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From RollingStone.com:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsar ... ?nid=19667

Summer tour lined up behind new album

Los Lobos have lined up a thirty-date tour in honor of their thirtieth anniversary.

The veteran Los Angeles troupe first came together thirty years ago when acquaintances and multi-instrumentalists David Hidalgo, Cesar Rosas, Louie Perez and Conrad Lozano gave up their respective high school bands and first started playing together. "We'll be everywhere," Perez says. "We did our annual thing last fall at the Fillmore [in San Francisco], and people brought presents, so I think it's gonna feel like that all year long. It's going to feel like an extended birthday party."

The birthday isn't the only reason for touring (and celebration). Lobos will also be plugging their new record, The Ride, a record unlike any other the group has recorded over the past three decades. Lobos called in favors from friends old and new for the record and got guests including Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, CafŽ Tacuba, Mavis Staples, Bobby Womack, Richard Thompson, Ruben Blades and Garth Hudson to appear on the record, which includes some new songs and some older tunes reconceived and re-recorded.

"We had a wish list," Perez says of the album, "and I consider them all friends. But we weren't sure whether they'd be available or interested. After awhile, we said, 'This can be a two-CD set, because nobody was telling us no.' It's a good problem to have. This was really a needle and thread sewn into the fabric of what we're all about."

As for the older songs like "Rita" and "Wicked Rain," Perez says the new takes allowed the band to put some unused ideas to rest. "When you make a record you have to live with it awhile," he says. "Sometimes you go, 'Maybe we could've gone back to the chorus one more time before going out.' Doing this allows us to say, 'Well, I had an idea twenty years ago . . .' It was a lot of fun putting those tracks together."

The album's May 4th release sets the festivities in motion. The group will do an in-store appearance and CD signing at L.A.'s Amoeba Records that day, followed by a hometown show the next night at the Avalon to officially launch the tour. Also on the schedule for Cinco de Mayo will be an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno along with Cafe Tacuba. A New York City in-store is also scheduled for June 14th at the Greenwich Village Tower Records.

"Even though this wasn't put together as any kind of anniversary record," Perez says, "I guess maybe we were waxing just a bit sentimental."

Los Lobos tour dates:

5/5: Los Angeles, Avalon Hollywood
5/8: Madera, CA, B-95 Salsa Festival
5/15: Tahoe, NV, Ceasar's Tahoe
5/16: Victorville, CA, San Bernardino County Fair
5/23: Dana Point, CA, Doheny Heritage Music Festival
6/12: Manchester, TN, Bonnaroo Music Festival
6/13: Allegheny, PA, Hartwood Ampitheater
6/16: Brooklyn, NY, Prospect Park
6/17: New York, Irving Plaza
6/18: Boston, Paradise Rock Club
6/19: Bridgeton, NJ, Donald Rainear Amphitheater
6/20: Lancaster, PA, Long's Park Amphitheater
6/22: Glenside, PA, Keswick Theater
6/23: Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art
6/24: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
7/1: Milwaukee, WI, Potawatomi Stage
7/2: Detroit Lakes, MN, 10,000 Lakes Festival
7/9: Santa Ynez, CA, Gainey Vineyards
7/10: Anaheim, CA, House of Blues
7/17: Toronto, Harbourfront Center
7/18: Detroit, Chene Park
7/29-30: San Francisco, Fillmore
8/1: Lake Placid, NY, Olympic Speed Skating Oval
8/7: St. Louis, St. Louis Riverfront
8/19: San Diego, Humphrey's by the Bay
8/21: Chicago, Kingsbury and Willow
8/22: Boulder, CO, Chautauqua Auditorium
9/1-2: St. Paul, MN, Minnesota State Fair

ANDREW DANSBY
(April 28, 2004)

Damn no Seattle date. I saw them years ago at the Moore Theater in Seattle. Great show. George Wendt and Rhia Pearlman (Norm and Carla from Cheers) Introduced them and when George stepped out on stage everyone in the house yelled. NORM!

I am pumped for the June 20 show in Lancaster, PA. IT'S A FREEBIE!!!!

Last night (KFOG) played Los Lobos , Los Lonely Boys and Calexico. Tonight I'm buying Calexico CDs 1/2 a case Tacate and XX with limes for Cinco De Mayo. any comments on Calexico ?

El mojito wrote:Last night (KFOG) played Los Lobos , Los Lonely Boys and Calexico. Tonight I'm buying Calexico CDs 1/2 a case Tacate and XX with limes for Cinco De Mayo. any comments on Calexico ?

I only have one of their albums so far but I love it.

As for Los Lobos, I've only seen them a few times and only have a few of their records (I got my start with Will the Wolf Survive?) but I think they're one of the most underrated bands on the planet, live or otherwise. Those that choose not to seek out their music because of an understandable aversion to "La Bamba" are really doing themselves a disservice. They kick ass.

I especially like their version of "Badges...we don't need no stinkin' badges"

Thanks for the tour dates, Jahfin!
I have seen Los Lobos several times. They rock! I'm hoping to catch them and Los Lonely Boys at Summerfest.

Damn . . . they are in St. Louis when I'm in Boston and in Boston when I'm in St. Louis . . .

From Durham, NC's Independent Weekly:
http://indyweek.com/durham/current/musicspot.html

30 years running wild--Los Lobos' Louie Perez takes stock of The Ride

B Y S Y L V I A P F E I F F E N B E R G E R

Los Lobos rolls out the red carpet with The Ride, a casual tribute album to their 30th year in show business. Among the featured guests who deliver unforgettable performances, from the wacky to the serene: Tom Waits, Mavis Staples, Ruben Blades, Elvis Costello, Bobby Womack, Richard Thompson, Little Willie G. and Cafe Tacuba, sprawling across the genres of gospel, blues, R&B, folklore, Rock en Espanol, and oh yeah, American rock. As usual Los Lobos makes it all sound easy like Sunday morning, blending four remakes from their first two decades with a bulk of great new songs. If you can't get your head around all of it at first, don't worry; like a magic chicle, The Ride releases more and more flavor the longer you chew on it.

Songwriter and musician Louie Perez took a moment recently to speak to the Indy by phone about songwriting, life in America and The Ride so far. You can catch Los Lobos live this Wednesday, June 23 at 8 p.m. at the North Carolina Museum of Art amphitheater in Raleigh.

The Independent: Tell me about your new album, The Ride.

Louie Perez: We decided to make a record that would celebrate our 30th year together by inviting friends and heroes and influences and see who will come to the party.

How did you get the idea to enlist Cafe Tacuba?

We thought it was important for us to provide some forum for the new music that's coming from Latin America, which we were very fond of, and at the same time, to indulge ourselves by having somebody as good as Cafe Tacuba appear on the record. They have been our favorite for a long time, because they remind us of our band, for the stubborn kind of approach where [they say], "this is the way we do it, and we're not going to budge," and by boldy mixing a lot of different genres and styles, the folkloric being a part of that. We came up with this song that had these B-sections, and with very little direction we sent the stuff to Mexico City, and just said here, this part is yours, do whatever you like. They came back with this beautiful, symphonic section. It was a great addition to the song, and really, it's one of my favorites. It reminds me of The Clash. It just has so much energy and a band sounding like they really mean it.

Well and the theme too, of vengeance which is coming, I mean it's sort of a warning. It's strong medicine in a way.

I came up with this title, the revenge of the underdog ["La Venganza de los Pelados"]. That could be taken almost universally. It could mean ethnic groups, it could mean something as petty as a rock band like ourselves at odds with what's happening in the industry, which has pushed a lot of bands like ourselves back out onto the fringes again. So that's what it is, it's going to come back around, and you're going to hear from us eventually.

People talk about the four covers of your earlier material, but what's actually more striking to me is that there are nine new songs here.

Yeah, it really is a different spin on the tribute record. We have artists performing old songs and artists that are guesting on new material. So again it's Los Lobos doing their all-over-the-place sort of thing.

Considering your incredibly rich songbook, you had to be very judicious to limit it to four. How did you choose?

We thought about particular artists at that point. Recording these songs was just trying to jumpstart the whole process. We said, where do we start, how do we plant the seed in our minds? So we said, well, let's record "Someday, "and maybe we can get somebody like Bobby Womack, or wow, wouldn't it be cool if we got like Mavis Staples to do it, before we even sent out word or had any clue who would be involved. Then we came up with this long 10-minute jam on "Is This All There Is?" and we thought, oh boy, how about Little Willie G. from Thee Midnighters? And of course, "Matter of Time," hands down, it was going to be Elvis Costello because it was a song that he actually performed on his acoustic tour. "Wicked Rain," that was probably the last of the older songs that we had come up with, we thought about having Bobby Womack, who had already agreed to perform on it, and we said, why don't we put one of his songs together with ours? Steve Berlin came up with the idea of "Across 110th Street," and it just seemed to make sense lyrically, it kind of creates this arc. We put together an arrangement, and then we presented the idea to Bobby and [he] was just knocked out. That is pretty much how those came together. Then Dave, myself, and Cesar separately from us--he writes on his own--we sat down and we spent about a month working on some new songs, and out of that writing period came up with nine new songs.

Did appearing in the recent PBS Martin Scorsese documentary on the Blues influence The Ride at all?

I don't think that working on that show rubbed off on the record. By the artists that were chosen it just started to lean that way. It goes back to our years being kids listening to music, and back then we listened to a lot of Motown and soul music, and of course the East L.A. sound, like Thee Midnighters did in the '60s, was in fact East L.A. musicians' interpretation of Rhythm and Blues. So R&B has deep roots with us culturally and as far as just music fans we've always enjoyed it.

At the same time we have "The Wreck of the Carlos Rey" with Richard Thompson, which was something that is more ethereal and different. But things like "Charmed" and "Chains of Love," definitely have a more bluesy sort of thing.

In 30 years how has the stage experience changed for you?

We've become more and more like one thing. More intuitive, more like we really sense where everything's going. We don't ever perform a song the same twice. That's why I think a lot of the jam bands' followers have taken a liking to us. Playing on stage for us is always a new experience, it's always reinventing ourselves every time we go on stage.

In 1984 you asked the question, How Will the Wolf Survive? Have you figured out the answer to that yet?

He survives. When you think about survival you think that somebody goes through this experience that requires a lot of energy and struggle, and then finally there's the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. In our case, we continue to struggle, because there are the powers that be in this industry. Being the way we are, terminally stubborn about what we do, it has been a struggle. Has the wolf survived? Yes, he has survived, but there's still a lot of work to be done.

From Billboard.com:
http://www.billboard.com/bb/daily/artic ... 1000558510

Having been graced by such collaborators as Elvis Costello, Tom Waits and Richard Thompson on its latest album, "The Ride," Los Lobos returns the favor on the seven-track mini-album "Covered."

Due Aug. 3 via Mammoth/Hollywood, the set finds the Latin rock act interpreting material by Costello ("Uncomplicated"), Waits ("Jockey Full of Bourbon"), Thompson ("Shoot Out the Lights"), Bobby Womack ("More Than I Can Stand"), Thee Midnighters ("It'll Never Be Over for Me"), the Blasters ("Marie Marie") and Ruben Blades ("Patria").

"The Ride" debuted in May at No. 75 on The Billboard 200. Los Lobos will be on tour in support of the set through September, and will play Chicago's Park West tonight (June 30).

-- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

From Billboard.com:
http://www.billboard.com/bb/daily/artic ... 1000575758

While on the road supporting its latest Hollywood/Mammoth studio album, "The Ride," Los Lobos is planning on taping its first DVD, slated for a Christmas 2004 release.

"We are doing two nights at the end of this month at the Fillmore [in San Francisco]," Los Lobos guitarist/singer Louie Perez tells Billboard.com. "It is not going to be like 'The Ride' DVD. It is going to be a Los Lobos live show. Of course, there will probably be half a dozen new songs. During our set, which is two hours-plus, we visit just about every record we've ever done and then we throw in the goofy, obscure cover every now and then."

Qualifying for such a selection is a Bob Marley track or the Who's "My Generation," which Perez says unites Los Lobos' multi-generational audience. Considering its more than a dozen guests -- including Tom Waits, Elvis Costello and Richard Thompson -- appear on the "The Ride," surprise guest appearances during the two Fillmore shows seem like a no-brainer.

"I think so," says Perez. "It depends. Richard [Thompson] actually spends a lot of time in Southern California. And if he is around, then possibly he may come up. I'm not sure. It is just kind of getting put together so we'll start looking around to see who is available as far as guests. And it doesn't necessarily have to be 'The Ride' guests. It could be somebody else."

Perez says Los Lobos will be touring through November, including an October jaunt to Japan, before the group "hangs up the 'Gone Fishin' sign" for the year. As for the next studio album, Perez hints he may try to regroup the band after the first of the year, which is also around the time the guitarist's side project, the Latin Playboys, plans on recording a live album for a fall 2005 release.

As previously reported, Los Lobos will on Aug. 3 issue the "Ride This -- The Covers EP," featuring its rendition of songs by such "The Ride" guests as Costello, Waits, Thompson and Bobby Womack.

-- John Benson, Cleveland

From Billboard.com:
http://www.billboard.com/bb/daily/artic ... 1001307874



Los Lobos will perform its adventurous 1992 album "Kiko," its entirety at the band's annual holiday shows. The run includes performances Dec. 16-17 in San Francisco, Dec. 27 in Los Angeles, Dec. 29 in Anaheim, Calif., and Dec. 30 in Las Vegas.

"We knew it would be hard work, but the fans have always said 'Kiko' was special, so we're doing it in part as a present to them," Los Lobos' Louie Perez says of the upcoming shows.

Meanwhile, the band will begin working on a new studio album next month. Perez and playwright Luis Torres have also been commissioned to adapt "Kiko" for a theatrical production slated for a spring 2008 debut.

-- Katie Hasty, N.Y.