had come up with while we were there. That’s how we wrote the record, but all of our albums are different. On this one we tap into different styles of music. Like on this one we do a song that’s more of an East LA soul sound with an after-party. On “Here We Go,” we did more of a cumbia/reggaeton style mixture. On “Segundo Mano,” we do more of a . . . I guess more of a funk but with this old school, electro-breakdancing beat. Then there’s the typical Ozo jam where you have “Temperatura,” that’s the song where we try to do music from Honduras called Garifuna music. That one is called temperature, or “Temperatura.” It’s about the immigrant rallies last May 1st. That’s what we’re talking about in that song.

How would you describe your music to someone who’s never heard an Ozomatli song?
It’s people’s music. My dad, he used to call it the people’s music, and I liked that. It’s a mixture of sound from all over the world but with an American band [performing it].

Some fans claim you’ve sold out because the sound on this album is more pop than your previous work. Any words for those people?
I think we sold out the day we signed to a label, which was probably ten years ago. So that’s pretty funny because if you’ve heard of us in some commercial avenue, which is probably the truth, then I guess technically, that’s when we’ve sold out. But, I don’t know what to say to that because . . . you know what’s great about music is that it’s about taste. Your taste decides whether or not you like it, and that’s what’s good about it.

I’ve been doing this long enough to know that every single record that comes out, some people like it and some people don’t. On every album I’ve heard that, and on every album I’ve heard, ‘This is the rawest, deepest album you’ve ever done.’

Of course, this is your life, your music and your art, and you want everyone to like it. But at a certain point you realize that will never happen, and you have to deal with what is true to you and do the best you can. Actually, looking at this record this is my most favorite record that we’ve ever done. So I’m really proud of that. I can’t really say anything to that. To people who say that, I say cool. I’m not worried about that at all. I know that we’re true to ourselves, and that’s our job to do that, and to make art and music that we love and that inspires us, and hopefully we can translate that to the rest of the world.

Do you feel this is the band’s most creative album?
I don’t know. You’re talking to me in a good place in my life so for me, this album meant a lot because I was completely healthy throughout the making of it, and completely aware of what was going on [Laughs], where on previous albums maybe I wasn’t as much. So yeah, I think creatively this is a great album creatively. We worked hard on it. We did the best we could, and I think it came out great. I wouldn’t say it was our most creative record because I think Street Signs was really creative in itself. I think our first album was really creative, and even Embrace The Chaos was really creative, when I think back on that time. The cool thing about us is, on every album we try music that I don’t think has ever been done before. We try mixing styles so creatively; just being in this band is very creative. It’s always open to trying new things. So it’s hard to say that this is more creative than something else, but it’s definitely very creative, and we tried all kinds of stuff.

So is everyone in the band an equal member? Is everyone free to toss whatever ideas around and it’s given a chance, and if it works it works, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t?
Yeah, here’s the deal with that. I can come up with an idea that I think is really, really dope but if the other guys don’t, it ain’t going nowhere. That’s really what it comes down to. The more people you can have on your side going in to the . . . making your idea come across, the more it’s going to come out and the better it’s going to come out. Like there’s no point, if I write something and people aren’t excited about it, there’s no point in me trying to muscle it into the group. It won’t come out right. The stuff we get most excited about is our best shit, definitely.

Did you imagine the band becoming this huge around the world when you guys first performed as Ozomatli twelve years ago?
I wouldn’t say we’re that huge but yes, I always imagined us being very successful from day one, although it was completely contrived. But as soon as people got up and started dancing at our first show, I know we had something going.