Carne Cruda is a post-Latin band based in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. The band consists of five core members and incorporates frequent guest appearances, and also frequently backs up other artists.

Band history

Camilo Landau and Charlie Gurke met while attending high school at

San Francisco School of the Arts The Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, is a public alternative high school in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1982 and is part of the San Francisco Unified School District. History For many years, Ru ...

, where they formed a band called The Ska Messengers. In the year 2000, while attending college at UCSC, guitarist and

tres Tres may refer to: * Tres (instrument), a Cuban musical instrument * Tres, Trentino, municipality in Italy * "Tres" (song) by Juanes * "Tres", a song by Líbido from their album ''Hembra'' * TrES, the ''Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey'' * Templi R ...

player Camilo Landau decided to form a band to experiment with blending

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Music of Spain, Spain and Portuguese music, Portugal) ...

and

Caribbean music Caribbean music genres are very diverse. They are each synthesis of African, European, Arab, Asian, and Indigenous influences, largely created by descendants of African slaves (see Afro-Caribbean music), along with contributions from other commun ...

with other musical genres. While playing in the UCSC Jazz ensembles under the direction of Ray Brown and Smith Dobson, he met drummer E. Dillon Westbrook and asked him if he wanted to start a group. They teamed up with conga player Jeremy Fisher and began experimenting and practicing. They added Charlie Gurke to the group and began playing around local venues in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a pop ...

. In 2001 Landau and Gurke went to ubafor three months to study music. There they wrote arrangements for what they envisioned as a new direction for the band. When they returned they added Luke Kirley on trombone and Matthew Val Hall on trumpet to the band and began playing again. They were featured in

Metro Santa Cruz ''Metro Santa Cruz'', a free-circulation weekly newspaper published in Santa Cruz, California from 1994 to 2009, was renamed the ''Santa Cruz Weekly'' on May 6, 2009. The weekly continues, under its new name, to cover news, arts and entertainment ...

's column "New Band Alert" where they were described as "the Latin

Squirrel Nut Zippers Squirrel Nut Zippers is an American swing and jazz band formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, by Jimbo Mathus, James "Jimbo" Mathus (vocals and guitar), Tom Maxwell (singer), Tom Maxwell (vocals and guitar), ...

." In 2004 the band moved to akland, Californiawhere they re-formed, adding bassist Ayla Davila who had recently graduated from the prestigious erklee College of Musicand drummer David M. Flores. With this new configuration they recorded their first full-length album "Spicy Sea Adventures" in 2005. The album was picked up by Belgium's Surf-Cumbia Rockerds label and the band began their first European tour, playing concerts in Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Poland. They subsequently went on three more European tours and added Denmark, Slovenia, Croatia,

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

, Serbia, and Macedonia.Oakland Tribune
Eclectic surf-Latin-funk band Carne Cruda sailing a 'Spicy Sea Adventure' In 2009 Carne Cruda began a new collaboration with Brazilian singer and dancer Dandara Backen. They formed a new group called De Bahia a Bahia, which means "from one bay to another" since Dandara is from

Bahia, Brazil Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest by ...

and Carne Cruda is from the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. In 2010 Carne Cruda won Oakland Magazine's "Best Oakland Theme Song" award in an article titled "Oakland's Tight, Hella Tight!"Oakland Magazine
Best of Oakland. In 2010 Carne Cruda release a new album on Round Whirled Records called "Oakland's Tight" produced by veteran record producer

Greg Landau Greg Landau is an American, San Francisco-based record and video producer, and an instructor of music and Latin American Studies focused on the social movements that produced revolutionary music and art. He has produced eight Grammy nominated recor ...

and recorded, mixed, and mastered by engineer John Greenham.Mix Magazine
, Band Profile: Carne Cruda In 2016 the band released the song ''I Love You More Than Tacos''. The song is about "a man's love so profound that he would give his

Taco A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of filling ...

s and

Burrito A burrito (, ) is a dish in Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine that took form in Ciudad Juárez, consisting of a flour tortilla wrapped into a sealed cylindrical shape around various ingredients. The tortilla is sometimes lightly grilled or steamed ...

s to someone else".

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...

reported that the song "has become something of an anthem in the wake of the #TacoTruckOnEveryCorner controversy."

Band members

Current members

Camilo Landau
– guitar,

, vocals
David M. Flores
–

drumset A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

timbales Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfico ...

, percussion *Ayla Davila – electric bass,

electric upright bass The electric upright bass (EUB) is an instrument that can perform the musical function of a double bass. It requires only a minimal or 'skeleton' body to produce sound because it uses a pickup and electronic amplifier and loudspeaker. Therefore, ...

Luke Kirley
–

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

*Charlie Gurke –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

Past members

*E. Dillon Westbrook –

*Jeremy Fisher –

congas The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...

*Adam Charp – bass *Matthew Val Hall – trumpet *Ezra Gale – bass *Ethan Sanchez – bass *Nick Fishman –

Other Musicians who have recorded with Carne Cruda

* Edgardo Cambón * Kevin Kmetz *Paul Van Wageningen *Andy Mendoza *Marco Diaz *

Omar Sosa Omar Sosa (born April 10, 1965) is a jazz pianist from Cuba. Biography A native of Camagüey, Cuba, Sosa studied percussion at the Escuela Nacional de Musica and Instituto Superior de Arte. In the 1980s he started the band Tributo, recording alb ...

*Marta Gonzalez *Gabriel Tenorio *Gabriel Gonzalez *Orlando Torriente *Rafael Herrera *Bryan Dyer *

Michelle Jacques Michelle Jacques is an American singer/music educator, and Jenpet Records recording artist. She is currently the Artistic Director of Chelle! and Friends.Greg Landau Greg Landau is an American, San Francisco-based record and video producer, and an instructor of music and Latin American Studies focused on the social movements that produced revolutionary music and art. He has produced eight Grammy nominated recor ...

Notable performances

Belgrade Beer Fest The Belgrade Beer Fest ( sr, Београдски фестивал пива, Beogradski festival piva) is an annual festival of beer in Belgrade, Serbia. Started in 2003, the festival is held annually over five days each August as a showcase even ...

Yerba Buena Gardens Yerba Buena Gardens is the name for two blocks of public parks located between Third and Fourth, Mission and Folsom Streets in downtown San Francisco, California. The first block bordered by Mission and Howard Streets was opened on October 11, 19 ...

Festival *Encuentro del Canto Popular *Carnaval San Diego (De Bahia a Bahia) https://web.archive.org/web/20141217052457/http://greencapproductions.com/ *Oakland's Tight Night – Parkway TheaterEast Bay Express
One Less Cheap Thrill as The Parkway ClosesSF Weekly
The Last Picture Show *Friday Night Live in

Cloverdale, California Cloverdale is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States; it is both the westernmost and the northernmost city in the San Francisco Bay Area. The San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad reached Cloverdale in 1872. The Cloverdale Rancher ...

Santa Rosa Press Democrat
, Cloverdale's Friday Night Live welcomes booty-shaking Carne Cruda. *Niska Banja Festivalu Vina
, Niska Banja Festival

References

{{Reflist

External links

CarneCruda.com
Rock music groups from California Latin music groups Musical groups established in 2000 Musical groups from Oakland, California