Carlos Flores has been leading and performing with Los Ataskados for eight years, but his Las Vegas band has never released an album … until this month. Why now?
Having been through countless house parties, moshpits and generator-powered desert shows with the original Ataskados, who broke up in 2019, Flores regrets not having something permanent to document that time.“Since the old band broke up, we didn’t really release anything,” he says, looking around at his current bandmates. “We wanted to leave something behind.”
Agrees rhythm guitarist Tommy Nicholson, “This is something we’re doing in this moment that I wanted to keep forever. “Like, let’s put a time capsule on it and record this period of time.”
Recorded by Nicholson’s Good Girlfriend Records during the pandemic shutdown—which hit shortly after the band had found footing behind its new members—Redemption is a carousel of ska, punk and cumbia layered with Flores’ adventurous vocals. The self-described “psyskadelic” band will perform the new material at an album release party at the Space on August 26.
Lead guitarist Saul Najera says the melding of diverse styles and backgrounds left Los Ataskados with a product that’s more “relatable” than the ska niche, or any one genre on its own, could offer. “We wanted to expose all the different backgrounds—funk, metal, ska,” he says of the members, who come from Vegas, Anaheim and Mexico.
The same might be said of the single “Envy,” which is about “staying in your lane and having fun with it,” Flores says. “It’s not talking bad about nobody.” The band filmed a new music video for the song at Broadacres Marketplace, a setting that encompasses the band’s range of influences.
“There’s a lot of people that go there for different kinds of music, punk rockers, people who listen to banda music … Some people were looking at us like, ‘What the hell are you guys doing?’ Some people were liking it,” Flores says. “And that’s the image I wanted to get—getting in between people.”
The critics were also a motivating factor to record an album, says Najera, recalling the first show he played with Flores in fall 2019. “There were people in the crowd booing,” he says. “It was just more motivating, in the sense of, ‘OK, now I really want to be a beast at this type of music.’”
Metal chords in the opening of single “Sin Fronteras” (“no borders”) are eerily layered with the tinkling melody of a carnival organ grinder. Sung in Spanish, the song is an indictment of the United States’ immigration system and child separation.
Backed by a reggae beat and trumpet, the soul-bearing poem of “Love Note” eulogizes the end of a relationship. “Mota Man” conjures an upbeat ska moshpit and tells a story of working to survive.
Blending musical styles into one album took persistence. When Flores and original member and keyboardist Joab Mendez were joined by Nicholson, trumpet player Daniel Valdez, percussionist Joni Calavera and brothers Ivan (bass) and Diego Najera (drums), Los Ataskados began absorbing new skills.
“Saul had to learn how to play ska … Like, this guy shreds on the guitar and metal and everything. But just simple ska, it takes time,” Mendez says.
“I had to learn a whole new approach to music,” Najera says. “And it was f*cking awesome.”
The group picked up steam in late 2019 through early 2020, booking its own shows. Just as Los Ataskados were about to play the Skaland festival in LA in March 2020, however, the show was canceled due to COVID-19.
But where one door closes, another opens.“We have a little home studio DIY setup … and we had a lot of time on our hands, because the wheels weren’t turning in the world,” Nicholson says. “We spent about nine months recording.”
Los Ataskados isn’t about to let all this newfound energy go to waste. The band intends to gather more footage for another music video at the August 26 show, and is working on several new singles to release before year’s end.
LOS ATASKADOS ALBUM-RELEASE PARTY August 26, 8 p.m., $15-$30. The Space, thespacelv.com.
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