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17th January 2007 The Black Horse is a bastion of British pub culture in the heart of the Condesa. Of course there are many British “style” pubs but The Black Horse transcends the plastic to create a true bar ambience. This has been enhanced by a recent refit that creates slightly more space for the throbbing masses that usually fill its floor every week. The music plays a crucial role in creating a lively vibe as DJs and live bands share the load in bringing a spark to most evenings. Whoever is doing the booking for bands at The Black Horse seems to have incredible insight as to the range and quality of music that is offer on the scene at the moment. Diego Maroto and Los Musicos de Jose play frequent dates bringing the best of jazz-funk to the floor. This is balanced with regular rock and electronica in a space that was hardly designed for live music but somehow the informal feel of the place carries the experience. On the night in question Simplifires squeezed their four instruments into the corner underneath the dart board to play an invigorating set of their particular brand of cross culture rock. Rodrigo, Alex, Shine and el Hueso found that influences of youth were Anglo in origin and the natural form their music took suited the English lyrics that Rodrigo penned. At the start of 2006 the exit of el Hueso reduced the guitars from 2 to 1 with DaveO, an Irishman they had met in London while studying music and production in 2000 who had started to play with the band, focusing on lead vocals. The new dynamic created in the form of Dave’s voice and the change in balance of guitars led to the redrafting of old material and a fresh angle on new work. The results have been impressive, the combination of distinct cultures and shared experiences seems to have found harmony in the Anglo and Celtic rock influences that lie beneath an effervescing surface of straining vocals and impact orientated instrumentation. There is a certain natural, almost organic element to the sound of the Simplifires, something that few Mexican bands who have decided to sing in English have found to date and it is this that sets them apart. Unlike so many new bands the Simplifires seem to have the basics right and have a clear idea of short term targets and possible long term strategy. Recording and producing an EP was the first achievable goal; Simple released in November 2006 includes 4 of the band’s punchiest tracks in 11 minutes of high energy rock. “Unsupervised” has been chosen as the single from the EP and will be developed further with a video planned for February with the digital assistance of Supremovengador, the hip hop orientated artist/director who has helped the band develop an impressive website and graphic identity. Simplifires have hit the ground running in 2007 and are focused on maintaining the momentum provided by increased media interest. Rolling Stone’s latest issue has mentioned the group as one to look out for this year, which is about as good as start as you get. The idea is to penetrate the playlists of the major radio stations and perform a host of live dates in el DF and the rest of the country in order to establish themselves domestically. Finally the band hopes to take their music back to its point of origin by exploring the London scene in 2008, hopefully by that time a record label will be wise enough to pick up the tab…… http://myspace.com/simplifires
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simplifires
@ the black horse 10/01/07
