Los Capitanes is a controversial and turbulent new-age love story; like Sid and Nancy, Kurt and Courtney, or Bert and Ernie. Kent describes the band as 'a sexless marriage, except with heaps of sex.' Essentially, they are the sonic equivalent of the best, loudest, and most irresponsible and enthusiastic sex you can imagine.
By no means a small band, Los Capitanes comprises of Jesse Sewell (drums), Dave Rodriguez (electric guitar), Rob Lee (trombone), Kieran Smits (bass), Tim Kent (vocals) and Julian Barker (trumpet). Simple math shows that the size of the band is equal to the size of their sound, so non-natives hardly need to stretch their imagination to know that the band can be heard all over the quiet streets of sedate ol' Canberra. However, thanks
to the magic of the interwebs, Los Capitanes' sound has started to spread even further.
For years, Canberra's entertainment staples have been porn, pot, prostitution and politics. Sadly, these four Ps have lost their shine, and simply aren't enough to engage those who hope for something genuinely interesting - something different and unapologetically fun. Insert Los Capitanes, a national stimulus of the non-recession
kind.
As is the case with all good love affairs, the boys from Los Cap started off openly hating each other. However, with high school politics aside, the
group soon realised that they had a few pretty essential things in common – namely, a natural talent for self-deprecation; a mutual love of
sarcasm; and of course a love of great music. This fuelled each of their innate individual mandates to have a good time in spite of, or perhaps because of, all consequences. Upon realising this, it wasn't long
before the thin veil between hate and love disintegrated, and these six individuals became one.
Like most ska bands, Los Capitanes wish to avoid being called 'ska'
like they wish to avoid being punched in the face by Mike Tyson ¬– not
because they don't like ska (or Mike Tyson), but because most other
people in the world don't.
All jokes aside, Los Cap strive to bring something new to their music, and provide performances that can't be boxed in to genre clichés or scene stereotypes. At the end of the day, Los Cap simply play the music that they enjoy; sometimes it's reggae, sometimes it's punk and sometimes it's
balls-to-the-wall two-tone ska. 'But I guess that's what we love about being a "ska band" – it's really just an excuse to play whatever the
fuck we want.'
Whether you prefer to call it versatility or shameful inconsistency, it's an attitude and a sound that over the years has seen Los Cap play with some pretty diverse and incredible bands, including Parkway Drive, Koolism, Gyroscope, The Living End, Fireballs, Carpathian, The Whitlams, The Hilltop Hoods, Against Me!, Regurgitator, The Porkers and a little outfit from the UK called The Specials.
Live, Los Cap have been known to both thrill and disgust, which means that those who witness a Los Cap show seldom forget it. Their consistently huge effort to 'lose their shit' onstage can and has
been interpreted by some more sensitive souls as plain rude – particularly their punk rock rendition of Missy Higgins' 'Scar' – but really, it's just the band immersing themselves in the music, performance and theatrics of it all. 'It's really only one facet of
our personality; we're not belligerent dickheads all of the time. Offstage, we're actually quite shy and socially retarded.'
Their debut LP 'No Fun Intended' was released in 2007 and received a darn good reception (particularly the single 'Scene Queen') – but it's
their upcoming album 'Rest For The Wicked' that the band are most proud of, a genuine showcase of what sounds can sound like. Recorded by Lachlan Mitchell (The Jezabels, Naxzul) in the dark depths of a nameless studio somewhere in Sydney, the album has taken almost two years and many an in-fight to finish. But just like how make-up sex always makes an argument worth the pain, the end result for Los Cap is an album that they consider to be as close to perfection as they dare to tread. Musically, 'Rest For The Wicked' picks up where the old album left off, but betters it. Everything is a little more extreme – the slow stuff is slower and the fast stuff is faster… but that's just how Los Cap like it.
Management:
Black Cherry Presents
Carla Hatton - carlarubyriot@gmail.com
Booking Agent:
Carla Hatton (Black Cherry Presents) - carlarubyriot@gmail.com
