Grupo Fantasma Looks Forward To Immediate Future as Tour Ends
The groundbreaking Latin collective musical outfit, Grupo Fantasma, will be one of the featured highlights of the 35th annual Chicano Park Day which held Saturday, April 23, 2005, at the world famous and historic park located in the heart of Barrio Logan just south of downtown in the southern California city of San Diego.
Contactmusic.com spoke with band guitarist, Adrian Quesada, as the group left New York City packed in a van launching its highway adventure in westward motion for a series of concerts that concluded with two shows in San Diego.
| The Austin, Texas’ group has now finished the latest leg of nationwide tour of the U.S. that began shortly after the release of their second CD, Movimiento Popular, in 2004 on their own Aire Sol label. The disc features the band flexing its muscles on an eclectic set of sixteen tunes all drenched in traditional Latin rhythms, vocal styles, and Spanish language lyrics. The band has continually toured the entire country apparently with some credible positive response to prove both tours and CD’s success.
With the help of some key figures close to the band, Grupo Fantasma has secured a record distribution pact that promises to truly support the group in its efforts to get its music out to the fans.
“We basically got about 30 bands together and told the distributors, ‘We can offer this…’. It’s an unprecedented deal, which will hopefully give each of the bands as well as the distributor a substantial set of rewards,” said Quesada.
Grupo Fantasma’s rise to the top of the independent music heap can be attributed to both their innovative musical style and their unrivaled work ethic. The group’s nonstop work approach is exemplified by the band’s mammoth tour that has took its 12 members to cities on the United States’ east coast, west coast, and all points in between hitting 23 cities in 13 states in just over one-month. The tour found the band playing major U.S. markets including Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Denver, and San Francisco. Prior to the tour the group once again performed at the largest and most respected independent U.S.music festival, South by Southwest (SXSW), held in their adopted hometown of Austin. Last year, the group opened for Los Lonely Boys in front of a record crowd of over 23,000.
After the tour, Quesada and the rest of Grupo Fantasma look forward to recording their next CD which too will benefit from the new nationwide distribution deal with Justicia y Verdad Records. The band’s CD’s will now be available in music stores across the country, online at www.texasmusicroundup.com and in Target stores nationwide beginning April 1, 2005.
“We really have enough material for two CD’s, but we’ll work through them and trim it down to one,” laughed Quesada who continued by explaining that the group’s members ability to also laugh is one thing that has aided the group over the years.
“The most important thing is we’re friends and that everyone knows how to laugh.” By Francisco H. Ciriza | |
