Ulises Bella is coming off a celebratory Cinco de Mayo livestream that served as Part 2 of Ozomatli’s Worldwide Quarantine Block Party. That’s as close as fans have been lately to the band’s incendiary live shows and after-parties, a source of continuing disappointment for the multi-instrumentalism. Bella joined Preston Frazier to discuss how the coronavirus quarantine has impacted Ozomatli, on-going plans to celebrate the group’s 25th anniversary and work on their first new album in six years.
PRESTON FRAZIER: The 25th anniversary of Ozomatli must be a little different from the typical celebration, given all that’s going on.
ULISES BELLA: Yes, we have done a livestream show prior to the pandemic, so we thought it would be something good to do it again for our fans on Cinco De Mayo. We really are catering these to the fans and adding a lot more music.
PRESTON FRAZIER: You guys are real road warriors. You tour a lot with your concerts and the family-oriented Ozokidz shows.
ULISES BELLA: Yes, right before the shit hit the fan, we were in El Paso recording a new record with David Garza and getting ready for our tour. Right when the lockdown happened, we were supposed to be on the road in Hawaii.
PRESTON FRAZIER: The last album Ozomatli did was 2017’s Non-Stop: Mexico to Jamaica, an album of covers. But you haven’t released new original music since A Place in the Sun in 2014, right?
ULISES BELLA: Yes, David Garza is from Texas but now in L.A. He worked on the new Fiona Apple record. This will be our first album of new original music since 2014.
PRESTON FRAZIER: Last year, you released a number of singles which were re-recordings of old Ozomatli songs. Do you plan to continue that for your 25th anniversary?
ULISES BELLA: We have a lot of old Ozo songs in the vaults which have never been released. We also are thinking about the singles-versus-the album strategy. Do we release songs little by little, or do a cohesive album?
PRESTON FRAZIER: So with David Garza, that album isn’t completed?
ULISES BELLA: I’d say 90 percent of it is.
PRESTON FRAZIER: The music scene has changed tremendously since the release of your self-titled debut in 1998. Is there an incentive to release albums now, given that it’s so difficult to support a band on just streaming and album sales?
ULISES BELLA: Well, with the pandemic the touring revenue is cut off. Yes, it’s devastating in terms of musicians making a living. The paradigm shift in the early 2000s to streaming and ‘free’ music had a tremendous impact on how bands made money. Bands relied on live music and touring. This [the pandemic] has kicked the foundation out of everything. Most bands I know are struggling. Some bands are just calling it quits until the market opens. We are going to keep creating and moving to maintain the connection with our fans. It not only impacts us musicians but the crew guys, the managers, the venues. It’s all really devastating.
PRESTON FRAZIER: Ozomatli has a pretty extensive merchandise store.
ULISES BELLA: We change our merchandise up a lot, too. The live stream event was connected to our merch.
PRESTON FRAZIER: How has the band’s music progressed over these 25 years?
ULISES BELLA: When we started we were in our 20s. We have toured nationally and all over the world since then, and our music has taken on a lot of local and international flavors. We have become cultural ambassadors and been able to dive into music some of us had never even heard of before. That and all the collective and individual life experience has impacted us. The new material is a combination of that. We don’t sound stagnant.
PRESTON FRAZIER: In what way is it different? There is certainly a musical growth from your debut to 2004’s Street Signs to Place in the Sun.
ULISES BELLA: In the way that David [Garza] pushed us into not going to our musical safe spaces. He has big into us writing organically. He didn’t want ‘box’ sounds. There was a lot of experimentation with real instruments to get sounds.
PRESTON FRAZIER: Did that apply to the horn sounds that you and [trumpeter] Asdrubal Sierra get?
ULISES BELLA: Usually, the horns come in later in the song process – after there is a rhythmic bed. With this record, some were established and some we had to come up with late in the process. The album was done with all of us in the room playing together. We anticipate having [rapper] Charli 2na come in. We’ve worked with him through the years.
PRESTON FRAZIER: How have you changed as a player in 25 years?
ULISES BELLA: I think I’ve changed as a player in that I hear new sounds, and am more open. I still have curiosity about music. The cynicism of the current situation and how art and music have been turned into a commodity sometimes breaks my heart. Artists can spend time creating but if you don’t have a machine, it’s just dead in the water. Music has, in a way, become a thing you give away so people buy a shirt. Yet there are positives, like people and music blowing up on YouTube organically. The live experience of Ozomatli is one of the great things that we have. It’s part of who we are; it’s part of our legacy as a band. That’s something to this day that we can deliver on. Ozomatli is a great show; it’s high energy and great music. You’re going to dance your ass off. Me performing on a camera in my room doesn’t have that feel.
PRESTON FRAZIER: You can’t bottle Ozomatli. At least for the fans, the live streams and the other projects keep you connected.
ULISES BELLA:Yes, hopefully the camera is a good conduit to keep us connected.
PRESTON FRAZIER: Finally, what are your five favorite albums?
ULISES BELLA: Wow, that’s hard because I’m a multi-instrumentalist, I have a lot of influences and a bunch of genres I like. John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme (if I have a terminal disease, stick me with morphine and put some good headphones on and let me drift away); Fugazi’s 13 Songs (this resonates to the 14-25 crowd); Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew or Kind of Blue; Joy Division’s Closer and Unknown Pleasure; Stravinsky’s The Right of Spring; Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, second movement; and Jimi Hendrix – the entire catalog.
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