Outlaw Appeal

Interview with Los Brigands

Gardena, Calif.

Little tip from Los Brigands to you?

A van with no air conditioning—plugging along during the summer months from Utah to Arizona to Vegas—is not a fun ride.

"It made it. It was just hot," said drummer Keith, who drove that leg of the tour. "It was fucking sweaty."

"Yeah, when you go uphill, the AC says 'Nah, I'm not doing this," said guitarist Hector.

"It's a diva," Keith added.

Los Brigands—a six-year-old band hailing from Gardena—returned from tour in early September. You've probably caught them since then. They play shows around five or six times a month throughout the South Bay and L.A. area.

That regularity forces them to be diligent about their practices. They're methodical with the set up on a recent Wednesday at Gardena's Cide Show Rehearsal Studios where they practice. It's mostly all business as they run quickly through their set, although there is time for joking with the three good at rapid-fire dialogue—that's not too unlike their brand of music—usually punctuated with some sort of punch line. Of course, because it's a Wednesday, it means Keith's managed to reference comic books at least three times in less than two hours. (Wednesday is his day to shop for comics.)

Los Brigands plays a blend of punk and ska, serving as the perfect modern-day bridge for fans of the two genres. They're not so overly engineered though that they're boring. There's a little bit of grit to them and it's hard not to jump around to their music—they do it themselves.

"We move around a lot," said singer and bassist Aroldo. "So if you don't practice enough, you get to a show and you start missing parts—"

"And that's embarrassing," Keith finished.

Their recently ended tour started off at South Bay Customs in El Segundo before heading north to San Jose and then into Portland, Seattle and Spokane.

It could very well have been called the pizza tour. They ate cheese pizza in just about every city because Keith took up to not eating meat about five months ago.

The band signed to Crowd Control Media in the spring, which co-released their LP "Nothing's Clean" in conjunction with their own imprint, Brigan Brigade Records. The vinyl comes in two color variants: Gardena Green (the color of their hometown of which they're incredibly proud to have grown up in) or a nice beer-colored amber.

"It's our first release," Aroldo said of Brigan Brigade Records.

"That's what it is," said Keith. "There's no one signed but us."

"We're not really looking for talent at the moment," Aroldo said laughing. "Our plate is full with our current roster."

The band's released two EPs before the LP and there's also a split with Happy Drunk Cartel and Frantic Rockers. It's also been featured on a Hellcat-Smelvis Records compilation in which they had to write a song in Spanish and managed to complete the track, called "Algun Dia," on the way to a show.

They hate the band name but it's far too late to change it. Brigand, by the way, means outlaw or robber.

"Most people don't know what a brigand is in the first place, so they think it's a Spanish word so we always get called Los Brigands," Aroldo said pronouncing brigand with a Spanish accent.

The word was sourced as Aroldo thumbed through a dictionary or thesaurus—he can't remember which. "He made it to the Bs," Keith said of the effort.

Aroldo and Hector are brothers about a year and a half apart. Hector grew up in Guatemala and then came out here around the age of 12. Meantime, Aroldo, who grew up out here, knows Keith from high school.

The two brothers initially started the band with two other members who ultimately dropped out at different times along the way, with Keith joining not too longer after the start of Los Brigands.

"I really wanted to be in a band so I was like 'Hector, let's buy a guitar. Let's learn how to play the guitar' and then he just got really good and then I didn't," Aroldo said. "So I was like, 'I'll sing. We're going to be tight. We're going to get so big. We're going to be the biggest thing ever.'"

Of course, once Aroldo started playing, that bubble in his head immediately burst with the reality of what it actually takes to be in a band.

"You know, just high school shit," Hector said. "You have these illusions of grandeur and then 10 years later.... Everybody has that idea that you play a show and, miraculously, somebody's going to see you, who is an executive or whatever," said Hector. "But it's 2015."

"Life is nothing like 'That Thing You Do'" said Keith. "Nothing like that. I've never met Tom Hanks once. Once."

Instead, what they've learned—like so many other bands—is that hard work doesn't go unnoticed.

"No one's willing to invest in you, unless you're willing to invest in yourself," Aroldo said.

And the other reality is that, "We never really stopped trying," he continued. "It's still fun. As soon as it stops being fun, I'll hang it up. But I'm out here with my brother and my best friend so it's cool."

The three's path into music is not unlike probably your own.

"I used to blow checks. All day," Keith said. "$200 worth of CDs"

And being the good friend he is, he let Aroldo sift through his collection, which led him to discover bands such as the Descendents, TSOL, Agent Orange and on and on.

"A lot of people, they'll just be at the bar—not necessarily there for the show—and they'll have an eye on us and then when we come to get a beer at the bar, they're like 'Hey, I like you guys. You guys sound real old school.' We get that all the time," Aroldo said.

It's not intentional.

"It's just a product of what we've been listening to all these years," Hector said.

Keith will probably start booking the next tour for Los Brigands in November, timed for the spring. Otherwise, an upcoming show Saturday at DiPiazza's may be it for the rest of the year with Aroldo's upcoming wedding.

They guess they'll likely hit Arizona, New Mexico and Texas for the tour.

"It's really hard for an unknown band to tour," Keith said. "When another band takes you, it's a little easier, but when you're doing it on your own, it's cool. Sometimes you'll play for three people, right? And you make $5."

"Three people would be, you know, the owner, the bartender and the promoter," Hector said.

They're looking for a new guitarist to add to the lineup. The band originally had two guitarists. A second would give Hector—who interestingly enough is left-handed but forced himself to play a right-handed guitar because that's what his dad bought him when he first started learning—the chance to do more beyond rhythm, he said.

"It's not to replace Hector," Keith clarified.

"Hopefully not," said Hector.

"Right, by the way, you're fired," Keith said jokingly as he turned to him. "We've been waiting for this interview to tell you you're fired. I need a stage."

So if they could print up a "Guitarist Wanted" ad, how might it read? Maybe something like this:

"We won't pay you," said Keith. "Because we don't make any money. We're just trying to break even."

"Must own a guitar," Hector added.

"Must like cheese pizza—or mushrooms, or pineapple," Keith said. "That also works, too. We usually share."

"This is us," Hector said.

Upcoming Show:

Oct. 24

Skalloween

DiPiazza's at 5205 E. Pacific Coast Hwy.; Long Beach, CA 90804

Doors at 5 p.m.

$5 before 6 p.m., $10 after

Instagram: @losbrigands