El Conjunto Nueva Ola

I spent 5 years of my childhood in Mexico when I was a kid. I used to watch Luchadores on TV and collect the trading cards, masks and plastic figurines. Shooting these guys was super fun and reminded me of being a kid. Not only are they incredibly awesome on stage they do covers of a bunch of my favorite songs. If you are in LA you have to come out to one of there gigs. - Joseph Llanes

They come straight from Mexico City, where anything can happen in terms of music.

They’re called El Conjunto Nueva Ola (ECNO) and are comprised of Urbano Lopez, Luzio Nava, Primitivo Ríos, Hipólito Madero, El Tacho Vázquez, timbales and El Raio Manzares.

ECNO provide a distinctive music sound, one they classify as modern cumbia. “Cuando Seas Grande,” “Chicharrona (My Sherona),” “Cumbia Town (Funky Town),” “De Quien Chon,” “Chido, Chido,” “La Estaca,” “Perdóname Mi Amor,” “Los Luchadores,” “La Suavecita,” and “Mi Cucú” are songs withing their music repertoire.

In an exclusive interview for Living Out Loud, Lopez spoke about how the group came to be, the song “Soy Luchador” and more.

Living Out Loud: How did the band get together?
El Conjunto Nueva Ola: We met playing covers of songs. We all have coincidences that led us to form the group. Tacho and Hipolito are half-brothers, and are our percussionists…and that’s basically how we got together.

LOL: Is there special significance to the band’s artistic name?
ECNO: The name of the band symbolizes our mission, which is to reinvent cumbia with a new wave style. We are big fans of 80s music and cumbia, so we blended the two.

LOL: So would you describe your style as modern cumbia?
ECNO: Yea, we were influenced by cumbia bands from the 80s, such as Chico Che, and works by Rigo Tovar. English bands like The Cure and others from that time period have also influenced us. We also like contemporary music, like Maroon 5.

LOL: What can you tell us about the song, ‘El Luchador’ and its video?
ECNO: This song is about who we are and what we’re about – we’re warriors on stage. It also alludes to a wrestling character and so it describes his shows. We loved the video, and so did our fans. The video shows a young man who wishes to be a wrestler. One day, he sees a flyer for a wrestling contest and decides to try out. The video then cuts to a ring, and then he eventually appears with very attractive women.

LOL: You guys have been performing around Los Angeles lately. What would you like to tell your fans so they come out to one of the band’s shows?
ECNO: It’s an ideal setting if you just want to get away and forget about everything for a while – the awful job, the woman who doesn’t understand you, that annoying dog that barks all the time, your neighbors’ neglected lawn, the server who messed up your food order, all that. You’ll have a great time at the show, and we promise it will be an unforgettable night, just like any night of one of our show. It’s full of spontaneity, good times, energy, and great cumbia.

LOL: How do you see the future of music, and what’s your take on the emergence of digital media vs. hard-copy CDs?
ECNO: I view it in a positive light. I don’t think music will ever stop. There will always be both good and bad music. The only thing that’s changed a lot is how the music reaches the fans. If it were up to us, we would give the song away, but we need to use it to promote the album and pay the studios, etc. The industry is heading towards a shift to digital, and there’s no problem with that, as long as people pay for the music.

LOL: What would you say is the biggest satisfaction you have right now?
ECNO: Being able to do what we like to do. We like to horse around and have fun, and we like that our fans enjoy our music. That’s why we consider ourselves a success. - Living Out Loud, Los Angeles

Vesper Public Relations. Los Angeles, March 25, 2014 – The renowned festival South by South West was set ablaze with the performance of the self-proclaimed “heroes of rhythm”, EL CONJUNTO NUEVA OLA, at the Flamingo Cantina and Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

SXSW (South by South West) Festival exploded when EL CONJUNTO NUEVA OLA turned up the party, hooking the audience with their unique rhythm, humor and singular style that only they can produce.

Audiences were left enraptured with the group’s energy that, in the end, everyone wanted more from these masked heroes and even several media outlets joined to the party and spread the word about the band’s amazing performance. - Vesper PR

When the band El Conjunto Nueva Ola first got together in Mexico City in 2000, lead singer Urbano Lopez says things didn't quite gel at first.

"We tried to do rock music, but we couldn't have the rhythm right. So we gave up and decided to play Cumbia," he says.

And that, Lopez says, was one of the smartest decisions they made — along with moving to the Los Angeles area a few years ago.

"We know that Cumbia is a rhythm that is played from La Patagonia to Los Angeles now, so in every latitude it morphs; it kind of adapts to the culture there," Lopez says.

But El Conjunto Nueva Ola, which translates as the New Wave Band, doesn't play traditional, acoustic Cumbia, and they don't look like a Cumbia band. The six members wear Mexican wrestler masks during their shows. During my interview with them, they kept their masks on. I never got to see their faces.

These guys play covers, though they're not what you'd call a cover band. One of their covers is a popular tune called "La Cumbia de Los Luchadores," The Wrestlers Cumbia. Lopez says they almost didn't want to do it.

"It was kind of obvious and we don't like to do obvious. We pretty much think about something and we make a U-Turn and we crash. That's the approach to how we get to a song. We really think, ‘Oh how is this song good?’ We're gonna do the exact opposite."

For instance, they have a unique rendition of the Sex Pistols' song, "Anarchy in the UK." The band re-arranged it and named it "El Albañil de la Pensíl" or "the mason from the Pensíl neighbourhood." Their version focuses on a mason who is a street-smart, hard-working citizen. Lopez says theirs is a much more positive take on the punk classic.

"We are modernizing the Cumbia and ‘Cumbializing’ the modern, adding a new flavor to it, so we use a lot of the keyboard-oriented sounds from the 80s — you know, the New Wave — and adapt them into the rhythm," Lopez says.

The members of El Conjunto Nueva Ola think of themselves as 21st Century wrestlers, battling musical styles on stage.

One thing's for sure — they don't take themselves too seriously. - PRI

Los chicos de 'El Conjunto Nueva Ola' no dejaron de sorprendernos durante su visita a LAnzate y hasta realizaron unas inólitas confesiones. - Univision34.com