LoCura Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Feb 18th 2010 4:15PM by Shyema Azam
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Oakland, Calif.-based band, LoCura finds its musical roots from all over – Spain, Cuba, Jamaica, and even its local folk scene. Starting out as a trio in 2005 with vocalist Kata Miletich, guitarist Bob Sanders and percussionist Rachael Bouch, they later added on bassist Izzy Weiser and Ernesto Lopez on drums. LoCura carries a unique sound of Latin grooves fused with African beats, with their live performances marked by the presence of a flamenco dancer on stage. On their debut album, 'Animas,' LoCura built on their foundation of their all-Spanish songs and flamenco musical tradition with seamlessly crafted elements of reggae, folk, and hip-hop that are rounded out with the Shakira-esque vocals of Kata and soulful back-ups by Bob and Rachael. We spoke with lead vocalist Kata on their second trip to SXSW in March.

Describe your sound in your own words.

We like to call it a fusion of rumba, flamenco and reggae. It has elements of Cuban son and we mix other genres in there too, but the former three are our main styles.

How did your band form?

It started with Bob and I. When I moved to California, I was living near where he was near the foothills. That's where I started singing. There were a bunch of hippies living in the hills, playing music all the time and they invited me to play with them. Little by little, Bob and I started playing music together in another band. When we moved to the Bay Area, Bob just happened to meet Rachael, a percussionist, while riding his bike one day. The three of us began making music together and it was just like magic. We felt the vibe and started playing shows as a trio in 2005. A couple years later, we added on a bass player from Washington and a drummer from Nicaragua. We also have a flamenco dancer who performs on stage with us.

What are your musical influences?

Well, all of us have different influences individually, but as a band we're really inspired by Barcelona-based band Ojos De Brujo, who use a lot of reggae, flamenco, hip-hop and salsa. It's really neat how they fused all the different styles of music in such an interesting way. Flamenco has many different styles of music, and the way they mix it with hip-hop wasn't really being done as much, so that has really been an inspiration to us. For me personally, I love Lila Downs, Manu Chao, Zap Mama, Lhasa, Terrakota and Jorge Drexler among many others. And just a lot of bands that are fusing a the musical styles that we are interested in.

How did you come up with your band name?

I've always been interested in playing with words and one day I was just thinking of different names for our music and I think I just stumbled upon this one day and thought, "woah." The word locura alone means madness, but when you separate the "lo" and "cura" it means "it cures it." Almost like a cure in the madness. Of all the words that could be within one another! It just relates to basic daily life experiences -- sometimes through the madness or the hard times, you find peace within those moments and it helps you grow.

What's your biggest vice?

My personal vice is probably eating. I just ate some chile serranos with avocado and a side of sesame seeds and some raw fish. I also love spicy salsa. Eating spicy is something I learned from living in California. There's not a lot of spicy food in Spain where I grew up.

What's in your festival survival kit?

A pencil and a pad for sure to write down whatever ideas I have and just take note of the day-to-day. And a good bottle of tequila and some tobacco. Good music for the road and food so we don't starve.

Who was your first celeb crush?

When I was really little, it was Madonna. It went on to Tina Turner and George Michael.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

Morrissey is usually my secret listening.

Beatles or Stones?

How about a fusion of both of 'em?

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

Bob and I were on tour in Utah on this big ass school bus right after 9/11, and we stopped at a gas station to hear that there were going to be tons of checkpoints on the way to Salt Lake City. So we began asking people about it because we didn't want to be late to our gig and apparently there were some undercover cops there or something because when we got on the road again, two cop cars began following us and a sheriff's car appeared in front of us with sign that said, "Follow me." They pulled us over, pulled out the driver and began pointing their guns at us -- it was like the sheriff, FBI, secret service -- everybody. We totally got interrogated, the bus got searched and we were asked what other ethnic groups were on board. I guess we raised some red flags back at the gas station. But yeah, that was an interesting experience.

Shyema Azam is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.