Not many music groups will admit their new tour is an experiment.
Then again, few take aim at a different ethnic audience all at once.
"I think 80 percent of the people that will see us on this tour haven't even heard of us — we're definitely not saying we are going to conquer this kind of an audience, said Café Tacuba bassist Enrique ("Quique") Rangel from his hotel room in Zacatecas, Mexico, where the band is currently on tour. "A lot of them are not even going to notice we're Mexicans until they hear us singing in Spanish. It's a funny, scary feeling."
The Latin rock band, named after a restaurant in Mexico City, will open for video clerk-turned-musician Beck on Wednesday, April 26, in the E Center. The concert begins at 7:30.
The band is marginally known to the Anglo mainstream for its 1999 double CD, "Reves/YoSoy" (or "Backwards/I Am" en Ingles), nominated for a Grammy in the "Best Latin Rock/Alternative Performance" category earlier this year. But the Mexico-based Café Tacuba has spent most of its short career catering to Latin audiences, not only in Central and South America, but in various U.S. locations as well (namely Texas, California and New York).
The quartet — which also includes brother Joselo Rangel on guitar, Emmanuel del Real on keyboards and Rubén Albarrán on vocals — is considered one of several bands that has spearheaded the growing Latin rock movement (also termed "rock en espanol") in America. Keep in mind this doesn't include Latin pop stars Ricky Martin or Marc Anthony, however — all of Café Tacuba's songs are in its native Spanish tongue.
"There is a small audience in the States that is looking to the original music, that's not caring if it's sung in English or not. Music is a way of expression, and since we live our lives in Mexico, we sing in Spanish," said Rangel, who doesn't plan to sing English songs anytime soon.
Café Tacuba was founded in 1989 in the northern suburbs of Mexico City, and its debut album was released three years later. The band was heavily influenced by new wave groups from the 1980s, including The Cure, and tried to copy the sound in Spanish.
But it wasn't until the band members started bringing traditional Latin influences to the forefront — be they Caribbean or bolero — and then added rock rhythms, that they discovered they really had something to say. "Reves/YoSoy" is the group's fourth album.
You can reach Dainon Moody by e-mail at dmoody@desnews.com