Grupo Fantasma

02/18/12 @
Grupo Fantasma Live Taping
Last Sunday’s 54th annual Grammy Awards marks an obvious point of reflection for Grupo Fantasma. Last year, Austin’s premier big band took home Best Latin Rock, Alternative or Urban Album for 2010’s El Existential, a cornerstone achievement a decade in the making.

“Winning the Grammy was prestigious but it hasn’t necessarily paid off as much as one might expect,” reflects bassist Greg Gonzalez. “The most obvious effect has been that we’ve been playing nicer venues and festivals more regularly with fewer grimy club gigs to fill the gaps between them.”

That continues this weekend with a two-night stand at the ritzy new Beauty Ballroom: an 18-and-older show on Saturday and a family-friendly early show on Sunday. As one of Austin’s hottest bands, fiercely funky and tight enough to back Prince, Grupo preserves a slice of its prime by taping these shows for a DVD and documentary.

In fact, the film is part of a larger regrouping effort. Last year saw guitarist Adrian Quesada release albums with Ocote Soul Sounds and the Echocentrics, the recording of a new album for the band’s mighty instrumental funk offshoot Brownout, and the introduction of drummer John Speice.

“We’ve never lost focus on Grupo, but we had to dedicate our efforts to recovering from the change and getting both bands back up to speed,” says Gonzales, who promises some special guests in the horn section and an acoustic set for both shows.

“The process was painful and arduous, but at this point, the band sounds better than ever and with seven new songs to boot.”

09/04/11 @ Long Center for the Performing Arts
Grupo Fantasma
Big-band Latinate, free. 7pm.

04/30/11 @ Paramount Theatre
Grupo Fantasma
Grupo Fantasma doesn’t often perform in a seated setting as prestigious as the Paramount. There will be dancing in the aisles by night’s end though, as Austin’s tightest and hardest working big band spices up the theatre’s 2011-12 season. Grupo will still be high after its February scoring of a Grammy for last year’s El Existential, a hypnotic fusion of Latin funktronics.

05/22/10 @ Fiesta Gardens
Pachanga Latino Music Festival
In a town as rife with festivals as ours, the Pachanga Latino Music Festival has made its name in just three short years by showcasing the best in Latin music, local and global, known and unknown. This year, Austin heroes Grupo Fantasma fire up a well-oiled machine with Fania Records’ Larry Harlow on the keys, along with fellow Texans Girl in a Coma, Hacienda, Roberto Pulido, David Garza, Amplified Heat, Piñata Protest, and Vallejo, among others. International flights of funk and fancy come via Colombia’s Bomba Estéreo, NYC’s Pacha Massive, and more. See “Sí Señor” for the whole rundown.

12/12/09 @ Antone's
Grupo Fantasma, Foot Patrol
How do you make a foot fetish spicier? Dip those dogs in salsa. That’s the combo when freaky, funky hoof worshipers Foot Patrol open for Grupo Fantasma, the finest Latin orchestra this side of the 21st century. The pairing of a band that’s played with Prince (Grupo) and one that idolizes him will surely have feet moving and toe-suckers grooving.

05/09/09 @ Antone's
Grupo Fantasma with Greg Boyer
First Maceo Parker, then Larry Harlow, now funkateer Greg Boyer. The mighty trombonist and arranger for Prince and Parliament beams down from the mother ship to help spin Sonidos Gold with Grupo Fantasma, another two-night stand that’s sure to go down like a Tijuana sunset. Expect instrumental rips on His Royal Badness as well. Local hip-hop ambassador Bavu Blakes & the Extra Plairs turn heads Friday, followed by San Antonio’s road-tested R&B family Hacienda on Saturday.

05/08/09 @ Antone's
Grupo Fantasma with Greg Boyer
First Maceo Parker, then Larry Harlow, now funkateer Greg Boyer. The mighty trombonist and arranger for Prince and Parliament beams down from the mother ship to help spin Sonidos Gold with Grupo Fantasma, another two-night stand that’s sure to go down like a Tijuana sunset. Expect instrumental rips on His Royal Badness as well. Local hip-hop ambassador Bavu Blakes & the Extra Plairs turn heads Friday, followed by San Antonio’s road-tested R&B family Hacienda on Saturday.

10/11/08 @ Antone's
Grupo Fantasma with Larry Harlow
Any show by local Latinaires Grupo Fantasma is worth dropping ducats. Toss Larry Harlow in the mix, and you have a must-see event. “The Marvelous Jew” was a driving force behind NYC’s Fania Records, producing more than 250 albums for the Latin Motown. His searing keys brand “Se Te Mira” and “Rumba y Guaguanco” from GF’s Sonidos Gold, and in turn the local gang dusts off some of Harlow’s classic sides. Sunday at the Alamo at the Ritz, catch a screening of the doc Through the Eyes of Larry Harlow at 4pm.

05/31/08 @ Waterloo Park
Pachanga Latino Music Festival
With Latin music’s high profile over the last decade, the announcement of Austin’s first Pachanga Latino Music Festival, which closes out Latino Music Month, is cause for celebration. Pachanga (“lively party”) combines Latin-themed music, arts, and food with an impressive roster of local sponsors, with proceeds benefiting the Austin Latino Music Association. In its debut year, Pachanga features a variety of hometown heroes like Grupo Fantasma, Maneja Beto, Vallejo, and Charanga Cakewalk. However, its triumph is the inclusion of cutting-edge Latino acts from across Texas and the U.S., as well as south of the border: Tijuana-based Nortec Collective masterminds Bostich + Fussible, South by Southwest buzz band Los Bad Apples, Puerto Rican import Angel Ferrer, Tejano fusion group Bocastría, family act Boca Abajo, groove-meisters Los Gallos, Red Fez regular DJ Manny, Corpus Christi hip-hop collective Master Blaster Sound System, San Antone alt-rockers Girl in a Coma, New York pop/folklorico outfit Pistolera, and dance-heavy El Tule. The bill also features world-music funksters Kalua, pop-rock quartet Frenetica, the punk-inpsired Kanko, bilingual beauty La Conquista, rock miminalists Edo, the pulsing Carabelas Collective, and underground beat kings Bombasta. ALMA, the primary sponsor of the fest, hopes to increase Austin’s knowledge and awareness of musicians and historical figures in the Latin music scene, to provide exposure and resources to local musicians, and to foster the younger generation in the Latino tradition. Pachanga kicks off at noon and runs to 10pm, with tickets priced at $25. www.pachangafest.com Arriba!

04/17/08 @ CLOSED Monarch Event Center
On Your Feet International Music & Dance Extravaganza
Local crusaders On Your Feet present an array of global artists to get you out of your seat. The evening of music and dance features local Latin big band Grupo Fantasma along with the jazz-infused Middle Eastern melodies of Atash, the pounding West African dance rhythms of Lannaya, and the Caribbean carnival beats of Buscando el Monte. Proceeds from the event benefit Posada Esperanza, which helps international refugees and homeless immigrants.

03/02/08 @ Bullock Texas State History Museum
Texas State Arts Festival
The second annual Texas State Arts Festival brings a lineup as eclectic as Austin, with 24 bands on two stages convening to celebrate Texas Independence Day. Young singer-songwriters Gina Chavez, Sahara Smith, and Amy Cook join old guard Ray Wylie Hubbard and Carolyn Wonderland, while Buttercup, Future Clouds & Radar, and the Black & White Years drop the pop. Cerronato, Grupo Fantasma, and Balafon Austin wax worldly, and American Graveyard, That Damned Band, and Manny & the Brokeback Boys dig up roots. Starts at 10am. www.roadwayevents.com .

02/02/08 @ Antone's
Grupo Fantasma
Bringing the Latin heat back home, with Maneja Beto.

04/20/07 @ The Salt Lick
Old Settler's Music Fest
The lineup for this year’s 20th anniversary OSMF is almost a return to the glory days, with worthy headliners Joan Osborne and Sam Bush, a strong brew of local talent – Ruthie Foster, Slaid Cleaves, Grupo Fantasma, Sarah Jarosz, and Peter Rowan – and a hot plate of national acts like the Red Stick Ramblers, folk diva Iris Dement, the funky New Monsoon, and country bluegrasser Jim Lauderdale. There will also be a few intriguing combinations. Psychograss features acoustic masters Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, and friends, while Big Sandy hooks up with masked Nashville surfers Los Straitjackets for some Rock en Español. We’ll also get our first taste of Robbie Fulks and Danny Barnes as a duo. Chicago’s country humorist and the former Bad Liver banjoist are a natural match of imposing musical talent. “I’ve liked his records for years,” Fulks enthuses, “and always liked his banjo style. We’ve appeared on bills together over the years, but only within the past couple did we actually get to sit down and play. “I don’t know what he gets out of it, but for me it’s like getting a fire lit under your butt. I just come home with my head spinning with new ideas and his totally open-minded attitude toward music.” Fulks is set to unleash Revenge! (Yep Roc), a 2-CD live collection, May 1. One disc is a roots rockin’ band set, the other a much more intimate acoustic showcase. “I came at it with the idea that I wanted to show a lot of range,” he declares. “I like doing the band shows and the solo shows and the in-between, but doing something creative with a live album is like doing something creative with spaghetti, oil, and garlic. There’s really only so much you can do.”

04/15/07 @ Waterloo Records
Waterloo Records 25th Anniversary
One of the Lone Star State’s premier independent music retailers marks its silver year with a free, all-day, parking-lot concert that draws from all corners of the Texas music map. Carolyn Wonderland revs up at noon followed by Ruthie Foster, Grupo Fantasma, Brothers & Sisters, Joe Ely, Zykos, Eisley, and closer Omar & the Howlers. Health Alliance for Austin Musicians will be accepting donations at the door.

02/23/07 @
Las Manitas/Escuelita del Alma Benefit
This heartfelt benefit, billed as a Concert of Voices, highlights the community’s discontent with the ongoing relocation of beloved businesses in the name of progress. (Read: yet another Marriott hotel.) The popular Las Manitas restaurant has a new location, but the Spanish-immersion child-care center Escuelita del Alma isn’t so lucky. Speaking up for the both are Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Ruben Ramos, James McMurtry, Patty Griffin, Alejandro Escovedo, and Grupo Fantasma, currently the hottest act out of Austin. Doors at 6pm, concert at 8pm

02/10/07 @ Antone's
Grupo Fantasma
Prince’s 3121 club in Las Vegas, a star-studded Golden Globes afterparty in Hollywood, and a string of Super Bowl performances in Miami all featured extended stage collaborations between Austin’s Grupo Fantasma and a certain purple-clad, guitar-wielding maestro. At the bustled intersection of Latin cumbia and American funk, the 11 members of Grupo Fantasma back their most appreciated host, Prince, on a relentless, 30-minute rendition of Maceo Parker’s “Soul Power ’74.” Fantasma guitarist Adrian Quesada beams as he recalls the particular 3121 gig that marked the first time Prince joined his band in song. “It was about the eighth week of our Thursday night residency, and up to that point Prince had merely popped in a number of times to check us out from the side of the stage. Then, well into that night’s set, at a point where I was kinda going through the motions due to fatigue, I hear this incredible guitar sound coming from behind me, and I immediately think, ‘That’s not one of us.’ I turn around and there’s Prince ripping an amazing solo.” Able to accommodate Prince’s penchant for the stickiest of grooves, Fantasma comfortably slips into its James Brown disguise and sparks more than enough flame to cause a Brownout. “People have always told us that while they enjoy our studio albums, they’d much prefer to hear us live,” Quesada notes. “That’s why we put out the concert album as our latest release. When our manager informed us that none other than Prince was requesting that we overnight him a copy of the album, I didn’t even believe that he would actually listen to it. Well, he did listen to it, and apparently he really liked it, which just on its own will probably forever blow my mind.”

02/09/07 @ The Parish
Grupo Fantasma
Prince’s 3121 club in Las Vegas, a star-studded Golden Globes afterparty in Hollywood, and a string of Super Bowl performances in Miami all featured extended stage collaborations between Austin’s Grupo Fantasma and a certain purple-clad, guitar-wielding maestro. At the bustled intersection of Latin cumbia and American funk, the 11 members of Grupo Fantasma back their most appreciated host, Prince, on a relentless, 30-minute rendition of Maceo Parker’s “Soul Power ’74.” Fantasma guitarist Adrian Quesada beams as he recalls the particular 3121 gig that marked the first time Prince joined his band in song. “It was about the eighth week of our Thursday night residency, and up to that point Prince had merely popped in a number of times to check us out from the side of the stage. Then, well into that night’s set, at a point where I was kinda going through the motions due to fatigue, I hear this incredible guitar sound coming from behind me, and I immediately think, ‘That’s not one of us.’ I turn around and there’s Prince ripping an amazing solo.” Able to accommodate Prince’s penchant for the stickiest of grooves, Fantasma comfortably slips into its James Brown disguise and sparks more than enough flame to cause a Brownout. “People have always told us that while they enjoy our studio albums, they’d much prefer to hear us live,” Quesada notes. “That’s why we put out the concert album as our latest release. When our manager informed us that none other than Prince was requesting that we overnight him a copy of the album, I didn’t even believe that he would actually listen to it. Well, he did listen to it, and apparently he really liked it, which just on its own will probably forever blow my mind.”

09/09/06 @ The Parish
Grupo Fantasma CD Release
Grupo Fantasma Comes Alive with DJ Chicken George on Friday and Los Skarnales on Saturday.

09/08/06 @ The Parish
Grupo Fantasma CD Release
Grupo Fantasma Comes Alive with DJ Chicken George on Friday and Los Skarnales on Saturday.

07/12/05 @ Stubb's
Cafe Tacuba
In the early Seventies, rock was illegal in Mexico. Yet for one quartet from el DF, Cafe Tacuba, currently celebrating their 15th anniversary, the irony is that rock was never all they wanted to be. “There was always a debate whether we were rock or not, and we would keep saying, ‘No, we’re not,’ in order to find other forms, other influences,” says guitarist Joselo Rangel in his relaxed, nasally Spanish. “People kept lumping us with every other rock band, and now I think it’s all right, because it helps us take risks.” On their second album, 1994’s Re, where the band jumps from traditional Mexican huasteca to regional banda and Talking Heads-like rhythms within seconds, Cafe Tacuba displayed a stylistic depth unparalleled since The White Album. Next, they put out a bonkers collection of covers, Avalancha de Exitos, where they reworked classics into their own brilliant interpretations. Despite their international success, Rangel remembers the dues paid. “People don’t believe me, but they booed us off stage in Guadalajara back during Re,” he says laughing. “The trick, I learned, is to continue and keep doing it.” Rangel, bassist Quique Rangel, multi-instrumentalist Meme del Real, and singer Ruben Albarran went Tortoise for one-half of 1999’s Grammy-winning double album, Reves/Yo Soy, brainy post-rock instrumentals and whispery strings of the Kronos Quartet versus the album’s more lyrical half, David Bowie and the Smiths rubbing elbows as Albarran’s beautiful voice became a synthesizer. Last year, Cuatro Caminos found them back in Radiohead territory, while their latest 3-CD/DVD live knockout, Un Viaje, has Cafe Tacuba penciled in for a long, colorful, and celebrated future. Which makes Rangel, an avid reader, contemplate what their tale might be called in novel form. “That’s a tough one,” he says, pausing: “The Interminable, hopefully.” Austin’s Latin mavens Grupo Fantasma open.

01/22/05 @ Emo's CLOSED
The Thermals
The Thermals have got tautology down to a punk rock science. The Portland trio’s latest album, Fuckin A, grinds and pummels in less than 60 minutes, with each song adhering to a strict Ramones-style mentality. Singer Hutch Harris repeatedly spits out stream-of-consciousness nonsense and amped calls-to-arms. It’s an easily digestible three-chord meal. Seattle politi-punks Ms. Led and local popsters the Fall Collection open. In addition, Austin’s Grupo Fantasma plays a late show outside; Pedro the Lion and Earlimart play an early show inside.

11/11/04 @ Stubb's
Ozomatli/Mike Watt
As the left recuperates from the election, its passion for change could benefit from a shot in the arm by a band that embodies the spirit of perseverance. Ozomatli stands at the forefront of cultural integration, demanding to be openly celebrated rather than merely tolerated. Mobilizing influence from Latin, African, and Middle Eastern sources, the L.A. octet illustrates the synergistic effect of mutually respectful interaction. Grupo Fantasma joins with the resolute activism of Movimiento Popular, while Mike Watt & the Secondmen play inside later.

09/17/04 @ Emo's CLOSED
Grupo Fantasma/Cruiserweight
Latin grooves outside with Grupo & Co., pop-punk inside with Stella, Chomsky, and Vise Versa’s new EP.

08/08/04 @
Grupo Fantasma
Feel like a little salsa? Find the Soul of the City with Grupo, Joe King Carrasco, and Erik Hokkanen.

05/21/04 @ Mother Egan's Irish Pub
Firewheel Fest
Colorado new-grasser Tony Furtado, plus locals Grupo Fantasma, Pong, and DubTex boil up a dance party for this third annual fest.

04/02/04 @ Emo's CLOSED
Grupo Fantasma CD Release
Could riot police ever move a crowd as efficiently as Grupo Fantasma? The 12-piece Austin institution updates classic strands of Tejano, salsa, and Cumbia with accents of dance hall, hip-hop, and rock. Celebrating the release of their new street fiesta, Movimiento Popular, at a time when the Ozomatli situation has confirmed the relevance of its title, Grupo Fantasma mobilizes grassroots support across lines of sex, race, and age. As their rhythm section works busy feet into a frenzy, majestic horns keep shoulders standing proud in union with uplifting verses of Spanish origin. DJ Sun opens on the global tip.

02/12/04 @ Paramount Theatre
Director's Choice: 3x3
The idea of Grupo Fantasma blasting their brass for a ballet might be a tough one to wrap your brain around, but that’s just what happens this week when Ballet Austin shakes off the con-fectioner’s sugar of The Nutcracker with a little dirty dancing. Artistic Director Stephen Mills, who had a hit collaboration with the Naughty Ones some years back, has returned to the live music arena for this concert of three modern works. BA dancer Gina Patterson joins with the Austin Music Foundation’s Singer-Songwriter of 2003 Tucker Livingston to reflect on one man’s relationships; NYC choreographer Dwight Rhoden and Grupo Fantasma chart the changes in a couple from dusk to dawn; and Mills and Grammy winner Shawn Colvin take a dark and sexy look inside the club scene. With this hot music to ignite the al-ways-combustible energy of the local troupe, the show promises to blow out the Paramount walls. Thursday-Saturday, 8pm; Sunday, 2pm. www.balletaustin.org.

11/21/03 @ Antone's
Ever since 1997’s Buena Vista Social Club – album, film, international phenomenon – Cuba’s musical all-stars from its golden era of son have danced and entranced Austin one by one: Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo, Rubén González, Eliades Ochoa. BVSC laoudist (12-string Cuban lute) Barbarito Torres was at the core of the group’s musical bewitchery, and as a bandleader in his own right, his new self-titled Havana Caliente release portends a night of Cuban revelry ratcheted into the fever zone by Austin’s Latin horns phenomenon, Grupo Fantasma. "Chan Chan" for todos.

06/07/03 @
Can you say "fiesta"? You can when three of Austin’s kick-ass Latin bands bust loose for the 13th annual Soul of the City Concert. The perpetually horny boys in Grupo Fantasma are joined by a dash of Tejano pride in Los Aztex and the world beat of Ghandaia, basking in the glow of their enveloping debut, Uno. The Soul of the City Concert commemorates the passage of the Save Our Springs Ordinance at an all-night City Council meeting. 8pm. Tickets at www.sosalliance.org.

Origin: 2000

Genre: Jazz, Pop/Rock, R&B/Soul/Funk, Reggae, Tex-Mex/Conjunto and World Music

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