Interview: Froilan Sosa, Nuclear Valdez

Mark Liddell cuts the bull and gets the ethereal vibe behind Dream Another Dream with Nuclear Valdez mainman Froilan Sosa.

NUKE(ING) THE ROCK MYTH

To anyone who has heard NUCLEAR VALDEZ's first album I Am I, Dream Another Dream will probably come as quite a surprise. A record which is a bold move away from the relatively straight-forward rock n' roll off I Am I, Dream Another Dream caresses the senses like a gentle summer breeze and digs into the rich seam of their Hispanic heritage.

The Nukes avoid the booby traps of jarring juxtaposition by fluidly incorporating not only their ethnic influences but dance rhythms, pop, and soul. They also have the nous for a strong melody, even if they do occasionally lapse into the odd syrupy, dippy AORish patch. So, change all round? Yet, ironically enough, when the band originally started recording the follow up to I Am I, there was no real intention to change their musical direction, as Froilan recalls...

"We really tried to come up with a record that wasn't so different from I Am I, and we weren't successful. The songs we were coming up with were just boring to us. We kind of like rhythm, so we just wanted a different approach. When we did the first album, we really wanted to do a rootsy rock record, just to prove something to ourselves, really, even before I Am I

"Share a Little Shelter" is the first single to be taken from the record. However, I put it to Froilan, despite its pleasant anthemic qualities, the song was perhaps a slightly safe choice in the circumstances.

"First of all, it's prudent to go, at first, with a safe single, especially if you've lived in America, you'd realise what I'm talking about," he reasons. "Rock radio in the states is so stale and well defined. And it's very difficult to get anything that's slightly out of the norm to be accepted on radio. So, to take extreme gambles is an injustice if you want the record to really live in the market place. And we felt that 'Share a Little Shelter' is the one song that is not so radically different from the first album. It's sort of like the stepping stone. It's the one song that kinda connects both records."

I guess I must have struck a nerve or triggered off a reaction to similar comments that have been thrown their way. His next point seems to confirm my feelings.

"Some people have initially thought 'Hey, these guys could they be selling out?' But the record is so out. We personally feel that this record is weirder than the first record, when you compare it to the marketplace as it is today. So, obviously if 'Shelter' works and is accepted, any new release after that is going to be taking a chance. Because the rest of the songs aren't mainstream at all."

He's right, they're not, not in the accepted sense of the term, that is. But, curiously enough, their songs have the potential to reach a wider audience outside the confines of American rock radio. Perhaps not too surprisingly when you consider that the Nukes come from a pop background. Froilan cites THE BEATLES, THE STONES, and ABBA from the 70s as groups they all dig. The bottom line for Froilan is that they all had strong melodies and hook lines.



As for the other links in the chain, as touched upon earlier, these are the ethnic influences, the dance element, and  a touch of black soul. The latter two evident in "I Think I Fell," a bittersweet love song with a pulsing intro, not too dissimilar to MARVIN GAYE's "Sexual Healing." All very well, I hear you muttering, but where's the rock!? Well, I make the point to Froilan that too many rock bands rely on the plodding Ka-thump rhythm. This sparks a reaction, in which Froilan argues that rock is a question of definition.

"Rock has gotten its definition from big guitars and the thump thump rhythm that you are speaking of, but, to us, rock doesn't encompass that. I mean, it is a part of rock and that is an era that, to all intents and purposes, is bygone," he says with a damning sense of certainty. "But when we consider rock is when you're rebellious against something, when you have something to say, or an attitude, it doesn't have to be the thump, thump rhythm. It can be cool, it can be modern. There is nothing wrong with that. You don't have to have that simple 4/4-beat-with-the-huge-guitar-and-the-bassline-following-the-riff deal."

This healthy and progressive attitude towards rock also encompasses the genre's primary component - guitar. I make the observation that Nuclear Valdez seem to use the guitar for atmospheric effect, as opposed to widdly wank, y'know, where outstanding technical dexterity is confused with greatness. Something Froilan goes along with. To the Nukes the guitar is...

"...usually responsible for the vibe, if you will, of the song."

Crystallising that point, Froilan adds:

"What the song is trying to say, Jorge our guitar player is trying to say in his guitar work.

One particular song on Dream Another Dream "Aragon" encapsulates much of the sentiments expressed by Froilan earlier, as regards the confines imposed on rock music. The band vent their frustrations about the polarisation between ethnic black music and white music. Take these lyrics for example, "Songs from the past still on the air/ nothing's new and nobody cares/ in a black and white world"

"Even today, you have the classic rock stations still playing LED ZEPPELIN and THE STONES, and, with all due respect, although we love these groups, I've had enough. So with 'Aarogon' we're trying to alleviate those frustrations."

There's also a few interesting ideas and stories behind a few of the other songs. Take the title track, one of my personal favourites...

"It's a song about realising your dreams," confirms Froilan. "Our bass player, who wrote the lyrics, likes to express himself through visualisation. The song is from that perspective - dreams. It's hypnotic and ethereal."

Being, at heart, a sentimental romantic fool, despite my occasional misogynist lapses, I was very drawn to the sweeping balladic "Sense Her All Around, which ends with a neat little strain of paganistic santeria chants in the background (or, as Froilan puts it, distorted Catholicism) an element that influenced the artwork/music of JANES'S ADDICTION's Perry Farrell.

"Santeria is something we grew up with," he explains. "It's very popular in all the islands of the Caribbean. It's full of ritualistic symbolism, which makes it very beautiful. All the rituals and symbolism are African things that were amalgamated to Catholicism. It is something that is benevolent," stresses Froilan. "That chant at the end, it's a hymn, no different to singing a church hymn."

Just one more thing though. Froilan reassures all you dudes and babes out there that the Nukes will be a lot more rough and ready live. Let's hope we see 'em over here soon.

Mark Liddell
Riff Raff
July 1992

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