With Steve Berlin from Los Lobos By Jay Luster

With pandemic restrictions beginning to ease, for the moment, many musicians are getting back on the road. Among them is the multi-Grammy, mega-platinum record selling rock band, Los Lobos.

Hailing from East L.A., the group has mined almost every genre from Americana to Zydeco, and has played pretty much everywhere from street festivals to the White House. The songwriting team of David Hidalgo, and Louie Perez, are joined by lead guitarist Cesar Rojas, bassist Conrad Lozano, Enrique Bugs on drums, and multi-instrumentalist Steve Berlin.

While Berlin is mainly a saxophone player, he also contributes to the bands diverse sound,including the flute, Melodica, French horn, keyboards, and assorted percussion. As a producer, and musician, the straight-talking Berlin has worked with The Go Go’s, Cheryl Crow, The Smithereens, and to many others to name, but it was his work with The Blasters that brought him to the attention of Los Lobos. When asked how he transitioned from one band to the next, he said, “there wasn’t a day where I left the Blasters and joined Los Lobos, it was more by osmosis.” Continuing, he said, “In roughly 1983 and 1984, the Blasters were going through some significant changes, and I could see I wasn’t going to be a part of it. They were kind of falling apart, and Los Lobos was kind of on their way up.” After sharing many venues together, and with his production knowledge, he was a natural fit. He continued, “It started with the EP (And A Time To Dance) I was the producer, and by the time that was finished; I was a part of the band.”

When asked about the current tour, he said, “It’s interesting. It’s great to be out there; this is kind of what we do, and I’m happy about that, but (because of Covid 19) the circumstances are weird. We’re trying to keep ourselves, and everyone around us safe, and alive, and it’s just super different. If someone had approached me and said this is how it’s going to go if you want to play live again, I’d say yeah, I’ll take it. However, part of my frustration is that things looked so hopeful, back in May and June. It looked like we’ve got this thing licked, but now. Everyday it’s more insanity. The selfishness and stupidity of so many people is frustrating, and it’s just hard to understand.” In other words, the politics of the situation have allowed the pandemic to linger, and now it’s beginning to worsen again. He said, “Well yeah, there is big money in stoking this grievance shit, and clearly that’s what it’s all about. People are following sociopaths, but hey, there’s big money involved. It’s like an oil well in the middle of a nature preserve, and they’re just cashing in.”

Unfortunately, the pandemic has been a terrible blow to theater of all types. From the local movie houses being shut down, to live venues unable to host crowds, the entertainment industry has suffered tremendously. However, little by little, as restrictions have begun to ease, many bands have started to hit the road again. Berlin continued, “so far, knock on wood; everyone has been healthy, and we’ve had to cancel a couple of shows.” He said, “We insist upon vaccination cards to get into our shows, and only one venue has said no. One was wishy washy about it, but after we canceled, they came back around. It’s just more super weirdness.”

As for the band itself, he said, “It’s not like what we do is hard, we’re blessed that we get to play music for a living, but there’s a level of concern, and worry that we have when someone we don’t know comes backstage. Everybody freaks out!” How does the band handle it? “We try to maintain 100% vigilance. Nobody gets backstage, and every crew member needs to be vaccinated.”

Recently, Los Lobos has released a new album called Native Sons. The band wanted this album to be a return to its Latin roots, and is mostly covers of a variety of Mexican, and Chicano rock. While it has been warmly received by both the critics and the fans, only a few of its tunes have made it to the stage so far. Berlin says, “Our fans are very open minded, and they seem to be digging it.” They’ve begun playing some of the new music live, and he says, “it seems to be getting better and better every night. We’re kind of burning them in a little, so it’s been good.” Laughing, he said, “It’s nice to have new material. We’ve been flogging the same material for quite a while now, and it’s really nice to have new ideas, and new sounds.” However, “working with other bands, our shows are short, an hour, hour and fifteen minutes, so it’s hard to filter many of the new ones in there, but after this week, we’ll be back to headlining so we’ll be able to stick some more of them in”

Los Lobos is now on tour, with shows scheduled all the way out to the middle of 2022, with more to be announced. Look for them everywhere from Bakersfield, to Belgium. Tickets are on sale now.

Visit www.loslobos.org