For our next local live music showcase this Wednesday, White Crate is proud to present a few of the best Latin collectives from the Bay Area at the Chapel in San Francisco: Mariposas del Alma, Discos Resaca Collective, Chulita Vinyl Club, and Louda y los Bad Hombres. Ahead of their performance, we spoke with Ivan Flores—Resaca’s bandleader and founder—about their musical beginnings, their favorite music from the Bay and more. Get your tickets to the show today!
Let’s clear it up now because we get this question a lot: Is Discos Resaca a group or a label?
It’s a label. And the thing us is, the folks that are within the group, we work on various projects. So within the same group of musicians, there could be four or five different projects, sometimes even more. Like myself, I’m involved in quite a few of them, and that’s kind of how we’ve always been. So most musicians in the Bay Area and anywhere in any larger city, one musician most likely is not just in one band, at least in the Latin scene. In other scenes, people kind of stick to one group, maybe two, max. But every musician I know is in at least 3-4 different bands, or subs for 2-3 different bands. So we all have our hands in different pots.
We’re all doing a bunch of different things. So we use the label as an umbrella to push out all the different projects that we may be working on. Think of the label as a label, and then the Collective is the house band for all these projects. Kind of how Fania All-Stars would get together, and then all their different singers would come through with the bandleader and do their thing. But the thing is, we don’t have official members, so to speak. We have 3-4 people that play conga, 3-4 people that play bass, 3-4 people that play other instruments. So on any given night you may see one of those other musicians there.
For you personally, where did musical journey begin?
From a young age, I was always interested in music. Fortunately the school that I went to had a school band. So I joined that just because I wanted to see what it was about. Then halfway through junior high, it was the early ’90s, there was a lot of metal, alternative, and all that going on. So I really got into that. And I was like, “I’m going to start my own band.” So from about seventh grade on, I’ve been in bands, whether it was a neighborhood band with other kids or where I’m at today.
I always had the ear for creating and writing. We started coming up with our songs, obviously doing a bunch of covers. We were like 11-12 years old, and we played a few school dances and we played talent shows and just other stuff that our schools. Whatever our schools would let us play at, we would do. And then we started doing backyard parties. And then in high school, continuing with backyard parties and some nightclubs would even… If they were all ages, we would play. There was a bunch of shows.
There was a huge scene going on at that time, in the later ’90s. There was a big scene in the Bay Area, a metal scene. Bands like Papa Roach, and even before them, Deftones would be around a lot. And so it’s kind of that type of scene. And that was pretty much how I got started.
Tell us about the inspiration behind your newest album, East Side San Jose.
It’s inspired by the album East Side San Jose by Clifford Coulter from 1970. I listened to it years ago and thought it was cool that someone actually created a concept album dedicated to this neighborhood. For me personally, growing up from the ’80s on to the early 2000s in East San Jose, the neighborhood had a certain vibe.
My long-term friend and co-producer Xian Ballesteros and I have worked together for years. We thought, well, we can come up with something that represents what East Side San Jose sounds like to us and do it as a continuation, or our response to that first album that was released in 1970, to pick up the torch from that timeframe and bring it forward to the late ’90s. So that was the idea. We had a good idea of what it sounded like to us and to a lot of people. That was the height of the lowriding scene.
Do you think there’s growing pride around the San Jose area or the Bay in general? Or has it always been there?
It kind of has always been there. Right now lowriding itself is seeing a surge, since the past five-plus years or so. I think it has a lot to do with just the international attention that it’s gotten. So it’s been there for a long time, but I felt like by the end of the ’90s, early part of the 2000s, the focus shifted away from it. But now there are a lot more bands and younger artists that are going back and playing that type of music. And I feel like the look has come back, and a lot of those things are coming back, so there’s more attention to it.
People are starting to recognize that the Bay, mainly San Jose, has a lot to do with the origins of this movement, this whole style, this whole culture that’s been around for so long and is resurging.
What does the Bay Area sound like to you?
At any given day or at any point of the day, you can hear different types of music. On a playlist at a barbecue, you’ll hear Mexican music followed by rap followed by more tropical music. So the culture lends itself to this musical versatility, and it’s understood that you’re not out of line for playing all these songs in a row.
When we started first playing cumbias in the early part of the 2000s, we would play and then right after would be a ska band, and right after them would be a punk band. And nobody thought it was weird or anything like that. We’ve played shows where there’s rappers, we’ve played shows where we’re sharing a stage with reggaeton artists that come from other countries. So this is one of those places where musically, almost anything goes and people can adjust and vibe with it. There’s not a lot of segregation in the scene that you sometimes find in other places.
Would I be right to assume there’s also that same diversity across the Latin backgrounds of your group?
It’s a little bit of everything. I’m half Mexican, half Puerto Rican. There’s people in the group that are Mexican and Salvadorian. Then we have folks that are from Peru. I guess Mexico is the most represented, but it’s not overwhelming. It’s a pretty good mix. And I think that also goes into what makes our sound what it is. And also we got Deuce Eclipse, and he’s always representing Nicaragua and Central America.
What’s coming next for you and the Collective?
Right now we’re trying to work with some artists from other genres to bridge the gap between cumbia and other stuff that’s going on in the Bay. Once we’re ready to share that, then I can give more details.
We’re also getting ready to release East Side San Jose on vinyl. I’m hoping the timing is perfect so that we may get it in time for the show. That’s the hope right now, but not 100% sure. But other than that, we have a soundtrack coming to the animated film that we did. And then also we’ve been working on material for the next Mariposas album. And we also have singles that are coming out with one-off collaborations with different folks.
What music are you loving right now?
I’m trying to do a better job of keeping my ear to what a lot of the more contemporary artists are doing, but I find myself always going back. I listen to a little bit of jazz, but also for the East Side project, I did a lot of musical research. I’ve been listening to a lot of freestyle music. But then, at the same time, I’ve listened to a lot of metal as well. Stuff I grew up listening to, and some of what they’re doing now. A lot of those bands from back in the day. Like Testament just dropped a new album, and they still sound great.
Get tickets to see Discos Resaca Collective at the Chapel on Wednesday, January 18 →
