Los Vigilantes

For my money, which admittedly isn’t a fortune, Slovenly Records can do no wrong. You may remember our recent glowing review of Thee Oops album Taste of Zimbabwe, which is a perfect example of the greatness coming out of this label. Most recently I was sent the self-titled album from San Juan, Puerto Rico artists Los Vigilantes and their video for the song Ven Vamos!

The video is from a short film shot in the 70s. It has the frantic sped up motion and carefree attitude of those early films from the Beatles/The Monkees, mixed with a bit of Columbine in the Barrio vibe. The song is classic garage rock that the label is known for. If you like breathing, sexing and eating you SHOULD like this. - SYFFAL

PR HAS A POSSE

By Beverly Bryan May 16, 2012

Name: Los Vigilantes

Where They’re From: Puerto Rico

Genre: Garage Punk

When They Started: 2009

Most Similar: Davila 666, Mark Sultan

The Sound: Like trouble

Favorite lyrics: “No quiero cambiar!”

The self-titled debut album from Puerto Rico’s Los Vigilantes doesn’t do them any kind of justice. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a completely vital piece of garage punk en Español. But you do not know what you are dealing with until you’ve seen the San Juan quartet live. I’m talking about Carbonas/Oblivians levels of sonic annihilation.

A salient piece of biographical information here is that their drummer Rafa has spent most of his musical career in hardcore bands. But it also helps to know that guitarist Jorge Mundo played lead guitar for fellow PR garage punks Davila 666 on their first tour of Europe and their second (and rockingest) album Tan Bajo.

Some time after you’ve seen them play, when you are asking yourself what happened and if it was real, pick up the album, preferably on vinyl, and the true face of the band will be revealed. Tumbled into their snarling organ-laced swing is a touch of rockabilly, a whisper of surf, and some sweet, sweet doo-wop meant for slicking back your hair and cruising around for the kind of action you know you’ll have to explain to someone later. So, like, they have a sensitive side, you know?

Few bands today are as burly and yet shamelessly cornball in their songwriting as Los Vigilantes. On “Ven Vamos” they’re a bit of both: - MTV IGGY

No sé mucho sobre los Vigilantes, pero su canal en Vimeo se llama Puro Vicio, que es un buen comienzo. Según parece, su rock’n’roll con voz como la de un Joe Strummer latino en la etapa “whisky y caballo” de The Clash funcionó la mar de bien en el Nasti la otra noche. También tocó His Majesty the King. Hostia, los estoy escuchando ahora y suenan a Linoleum. ¡A mí me encantaban Linoleum! - VICE

THE WORLD HAS SPOKEN, AND IT DEMANDS DISHEVELED

By Halley Bondy | May 25, 2012
It’s been a long while since garage rockers stole MTV Iggy’s Artist of the Week title, but we have evidence that very rabid fanbase craves lo-fi guitars, beachy melodies, and lyrics en Español. After a tight race with UK’s Punks Jump Up, Puerto Rico’s Los Vigilantes slid into the win. Their self-titled debut album made a huge impression, aided perhaps by the skilled hardcore drummer Rafa, and the fact that band member Jorge Mundo is embedded in the garage scene — he played with Davila 666 on their album, Tan Bajo.

Congratulations, Los Vigilantes! Stay tuned for a Q&A… - MTV IGGY

By Beverly Bryan
May 29, 2012

We were really relieved when San Juan’s Los Vigilantes won our Artist of the Week competition. Not only does this hardworking band of garage punks deserve all the love they get, but now we can be reasonably certain that no one is going to get hurt. But, seriously though, they’re a great band, with aggressive garage rock chops in the vein of Davila 666, another group from Puerto Rico that once borrowed member Jorge Mundo to play guitar on their album and one European tour.

To celebrate their win Javier, Jorge, Pepe and Rafa chopped it with us in this interview. We learned about their diverse musical tastes, their Japanese single and some other stuff we hope they’re joking about! Congrats, guys!

You beat out some tough competition from around the world to be our artist of the week. How does it feel to see that kind of support from your fans?

Javier: Yeah we better have their support after all those death threats we sent. Their family members will be returned to them shortly.

What’s the latest on Puerto Rico’s garage rock scene? We know Jorge has played with Davila 666. Are there more bands we should know about?

Jorge: Yeah there are more bands you should know about Ardillas, Carie, Fantasmes, Lopo Drido, Diente Perro and Napolnariz which is Javier’s first band. They’re not “garage” or whatever but they’re good and you should know about ‘em.

Your live show can be pretty intense. How do you get amped to play like that?

Javier: We have a ritual consisting of dead chickens (usually a bucket of fried chicken) and Play-Doh we must must perform before the shows.

We love rockabilly and doo-wop vibes on your debut album. Are you all into super old stuff like that or do you have really different tastes from each other?

Jorge: We have extremely different tastes from each other. Rafa loves hardcore (duh) along with old funk, cumbia, hip-hop and old Brazil bossa among other things. Pepe loves Madonna, Hall & Oates, Michael Jackson, all in all he loves pop. Javier loves La Nueva Ola Española Eskorbuto, Ana Curra, Alsaka pretty much the ’80s rock and punk movement in Spain.

And I love Slayer, Venom, Howlin’ Wolf, Son House, John Lee Hooker, Rev. Gary Davis and pretty much anything by Phil Spector. Our common grounds are probably the Beach Boys, The Stones, The Beatles, Eskorbuto and the Ramones.

Do you draw on any older music from Puerto Rico that we might not be hip to?

Javier: Julio Angel y Tammy, Lucesita Benitez, The Final Solution, The MD’s, Wiso G y el filosofo del rap Vico C. Obviously Ismael Rivera, Hector Lavoe, Frankie Ruiz etc. Chayanne’s song “Tu Pirata Soy Yo” was a huge influence on us.

What has it been like touring Europe and the US?

Jorge: It’s been great, we’ve met a lot of amazing people on the way. That’s the best part of touring really, getting to know all these great people along the way. Not to mention all the weird shit we see on the way to places.

What is the best thing about life in San Juan?

Javier: Tranny’s in la 15, cheap anything, and by anything we mean anything! Our friends.

How does Rafa play drums in both Los Vigilantes and the Colombian hardcore band Exigencia? How often does Exigencia play?

Rafa: Exigencia doesn’t play anymore. We did a reunion show a few months back, but that’s it for now.

You sing in Spanish but we heard you are releasing a 7 inch with lyrics in Japanese. Would you like to tell us a little bit more about that?

Pepe: Yeah, Ricardo Vilaro AKA Ricky Tony, who is an integral part of Los Vigilantes moved to Japan about a year and a half ago, speaks fluent Japanese so, he took one of his songs from the record “Me Imagino” and made a Japanese version of it. The other side of the 7 inch is an unreleased Vigilantes song by Ricky also in Japanese.

While we’re on the subject of lyrics, what Los Vigilantes song has your favorite lyrics and what is it about?

Javier: What kind of a question is that? That’s like asking a parent what their favorite kid is. But if I had to choose it would be one of the ooooh wah wah wah oooohs

Now that you’ve conquered MTV Iggy, what is your next big move?

Jorge: We’ve already started to work on our second LP, which will be out sometime late in the year. Other than, that Total World Domination would be the next thing in the agenda. Maybe conquer VH-1. - MTV IGGY

By Joseph Rodriguez

You can more than likely assume that “letal” translates to “lethal” in English. Well, if you watch the latest video from Puerto Rico’s Los Vigilantes, you can put your assumptions to rest. These guys are wielding blades and look like they’re ready to get real with anyone in a 1 foot radius. Knives or not, Los Vigilantes are putting the hurt on with some ferocious garage punk that’s every bit of lethal.

You can find “Letal” on Los Vigilantes self-titled LP released by the international friendly Slovenly Recordings. - GET BENT

We here at GET BENT would like to issue an apology to you, our dear readers. Actually, not an apology, but more of a retraction of an oversight on our part. The following is a review of Los Vigilantes’ self-titled LP released in May of the year 2011. How this went unreviewed is a mystery (my guess is some malfunction in our Dewey Decimal Classification System). We can only hope this repairs the grievous error on our part. And so on… - GET BENT Industries.

Los Vigilantes are a gang. A gang of greasy-looking thugs bent on playing rock ‘n’ roll. Hailing from San Juan (the same stomping grounds of Dávila 666, who borrowed the Vigilantes’ guitar player for their last invasion of the Northern Americas), the Vigilantes blend 50s rockabilly tones with punk and affection (and switchblades). The Vigilantes demonstrate a little more roughness around the edges than fellow countrymen Dávila 666; like The Fonz to Potsie, similar but a little more disregard for the “man’s” rulz.*

From the first tones of the LP, the Vigilantes show a strong melodic integration into a sock hoppin’ rave-up. “Ven Vamos” steals your heart like the glance of a lover from across a smoky dance hall. “Echame la Culpa a Mi” and “Mi Imagino” are cool as f___ (I suppose I’ve made it this far without curse words); a Jack Rabbit Slim’s twist contest may break out at any moment. “Eres Tu” is a broken-down love song (I think; I don’t know Spanish); splashes of Reigning Sound, Compulsive Gamblers, and the saltiest tears in this one. “Letal” is just good ol’ punk rock, the stuff that pumping your fist in the air (at least the one that doesn’t hold a beer) is made of.

Los Vigilantes’ debut is available from Slovenly Records for a paltry twelve bucks!

Q: Hey Paul, now I’ve got the LP and I want to see Los Vigilantes live. Where can I do that?

A: Well kids, you’re in luck. Los Vigilantes just happen to be touring the USA. See for yourself. And lucky you (and us), GET BENT just happens to be featuring the Vigilantes on our SXSW Saturday afternoon showcase at Beerland. Be there or be a real ?.

*Showing my tuff** disregard for the “man” by misspelling rules. Aeyyyyyyyy.
**Ibid. tuff. Ha! - GET BENT