La Plebe

La Plebe has been around in the Bay Area since the beginning of the millennium. Few bands are capable of blending punk with horns, ska riffs, politics and fun with a live energy that can make a band stand out amidst the endless sea of mediocrity. La Plebe has been doing it in bilingual fashion for over seven years now, and has toured across far seas with no signs of letting up. Synthesis spoke to bassist Lupe and drummer Mark recently to get some background for this under-represented treasure of a band.

Where are you from?
Lupe: My family’s originally from the state of Michoacan in Mexico but I was actually born and raised in Salinas, CA.
Mark: I was born in Virginia but I was raised in Millbrae, CA, right by SFO airport.

How did La Plebe start?
Lupe: The story goes, the band started like seven years ago. The way it started was a friend of mine who used to be in the band, Jose, we used to play together in high school. When I moved up [to San Francisco] for college in 2000, he moved up here and it was like picking things up right where they started. Shortly after that we invited Albert, the trumpet player, to come hang out, drink some beers and just jam out. Once we saw that going on, we invited his brother and we also brought Mark our drummer on board.
Mark: They played about three shows without me before I joined. So, I guess I’ve been in the band since 2001.

As a founding member, Lupe, are you the chief of the operation?
Lupe: Definitely not. I think the boys do a good analogy: There’s five of us in the band and each of us is only 20 percent. As far as creating music, one of us may have a riff or an idea of what we want to play and then we continually build on that until we get something we like. There’s not one sole person who is the leader of the band.

A lot of Latin American people are raised in Catholic households. Is your family religious, and if so how, does it affect your rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle?
Lupe: I actually did grow up in a Catholic family. I can’t say that there’s anything that’s directly influenced me in the religious aspect. I’m not religious anymore; I don’t really follow it. I don’t know when the last time it was when I went to church... You grow up, you start to explore different things.
Mark: I wasn’t raised religiously. My mom grew up Mormon. She tried to get me into it but she wasn’t into it too much herself. She’s kind of a Jack Mormon. When I was younger I was baptized but we never went to church. There was no religious influence on me at all; I was free to do what I wanted.

Lupe, does your family wish you were more of a practicing Catholic instead of being a whacky rock ‘n’ roll guy playing anti-establishment punk rock?
Lupe: Religion doesn’t really come up with my parents anymore. They tell me “God bless you” and they tell me “pray, go to church,” what have you, but they understand times are changing with me and they no longer really push me on that anymore. I think my mom wishes I wouldn’t cuss so much in my lyrics but she’s not too worried about it. She knows that what we talk about, the topics we sing about or whatever we’re trying to get out there, that as long as we’re saying something with a message behind it, she may not agree with it but she can understand it.

So, in a way, it brings more punk rockers into the Spanish-speaking world somewhat, and the Spanish-speaking audience into the world of punk.
Lupe: Yeah. The thing is, punk rock is everywhere: South America, Mexico, Central America, Japan, Europe. We’ve done two tours in the Balkans. The music transcends language. The feelings and the sentiments are there. We got past so much music in their native tongue. But the feeling that the music puts out there is understandable no matter what language it’s in.

As you accumulate more of a following, do you notice more support for punk en español?
Lupe: I think we have. We don’t try to pigeonhole ourselves and say that we’re only gonna play with bands that play in Spanish or with only punk bands. We like all kinds of music. There’s a lot of people who speak Spanish but don’t have the exposure to Spanish punk rock. So, playing with bands that are more established and being accepted [by their audience] is always a good thing for us.
Mark: I think it’s still kind of separated. We’re in a kind of special situation. We’ve gotten lumped in with all kinds of bands. We get miscategorized as ska when I think we’re more of a punk band. But we’re able to play in a lot of different scenes because of it. Some bands get lumped into a Latin scene or a punk scene and hang out in there or can’t get out of it. We’re really fortunate. Here [in San Francisco] it’s a little
more melded.

As politically minded punks become more familiar with the Spanish language and the political issues that concern immigration and the border etc., do you notice a higher interest in Spanish-speaking punk rock?
Mark: Personally, I’m not Latino, but as a member of the band we do have a lot of different people coming to our shows and supporting what we’re saying. We focus on a lot of issues that face immigrants. The response has been positive. A lot of people are singing along even if they really don’t know the words, can’t pronounce the words or know what they mean. We translate everything in the liners so hopefully they are reading the translations and like it.

What’s next for you guys?
Mark: After these shows in California we’re off to Europe. We’re going back to the Balkans, where we’ve toured twice before, then we’re going to Western Europe for the first time. We’re opening up for Lagwagon on a couple of dates and The Real McKenzies on a couple. Everything is really looking up

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