Orkesta finds success with indie mambo sound
Singer and guitarist Sergio Mendoza has been busy. Between splitting time touring with DeVotchKa and Calexico, Mendoza also has his own band, Y La Orkesta.
“I’ve been staying busy,” he quips during a phone interview from his Tucson home. “It’s been the feast part of my career and I’m enjoying it. Time off can be a little difficult, but I have to roll with the punches.”
Mendoza leads Y La Orkesta, which is inspired by the legendary Cuban bandleaders Perez Prado and Tito Puente and Latin jazz of the 1940s and ’50s. The band combines cumbia, mambo and other Latin styles with a psychedelic-tinged rock that has been described as “indie mambo.” Its debut studio album, “Mambo Mexicano,” was released in September on Cosmica Records in the United States.
Meanwhile, the album was released in Europe in February.
“It took us a while to get the album out in the U.S.,” he explains. “It wasn’t until last year that we got a deal to release the album state side.”
Y La Orkesta began in 2009 and Mendoza says it took about three years to finish the album. He says in between gigs, he would record and write more songs.
“It took a while to figure out the concept,” he says of the album. “We were looking for different ways to track the songs. The entire recording process was finished in 2011 and it took us more than a year to find a way to release it.”
With some members revolving based on their availability, Mendoza says the band’s lineup changes. The current lineup includes Mendoza, Salvador Duran, Sean Rogers, Jack Sterbis, Larry Lopez, Michael Carbajal, Marco Rosano and Jason Urman.
Mendoza currently juggles three projects but he doesn’t let it bother him.
“I like to think of all three projects as cousins,” he says. “The bands all borrow from each other in some way. It’s not difficult for me to juggle them because they have similar roots which I am thankful for. If they were completely different or had nothing in common, I don’t know what I’d do.”
Mendoza admits that the most difficult thing to do is move from supporting musician to leader of the band.
“I get used to being in the background with DeVotchKa and Calexico,” he says. “With Y La Orkesta, I have to push myself to the front and be a leader.”