Ozomatli
By Fred Gonzalez
If a Los Angeles-based latin rock-fusion band (who has toured the world, won three grammy's and been a highlight performance on Dancing with the Stars), played in Miami and hardly anyone watched them, does that mean they still played?
Well, Ozomatli sure rocked the The Fillmore Miami Beach recently during the T-Mobile Sidekick 50th Grammy Celebration Concert. Thing is, there were less than 200 people to check out the high-energy show from the nine-member band. Come on Miami, we can do better that that.
How come we don't see Ozomatli down here more often?
Wil-Dog: You have to be an act to come out here.
Uli: I think it's been a common thread with a lot of bands that there haven't been certain resources for them. At the same time, I talk to people who live out here and they say the scene is changing and there are new clubs that are good for bands. But we have definitely felt a void, sometimes, because we would love to
connect with people down here.
Jiro: I think music lovers appreciate this band, and anytime we are given the opportunity to play in front of people it translates. So as long as we have an audience, that's been a problem, getting people to get out to the club.
Now, you just played on Dancing with the Stars. Talk about an audience!
Jiro: Oh yeah. 20 million. That was great. A lot of grandmas. It worked out great.
Uli: For us, we underestimate the massive of all these things. To us it's just another gig. But after we do these things we do the ripple affect and it's enormous.
Have you felt some of those affects?
Wil-Dog: Well everybody that I ever knew is text messaging me and hitting me up and trying to tell me that they saw me. Realistically it's two minutes out of our life, but I was thinking about what I would be taking with me [to Miami].
Uli: But those two minutes are bigger than these days and days of shows.
Were you concerned squeezing in the show in a busy schedule?
Uli: Our schedule has been so intense and we just got back a week ago from Indonesia and Australlia. And before that a whole Latin American tour. It's been so whirlwind, when someone says you're doing Dancing with the Stars, we're like, okay, let's do it.
Were you happy how your performance turned out?
Wil-Dog: It sounded better than we thought, because we were really concered about coming in with the drums and picking that up. Often times if it sounds weak it's not going to come across, but I think with the help of the audience and the audio crew there, it helped out a lot.
Uli: Yeah, everyone was really cool and the rehearsals were a gas. They were better than the actual show.
Did you get to meet any of the "Stars''?
Wil-Dog: I had never seen the show, so I didn't know who was a star and who was a dancer.
Jiro: I just wanted to meet Kristi [Yamaguchi] but I didn't know where she was. We have the same last name, so for years people have been coming up to me and asking is that your sister, or your cousin.
Well, maybe they will bring you back for the season finale?
Jiro: Ha, yeah, maybe they will.
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I would've gone had I even known about it! Bad marketing perhaps?
Posted by: lax2mia on Fri, 2008-05-02 12:27