4 minute read
VALLEY WOLF
from Discover 13.1
I also pull inspiration from my mother’s Saturday morning cleaning playlist [from] when I was growing up, including Los Bukis, Los Brios, Bronco and many others.
-Jairo Lomeli, lead singer / keys
Billing themselves as “four vatos from Modesto,” Valley Wolf are exploring the sonic possibilities of pairing punk and psychedelic rock with the Latin rhythms and mariachi tunes of their younger years.
Valley Wolf may simply describe themselves as “four young vatos from Modesto,” but their music contains a fascinating blend of disparate influences that reach much further than their humble description may suggest.
There’s rock. There’s punk. There’s traces of psychedelic rock and tinges of cumbia. Yet these various strains manage to fit into a singular package. Their story, and its sonic outgrowth, reveal a collective intersection of rock music and Latin rhythm.
“Growing up in a mariachi family, I pull a lot of inspiration from all the types of music played in mariachi, including huapangos, cumbias, and rancheras,” shares lead singer, guitarist, and keyboardist Jairo Lomeli. “I also pull inspiration from my mother’s Saturday morning cleaning playlist [from] when I was growing up, including Los Bukis, Los Brios, Bronco and many others.”
Valley Wolf bassist Fernando Barocio, who’s Lomeli’s cousin, admits the mariachi influence was hard to avoid. His father’s mariachi band would rehearse at his home while growing up. He later joined the group on trumpet, with his shift to bass a later development. Drummer Victor Alvarado’s journey started with hard rock and metal. He was drawn to the high-intensity playing he heard from groups like Rush and Slipknot. Over time, Latin rhythms were integrated into his repertoire.
Guitarist Andrew Mendoza brought his own fusion to the group through an interesting connection he made between two seemingly dissimilar styles. “Funk has always been a big part of my musical identity. The attitude and guitar work of Kool & the Gang, especially the first album, is huge for me. I also pull inspiration from romanticas, and I love the similarities between those songs and funk music,” he shares. “The rhythms in both genres differ but the wah’s are the same.”
As the group tells it, Lomeli and Alvarado initially started playing together. While Lomeli was away on a trip to Costa Rica, Alvarado began jamming with Barocio. Once Lomeli returned, eager to get back to playing music, the three officially convened on Valentine’s Day 2016, starting work on what became their debut, self-titled EP.
Over the span of five songs, their influences slowly unfurl. “Bananana” is a forceful introduction of the variety of sounds to come, a compelling shot of psychedelic rock. The tremolo-laced organ carries a bite, and the rhythm section provides a cumbia-esque backbeat as the track shifts to three distinct movements over its three-and-a-half-minute run time.
The opening organ line on “Mordidas” recalls the iconic harmonica lead from Bruce Channel’s ’60s pop hit, “Hey! Baby.” That song and the one that follows, “La Perdida,” are the most direct nod to the group’s mariachi lineage. The middle of the EP brings the set from a boil down to a slow simmer. “Falcon Punch” finalizes the quick five-song run with an informal tinge. It feels like a peek into the initial jams that spawned this group, an allusion to the brotherhood that’s blossomed out of those first creative sessions.
In late 2016, the group began recording their EP with Chicano Batman bassist Eduardo Arenas. The project was officially released in October 2018. Needle to the Groove (NTTG) got involved through an organic encounter between Lomeli and general manager Michael Boado at the record shop. Once Boado and his label partners heard the EP, NTTG agreed to a limited cassette release, which they rolled out in early 2019. Copies have since sold out on Bandcamp.
At the end of September, the group released a single and music video for “Corazón,” the official follow-up single to their debut. Described by the group as “huapango-inspired,” the song sets a hopeful soundtrack for a video that captures bud-
ding young love with Technicolor beauty. The song will be featured on their first vinyl release with NTTG, a 7-inch single set for release in November. The song sounds like a logical progression, the most complete statement yet connecting their collective past and present.
In March, Valley Wolf was captured back in the studio with Arenas recording their sophomore full-length. If all goes well, that album, and subsequent touring, will set the stage for a fruitful 2021 for the quartet.
