Diego's Umbrella
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Diego's Umbrella is an American gypsy rock band consisting of five members from
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. They are celebrated as San Francisco's Ambassadors of Gypsy rock. The current members of the group are Vaughn Lindstrom (acoustic guitar, vocals), Jason Kleinberg (fiddle, vocals), Kevin Gautschi (electric guitar, vocals), Redcup (bass), and Jake Wood (drums). Former members include Tyson Maulhardt (electric guitar), Kevin Blair (bass), and Ben León (electric guitar, vocals). Diego's Umbrella describe their own music as "a blend of traditional eastern European gypsy, Spanish flamenco, polka/ska rhythms, and good ol' rock & roll from the west."


History

The seed for Diego's Umbrella was planted by Tyson Maulhardt and Vaughn Lindstrom in 2001, who released a few albums on their own. The band slowly grew with the additions of violinist Jason Kleinberg, bassist Kevin Blair, singer Benjamin Leon, and drummer Jake Wood. With this configuration they created the signature "gypsy pirate polka" sound they are now known for. Benjamin Leon, in an interview, explained their beginnings: "I've been playing music since I was about 6 years old, from piano to drums, and then later I picked up guitar and started singing. I’ve known Tyson and Vaughn for about ten years, but I was playing in my own group in Los Angeles for most of that time. They knew I was burning out in LA so they kidnapped me at a Pinkberry in 2008 and we’ve been riding around in a van together ever since." Their quirky name comes from a friend's arm tattoo. The group has released six full-length albums: '' Kung Fu Palace'', '' Viva La Juerga'', '' Double Panther'', '' Proper Cowboy'', '' Edjka'', and Bombs Away. In the summer of 2011, they released ''Richardson b/w Downtown EP'' on Ninth Street Opus in conjunction with their first appearance at
Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival Outside Lands, formerly known as the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, is a three-day music, art, food, wine, beer and cannabis festival held annually in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Multi-genre and multi-generational, it is the larges ...
. They have also played at the
High Sierra Music Festival High Sierra Music Festival is a multi-day music festival held in Quincy, California, United States, a mountainous area about 80 miles northwest of Reno, Nevada. History The first High Sierra Music Festival was in 1991 at Bear Valley in Alpine ...
,
Musikfest ''Musikfest'' is an American music festival that has been held annually since 1984 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is the nation's largest non-gated free music festival. The festival begins on ...
, and
SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
, and have played over 1,000 live shows. They have shared the stage with
Dengue Fever Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease caused by dengue virus, prevalent in tropical and subtropical areas. Asymptomatic infections are uncommon, mild cases happen frequently; if symptoms appear, they typically begin 3 to 14 days after i ...
,
Gogol Bordello Gogol Bordello is an American punk rock band from the Lower East Side of Manhattan, formed in 1999 by musicians from all over the world and known for theatrical stage shows and persistent touring. Much of the band's sound is inspired by Roma ...
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Matisyahu Matthew Paul Miller (born June 30, 1979), known by his stage name Matisyahu (; ), is an American singer, rapper, beatboxer, and musician. Known for blending spiritual themes with reggae, rock and hip hop beatboxing sounds, Matisyahu's 2005 sin ...
, MarchFourth!, Metalachi,
Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...
,
Deadmau5 Joel Thomas Zimmerman (born January 5, 1981), known professionally as deadmau5 (pronounced "dead-mouse"), is a Canadian electronic music producer and disc jockey, DJ. His musical style mostly includes progressive house and electro house music, ...
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Jeff Goldblum Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum ( ; born October 22, 1952) is an American actor and musician. He has starred in some of the highest-grossing films, such as ''Jurassic Park'' (1993) and ''Independence Day'' (1996), as well as their sequels. Goldblum ...
, and the
Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...
. Several of their songs were featured in the X-Dance-award-winning documentary Sofia, the Quiksilver/Roxy surf DVD Shimmer, and
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
d Elimination Station. Diego’s Umbrella also performs three songs in the
Lionsgate Lions Gate, Lion Gate or similar terms may refer to: Gates *Lion Gate at Mycenae in Greece *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the ancient Hittite city of Hattusa, now in Turkey *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the gardens of Hampton Court Pala ...
comedy '' Still Waiting...''. The band has been likened to "Gogol Bordello meets Muse" by the Associated Press. Newsreview says, "With guitars straight out of a Tarantino movie, the group seamlessly blends
mariachi Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, two ...
, gypsy,
flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...
and
ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...
into one beer-soaked fiesta, with song topics varying from heartache to revolution." In an interview with Metrojolt at
Outside Lands Outside Lands was the name used in the 19th century for the present-day Richmond District and Sunset District on the West Side of San Francisco. With few roads and no public transportation, the area was covered by sand dunes and was conside ...
they spoke openly about Jason Kleinberg as the last living unicorn,
Laura Bush Laura Lane Welch Bush (née Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American educator who was the first lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009 as the wife of George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States. Bush was previously the fir ...
's kinky disposition, cultural influences, rumors, and how two million fans might just be wrong about Diego’s Umbrella’s heterosexuality. Tyson Maulhardt spoke of their very mixed cultural influences, saying "we've done a lot of traveling in Eastern Europe and we've traveled throughout Spain and whatnot. We've picked up a lot of stuff along the way and incorporated it into our Gringo-esque rock music."


Discography

*'' Kung Fu Palace'' (2005) *'' Viva la Juerga'' (2007) *'' Double Panther'' (2009) *''Richardson b/w Downtown'' EP (2011) ( Ninth Street Opus) *'' Proper Cowboy'' (2012) (Ninth Street Opus) *''Songs for the Juerga'' EP (2015) (Juerga Productions) *'' Edjka'' (2017) *'' Bombs Away'' (2021)


References


External links

* {{Authority control Gypsy punk groups Musical groups established in 2001 Musical groups from San Francisco Rock music groups from California