Getting to Know: Chikita Violenta

Photo by Marina Magro

Hometown: Mexico City
Members: Luis Arce, Andrés Velasco, Esteban Suarez and Armando David
Album: TRE3S
For Fans Of: Built to Spill, Broken Social Scene, Smashing Pumpkins

Mexico City-based indie rock four-piece Chikita Violenta are set to release their international debut album on January 25 (via Arts & Crafts), which might explain why they named their third full-length album TRE3S—Spanish and English.

TRE3S takes advantage of the cut and paste skills of veteran Arts & Crafts producer Dave Newfeld (most famous for his elaborate work with Broken Social Scene), layering guitars, beats, and effects into a dizzying whirlwind of pop color.

Paste recently spoke with vocalist/guitarist Andrés Velasco about the new album’s wide cast of collaborators, what it’s like reaching an international audience and the consequences of being a part of the Broken Social Scene family.

Paste: Tre3s marks your international debut. Is there anything about this album that makes it more “international”?

Velasco: Hmmm…maybe that it’s an album made by a Mexican band, recorded in Canada, released in Mexico/US/Canada (and Japan)! We’re really excited about it, as this hasn’t happened with many Mexican indie bands, and we’re glad to get out there and hopefully open up more doors to our fellow bands.

Paste: There’s a lot of collaboration on this album. Besides working with producer David Newfeld, you brought in other Canadian indie rock veterans: Wintersleep’s Loel Campbell, occasional Most Serene Republic drummer Tony Nesbitt-Larking, and Broken Social Scene’s Lisa Lobsinger. You obviously have connections with these musicians, but why did you specifically seek them out?

Velasco: It’s really quite simple. When we wrote the tunes for this album, we didn’t have a formal drummer in the band. [Singer] Luis [Arce] can also play some drums and wrote most drum parts on the demos (and also recorded several drum tracks on the album), but we needed a seasoned studio drummer for some other tunes, and Dave contacted Loel and Tony to record on some tracks, and we loved what they did.

Also while in the studio, after we had already tracked the album, we thought a couple of songs could use female vocals for back-ups and choruses…So Lisa was also contacted through Dave to do the job, and she added a really nice touch to those tracks.

Paste: Tell me about working with David Newfeld on the album. What specifically did he bring to the songs, and how did he fit in with the group?

Velasco: We’ve known Dave for more than five years now and have become really good friends. This is the second album we’ve recorded with him, so the process was pretty natural. It’s like he becomes a band member while in the studio, and he is great at recognizing hooks, finding the right arrangements, and making our songs grow. A couple other tunes were written, jammed and recorded in the studio with him; improvisation and incidentals also become a living part of the songs. It came very easy for us to collaborate and work with him as we knew each other much better (personally and musically) this time around. He already knew what he was going for with our songs and what to ask of us, and on the other hand, we knew what kind of sound and input we could get from him and had it in mind since we recorded the first demos.

Paste: Newfeld’s known for having a very “hands-on” approach to producing—did you guys just let him do his thing, or was it more of a collaboration?

Velasco: Yeah, Dave has a very unique approach to producing, and he likes to get very involved in the process. In our experience, it was a great collaborative effort, all ideas are put on the table and debated endlessly, and having all parts so involved only improved the final outcome of the record.

Paste: You guys recently returned from your first U.S. tour (with Built to Spill and Ra Ra Riot). Did it live up to your expectations?

Velasco: It totally lived up to our expectations. First of all, we couldn’t believe we were supporting Built to Spill (one of our all-time favorite bands) on our first tour! Suddenly, we were in Kentucky, drinking and smoking with them backstage. They are amazing dudes, and they noticed we knew almost every song from their set. I have to admit, the night they dedicated a song from their encore to “Chikita Violenta,” eyes got “watery." Ra Ra Riot were great, too— also had a blast with them and enjoyed their shows; they’re great live. We also recently played with them here in Mexico City, and it was a great show (with mighty tequila drinking from the Syracuse posse).

Paste: I’m assuming you all are fluent in Spanish. Why do you guys write English lyrics? Does it have anything to do with being influenced by American bands?

Velasco: It does have to do quite a bit with being influenced by American and British bands. Although, you might even call them “international” bands, as many of them aren’t even native English speakers. Most kids who get into rock music grow up listening to English-speaking bands as a must. To build a solid musical foundation in any genre, you usually listen to the “classics,” and in rock, most of them sang in English, whether it was Pink Floyd or The Who or Black Sabbath or The Beatles or The Kinks. In that sense, English comes pretty natural when you try to start making your own music, even if you’re Mexican—there are lots of French, Swedish, Danish, Belgian (etc.) bands that do so, too.

On top of that, we all went to an bilingual school down here, and some of us even have family in the US, so we had the good fortune of speaking the language, which made things easier.

Lastly, we really got hooked on college, indie, and lo-fi bands from the early ’90s, like Guided By Voices, Built to Spill, Polvo, Archers of Loaf, Chavez, and Pavement, so it didn’t take much to feel more “comfortable” singing our tunes in English. We had several tunes in Spanish as teenagers, but we never felt totally comfortable singing them (Maybe we’ll release some stuff in Spanish in the future, too; who knows…). We’re very proud of our nationality and our language; this was just something that we felt came naturally, and we wanted to be honest, to stand by it.

Paste: Being a part of the Arts & Crafts family (in addition to working with Newfeld) brings about certain associations, particularly the dreaded “Broken Social Scene knock-off” tag. Do you try to avoid certain textures or melodies because of that possible association, or do you view the comparison as a compliment?

Velasco: I guess it’s always a compliment to be associated with bands you love and respect, like Broken Social Scene. Even before we got to know them and grow close to the Arts & Crafts family, we respected them and loved what they were doing, and we have lots of the same influences they do. We felt really close to them musically but never tried to shift our approach to our music because of that affinity. That love and respect is what led us to Newfeld in the first place, so we’re grateful more than being upset for these comparisons. It’s normal that listeners try to pin down or tag any band’s sound when they first listen to new music. We knew, given all these things you mention, that we’d be compared to the Social Scene “vibe” sooner or later, and most of it probably has to do with Newfeld’s very unique and particular sound that’s imprinted on the records he produces. Yet, in the end, it all narrows down to the songs and the music. We’ll always do music that we enjoy, that we feel is honest with our project. If that takes us closer or farther away from BSS or any other band out there, it’s secondary. If we enjoy those textures and melodies and are true to what we’ve been doing for so long, then we’ll continue to incorporate them in our music.

Paste: Your songs are very messy—in a good way. How do Chikita Violenta songs usually begin in terms of songwriting: a riff, a drum beat?

Velasco: It’s pretty messy, as well (laughs). There’s no particular band member that writes a complete tune and then shares it with the rest of the band to try and create an arrangement for it. Almost 100% of our songs are the offspring of several ideas that are out there, merged with a jam here and there and so forth. Sometimes they begin with a riff, a beat; other times, it can only be a vocal melody for a chorus. We work our way around that melody, riff, or beat until we get to an actual song. We like layering lots of parts and adding textures once the song is more or less complete. And so does Dave. We enjoy adding all these little details and color to twist and warp what, in essence, is a pop tune.

Paste: How are the TRE3S songs coming across in a live setting? There are lots of layers and effects on this album—how do you manage that transition from album to stage?

Velasco: It’s always hard for a band to hit the stage after releasing an album. A lot of questions pop up concerning the best way to perform a song that’s on an album. In our case, we sometimes try to stick to the recorded track and figure out a way to emulate all these little details, while other times, we go off on a limb and try to create something more engaging as a live arrangement yet a bit off from the song that’s on the album. It depends really, and our live show is a combination of this. Yet it’s coming along pretty well, and our live set is pretty fun with these tunes. We’re enjoying them, and so is the crowd.

Paste: What’s the Chikita Violenta plan for 2011?

Velasco: It’s the first time we’ll be able to release and album outside of Mexico, so we’re pretty excited. We want to share it with as many people as we can, and we want to tour both the U.S. and Canada (and maybe other countries) as much as possible at some point in the year. Hopefully, we’ll have enough new songs by that time and we can find a few weeks to record. Also, some videos are being worked on. All in all, the plan is to enjoy the whole ride and hope the people out there will get excited with what we do.