Since he was a child, music has been an integral part of Catire’s existence, as he says: -
“… for me, music has always been a way of life…. I didn’t want to be another ‘traditional’ person, and music was my escape! That included …the hairdos and the outfits…! As a kid, I studied at a school that had a conservatoire where we learnt music. So, when I was 13, I grabbed an electric bass guitar and formed my first band, right there at the school. I moved onto another band until I was 19, then I joined ‘Los Amigos Invisibles’ in 1991.”
Even as a teenager, Catire was never a casual musician who happened to get lucky. Right from the word go, he was creating music with a clear vision that he wanted it to succeed, even if, at that moment, he had no idea how he would manage it.
“One of the things I can tell you is that ‘Los Amigos’, as opposed to many bands with which I played, where it was a case of …’ oh let’s play at the party and hang about…have a good time…”, no, right from the beginning, we had a clear objective that we wanted to create something of value. We didn’t want to simply muck about with music at weekends and in our free time, having a laugh and drinking beer! It was like a divine blessing in this universe, that all six of us (the founder members) took the band seriously, despite being 19- year-old penniless musicians. We were ambitious.”
Hungry for new sounds and directions, they relied on friends who travelled abroad to bring back new music albums and news. At that time, there was no internet or anything like that. Shortly after they formed ‘Los Amigos Invisibles’, in 1991, a friend brought them the debut album of ‘The Brand New Heavies’. This west London band plays funk, acid jazz and the album features multi-instrumentalists Simon Bartholomew and Andrew Levy with vocals by N’Dea Davenport . It was a key moment for the band. Then they began to read up about these new rhythms in magazines and they were off: -
“A friend came back with a copy of the ‘Melody Maker’ magazine that talked about Acid Jazz and all that vibe. For us, this was really exciting. The beat was really really hot at that moment and it was something that we could relate to and combine with our Latin ‘Venezuelanism’… so we added congas and that. I guess that was our starting point. For a while, we were like a religious sect, it was the only music we listened to. It was incredible. I don’t think I could do that now, but at that moment, all six of us were in unison, listening to the same music without a problem.”
The core members of 'Los Amigos Invisibles' are all songwriters and only play covers every now and again, despite this, they did create a ‘covers’ album.
“We recorded an album called SUPERPOP in Venezuela. This was done as a tribute to Venezuelan Pop music. We chose a selection of covers from Venezuela each interpreted in our own style. We like to make occasional allegorical references to Pop from the 80s in our live shows, but mainly we write our own material.”
One of the covers that he refers to is the hit song ‘AMOR’, written by Jorge Spiteri with Stevie Alpert. Spiteri, who is seen as the Father of Latin Funk in the UK, won the LUKAS Fellowship Award in 2015 for his contribution to Latin Music in London. With his unique interpretation of Latin and funk, he is said to have influenced a whole new generation of bands.
Full album- Arepa 3000-
‘Amor’ has become an integral part of the ‘Los Amigos’ repertoire, as Catire affirms: “AMOR is one of those songs that is not ours, but it’s as if it was!” They included it on the Album ‘AREPA 3000’ (2000), with Luaka Bop’s David Byrne, that won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Group Rock Vocal album
New kids on the block, Bruno Mars and Cimafunk are reawakening an interest in funk, but as Catire stresses, funk never went away.
"Funk may have had its golden moment, but in fact, it’s always been around, on the back burner. It never died, you always get a new pop artist who refreshes it, even if it has gone more ‘underground’. Then you have the ‘uptown funk’ of ‘Bruno Mars’, who suddenly brings out a super funky song. But, if you listen to the whole album, it’s not there all the time. Or you might listen to a single of ‘Dua Lipa’ and you realize that there are strong funky influences, Funk has always been around and in Latin America perhaps more so, although the Latin American public is not always appreciative of funk.”
Above all, Los Amigos is a top gigging band and it’s interesting to see how their Grammy wins and many nominations affected their long and consistent popularity. You would imagine that a win of this type would be key to their position, like winning an Oscar is for films.
“In your career, when you make an artistic move, you need a direct echo, something that reminds you that what you are doing is okay and yes, it’s worthwhile to keep going. So, when you win an award or a nomination, it’s a great moment, although I would say that a career is made up of a series of good moments. We were very lucky in 1998, when we came out with our second album as we had a couple of hits that did well in many countries. It was incredible and we were able to gig in New York and tour all over the United Sates. I would say that the Latin Grammy [as the nominations, because we had a few] are things that bolster the insecurity of us artists, because sometimes you don’t know what you’re doing in your life and these awards remind you: ‘Chevere’ the music is getting through! After that, in 2006, the band began to do really well in Mexico… in 2019, we released a single and won a second Latin Grammy [Tocámela 2019]”.
The song LA QUE ME GUSTA was nominated for a Grammy in 2009, and is still doing well. It has been described as a song with which to smile and fall in love on the dance floor! Catire: -
“A whole new generation is discovering LA QUE ME GUSTA. It came out some time ago, but it seems it has been re-discovered and is becoming ever more popular. This is a process that keeps happening, like MENTIRAS, that was also a big hit and you could say it established us in Mexico.”
La que me gusta
There are three left of the original six members of the band. These are the ever-present front man vocalist Julio Briceño (aka ‘Chulius’), Juan Manuel Roura, (aka Mamel or Mamulo) on drums and percussion, and of course, José Rafael Torres (aka Catire). They have lost José Luis Pardo (Cheo), Mauricio Arcas and Armando Figueredo, who left the band and have moved onto new pastures.
Now there are some sparkling new members. On keyboards Agustín Espina, who has been with them since 2014. He previously played for many years with ‘Guaco’ and ‘Mermelada Bunch’ in Venezuela. The current percussionist is Luis Arreaza, who also has fame as very good sound engineer and producer, (he worked on the AMIGOS Album SUPERPOP) and the new guitarist is the young and talented Rodrigo Gamboa.
Agustin Espina keyboards
It was Julio Briceño (Chulius) who started the band. They took their enigmatic name after listening to a TV programme by Venezuelan historian Arturo Uslad Pietri, called ‘Human Values’. In it, Pietri referred to his spectators as ‘the invisible friends’, or ‘Amigos Invisibles’. They loved it and the rest is history.
Catire always plays a USA Fender Jazz Bass: a classic among classics. Just like musicians love the funky sound of Fender keyboards, the Fender bass guitar has the powerful kick, with a full and rounded sound, to carry the beat to perfection. As he remarks: “If you want to have a funky sound, you must use a fender bass guitar.”
When referring to the sound quality, the ‘producers’ of the tracks also matter a great deal. You need a producer who can feel and understand the sounds that the band are seeking. As Catire states: -
“There is always a connection. You can be a fan of a person. In some cases, you have a ‘wish list’ and you send out some mails and they actually respond. But it also depends on the songs. You will find, if you listen carefully, that each song has a distinct character. We don’t like all our tracks to have the same colour, so we use different producers for different tracks, and end up working with many producers. One is Enrique González Müller. He is a Venezuelan and in effect, teaches production at Berklee College in Boston.”
Enrique González (foreground) with band members of Los Amigos Invisibles
Enrique González Müller produced the album ‘COMMERCIAL’ (2009) that won a Latin Grammy Award. Previously he’s also worked with Joan Baez, Wyston Marsalis and in Italy with L’Aura. As Enrique González points out: “We’re a good match [ with Los Amigos Invisibles]. We need to understand each other’s style and have a good rapport. They give me a watermelon and I give them back a microwave… you are representing the artist, but he chose you for a reason. So, I have a desire to explore and create something that is better than what they could’ve achieved on their own.”
‘LOS AMIGOS INVISIBLES’s’ European Tour will take them to Dublin, London, Oporto, Paris, Madrid. Barcelona, Tenerife and Valencia. We can only hope they have a few free moments to enjoy these wonderful cities.
Los Amigos Invisibles April 2nd 2022 at the 26 Leake Street Club, London Bridge, London, SE1 7NN
TICKETS AT https://www.fatsoma.com/e/q288z10y/los-amigos-invisibles-in-london
