Photograph: Roberto Sanchez
Interview: Caifanes
Time Out New York, Oct 6–12, 2011
In this article about the seminal Mexican alt-rock band Caifanes, recently reunited and now en route to New York's Hammerstein Ballroom for an October 12 show, I start by evoking the reunions of Led Zeppelin, Cream and the Pixies. For admirers of rock en Español, that's not a stretch. I discovered the band in 1992, when I noticed Adrian Belew's production credit on the back cover of their third CD, El Silencio, and saw them for the first and last time amid a teeming crowd at the Houston International Festival in 1993. For the article, I spoke with the band's previously warring factions, singer Saúl Hernández and guitarist Alejandro Marcovich—seen above playing to 70,000+ fans at this year's Vive Latino festival in Mexico City—about what caused them to mend bridges after 16 bitter years.
So far I've had no luck digging up my 2005 Time Out article about Jaguares, the spin-off band formed by Hernández and drummer Alfonso André, now on hiatus. But if you're curious about the long-term impact that aformentioned Caifanes show had on the local music community, I've located two smart Houston Press articles (not mine) from 1995 and 2002. And Remando, Hernández's recently released (and Latin Grammy-nominated) solo debut, is streaming on the singer's website and well worth checking out.
Here's a good clip of Caifanes playing "No dejes que…" ("Let It Be…") at Vive Latino.
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