LOS ANGELES — On a Friday night, in downtown Santa Fe Springs, a large stage faced a sea of picnic tables and food vendors.
La Pulga, on the border of Los Angeles and Orange counties, typically features tribute bands that pay homage to Rock & Roll Hall of Fame artists like Metallica or Mexican-American icons like Jenni Rivera.
But on that March night, Juicebox, Southern California’s premier Strokes tribute band, had gathered an enthusiastic, multigenerational crowd ready to celebrate the group that came to symbolize downtown New York’s stylish rock in the early days. of the 2000s.
When Juicebox left the stage after performing 47 singles, album cuts and B-sides in three sets, the crowd began chanting, “Another one! Other! Other!”.
Juicebox’s members, like the crowds they draw, are predominantly Latino, although the band’s founder and drummer, Jason Wise, is a 38-year-old man who describes himself as a “Jewish guy” from New York. . He moved to Los Angeles in 2010 and joined a group of mostly Latino musicians he met through Craigslist who loved early 2000s rock bands as much as he did.
Six years ago, Wise founded Juicebox, which now features lead vocalist Edgar René Espino, guitarists George Campos and Renzón Sánchez, and bassist Tony Pérez (who recently replaced John Leal). It usually occurs twice a month throughout Southern California.
Wise discovered the Strokes when he was a teenager and they have been his favorite band ever since. “They’re a big part of who I am as an individual and being able to be a part of spreading the love of the Strokes to other people is something I’m not tired of doing,” he said. “If I wasn’t in this band, I would go to these shows.”
The Strokes themselves remain an important group in Latin America, having a long tradition of supporting rock music. When the band performs “Reptilia” to festival audiences, they are greeted with stadium-sized screams.
It’s no surprise that a place like Los Angeles County — where 49.1 percent of respondents (or more than 4.9 million people) in the 2021 census identified as Hispanic/Latino — is home to a large number of Latino Strokes fans.
Some members of Juicebox say they feel a closeness to the Strokes that comes in part from representation. (Drummer Fabrizio Moretti was born in Brazil and guitarist Albert Hammond Jr.’s mother is from Argentina.) “I see pictures of Fab and I think, I play soccer with that guy, he looks like someone I know,” said Sánchez, who is half Lebanese and half Salvadoran. “And a guy like Albert, who has very curly hair, that’s my brother. “I can see myself in the Strokes.”
By: ERIC DUCKER
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6890416, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-09-12 20:30:09
#Juicebox #Strokes #tribute #band #composed #Latinos