mentiritas

It’s Sonido Sunday at the Little Temple Bar in Silver Lake. By midnight, the club is full. The assembled 20-something crowd is hip and stylish. They are here to see Mentiritas, the alter-ego project that features Ozomatli’s Wil-Dog Abers on lead vocals and bass, with his Ozo bandmate Ulises Bella on vocals, saxophone, and guitar. Joining them is drummer Anton Morales, who was a ground floor Ozomatli member and later went on to play with Yeska. Rounding out the lineup are percussionist and keyboardist Alfredo Ortiz and Walter Miranda, also ..boards, both of whom have played with the Beastie Boys. They also perform with Cava, the band named after Claudia Gonzalez, who contributes her signature searing vocals as the newest addition to Mentiritas ensemble cast.With the exception of Cava, “it’s the same group it’s always been,” Abers says. “We just decided it was time to step it up.” According to him, Mentiritas represents the natural extension of who they are. The group is a tongue-in-cheek, dance-party band, playing cumbias, ska, R&B, and even banda—all with pounding beats. For a show early this year, they outfitted themselves in traditional banda wear. The response to their experiment was overwhelming, according to Abers. When a Mentiritas MySpace page went up the following day, they were flooded with requests to be added as friends. Wil-Dog sites the band as an example of the "rancholo" aesthetic on steroids.“There’s people that know Mentiritas that don’t even know [the] Ozo [connection],” Wil-Dog says with disbelief. “I wake up to banda everyday,” Bella says. “It’s just like all the things that are around me daily, but that I’m on the periphery of and diving completely into.” Nicknamed “Ulisass” for this incarnation, Bella recognizes “the absurdity of it and the stereotypes” while making an effort to turn everything on its head. Wil-Dog has been transformed into “Perrón,” a slang Spanish term derived from “chingón.” Miranda has been christened “Walnuts,” while Ortiz has become “Tripas,” and Cava appears, naturally, as “Cavalicious.”"It's an all-star band," Gonzalez says. "It gives us a chance to not take ourselves so seriously. But at the same time we take our performances very seriously. These guys are all incredible musicians. Everyone knows us individually from other bands. They get a kick out of hearing us out of our usual element or sound."On this night, the band is geared up in Members Only jackets bearing their stage names in studs on the back. From the moment the long-locked Morales steps onstage, all eyes and ears become fixed. The ’80s disco prince look is complete with polyester shirts and large plastic-rimmed Boogie Nights eyewear. (The togs are by Virginia de la Luna of De La Luna Designs.)The band members joke and riff with theatrical elements worthy of MADtv, among them condom and pregnancy-test kits tossed to the crowd in a single package, a large bag filled with white powder, as well as Mentiritas combs, dollar store gifts and t-shirt giveaways.The myth of Mentiritas, according to Bella, is that they are illegitimate children of narco-traficantes who would drop acid and go to the Slauson Swap Meet for their musical education. “It’s like a cholo in a Salvador Dali movie,” he says. “It’s Chalino Sanchez fornicating with the Dadaists.”