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Calgary Herald

The wolves have survived: How Los Lobos became one of the last bands standing from the '70s L.A. music scene

While it may not be what Los Lobos fans want to hear, the veteran band from East L.A. has no plans of returning to the studio anytime soon. Article content The five-piece act has not released new material since 2021's Native Sons, which was mostly a covers album that paid tribute to the Los Angeles music that inspired it. It may be hard to fathom, but the band that penned masterful tunes such as Angels with Dirty Faces, Will the Wolf Survive?, Little John of God, One Time One Night and dozens of others does not see songwriting as a priority at the moment. It is not a band that stockpiles songs. Article content Article content 'I thought we owed our record company another record, but our manager pointed out to me that we don't,' says saxophonist and keyboardist Steve Berlin. 'At this moment, we don't really have any plans to record. With the last one, we had this idea: What if we did this tribute to California? With whatever we do next, we'd have to have a similar sense. I don't think it's enough to just make another record. The hardest thing to do these days is to get anybody to pay attention, full stop. I'm not saying we have to have as specific a concept as a tribute to California music, but I think we should have a reason to go back in. We should have something we want to express. Right now, it's not in our purview.' Article content Article content Suffice to say, Los Lobos has seen a lot of changes in the music industry since breaking out of the L.A. scene with a unique mix of R&B, garage-rock, Tex-Mex, Latin and Chicano styles. There was certainly a time when a new Los Lobos album would have been considered a major event among devotees. The group hit the mainstream in 1987 thanks to its lively cover of Richie Valens' La Bamba for the soundtrack of a film with the same name, but a consistent output of adventurous and challenging music over the past 47 years has made the band cult favourites and critics' darlings. Still, Berlin — who joined the band as a full-time member in the mid-1980s after producing some of their early albums — admits he didn't predict they would have the longevity. While Los Lobos will be playing the main stage of the Calgary Folk Music Festival on Saturday, they are also in the midst of co-headlining with L.A.-punk pioneers X on The 99 Years of Rock n' Roll Tour. X are considered one of the godfathers of L.A. punk, having formed in 1977. Article content 'They were foundational to the L.A. scene,' says Berlin. 'Even before they were my friends, I considered them royalty among the hierarchy of L.A. bands. I'm pretty sure everybody who was there would say the same thing. That's the story of the tour; it's really the last two bands standing with original members from that era. It was a pretty magical time for all of us. We were young and innocent and having a blast every day. I mean, had anybody asked me 40-whatever years ago if I thought Lobos and X would be the last bands standing, I would have said there is absolutely no way that could happen, but here we all are.' Article content Berlin, who also had stints with The Blasters and The Flesh Eaters in the 1970s, has also built a career as an in-demand producer. He has been at the helm for albums by The Tragically Hip, Rickie Lee Jones and the Blind Boys of Alabama, among others. He says Los Lobos has kept his interest for decades with its artistic restlessness and constant reinvention. Article content The longevity may have something to do with the humble beginnings of the band. It was around for years, often playing numerous times a week in East L.A., before the wider world began to take notice, Berlin says. Article content 'One of the things that made us built to last was the fact that, unlike X and really any band I can think of since the early sixties and seventies …, the guys were able to work out the music but grow up around each other, learn how to tolerate each other and be humans together. It was seven years before anybody outside of East L.A. had any idea who they were. The band formed in 1973. Most people would say their arrival was the night that I met them, which is when they opened up for the Blasters, even though they had been together for seven solid years playing at least three or four times a week. Article content Article content 'It's like the story of the Beatles going to Hamburg and playing every night for two years, more or less off the radar, and it's how they turned into the Beatles. I'm not saying that Los Lobos is the Beatles by any stretch of the imagination, but being able to basically grow up and learn not just music but life skills without the pressure of the spotlight is invaluable. I don't think anyone can do that anymore. Most people have their very first work on the Internet being critiqued. I don't think that's a healthy thing at all.'