ILL NINO plays The Whisky Jun. 25, Club Hydra Jun. 27, M15 Jun. 28 photo: Tom Valdez
Metal rockers Ill Niño will hit So-Cal with three shows this month, Jun. 25 at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood, Jun. 27 at Club Hydra in Long Beach and Jun. 28 at M15 Concert Bar & Grill in Corona.
The band was founded in New Jersey in 1998, but it was the release of “Revolution Revolucion” in 2001 that put them on the metal map. Their unique mix of heavy metal, Latin rhythms and Spanish guitar riffs have propelled the band to international fame, while their honest lyrics and devotion to their fan “Familia”, have given them some of the most devoted followers in the business.
After a heavy focus last year on international touring, Christian Machado (lead vocalist) made it clear the band is back and ready to rock the US.
“It’s been a year since we played the U.S., so it’s way overdue,” Machado said. “We’re extremely excited to be back. We have a lot of fans here and a lot of extremely, extremely dedicated fans that have this Ill Niño brotherhood, you know? They’re great friends with each other, they travel miles and miles to go to shows, cross state lines, they don’t care.”
Just how important is this “Familia” to Ill Niño?
“They are actually the driving force,” he said. “I think that it’s the reason we still put out albums and they’re the reason that we continue to do music. We make an album, and it has a release date, and it goes on the store shelf, and iTunes begins to sell it, and the songs no longer belong to us, they really belong to the fans. No matter what emotions were put into the lyrics or what kind of musical content we came up with, it really is theirs’.”
With seven albums, most recently 2012’s “Till Death, La Familia”, and a 15-year career, it is clear that Machado, Dave Chavarri (drums), Ahrue Luster (lead guitar), Laz Pina (bass), Diego Verduzco (rhythm guitar) and Oscar Santiago (percussion) know how to put on great shows that keep their fans happy.
“Part of the reason why the last album was entitled “Till Death, La Familia”, is it was kind of an ode to our fans and the brotherhood that they have, and also the loyalty and the dedication,” Machado said. “I mean we have hundreds and hundreds of fans that have now started getting the Ill Niño logos and artwork tattooed on them, and it’s insane! Not insane in a bad way, but insane in a fulfilling, almost spiritual way.”
It turns out Ill Niño shows are often a wealth of these “insane, but fulfilling” moments. Recent gigs have seen couples getting engaged, and even a sprinkling of ashes on the mosh pit floor.
“It’s pretty insane man, but when you think about the emotions behind her decision to do that, they had gotten married to one of our acoustic songs and then he passed away tragically,” Machado explained. “ I guess she felt like Ill Niño was one of the reasons they connected, and she felt more comfortable bringing the ashes to the show than just letting them sit on a shelf forever. That one was just a ‘wow’ moment.”
As far as what else fans can expect from a live Ill Niño show, Machado offered up a description of their sound, but also of the special feeling that happens at their shows.
“Definitely just expect an intense, hard-rock show that fuses a lot of original elements, but an extremely positive, spiritual vibe,” he said. “There’s enough shitty things in the world and enough negativity. We love to just try to make everybody forget about the everyday struggles of life at the venue.”
The set-list on this tour is built to please, spanning the band’s entire career.
“We’re doing about 12 songs from the first three albums, and one song off “Enigma”, one song off “Epidemia”, and several songs off the new album,” Machado said. “It’s a pretty vast set-list. It takes a lot to play almost 20 songs every night, but it’s the only way that we could deliver happiness to the fans, and we know what they want to hear. We’re not gonna try to be cheap with them on songs.”
One of the songs in the set-list from “Till Death, La Familia”, “Blood is Thicker Than Water,” is being released as a single within the next week or so, according to Machado. It is also going to be released with a video that the band shot while on tour.
“I hope that that song can connect with the American public and even internationally, with all of our fans,” he said. “I really feel it’s the strongest song on our album, and I think the message is something that even someone who doesn’t listen to metal can connect with.”
Besides the fans, Machado has several other things that keep him going on a grinding tour.
“Humidifiers. Humidifiers to me are my good friends,” he revealed. “Right now, I’m sitting in front of a humidifier. I wear a sleep mask when I go to sleep, so the light doesn’t bother me. I wear earplugs, so that the snoring orchestra that is going on in the bunks every night can happen without me disturbing them.
“Beyond that, all sorts of stupid stuff like extra pillows. The mattresses in the buses are horrific. It’s almost like sleeping on a bed of nails, so I go to Walmart and I buy this little padded thing I put underneath the mattress. I almost made like a little nest for myself.
“Keeping in touch with family is really important as well, so I really couldn’t live without my phone.”
It’s clear that the “Familia” means everything to the band, and to Machado, who expresses excitement about being reunited with fans they haven’t seen in “almost a decade”, but it’s a member of his actual family he’s most excited about seeing when he gets to Southern California.
“I live in Belmont Shore, so I’m definitely looking forward to spending a day at home with my daughter, see how she’s doing, check in with her, maybe go for a walk with her on the beach…nothing really heavy metal about that!”