Machete Men Portland, Oregon.
We write heavy pop songs and play them like a Cuban band, we call it Machete Men.
You could call our music alternative cha-cha-cha, or prog-metal reggaeton, or salsa punk, we call it rockoson. Songs are in Spanish, sometimes in English and often in both languages. It doesn’t feel experimental or even like fusion to us because of who we are.
Modern Cuban music is known for its relentless mixing of genres.
The 1970’s saw Irakere use batá drums and rhythms in a jazz big band setting; this became known as son-batá or batá-rock. The 80’s saw the new incarnation of Grupo Síntesis featured an exciting blend of progressive rock combined with Afro-Cuban Santeria ritual music and jazz fusion. The 1990’s saw the Santana-esque Cuban jazz fusion of Pablo Menéndez’s group Mezcla come to life. Later in the decade and into the 2000’s came the emergence of the rock group Habana Abierta, who described their brand of Cuban trova-son-timba-rock as rockoson.
Machete Men were born out of tradition.
John, Jackson and Tom met while playing in Caña Son, Pure Cuban Sugar’s traditional son septet. Each with a distinct, or distinctly similar path from American rock to Cuban son. The one thing that was consistent with all three of them was that none of them felt any difference playing or performing in a rock band than playing or performing in a Cuban (or salsa) band. They had all done both genres with multiple bands for so long that it all seemed similar. rock and son felt the same in so many ways. Loud, Fun, High Energy, and Invigorating.
ALBUM CREDITS
Produced By: John Maribona & Jackson Coffey
Recorded At: SAMNIC Studios, Havana, Cuba & Pure Cuban Sugar Studios, Portland, Oregon
Musical Direction and Production in Havana: Nicolas Sirgado & Tom Kay
Musical Direction and Production in Portland: Chris Finster
Horn Arrangements: Jackson Coffey & Nicolas Sirgado
Engineer in Havana: Ramon De La Paz ObregónEngineer in Portland: Chris Finster
Mastered By: Kristopher Crummett
Graphic Design & Photography: Joel Conrad Bechtolt
MACHETE MEN © 2017