Head to Head with… Los Bitchos
Ahead of their gig at EartH when they’ll be playing alongside the Black Lips, PRIESTS, Pregoblin and Tim Koh, we caught up with the new gen of Cumbia to talk tropical fruit, Tarantino, missing teeth, tequila… all the good stuff.
Ok, first up: what’s your ASL?
We are 27-35, all female Bitchos based in London.
How did you arrive at your brilliant name?
Carolina: We have been listening to a lot of Peruvian Chicha (Los Destellos, Los Mirlos), and we were about to upload our first demos so we needed to come up with a name for the project. Serra over a phone conversation said, “Ok I’m just gonna hit upload and I’ll just call us Los Bitchos or something like that”. We loved the name, so we kept it.
If your band’s sound was a food, what food would it be?
A delicious fruit Pavlova with mango, passion fruit and pineapple.
Do you have any weird rider requests? If not in real life then what would be a DREAM one?
Our rider request is always TEQUILA!
A dream rider would have locally sourced items, local beers, postcards, badges. If money was no object we would love to have lots of animals to pet! Cats, dogs, guinea pigs and a horse.
Are there any films or alternate art forms that inspire your music?Agustina: We are huge Tarantino fans, we love the dynamic of his films, specially if there’s a scene with any of the characters riding a horse!
One of our locals, Alex Kapranos, produced your track, ‘Pista (Great Start)’, right? How was it working with him?
Serra: It was awesome working with him. He really made us think about the songs and made sure we got the best arrangements and the best sounds for everything we did. We love him very much.
How do you come about finding out that you can ride two ponies at the same time?
Josie: I found out I could do it by doing it! I was quite circusy as a child… There’s proof if it in a video that’s probably in the depths of the internet. If you can find the video there’s a prize! Fun fact: I was wearing an outfit designed by the same man who designs ABBA’s outfits.
Favourite rock and roll legend anecdote of all time?
Carolina: It has to be Keith Moon’s birthday party at the Flint Michigan Holiday Inn in 1967. The Who finished their show and brought the party back to the hotel’s conference room, someone got Keith a massive cake with a girl inside as a present, it all led to a food fight, then they went for the fire extinguishers, blew up one of the toilets, (accidentally) drove a car into the pool, and when the police arrived he tried to leg it, slipped and smashed his front teeth, he was so drunk that they could not give him any anaesthetic at the hospital. That must have hurt in the morning. There’s a whole Wikipedia article about the incident if you’re interested in the details.
Favourite rock and roll legend from LOS BITCHOS?
Nic: Since we’re talking about smashed teeth… I was at a gig during my first term of university in London and somebody’s elbow made contact with my face during a mosh, and basically got ALL of my front teeth removed. I had to go and have emergency maxillar facial surgery in the middle of the night. There was a lot of blood.
Josie: I had quite a rock and roll quote given to me once. It was when I was playing in Arizona with Thee MVPs and there was this guy who came to me after the gig and said (read with American accent) “Man, your rhythm section… it was like two fists hitting the same face!!”
Tequila or Mezcal?
Depends on the cocktail 🙂
What can we expect from your live show at EartH and how do you recommend we dance to your music?
Serra: There will be loads of bongos! More than usual. And just get those hips moving, if you’re ever short of moves just keep an eye on our friend Kika in the crowd, she’ll be leading the dance crew.