From left: Gabriel Villa (drums), Bardo Martinez (vocals), Carlos Arévalo (guitar), Eduardo Arenas (bass) (Photo courtesy Capital Ale House)
Chicano Batman is not a Latin-music band or barrio superhero. It’s a four-man band from Los Angeles whose sound echoes lounge and rock groups from the 1970s more than, say, the dance music of “Bailamos” singer Enrique Iglesias. But the group’s members often find themselves in that category. It’s something guitarist Carlos Arévalo, who joined the band in 2011, has picked up on.
“We notice, ‘Oh, we’re getting categorized as Latin because we’re Latinos playing music,’ ” Arévalo says from his Los Angeles living room. “[Our goal] is to make promoters and the audience see that we are not what you would describe as a Latin band.”
Latin music is only one of Chicano Batman’s many influences, which include soul, funk and tropicália. The group’s aesthetic — defined by coordinating bow ties, frilled shirts and suits — is just as vintage as its 1970s analog sound. Its most recent album, 2017’s “Freedom Is Free,” was made using tube amplifiers, old keyboards and synthesizers, Arévalo says. The band worked with producer Leon Michels — who produced with The Shacks and Aloe Blacc — on the project. Arévalo says Michels understood the group’s references to bands such as Los Ángeles Negros, a 1970s Chilean pop ballad group, and knew exactly what sound Chicano Batman was going for.
“It was really cool to work with him, someone who spoke the same musical language as we did,” Arévalo says.
The message of the airy, soulful title track is amplified by a music video in which the band members’ heads are repeatedly forced underwater by two henchmen in dark glasses. The musicians become more bruised as the clip continues, their blood floating among air bubbles as they mouth lyrics about individuality and happiness. Eventually, Chicano Batman prevails and gives the captors a wet taste of their own medicine, with time left for a guitar solo.
“That’s us overcoming the adversity and taking our destiny into our own hands,” Arévalo says. “We will overcome these adversities that a lot of disenfranchised people are experiencing right now.”
There is a serious side to Chicano Batman, but those throwback suits and the offbeat name might lead some to believe otherwise. At first, Arévalo says, some people thought the bow ties and frilled shirts were a joke. In reality, the style is a tribute to soul and rock groups of the 1960s and ’70s.
“It’s paying respect to an art form and musicians we deeply revere,” Arévalo says. “The problem is, those suits are supposed to be dry-cleaned. We don’t have time to get our suits dry-cleaned when we’re on the road. We just throw them in the washing machine.”
The band’s name was inspired by a doodle of the popular superhero drawn by lead singer Bardo Martinez at a party.
“A lot of times these popular culture icons are white males,” Arévalo says. “He drew [Batman] as himself.”
Chicano Batman’s versatile sound has enabled the band to play festivals such as Coachella in California and Shaky Knees in Atlanta. Spanish-speaking audiences are drawn to performances in metropolitan centers, Arévalo says, though the group’s fan base comprises music lovers of different races and language backgrounds.
“But that’s the beauty of our music,” he says. “That’s something that I’m really proud of, that no matter where you come from, you will find something to appreciate from it.”
Chicano Batman performs at Capital Ale House May 3 at 8 p.m. $18 to $20. 804-780-2537 or capitalalehouse.com.
