Look Out For The Ill NinoEffect

Tue 21st Feb, 2006 in Features

It’s been forty-two days since Ill Nino started their tour, and due to a gruelling schedule, drummer Dave Chavarri is talking from backstage ten minutes after their show in Madrid, Spain.”It’s been a hectic schedule, but we’re also having fun.” Chavarri says, “When we were touring in the US one of our guitar techs, KC was arrested in a diner! We were sitting in there and KC dropped his bag of weed out of his pocket, in front of these cops that came in and who were sitting right next to our table, so they immediately busted him! So the moral to the story is, ‘Don’t bring weed into a diner’!!!”

Although the mischief on the road has been entertaining them, Chavarri confesses that the band are starting to get a little homesick.”On our down-time we mostly sleep, some of us read, and some of us sit by the computer and catch up on emails and stuff. We’ve been on the road for weeks now and it’s been really hard.” Chavarri admits. “We call our moms and our family every now and then to touch base – that’s the only thing that keeps us going.”

The combination of their family and their Latin heritage is what makes Ill Nino who they are. Their merengue rhythms and flamenco guitars are derivative of their Hispanic culture – an element that’s ingrained into the Ill Nino sound.

“So far we’ve had fifty European tours and the responses have been amazing. We believe that this is our best record to date. It’s the one that’s most complete, the most Latin. We’re very proud of it.” Chavarri says, “All the kids even knew all the songs from One Nation Underground. There was just a lot of love.”

“I think European audiences have more of the bands they love and they are not so worried about the ‘flavour of the week’.” Chavarri analyses, “I think the US audiences are more concerned with what’s trendy unlike say, Japan, Australia, Europe and South America who love bands for the band and love them for being original.”

Touring across Europe and the US has made Chavarri somewhat an observer on the differences between fans around the world. But Australia is one place that Ill Nino have never been to. And after hearing stories from their label-mates, it is definitely a place that the band have always wanted to go to.

“We’ve been trying to come to Australia for a long time so we’re very excited to finally go there.” Chavarri says “We’ve heard some very exciting stories from our friends in bands, and seen a lot of videos from the Big Day Out and heard they were crazy! We were actually going to be on the Big Day Out a few years ago but it didn’t work out. So we’re very happy to come out to Australia this time and we’re all psyched!”

The title of Ill Nino’s latest album, One Nation Underground was supposed to be a political statement about society and the differences between the perceived notion of the society we see, and the underlaying notion of what is really happening. Despite their buoyant personalities and penchant for having fun on the road, they never seem to forget their roots. The band’s multicultural background has always played a key inspiration for their music, a subject that remains close to Ill Nino’s hearts.
“We all started in New Jersey. I originally came from Peru and was born there and moved to the US when I was twelve years old.” Chavarri explains. “Christian (vocalist Christian Machdo) is from Brazil, and Laz (bassist Laz Pina) was born in New York, so we’re kind of like a mini ‘United Nations’ really!”

Catch Ill Nino and Static-X:

February 28 – Perth, @ The Lookout
March 2 – Melbourne, @ The Palace
March 3 – Sydney, @ Roundhouse UNSW
March 5 – Brisbane, @ The Arena

Tickets are on sale now.