You guys were very identified with the music scene in Monterrey [Mexico]. How did fans there react to your move to Los Angeles?
They see it as a good quality, exporting the Mexican music to other countries and other cultures, so they’ve been good about it. Monterrey is a big city with, like, 4 million people living there, but it’s still like a small town. So you reach all the things that you can do there, and the next thing is to move on. We chose between Los Angeles and Mexico City, and we were working and spending so much time here [LA], so instead of paying for hotel rooms, we moved here, and it’s been good. It’s not a city that shows everything by the first sight. You need to look deeply and go little by little with people and places, and we’re getting there.
Latest album Reina is the first Kinky album with a majority of its lyrics sung in English. Why the decision to go that route?
We’ve always been influenced by English lyrics. We lived in a border town, so a lot of the information we received was always in English. And it’s a normal way to develop your art. Also, we recorded and wrote this album in Los Angeles, so that might be the main reason. And we did a lot of collaborations which were in English because they were with Americans, or with Colin Hay from Men at Work. So it was just the way to go.
You’ve played the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival twice, and basically blown away your crowds there. How important has that been for expanding your fanbase?
For us it’s the most important thing. Our main presentation is playing live, and in those kinds of festivals people are really open to hearing new stuff, not just the bands that they’re going to look for, but you’re walking around and if you hear something interesting, you stay to hear the band. For us, it’s our main platform.
September 21, 9 p.m., $20. Hard Rock Hotel pool, 693-5066.