Five years ago, Enjambre, a Latin Alternative band founded in OC, left for Mexico City in search of their musical dreams. It was a risky move, but one that ultimately paid off as they've encountered greater success in a vibrant scene. Ever since their departure, though, the band has always mused about returning to play cities across the United States, but especially in OC. All that finally comes to reality with Enjambre's first U.S. tour that stops this Friday at Club Ember in Anaheim! “I'm just excited, man,” says lead singer Luis Humberto Navejas. “I don't know what's going to happen.”
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With family in the city, members of Enjambre have always come home to visit, especially during the holidays. They've played at SXSW in Austin and returned to Southern California last summer to perform at the Levitt Pavilion summer series at MacArthur Park, but this time is different.
“We're a band that started in the States,” Navejas said of wanting to tour the U.S. “We've longed for that opportunity.” With the help of Oveja Negra, Enjambre has put together shows that will take them through Los Angeles, San Jose, Las Vegas and New York City in the month of October. Club Ember is a special stop along the way.
“In Anaheim, we have a lot of friends and family. I'm really looking forward to playing that show and more than that just playing in Orange County again is very special to us,” Navejas says. “We came up with all of our songs for our first two records here and most of the songs on our third record I wrote when I was living in Santa Ana.”
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The record Enjambre's lead singer makes reference to is Daltónico which propelled the band to new heights in a competitive Mexico City music scene. It didn't always start out that way. “We were living in really difficult circumstances. We didn't have a lot of money,” Navejas relays about making the move and then the music. “We all lived in a little apartment where we slept next to our amplifiers.”
When Enjambre returns, it will be on the heels of Huéspedes del Orbe, their latest major label release off of EMI in 2012. “It has the same nostalgic common denominator that we have on our other records when it comes to melody,” Navejas mentions. “The music on this record is a little more raw and rock 'n' roll. It has a little extra Sci-fi sounding synthesizers like on the Flash Gordon soundtrack.”
The humbling experience of their initial foray into the Latin Alternative scene of Mexico City and success that has come since only served to enhance their creative chemistry. Navejas describes Huéspedes del Orbe as reflective of how his bandmates better understand each other musically. The effort has gone gold faster than Daltónico did and netted the band some very prestigious stages.
“Our record release was at Auditorio Nacional and that was a big deal,” Navejas says of the sold out show in Mexico City. “A few months back we played Palacio de los Deportes which is even bigger!”
Enjambre's U.S. tour doesn't have arena-sized ambitions, but that doesn't mean the band is going to give any less of an effort for concertgoers. “We're going to being playing at smaller venues but we want to project ourselves just the same way we do on a big stage,” Navejas affirms. “That's how important we're taking these shows.”
Enjambre performs at Club Ember, 401 N. Anaheim Blvd, Anaheim, www.emberofanaheim.com; Fri. 8 p.m. $15-$25. 21+
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Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!