While their music owes debts to the towering giants of rock, soul and the Mexican and Brazilian music before them, no one sounds like Chicano Batman. Formed in Los Angeles in 2008, the group released its self-titled debut two years later. But it was 2020's Invisible People and its infectious lead track, "Color My Life" that cemented the group's place in the indie universe. Released at the end of March, Notebook Fantasy sees the band continuing to grow, exploring new sounds while staying loyal to the elements that have helped the group stand out from the pack.
Eduardo Arenas 0:12
I love the interviews, man, I think it's I think it's cool, because I think Chicano Batman could be a band that's misunderstood, you know, and, and I think, like, it's important to shed light on on like that, we're kind of, we're creating this movement, you know, young fans at our shows. You know, it's like the old fans, they taper off, and we always get a regeneration of new fans. So that's very inspiring, especially when you go to new city and you keep seeing younger, younger faces, and it's just like, what, what is it that we're doing that makes people come back, or makes younger people show up? And it's just like, oof, that's, that's, that's something to not take for granted, and as a band and a brand, is something to capitalize off of. So yesterday, I was talking to a bunch of fans and asked, What is Chicano Batman team to you guys, you know? And they said, you know, it feels like home. You know, feels like home to us when we listen to your music. And I say, Wow, that's great, because you could be a band that has a great collection of songs, but if you have a band that makes you feel like home, then that that's something else, you know. So they like today, like today, the bus shows up, maybe in the morning, you know, get your coffee. You know, scout out your breakfast spot. Meander in the city if you want. You know, soundcheck is at four. Go to soundcheck four to five. You know, at six o'clock we have a VIP. So we've been doing these VIPs in different cities where we have an opportunity to offer fans, select few fans, like, sign stuff. And then we have, we have a Q and A for like, 30 minutes, ask us anything you want. And it's giving access to to the fans. And then we also get to ask them questions. So it's, it's a very sincere, very honest, very chill and and then after that, you know, an hour later, which we're hitting this, we're hitting this we're hitting the stage and we're playing for an hour and a half hour 40 minutes.
Brian Heater 2:03
I'm gonna outsource one of my questions. But in terms of, like, those fan questions, you get anything, anything really surprising, anything really caught you off guard.
Eduardo Arenas 2:12
Um, man. There are so many things that they say, you know, there's some things like, some people like, I like, Did you sing in English and Spanish? Because I talk in English and Spanish too,
and it's so simple and so subtle, but to somebody, it means the world to them, you know? And I was like, oh, yeah, that's true. There are not a lot of bands that sing in English and Spanish, but because we talk in English and Spanish too, it's just very natural for us to put a song and however it is that we want to put it out, because that feels natural to us. People talk about the beat. We love the beat. You know, all the all the sounds, the sounds you know. So for not musicians just to tell us what this is. We love the sound.
Brian Heater 3:02
As those birds are doing whatever those birds are doing around you,
Eduardo Arenas 3:06
they're black and they have orange, yeah? Denver, I've
Brian Heater 3:10
always been curious, as somebody who you know switches back between language, is there a major difference between singing in english versus Spanish? Most definitely, 100%
Eduardo Arenas 3:21
Yeah. One is like, your aunt's gonna understand it, and the other one, she ain't. You know, Spanish is our love language, you know? We we grew up speaking Spanish to our family. That's our first language. So when, when I'm speaking in Spanish, it's a love language, you know? So when we're like me, friends, I sing a song called La Huda and lahuras a song about cops killing one of my neighbors growing up. I shot him in the back, left him on the floor in front of mom's house. Mom could not come near him. You know, four hours on the floor in front of his house, and it's just, it's just a bad circumstance. So I think during the Black Lives Matter movement, when it was really growing, I was like, man, we need to do a song that brings, like, black and brown unity together, you know. And, and it's an overshot. I'm like, I'm gonna do that song, you know. So then now we sing, we sing this song. And to me, it's, it's so important that the elders also understand what, what, what the young generations are talking about, you know, because they have their songs from the past. You know about love and about breakup and all this thing. But like, our love songs now are about police brutality, you know, and for someone to someone to listen to that, like, like, what are you? What are you listening to? Is it? Oh, okay, huh. To provoke thinking, you know, in our love language, talking to everybody that like you don't ever get your message across to. I think that's important. So for me, that's, that's what that does. I
Brian Heater 4:48
mean, that's quite a sentence. What our love songs are about police brutality. So what, aside from the fact they're Smash, what makes that a love song? The
Eduardo Arenas 4:56
ballad. It's a ballad. It's a beautiful ballad. It's. You know. And if it's like, you know, if I wasn't talking about police brutality, I could be talking about my broken heart, or I could be talking about, you know, my longing for you. I could be, you wouldn't, it would fit so perfectly. But, you know, when you get the same genre and you put a different kind of story on there, I mean, it's provocative to me. It's evolutionary, you know. And I think it's using the format that we're used to, you know, but using it for a different purpose, you know. And I think that's what, that's what we try to do. Chicano and Bartolo, the different, whole, different songwriter himself, you know. So everybody comes with a different and he writes songs in English and Spanish. And it's like that, if you have a song and you have a certain chord progression, you start singing, you're like, Oh, I sound like Roberto Carlos. I sound like Leland. I sound like, like, you know? And it's just because it's in our blood, it's just so natural. It comes out so natural. Like, oh, this song sounds like los solidarios, or whatever band that it is that we listen to growing up, and then we're just like, so good. I might write a song of this thing. It hits already. I know the format, I already know the chord progression, I know what it does. I know here's the part who goes for a long time, because it's already been written for us. You know, it's like everything's been written for us already in music, you know, you just go choose, choose the elements that work for you, for the song and the story you try and tell. Yeah,
Brian Heater 6:10
this is something I always think about a lot as a non musician myself, is that, you know, in some senses, there's almost this, like finite number of things that you're drawing upon. And to me, that would almost seem restrictive, or it would seem difficult to do something that feels new within these, you know, very like well worn formats.
Eduardo Arenas 6:33
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's honestly like a kryptonite, you know, it's like we're constantly trying to be like, yep, you thought you knew it, huh? You actually don't know it, you know. And it's like, it's actually, honestly liberating, because then we fight our whole lives trying to get out of the boxes that they put us in, you know, as Latino or as a Latino band, you know, like, in the beginning it was, it was really hard to shake off the whole, Oh, you guys are a good band. It's a good band for being for Latinos. You guys are a good Latino band, you know. And when, like, nobody asked us, Why are you saying that?
Brian Heater 7:13
People would say, like, just like, that nakedly racist to you,
Eduardo Arenas 7:17
yeah. But they say it out of love, you know. But love and racism don't make I'm saying, and it's just like, and it's just like, like, people don't actually know what they're saying. They don't know what they're saying. It's just accustomed to a certain way of their social lives. For instance, on invisible people to English only album. There's no Spanish songs. We go to interviews and like, we love your album. What does it feel like to sing songs in English and Spanish, and then I'll be like, I don't know, this is an English only album, so you either didn't listen to it or or because you're looking at us, you know, you are assuming that we sing in Spanish, you know. So this perception, we have to fight perception all the time. So when you see us play, and we're playing like an RV joint that sounds more like Janet Jackson. Just like, what is this like? I thought, I thought this was Latino band. Like, you know, it's just, like, we just happen to be Latino. Man, that's just it, man, I play basketball, no, say I go camping. Like, I like lattes. I'm saying I'm just proud and brown, you know. But like, I like all that shit too, man, you know, saying and I excel my what I do, you know, just like you might, I put in the work, you know, I got gifts. I got gifts that I want to show the world, you know, and so do the rest of my band. And that's why we're doing this. It's not easy, you know. It's funny. We put, like, master's degrees and careers on hold, not hold. We chucked them away. They're done now. All those now that years from, you know, four years old to, like, 22 years old, 27 years old, studying and we ended up doing music. So it's like it's a bigger calling. So it's like it has nothing like racism, prejudice, all that shit. It can't, it can't do anything to us, because we're still gonna go. We got to drive, man, we got to drive. More than anybody I know, you know, like your friends around you, you know, those guys that like, or those women that like, they really are cycled about their craft. And you like mad respect, man, matter. You woke up at five to do that. Dang okay. Like we're cycled too, you know, and it's like, it's the passion, and not everybody can connect. And I think for us, no big fantasy this album, it's just a for us, it's a display about, man, you should connect. Go connect to what it is that you think you got to do. Because if you think you got to do it, you're closer to actually doing it, you know. But you can psych yourself out and never do it, because the social norms are like, Dude, why are you going to start doing that? It's not even going to pay you. Everything's always comes out to money, and it's placed in society and what people are gonna think to you and all that. But then, you know, then you silence a little voice inside of you that that's been been silenced since you were in elementary school, the little weirdos, the little weirdo voice. You know, everyone's got a little weirdo voice. But, you know, we love to smash it. We like, we like to smash the poetry out of each other. You know. Man, you got to buy a car, you got to get a lease, you got to get, you get, you know, you got to pay rent, you got to get insurance, you got all this societal stuff, you know, that's, you know, the nuts and bolts of, like, what makes, what makes this capitalist, you know, go round and round. It's like, that's our culture, you know, and people don't, I hard once you caught up in that and social media, then it's over. Man, like, you know, like, like, capitalism is the roots of our new generation. I
Brian Heater 10:25
wholeheartedly agree with you. But also, you know, you know, I assume that, like growing up where you, you grew up that you saw a lot of people struggle with that. So it, you know, and there is, it's, it's important, still, at the same time to be pragmatic about these sorts of things, you know, like you do at a very base level, like you do need to survive.
Eduardo Arenas 10:46
Growing up, I didn't see that anybody struggle, you know, because we're all in the same you know, you go to the pool, everyone's going to the pool, having a good time. The public pool, you know, lives in the projects. You know, it's just like, we're on the projects. Let's go play. The sun's out, let's go outside and play, you know, oh yeah, there's gunshots. Let's go back inside. Everybody's gotta go back inside. You know, it's like, it's like, you know, people are on welfare, like, so are we? Like, you know, everyone's playing footsteps. I mean, it's just everyone's speaking Spanish, you know, I didn't see No, I didn't see no suffering, you know? And it's not until I go to college, and I'm like, one of 8% you know, of Latino in the whole university and in predominantly Latino neighborhood in South Central. Then you start questioning the big questions, you know. And then when your opinion in class, you know about something that you're finally at the guts to say your conscientious mind is being developed in college, you know, with all these themes and theories and theories and ideas and you have the guts to say it out in your classroom and your own teachers like belittling you, you know, you're just like, okay, motherfuckers, all right, then I gotta be good at what I good at so you can knock me down, you know. So all that kind of thing is just like, man, it's got comfort. I gotta, I gotta be sharp at what I'm already sharp at, music. I was like, you can never touch me at music like you. Maybe, maybe you make $250,000 a year. Maybe you drive this. Maybe you have a nice car. But dude, when I play guitar, I'm captain to my soul. I don't see you doing that shit. So you can never take that away from me, you know. So there's those types of things that you keep to yourself, you know. And as you go older, then, you know, we're battling in this Anglo rock system, you know, of festivals and touring and all that kind of thing, and you never getting a bone. You know, we did one time, man, we consciously rebranded our band instead of like, the because the public would be like, You guys are Latin psychedelic soul band, okay, whatever. It's fine. But then we're like, Dude, we told a booker and management, like, Look, don't we're not going to call ourselves a Latin psychedelic soul band anymore. We're gonna call ourselves a rock band. And so then we did that. Within months, man, we're getting offers to play festivals, open up with Jack White. We're getting, like, the big ticket stuff, just in the rebrand, you know, and then, and then we've been able to do good. I mean, you know, because we're an electric live band. Like, seeing as live is a whole different experience. The album is, I love all our albums. They're amazing. But seeing us live, we take it to the next level. And that's like, that's what you want to see, you know, and that's what you want to do, you know, live in the moment, and fly and fly with with your material. So, um, so yeah, it's like, you know, our band is, you know, we got a Samoan cat. We got, you know, a black dude. We got like, three Latinos. I mean, we're a POC bad, but close your eyes, you know, and we're just aliens, man, you know, saying it's just colorblind, this thing is colorblind. Man, it's a lot of soul. And I think for us, that's how we fight this prejudice, racism, shit, just put that, put that soul out there. You put that soul out there. It's unequivocal. You can't, you can't tell me that my soul is not, you know, comforting, you know, and, and I think that's, you know, it's like, love, man, like people. One time, somebody asked me, like, what's so psychedelic about your kind of Batman? Now, you know, like, psychedelic? And I was like, you know, in the beginning was like, the delays effects, like the tone, the reverb, that was psychedelic. But having done this 16 years and have kids now, getting married, growing there's a Gen Z that's like, dominating now, before in 2008 when we started, that was not the thing. We were the young ones. You know, I'm gonna be 42 next month. So it's like, like, I was thinking about it, I was like, You know what the psychedelic is now? It's love. It's love, because psychedelics, they put you in this euphoric place. I mean, if you ever done psychedelics, you know, you're on shrooms, just like man deep thought, everything's lucid. It's not like acid. I've never done acid, but it's not like, like, visual thing. It's like, internal and it's just like it really transforms, like the way you feel and you perceive, and then, and then, once you get off of it, you're kind of on it forever. Your perspective has kind of been changed forever, you know. And I think Chicano Batman, our psychedelic like thing is love, man, because there's a lot of love in the music, you know, a lot of. In the stories and a lot of love in the fan base. So all I feel is love when I play. That's all I feel, and that you can't break that real easily, you know, so our band is protected. I got the sense
Brian Heater 15:11
when you were discussing, you know, being being in school, that that may be part of what drove you, is that you you felt like you had to do better, and you had to be better than other people, that you had to prove it, that you had to prove that you were capable of all these things, absolutely,
Eduardo Arenas 15:27
absolutely, absolutely, you know, it's a drive man. Otherwise he's just a tool. Man, he's working for one of them, you know, did good enough, you know. And there's a, there's a huge thing between the big difference between being good and being great, you know, and and I didn't want to be good, good is just going to get you in an office. Man, you know, you graduated. It's great. I mean, when I graduated college, I was like, man, is this it? I was like, man, like, I'm supposed to what, get a Master's now, or get find a job. I'm just 21 I'm 21 like, I've been thinking about these moments is like, I've been five years old, and now it's here, and now it's here, and I'm like, What am I gonna do? So I just, I went to go study abroad in Brazil. I didn't know the language. I know the culture, I know nothing else. I want to put myself in a situation where I don't know anything about I want to experience something for the first time like I never experienced before, beach town, Salvador, the Bahia by the beach. I went there for eight months, you know. And it changed my whole perspective, my whole life, you know. And then I and that's when I came back to the States and was like, man, everyone's just fighting man. Everyone's just fighting for position, hierarchy, you know, and like, and you know, again, you know, like in LA it's like, label identity. Label identity is huge. One thing that you know, a lot of people don't understand, is like, like, yeah, we're Latino, but like, in LA in the United States, we're not American, you know, saying you gotta be white to be American, right? So then we go to Mexico, and Mexico, we're not Mexican, we're from we're from a Norte, we're from the United States. So we're pochas, we're something else, but Mexican. So when we're not American and we're not Mexican, then what are we, which kind of Batman, you know, we're filling the gaps, you know, and then filling the gaps, it's not about like, it's just about finding, finding confidence in yourself, you know, and going to do what it is that you you're meant to do with your life. I've
Brian Heater 17:17
heard you, and I've heard everybody in the man talk about this quite a bit. And I think this kind of gets back to your initial point about the movement that you're describing and the younger fans is, in part, this kind of representation that they're not seeing somewhere else. But how does that? How does that play out with like, Mexican fans in Mexico? How do they relate to that?
Eduardo Arenas 17:37
Maniacs, these sort of things. Like the laws don't apply over there, these, these over there. It's just, you know, it's our music and our music. And then we have someone from LA, you know what they love. They love being talked to in English too. You know, because they're like, We know English. We know English. They want to connect with us too. We're over here talking in Spanish, but we're talking Spanish. But we're talking Spanish, they just melt because, you know, like, you know, the killers don't do that. You know, Jack White won't do that. You know, I'm saying, like, like, all these bands, like, you know, when you say, like, Hola mi gente, you know, just like, What's up, my people, you know, there's a direct connect. Like, we're here, we're home. I mean, bro, when my grandpa lives 12 hours away from where I'm playing, you know, yet he will never be able to come see me, because he's a, he's a farmer, you know, I'm saying he has land to tend, to pour, I'd have to literally, go buy his thing and, you know, set him up, like, buy him clothes to come to the city. You know, it's like, you know, that's what Mexico that's what Mexico means. Like, you know, I got a lot of poor family, you know, and, like, a small Puerto Mexico, yet we got these, like, you know, Chicano Batmans, this big band going to play at the city from the origin of, like, where my family left to go make a better life for themselves. It's really complicated, super complicated, you know. But the fans are young, and they're also hungry, and they're now open to, like, new new things, man. I mean, in Mexico, yeah, for the fans, all we have is maniac love and support. You know, they love our songs. They can identify too, you know, with La Jura. I mean, the cop situation is way worse in Mexico than it is in the United States. So they've told me, like, dude, the Huda, it hits home, you know, disappearances, you know, cartels, politics and corruption. They're like, this is like, this songs like, belongs in Mexico, you know. And I'll be like, That's awesome. You know, songs of longing, or a lot of relationships anyone can relate to that, you know. And they're in Spanish. And also you make it accessible for for a different population, to to link into and to follow up with.
Brian Heater 19:47
How do you talk to your grandfather about what you do like? In a lot of ways, it's like you're inhabiting an entirely different world. It sounds like, um,
Eduardo Arenas 19:56
one time, one time, when the first time we played in Mexico, we actually did bring my grandpa. Out, you know, had a state of the Four Seasons and that whole thing. And just like lived it up, and you know what, they brought two big old boxes of Mongols and another box of something called tapote from the tree. They took it through the bus, 14 hours. Man in the taxi to the hotel showed up to the hotel with boxes of fruit. Men, you know. And anybody that has a Latino Mexican family, you know, they know what that means. Like, I go to my house in Boyle Heights. I grew up in Boyle Heights in LA and poor, but they went to the church on Sunday, and they got a bunch of free fruit and vegetables that that they were giving away. And then they call me, like, hey, come over here and get your, get your get your boxes. So I go and they mean, my bosses, they don't got money, but they're redistributing the wealth that they do have, you know, either an adult cook for us, to give us free stuff, that kind of thing. And, you know, that's, that's, that's the experience, you know, and, and so my, my grandpa, you know, when I talked to him about, he's like, I remember when, uh, when you played and and we played in Guadalajara and Mexico. And he also took a flight for the first time. Took a flight from Mexico to Guadalajara. He's already, he's already, like, 86 taking a flight for the first time, you know, short flight. But then he's just like, I remember the time when you took me to see the world. That's what he told me. And the world is just, you know, a couple cities in his own country, but it's the world. And he started laughing, you know? And I thought that was just the greatest anecdote, like when I took my grandpa to see the world with Chicano Batman, and he just two cities in his own country, you know, that a very popular city. Then I thought that was, like, I opened up the world inside him, you know, he started, he stood up. He was crying. He was like, literally standing. We're like, everybody, stand up. You'd be the first person to stand. And I'm like, Dude, my grandpa's a very shy man, very quiet, timid man, but the fact that he's up clapping and he's like, tearing and he's watching his grandson play, you know, you don't ever expect that any of your, you know, your your family's gonna be, quote, a rock star, you know. But now, like, you know, and there, I mean, it's a screaming house of like, 1000 fans, you know, first time in Mexico, or, like, even us, it's emotion. Or like, Man, you guys really do love us. I had no idea, you know. So a lot of surprises come out of that, especially for my grandpa, you know, I opened up his world, and I can die, and he could probably die, like, in a certain kind of comfort zone knowing that, you know, we had that kind of satisfaction.
Brian Heater 22:20
Your father was a school, school teacher, correct? Yep, when you had this conversation with him, and when you know you had gone through the process of, I think you're studying urban planning, and then you decided, actually, no, like music, this is the thing that I want to do, was, was he how supportive? Was he
Eduardo Arenas 22:40
mad? Yeah, my dad's like, a Vietnam vet from East LA, and he came back on a GI Bill, and he went to UCLA, studied philosophy, became a second grade teacher in Maywood, California for like, 25 years, or whatever. And he's a brick and mortar guy, very traditional baby boomer. It had always been about and matista, you know. So it's with my dad. It's always been about, you gotta, you gotta do the thing, you know, the graduate from this, the job with that, this very traditional, you know. So I grew up traditional, too, you know, because you don't want to disappoint parents at a certain level. You don't want to disappoint parents, you know. And it's just like, some people shake it off early. Some people never shake it off, you know. But like, you know, having the having the acceptance of your parents is kind of a big deal, man, you know, it's a big deal to a lot of people, especially when you don't have confidence or, like, you don't really have a direction. You want to feel loved from somewhere, man, you don't want to ever feel alone because, because, you know, a lot of resentment, a lot of rage, a lot of frustration, you feel alone. It's kind of things become quite impossible. So when I told my dad, I was just like, it was just words for me, because I'm like, I'm decided, like, I was actually proud. I was like, Man, I'm so happy that my dad's not gonna convince me to go back to my job, because, like, I already gave him my my, my, my, it was like, a two month notice. You know, I was like, I just already gave my notice. Like, I'm out. So my dad had to accept, you know, he had to accept, and that's why, that's where I give props, you know, like, as parents, parents got to evolve too, man. You know, it's like, you don't always know what's best for your kids at some point. At some point, everyone's adults, and everyone makes decisions for themselves. And so, you know, be me being a parent. I have to, you know, four year old kid, like, you know, he's gonna morph, and it's gonna change to do things that I probably don't like. And that's gonna be cool, man. It's gonna be cool how I see myself react, and how I see myself not be my father, you know. And that's the cool things. It's like, the cool thing about being a parent is just, you get a chance not to be like your own parents, you know. But it's a very conscious thing, because in the DNA, it's already there, your reaction, you know, you're like, the way your perception. It's just like, No, I'm not my dad. Man, I'm not my dad. I'm not my dad or my mom. I see things very differently, you know. So, yeah, very hard, very hard, to go up against the system, all of our all of our families, you know, like, we had all this education, you know, and debt, you know. And we're just like, man, we're not gonna worry about that. Man got one life. And right now, it's like, yeah. Everything is music is time based, very time sensitive. You know, your emotion, your stories, are very time sensitive. You put them out right now. It makes sense. Put them on three years. May not make as much sense. You don't, you don't feel it in three years, you know. So you got to put it out when you can. And, you know, there's a business support the release of music and stuff like that, which is getting super dicey, very expensive. You know, not every band can tour. You know, you know, you come back with a deficit. Even big bands can't tour. I mean, I know, like, the black keys cancels a tour because it's just weren't selling. I'm like, the black keys are canceling tours. Scary, man, you know, that's like, that's like, a big band, you know, you know. So, so it's a weird state, you know, and, and that's where, like, yeah, the parent part, you know that voice, it's like the cost of goods are going up. Everything's going up, but the ticket sale price, you know, Ticketmaster is taking a shitload of money from our tickets. So, you know, the venues are taking 25% of our soft goods, 10% of our hard goods, you know. So, you know, management companies, bookers, Business Manager taking a cut. Uncle Sam's taking a big cut, you know. So literally, the business model at some point, it doesn't make any sense anymore, you know. But here you are releasing another record and putting it into this model, you know. So, you know, you do have existential crisis and moments of like, man, what are we really doing here? The business of music is dicey. Man, you know, all we want to do is create music, man, and play, you know. And I think every, every artist that grows into the business of it struggles at some point with with, you know, making adjustments, you know, not playing so much, or having to play more, or getting back on the road, or saying no to things so you can say yes to the bigger prizes. There's all those tips, all those different things, timing, relevance, stuff, stuff that's out of your control. You know, going viral is a new one that's annoying, you know, like a super annoying man.
Brian Heater 26:45
I have to imagine that the pandemic brought all of this stuff to the front too. I mean, it was incredibly difficult time to be a musician.
Eduardo Arenas 26:52
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, we had a tour schedule and an album release for May of 2020, and then we were on lockdown. We said, You know what? Man, everything on the slingshot. Let's just let it go. Man, like, we worked so hard about a year and a half to get this for like, I just crushed through this pandemic. Man, I think we're the band that I feel that did most zooms, most band performance we did. We did like, Colbert show, and we did all these other things, like through zoom at first. I mean, he was super tired. I had a baby. I had an infant at the same time. So did Barlow. We had infants two weeks. And we're, like, doing interviews for like, two hours, you know, babies crying in the back, that whole thing. And so it was very exhausting. And then we had to cancel our tour till about a year and a half later, you know, and then different your masks at the shows and all that stuff was really weird. But, um, you know, it did bridge a gap, a huge gap in technology, like us having an interview right now, you know, we weren't doing this for the pandemic at all. Now it's kind of a social norm. In fact, now it's almost like, Bro, are you in LA because if so, we could meet at a cafe. Man, you know, like, let's meet a person. Man, like, this whole, you know, a zoom thing, it took a toll on all of us. After a while, we're like, dude, no more zoom interviews. Man, this is, it's like go soul sucking. Man, you know, it's like, we're doing a stack every day, and it's just like the screen and the whole thing. And, you know, those tape performances, you know, it's like 20 minutes, but you're really spending three and a half hours, you know, to set it all up, align it, you know, do that whole thing, the spit screen, all that very, very laborious. But, um, the pandemic changed a lot of things. It also knocked out a lot of small bands, you know, that were on the up, and venues. Knocked out some venues. And it probably restructured like, you know, these big players that top the golden voice and live nations and monopoly, the monopoly probably got stronger, because those who had the money survived, and those who didn't, they got bought out, you know. So, so now we're living in that system, post pandemic, system of, you know, the business and, you know, it's daunting, you know. But I believe that it's just like, if you just put your head down and stick to the Music Man, that you'll be fine. One
Brian Heater 28:56
positive that I can immediately see for you and Bardo at the same time is like, it's tough to be a parent and to be a touring musician, and there's a lot that you miss, but you were able to have those moments with your child, because you had to be home
Eduardo Arenas 29:14
100% and it's there's two sides to that, because my wife had terrible postpartum depression, right, insomnia and The whole thing. So, and then we didn't have support, even though we're in LA and our family's in LA, you don't have support because don't touch my baby, because he might die. You know, you might get covid. There's a lot of misinformation, a lot of fear, and so especially when my son was born in April 14 of 2020, so I was like, one month after lockdown, and we had a homework which, luckily that that that saved us from having to go to the hospital and me having to wait in the lobby while my wife is getting a C section or some crazy shit, you know. So, yeah, there was a lot more C sections being done to people and get out, out, out, out. So, um, you know, we skipped all that, but at the same time was very lonely and very tiring. And then, you know, the grandma was not around. Is, you know, it was very lonely. However, I didn't go on tour. I was supposed to go on tour that April, when he was just like, 40 weeks old. I didn't go on tour. Actually stayed home for, like, a solid year and a half, like paternal leave, you know. And now my bond to my kid is as strong as ever, you know. And I can't believe that I'm a touring musician with a bond so strong to my kid. Even when I go my kid, I tell my kid ahead of time, he understands where I'm going. I do FaceTime with him from venues, green rooms, the bus, what song you play today, daddy, he's like is barley gonna take off his shirt. You know, he just knows the culture of it. You know, he knows the culture of everything I do. And that's my dream too. Because I always thought that I always live two lives when I go on to when I come home. But now I can't, it has to be one life, and the more like, yeah, you have to drop that barrier every fucking day. Because it's like, that barrier can get higher and higher, and then you're just, you're far from home, man, for a long time, you know, so and there's so much cool shit happening, the fans, the crew, the music, you know. And it's just like, Oh, my kid's sick. He has a fever. Damn. Okay. What can you do? Nothing. Oh, my God. Oh, my wife, no one's gonna pick him up. How could you have to take your day off? You know, you gotta stay in tune, man, you gotta stay in tune and be empathetic with what's going on at home. It's like they have a schedule. Follow their schedule too. Like, if you're on the East Coast, it's like, you know, 8am for you, it's 5am at home, you literally have two schedules. Man, you know, and, and it's a conscious effort that I personally wanted to make. Like, now, I want to have one live. Man, I want to have one life. You know, I've been sober for about seven years from drinking alcohol that's helped a lot. And clarity, and this is distort anything. You don't get missed calls. You call people back. You're there for your compromises. There's a lot of things that sobriety does that you don't understand. You ask big questions. Yes, what more you can do? You know, you know you put yourself in uncomfortable situations that you could be comfortable later. So a lot of that has helped and and, you know, I told the guys, man, I have, I have a kid, and when I come home from tour, I want to bring positivity. So you guys, can we just, like, have the most fun we possibly could have on tour? You guys want to do that? That's a conscious decision. Like, yeah, dude, let's just have fun, man. All right, then let's, let's settle all our beasts before we get to the bus, man or the van. Like, let's just be up front. Let's not be passive aggressive. And we've literally had exercises of this, not being passive aggressive, telling directly who you want to talk to about your issues. You know, don't blow up. You know, as your fault if you blew up, you had a chance many days before to say something. So these tools of communication have been really useful for us, so that we can have an amazing time out here and go home with grace, you know, go home with grace and poise and energy, you know, to share with our family. This thing out here is real life. It's not this thing's tired. Oh, I'm so glad to be home all these things. Like, no, I had a great time, and now I have this great time with you guys. I have this energy that I brought home with you, you know. So the whole pandemic and all that made music positive, because otherwise I would have been gone, and it's like, oh, he's gone again, you know, for a month, you know, and I'm over here having to do all this by myself, all that resentment. I'm glad that the pandemic gave me a break to not have that resentment about music, and what it is to our musician,
Brian Heater 33:02
this ability to really kind of be proactive about that, about your relationships, and about dealing with those, those issues up front, that's that's a direct result of the past four years, absolutely 100%
Eduardo Arenas 33:16
Yeah, because there's this thing in our band, like, when we don't talk to each Other, we start hating each other. We started inventing fights. Don't talk to me. Probably doing his own thing. This is better than me,
Brian Heater 33:26
competition, right? Yeah,
Eduardo Arenas 33:28
we are so highly competitive, man, you know. And, I mean, we've been in there for 16 years, so we've, we find, we find that. We find how to make it work, you know. And, and so, yeah, when someone's, you know, writing five songs, seven songs, you're like, damn, hammering the song. I better get I better get mine. I mean, who's songs? Nah, they're not ready yet. I was like, damn, this guy, it's not gonna show me for like, six more months, you know. And I'm like, Man, that means all his songs gonna be on the next record. I better start writing, you know, and all these types of things. And then, you know, it ends up being this, this communal thing when we actually get together, and then it diffuses everything. So in the pandemic, we weren't talking, we had kids, and I hadn't talked to somebody for like, a month or two months, and I'm like, in my head, I'm like, Man, you talk about the old trauma. You haven't you have never touched. It comes to the forefront, and you start getting mad. And then I remember being mad at Barlow, and just like, one day I called him. I'm like, Hey bro, we haven't talked in a long time. And like, starting to get mad at you, dude. And like, I have this resentment. I was like, but you know what? You haven't done anything to me. I was like, he's like, me too. I feel the same way. And I'm like, Oh my God, dude, really? I was like, we really have zero business getting mad at each other right now. We're busy. Have kids. It's a pandemic. And then I remember saying, like, Dude, you want to be friends? Dude, you know, he's like, yeah. I was like, Yeah, let's be friends. Like, we don't, we don't have any bees. Bro, like, why are we creating bees? We don't have beefs. And we're like, yeah, man, I don't want, I don't want to do that either. I was like, dude, let's not do that. No more, man, we could be friends, bro, let's check in. Let's be friends. So, you know, you're a business partner, you've been together. You're literally brothers, and not our brothers friends. I'm saying like, you're like, chosen ones to be together. That's how we go together. We're so randomly three different people. It's like, like, I say like, once a basketball court, one's a melon and the other one's a boat, you know? I'm saying it's just, like, we just make it work, man, you know, and it works good. There's a lot of tension and release in our band, as dynamic as people, that translates to the music, you know, and it's just like, it's amazing, man. It's like, the synergy is amazing. So, so we always have that, and we're constantly like, someone has an issue, man, you know, just go address it. So, and it's based off these conversations from that pandemic, you know, I'm the one that I champion a lot of that I like, I like tackling within the room, and I like asking the hard questions, you know, just because it's just an opportunity for us to grow, you know, or to or to talk about something that nobody wants to talk about. You know, I love all that discomfort, man, I thrive on. I
Brian Heater 35:55
think there's an element to it's a kind of a cliche to say, but like, of, of of like, toxic masculinity, right? And of, of, like, hiding your feelings and not being upfront about it, and it's great that you were really able to push through it, because it's not, it's not addressing those things. Like, that's what leads to the problems, and I assume that's what breaks up a lot of bands, yeah,
Eduardo Arenas 36:15
lot of ego, a lot of pride, you know, I want my shake too. You're getting all the spotlight. You know one thing that bands, it's like, and if I can give some advice to people that are listening, that are in bands and have issues, it's like, you got to know your role. You got to know your role. I'm a basketball fan. You know, saying there's, there's guys that are centers and and throw them the ball. Man, throw the ball there seven foot one. They got a guy that's six for three on them. They're gonna make it. And if he keeps making them, keep throwing it back in and defend somebody else has the ball. You gotta defend. You know, if you're not the if you're not the lead singer, then you're really not going to be the star of the of the thing. So so you could be a star though, you know, you can be the best sick man come off the bench. You know nothing. There's not no shame in that. You could be, you could be like, you know, a pastor, sick pastor. You know, you could be a sick pastor. So all these things, you just don't always need. Them all, no, so it's one thing is like your front man. He's your start give him all this, all the spotlight that that he needs, you know, because 95% of everybody's listening watching them anyways, you know. So if you support that, then you all succeed. You know. Just know that you played good too, and you need to play good for him to feel good to deliver that. So everybody has a role. Not everybody has the ball all the time. You should be content with that, because if you think bands are democracies, you're in for a good a band of democracy. Man, and we're all over here, like social justice fucks like we, you know, we're all about politics, you know, fairness. I mean, we're conscious about all these different things. But bands are not democracies, man, you know, it's just creative entity, entity where the voice lies. Who knows where the voice is, but whoever has the voice, you gotta support that, because, you know it's it's like going with the stream. It's like going with the flow, because swimming upstream for fairness, it ends up being a process that you end up not liking. And when you don't end up liking a process, your fans are not gonna end up liking your product. And that's just,
Brian Heater 38:23
I was reading an interview that you did around, I don't know if you would say, like, solo project or side project, or how you would classify that, but, but they did, they made an interesting comparison, which is, you know, like in the context of Chicano Batman, a lot of times you're kind of like, maybe standing on the side, and in this project, you're standing, you know, literally in the center. And that's a big shift in in dynamic, like your your role really changes between those projects,
Eduardo Arenas 38:50
Yeah, most definitely, most definitely. And I love them all, you know, it's like, Um, another, another thing. And it's advice for anybody that's like, like, for me, you know, I'm a multifaceted musician, like artist, like I dwell in cumbia. That's my bread and butter. You know, I love cumbia Carolina, that's in my blood. I have a band that I dedicate myself to, that I have a song called Manzanita in Chicano Batman that I play, and it's a cumbia. When it's time for me to go up there and take over the mic, I go to the center of the stage, and I serenade everybody with a smile, with infectious groove. I shake my hips, I smile. I'm like, yo, we're here together, aren't we, you know. And everybody gets it, you know. And it's my moment to shine. In the past, there will be competition between both and I, because it's my turn to shine now, you know. But because we're cool 2020 we're like, all right, bro, do your thing. Go get him. And I have to go get him, because, you know, it's just like, it's like, again, back to basketball, you know, Pippin and Jordan, you know, I'm saying Kobe Shaq. There's never been a team where one guy dominates everything, never, never. I mean, and if you do, you get to the conference final, like, the front and you end up losing, you know, like. Part, or like, even Alan Iverson, he couldn't get past the, you know, the Lakers, you know, but he took him there. He basically took him all the way there. And but it's like, you know, when someone, someone else has got to step up, and that's where I come in, and I'm confident. And then once he gave me that love and that trust, then I go over there no holes bar, we're gonna bring this house down. And then I gave him the back, the bass back, and he's giving me high five, like, dude, that shit was crazy. I was like, right? That was nuts. We did it. And then I go back to being a bass player and support my boy. Now he's a singer again, you know. And it took a lot of years of maturity. It takes a lot of years of maturity, you know, because at some point it's like, you're doing something, they're like, oh, I want the spotlight, you know. And then they try to get it from you, you know. But you know, you know, we've had the chance to evolve and reinvent ourselves as humans, you know. And I think we all have the opportunity to reinvent ourselves, you know. Some people take it, some people don't, you know. And so that's what it is. And oh, yeah. So as an artist that has multifaceted like, if you can get all yours in, in one band, go start another band. Go be pretty. Go start do something else. Man, go paint. Man, go do botany. Man, like do something else to fulfill your soul. Man, because if you're trying to put all your eggs in one basket in this quote, with democracy of a band, you're gonna be in for a lot of grief. Man, and a lot of you know you don't want to build resentment. And something that's supposed to be harmony between people and frequency and love and like music is that it's spirituality. So if you're coming in with like, a bad formula into the spirituality sphere, you're gonna suffer.
Brian Heater 41:29
When you were talking about this discussion that the two of you were having, and you said, Let's be friends, I initially took that as being almost like, like figurative, but it sounds like it was really just as simple as you saying something like that, and that just completely changed the dynamic between the two of you in a positive way.
Eduardo Arenas 41:46
Absolutely, it's just simple. And it's as simple as telling your friend, Yo, bro, I love you. Man, I'll be like, You know what? Man, I love you too. Man. And then, you know, then you upgraded. Now you love each other officially, and then that love is public. You said it out loud. It's very scary, very scary, especially for men, just to throw that love word around, you know. But we do love each other, man, say it, so say it, you know. And I think also with, like, with Bardo, it was like, yeah, we've been quote friends, but, you know, business partners, and we've been on the road and all that kind of thing, and now we have a lot of downtime, and it's just like, also, too, can we be friends? It also kind of says, like, I've also messed up, you know, there's a lot of kind of that you got to point the finger back into before you point at others. You know, be like, What have you done? That's probably, it's like, well, you're, you're also this guy that doesn't put up with this shit and that shit. And that person needs the kind of person that needs to put up with that, because that's who they are. Now, if you don't take the time to acknowledge that, you know, then, then you are in the wrong dude. You know. You can't, you can't assume that, you know, because someone was bit by a dog when there are seven that now be there. The 27 they shouldn't be scared of dogs anymore because they're an adult. Trauma works in their own ways, social conditioning, family upbringing, all of that makes us unique people that have special needs. And as soon as you're able to identify that who needs what and respect those boundaries, then they'll respect yours. And that's what being friends is about, respecting each other's boundaries that are for each other, just like, Yo, this is really me. Man, that's what I really need, dude, and if you can give it to me, man, I love you, bro. Thank you, you know. So we just do that for each other,
Brian Heater 43:30
something that you're kind of getting at in a in an interesting way, something that I've been thinking a lot about, the way in which, like in therapy, they call it core beliefs. And in the way in which the last four years have challenged core beliefs, but also an important part of getting older and maturing and just living in the world is reexamining some of these beliefs that you've always taken for granted, including, like, whether or not two men can tell each other that they love one another,
Eduardo Arenas 44:01
core beliefs, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, core beliefs. Some of the core beliefs past 2020, and bands is, um, I'll tell you, because I think about this and I work this has been my homework to make, make Chicano Batman a happier place for me to live in. Because all of us in the band, man, we think about quitting every like, every two months. I was talking about this with my guy yesterday, the keyboard player, Quincy. He says, Man, every three months, I just think about quitting music altogether. And I was like, wow, bro, I think about quitting the bat every three months for the last 16 years, you know. And it's like that. It's super like that, you know. And then some profound moment will happen and it inspires you or your family say, Dude, you guys, or someone's like, man, crying like your music helped save my life. I was in suicidal, and I got your album, and it made sense to me, and I'm now have this job here. I have this I like, I have a kid, my kids named after one of your songs. And you just like, I'm just like, whoa. What? Journey are we on right now? We didn't offer any of this. We were just playing songs, you know. So now you built this thing, you know. But some, some core values, man, so when you have this positive effect out in the world, you're like, man, let me make a positive effect on myself too. Then one is being responsible for the energy you bring to a space, you know, if there's tension, did you bring that attention. Maybe, maybe you brought it. So check your own energy before you start blaming other people for stuff. Number two, man, the only ego in the room should be the ego of the songs. You know. The song has big ego. Man, it needs everyone's attention. You gotta soldier up to the song to make the song live. So the only ego is out of the songs, you know. So check yours at the door. You know. The other one, like I was saying, is there's no democracy in there's only a voice and an artistic voice, and if you can align yourself and agree with that voice, then you're gonna go a lot further. You know, another one, yeah, core value. Know your role. You know you're not gonna get the spotlight. Your spotlight is not getting the spotlight. That's your spotlight, you know, if you don't get any attention on you, you'd be like, That's dope. You're doing your role, and you're not doing anything like you're grooving, and then the show is going great, and everybody in your band will respect you, you know, for like, for playing good, you know? And then, yeah, like, like, say thank you, and say, great job. You know, when you when it actually is something, we all need validation. You know, we all need validation. You know, whether for our songs, you know, my might write a song that the other guys don't like, you know, but it's like, if it's coming from my heart, you know, like, you know, at least acknowledge that. Like, Hey, man, that I feel that that song is coming for your heart. That's dope, man, I like that. I mean, I like the song, but I like your drive behind, behind, putting it together, and I respect that. I'm down with you. I believe in you. Let's go. What do you need me to do to help make your dream come true? You know those types of things? Man, you know that's life. Man, that's life. And we're figuring it out in a bad setting, especially after having kids. You know you want to raise your kids a certain way, so you don't want to be the same asshole. You know you know. You want to take, you want to take some of those things away from your own formula. And it's challenging because now you have a kid, and you don't want to impose that on them as well. So, so then you really have to do it in real life, you know. And it takes, it takes up, sometimes years to take, to get rid of a quality that you have, or an addiction, you know, or a habitual thing, or an automatic response on something, you know. And so it's just like the light has to flicker, but you have to feed the light. It's an exercise. All these core values are exercises. If you stop doing them, they all disappear, and you're back to just square one, you know. And it hurts to get back on that, on that, on that movement of like trust and sincerity and like lightness, you know. Sometimes it's hard to get back on there. It's too much variety in the way we're busy, you know, we're busy. Everyone's always busy. I don't have time for that. I'm busy, you know, I can't call him right now. I'm busy. I don't want to affect my night. I have to go to sleep. I have a big day tomorrow. Have a show. We're gonna see him next. I can't call him. I can't talk about these issues. There's always something. So if any, if ever you want some some change, you're gonna always feel some discomfort, and that's a very comfortable place. Discomfort should be the new comfort, because