You are what you eat. Monte Negro, a Los Angeles based rock band, has devoured enough music genres over the years to do justice to the bilingual and bicultural musicians that constitute the group. Digesting healthy portions of Jane's Addiction, the Cure, the Clash, and the Sex Pistols, Monte Negro has also piled onto its proverbial plate Latin-alternative rockers such as Caifanes, Los Fabuloso Cadillacs, Maldita Vecindad, Mano Negra, Soda Stereo, and Spinetta. As with any good meal, Monte Negro combines sophisticated taste influences with unique combinations of flavor, and stews it all together with time and a pinch of luck.
Ten years of hard work and genuine soul-searching has led to the band's selection of the finest musical ingredients and cultivation of an organic variety of sounds resulting in a truly original rock band. Mexican-American brothers Kinski and Rodax—the vocalist and bass player respectively—like so many first-generation Americans working toward assimilation, initially overlooked the richness of their roots. Anima, their first band together, was a punk/new-wave band almost completely devoid of their Latino heritage. Although the lyrics were in Spanish, the two resented being referred to as a Spanish version of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, resulting in their evolution away from rock en Español and into an English repertoire. As the pair matured and selected other band members, their sounds and methodologies have come full circle, attaining the subtlety of a good wine and the hardiness that only embracing one's culture can bring.
Monte Negro has matured past the natural tendency to bring too many elements onto the table. From an overproduced sound full of bleeps and fodder from a DAT machine, heavy drums, and too many guitar sounds, the band has developed a much more refined style. In accordance with the more you eat, the less flavor, Monte Negro has realized just how powerful simplicity can be.
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