Ozomatli sings about 'Gay Vatos in Love'

The song is mellow and bluesy, with that distinct "Eastside oldies" vibe, like something you'd hear on an old Freddy Fender record. But the chorus of this track on the new Ozomatli album is sure to surprise any casual listener: "Gay vatos in love," the song goes. "Gay vatos in love."

With it, the iconic fusion band whose sound is seen as representative of multicultural Los Angeles is arguably taking one of its most politically daring steps this year. The track that celebrates same-sex relationships -- and also deals with gay violence and denial -- is included in the group's fifth studio record, "Fire Away," which was released April 20. (In his review, The Times' Reed Johnson gives the album three out of four stars.)

With its classic sound but sharply gay-friendly message, "Gay Vatos in Love" breaks into uncharted territory that borders on the music industry, politics, sexuality and Latino pop culture. "If the world can't understand," the song says. "Stand by your man." You can listen to an excerpt here. The full-length track is uploaded by a YouTube user here.

Raul Pacheco, one of the band's lead singers, tells La Plaza that there was "a lot of debate" within the band over how to approach the subject.

How would the fans react? The media? The LGBT community? And what about Latin American and Latino listeners? In those communities, "vato" is generally understood as a term referring to a tough male from a tough neighborhood. "I think the hardest thing was, how do we present this in a way that's not a joke? And not a hammer either. Pretty much saying what the song says: 'Do your thing,' " Pacheco said.

The band began putting together "Gay Vatos in Love" during the height of the Prop. 8 debate in California and while one of the band's members, Asdru, was working on writing music for a independent film project about a Mexican American gay gangster.

"We bring in everything we're working on," Pacheco said of the band's writing process. "Asdru just had a chorus, and the producer heard that and said, 'You guys have to do a song about it.'"

We met with Pacheco last weekend in Mexico City, outside the entrance gates to the big Vive Latino music festival. Ozomatli had just finished playing an early-afternoon set at the festival's main stage. Although the band didn't play "Gay Vatos in Love" during this particular show -- "Here we need rock, heavy songs, because that's what these kids want" -- Pacheco said the track had been receiving lots of buzz in the media.

They'd played "Gay Vatos in Love" live on several recent tour stops, and the reaction was sometimes mixed, Pacheco said. "It can be polarizing." So, he added, "we had to find a way to suck people in without giving it away."

The singer says he now prefaces the song by asking audiences: "Do you believe in love?" The response is almost always enthusiastically affirmative. "People are like, 'Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!' And we just start singing." Pacheco laughed.

Still, the song consistently challenges comfort levels among some listeners, the singer admitted. "I think people get confused, they don't know where we're coming from. Some people ask, especially in the Spanish press, 'Who's gay in the band?' So there's an assumption there."

(When reporters ask about the sexuality of the band's membership, Pacheco says he sometimes responds with a purposely blank, "I don't know.")

"For us it's a bigger issue," Pacheco went on. "We felt that [gay rights] is just another in a long line of underdogs, so I think we connected to it on that level. It was totally natural for us to take that stance."

But "Gay Vatos in Love" is not just a celebration ballad. The lyrics, as provided by Pacheco, address gays in the closet as well:

Javi and Kike with their girlfriends in the car/
Fronting on Crenshaw, knowing who they are

The track also mentions Angie Zapata, the 18-year-old transgender woman in Colorado who was killed in 2008 by a sexual partner who discovered she was male. Zapata's killer was convicted last year of murder and a bias-motivated hate crime.

That level of complexity in a studio album cut is what is surprising gay-rights advocates as the track spreads on the Internet. Francisco Dueñas, who organized around LGBT Latino issues with Lambda Legal in Los Angeles, said in an interview that he found it "amazing" that the song was just not celebratory but also "substantative" in dealing with gay issues.

"It's powerful, a very inspired move on their part," Dueñas said. "As people of color, as progressives, there are other causes that would be easier for them to take up. Immigration, obviously, housing rights, economic justice. But this song is about just another part of the community that they're from and that they're talking about."

-- Daniel Hernandez in Mexico City

Top photo: The members of Ozomatli. Credit: Ozomatli.com. Bottom photo: Raul Pacheco. Credit: La Plaza

 

Comments

[Rudy]

Bravo Ozomatli, Bravo. Another reason why I will continue to be a fan for years to come.

[Wilhemina_dog]

I love Ozomatli!! Can't wait to hear the new album!

[Iliana]

You guys have all my respect. When it comes to civil rights...everything is a matter of time.

regards.

[Thomas J. Coleman]

Jeez, yet another LA Times terminal anxiety crisis over sexual orientation. I mean, what do you expect from a large metropolitan newspaper that's never had a really openly gay or lesbian staff writer, columnist or editor; that is, one who could refer to that part of what they are in the august pages of the paper like hetero staffers do routinely. No less than on the street, the closeted staffers see coming out as suicide, career suicide at the Times.

So yes, for the record, surprise surprise, there are plenty of gay vatos. Just take a look around in the city in which we live; you won't have to look too far. One who was a friend of mine who was stabbed to death last year, twenty times, so that the coroner's report stated the mortis causa was similar to blunt force trauma. I have others, many others, who've been friends and boyfriends. One held me all night crying about a big hassle he was dealing with at the time. And surprise surprise I'm (now) a middle aged white guy and a fan of OZO since their first record. Some of my Anlgo friends think it's all a little dangerous and "edgy." For me it's just taking stock of the territory and getting to know and love the people who live here. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Take a look around, we're everywhere, even the LA Times, there may be a vato, a gay vato, or two . . or three . . .

[Ballmer]

Ho-hum.

[sal]

so sweet,luv it guys

[Rocksteadily]

Dope stance by Ozo. tough for artists who aren't gay to say stuff like that. Honestly, I don't think I have the gall to come out with a song like that.

Side note: interesting how people always want to discount white people in the movement or arts. Francisco Dueñas is shown to speak on how "people of color" could be dealing with other issues, etc, even though one of Ozo's most outspoken lead figures is WilDog, a hella white guy. Can't it just be issues that PEOPLE could be dealing with, not just people of color?

I'm a mutt btw, in case you're wondering.