Brian Lopez: Ticket Giveaway & Interview

Brian Lopez is making Tucson a new source for irresistible music. With his charming voice, great sense of humor and enough energy to do it all, Brian is giving a new name to world music – indie-world? OO! Well, Brian took a moment to talk about his basketball days, what he does in his ‘free’ time and spill about his passion for Chicha music (Don’t know it? Read on!).

IRR and Big Hassle have a pair of tickets to Brian’s special album preview show in Los Angeles at The Bootleg Theater on February 23. Want in? Comment or tweet (@IRRmusic) your favorite track from Brian’s upcoming album, Ultra!

What sports did you play as a kid?

Basketball, mostly. My dad was a coach here for the junior college men’s team and growing up we were all basketball players. I went as far as college and decided to take a music scholarship at Arizona U. Then my basketball days were over.

Do you follow pro basketball?

I would love if the Suns could win a championship but that’s not going to happen any time soon. Times are tough here in Tucson as far as basketball goes. I like the Knicks but only because they have, like, 5 old Suns players.

Did you have to divide your time between basketball and guitar?

When I was younger, yeah. When I got to high school it was mostly guitar. I started with guitar and you have to play piano in music school so I’m pretty versed in piano. I like to play piano more than guitar, I’m just not as good at it as guitar. I like to sing and play piano more than anything.

How do you think your music education sets you apart from other musicians?

My particular education was very valuable and I’m finding that out as I’m getting older because whereas other musicians may hit road blocks in their musical patterns, I know the theory behind stuff to get through songwriting dilemmas and whatnot. Also, music is supposed to work against you in a lot of ways and I was just fortunate to get out of that mind set. Music school kind of brainwashes you to think in terms of classical and jazz and that those are the only legitimate types of music – that’s what they try to teach and instill in you. It really works on a number of students, you know, because they kind of lose their edge and start sounding like everybody else. Even though they’re extremely technically skilled, they sound like other extremely technically skilled players. I kind of broke off with enough time to get away from that and I’m starting to get away from that now, where I can take those skills and translate them into something that is more meaningful and filtered through my personality. [School] worked for me.

Is this why you incorporate classical instruments into your solo material?

Maybe. When it comes down to it, I just like string arrangements. I like singing behind string arrangements, I think they support my voice really well. So the strings were always something I wanted to do and now that I get to do stuff as a solo artist I figured ‘eh, that string idea that you always wanted to do, lets do that now.’

Are you working with any other artists right now?

I am definitely focused on the solo album and making sure it gets a good push – I want to tour and do everything humanly possible to get the album out. But, it’s been a year since I recorded so I had to do something! I’ve been playing with a mambo orchestra, a French singer…I’ve been doing extremely different things. I just put together a Chicha band (Chicha Dust)! Chicha music is like 60’s psychedelic Peruvian Cumbia music. It’s definitely Latin but it’s got a rock ‘n roll flair to it that’s pretty cool. I definitely have other creative outlets that keep me sane.
Also, I’m kind of one of the newest members of Giant Sand. We just did this most recent Giant Sand album here [in Tucson] and I was part of the studio band. I just heard the masters and they sound awesome. It’s one of those things where whenever I have time I definitely want to play with Giant Sand. The band is so good and Howe Gelb is such a good songwriter, he’s just one of the coolest dudes I know…and just happens to live down the street from me, which makes it easy.

What is your favorite style of music to play?

I’m kind of in the moment right now, this Chicha music is pretty awesome. I think there’s actually a movement happening all around the world and I’ve seen it because I’ve been to Europe. It’s crazy. Cumbia music is making its way into the mainstream so its not just me at all, I just happen to be in the flow of things and noticing it. I didn’t know that it was a new thing worldwide but I knew I wanted to do something kinda like it at some point. So I put together a band that could play and jam out for like, 3 hours, kind of like The Mars Volta but a lot more structured and melodic. I think a lot of people would understand without really being into Latin music. I just feel like it’s a cool way to get a Latin genre out that everybody understands and appreciates. Its really hard, its definitely world music and world music can fall upon deaf ears. This music, for whatever reason, every time I’ve played it live in my set, it works really well and gets people engaged in the show. That was something that really motivated me to dig deeper into the genre. So that’s been the last 6 months, some of my demos are like that for the next album.

Why do you incorporate Spanish into your music?

Probably because of my Latin roots and just being in Tucson, the culture is very Hispanic and Spanish is just a normal thing here. The fact that I play in so many Latin genre bands, it just makes sense – it almost doesn’t make sense not to. I think I may have a little bit of French in the album too. I just like language, switching it up.

Did you study language in school?

I lived in Barcelona for 6 months and I got a minor in Spanish. That was like, 5 years ago, so my Spanish is a little bit rusty but I can sing with a pretty good accent and converse at a certain level just fine. I’m not too comfortable with writing my own lyrics in Spanish quite yet but I can sing the shit out of them! I had a poet friend of mine, Salvador Duran, write lyrics to melodies that I put together and he knocked it out of the ballpark.

You’ve toured all over the U.S, what’s that like?

I haven’t done the West Coast in a while so I’m really excited to go back out there but the drive is so much longer from city to city. If you’re going up the Pacific Coast Highway, it’s so beautiful going through the redwood forest but the long drive is what characterizes the West Coast. The East Coast, its just cities like D.C., New York, Philly, they are so close together, you have to pay the tolls, its colder. And the Mid-West just smells like cow shit for days and days.

Brian’s debut solo album, Ultra is set for release on March 6 with a CD release show at Plush in Tucson on March 9. He is also touring the West with the Heartless Bastards starting March 30 in Tucson.

Check out his evocative cover of Echo & The Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon.”

Band Links:
BrianLopezMusic.com
@B_Lopez_Music