Voodoo Glow Skulls: Ritual de lo habitual

Voodoo Glow Skulls find revolucion in its tradicion

By Mike Prevatt

Don't let President Bush's seemingly positive recent visit to Europe give you the idea that the continent and its people have finally warmed up to him, or even forgiven us for putting him in power, so to speak. Frank Casillas, singer of veteran ska/punk act Voodoo Glow Skulls, has visited there enough to attest that, in the eyes of the natives, American tourists still have a lot of explaining to do when it comes to our leader.

"If we're sitting at a bar just trying to have a drink and we start a conversation with a local there, and they find out we're Americans, it's inevitable the conversation is going to move towards what my political views are and what I think about my president," he says. "And that's something we have to deal with as Americans, I guess."

Except that Casillas can channel those experiences into songs and record them for what seems like more than just posterity's sake. He and his longtime musician partners--two of them, guitarist Eddie Casillas and bassist Jorge Casillas, being his brothers--did just that on last year's Adicción, Tradición, Revolución, their seventh and perhaps most political album.

This is not out of character for the Riverside, Calif., band, whose musical roots are deeply embedded in punk and whose Latin heritage encourages them to express their views on racism and the effects of multiculturalism. But despite thematically incendiary songs like "We Represent" and "Mayhem & Murder," as well as other songs in their canon, Casillas underplays the polemics and points instead to his act's balanced outlook on life showcased throughout the album. One song, "DD Don't Like Ska," is about a band member's girlfriend, and her preference for Motley Crue.

"Each record for us is kind of like a book, a chapter in our lives and career," says Casillas. "In our earlier records, they're about backyard parties and drinking beer, stuff that people in their early twenties are into. We're now well into our thirties. We pretty much write and sing mostly about what we experience or witness in the media. With this album, it's the most politically touched album we've done, but all we're doing is throwing stuff out there for people to grasp. You can take it however you want. Like, we're not gonna go into depth about anything."

Similarly, the band is equally down-to-earth about the album's musical content. Though there are not too many outfits merging elements of hardcore, ska, hip hop and Latin music together--and certainly not as seamlessly as VGS--there's simplicity in the band's celebration of its punk pedigree. It sees this loyalty to its aesthetic and principles as rebellious, which influenced the Revolución part of the album title.

"We're not really doing anything revolutionary as far as the music is concerned," says Casillas. "We still are something different, and we're definitely original. We've always done things...independently. I think, with all these elements combined, it's been the secret to our success, and the reason we've been around for 16 years. To us, that's revolutionary."

This is evidenced in its inclusion on this year's lineup for the annual Ska is Dead tour. VGS might've just toured with a few punk bands, as it routinely does, except that it saw a chance to witness how ska--relegates to fringe status in between "waves" of radio popularity--still attracts sizable amounts of diehard fans.

"Right now, ska punk is supposedly not the flavor of the month," says Casillas. "Everyone's listening to emo and all this other music. [Yet] it seems ska punk music is still alive and popular in an underground kind of way."

When it comes down to it, Voodoo Glow Skulls has an immense pride for its long-held identity and principles--so much so, its instincts are wholly self-interested. It just so happens that so many other people still share those same interests.

"We just kind of have a mindset of doing what pleases us first, and then, if we please ourselves, chances are, we'll please our fans," says Casillas. "So far, it's worked out for us."