Multifaceted musician, singer-songwriter, record producer, and label owner recruits like-minded artists to record an explosive live set at The Hotel Cafe, Hollywood, in April 2023.
In recent years, San Diego-born Daniel Cervantes has been enthralling audiences with his interstellar electric-guitar playing for bands such as MRS Henry, Howlin’ Rain, and Chest Fever. Growing up with an Immigrant father from Mexicali, Mexico and a mother raised in Woodland Hills, California, Cervantes’ early childhood was soundtracked by seminal acts like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Santana, though he would later gravitate to the more rock-oriented bands such as Led Zeppelin, Green Day and Stone Temple Pilots. Having graduated with a Bachelor of Music in performance from the Musicians Institute of Hollywood, his musical journey has navigated an ever-shifting orbit of sonic exploration, both live and in the studio, creating a sound that could loosely be compared to Crazy Horse and The Pixies hitching a ride on the back of Jefferson Airplane, mixing the cosmic vibe of the late sixties with a more modern punk-metal attitude. With two studio albums released under the name of Dude Cervantes, this new live album, “The Ride or Die of Dude Cervantes and The Panchos”, was recorded during the tour to promote his most recent studio album, “Dreamers”, which came out in 2023.
The album opens with ‘Lesson Learned’, a raw, bombastic slice of infectious rock and roll that immediately transports the listener to The Hotel Cafe, the live energy bouncing from the speakers. Following number ‘Dreamers’ adopts a greater punk flavour, with Cervantes’ vocals more intent on power and energy rather than any great level of musicality, as he competes against a rhythm section already operating at full throttle. The third track, ‘Blood In The Water’, finds the band settling into a groove that very much epitomises their musical geography, with the twin guitars weaving around each other, capitalising on plenty of feedback as they play an extended intro before putting the pedal to the metal, musically as well as literally, delivering a sound that draws favourable comparison to that of Motorhead.
For an album that boasts just six songs, the playing time still manages to clock in at fractionally under forty-three minutes, which emphasises the elongated instrumental passages, none more so than on the cover of Santana’s ‘Samba Pa Ti’, which, considering Cervantes’ heritage, is not such a surprising choice, though again the slightly heavy-handed arrangement here tends to trade-in much of the originals latin emotion for musical pyrotechnics. The closing number is the previously unreleased ‘Billion Dollar Art’, on which the musical vibe gravitates to the San Francisco sound of the late sixties, though the melody and the vocal delivery always add an acerbic tone that never allows the tension to settle, keeping the punkish overtones close to the surface.
With “The Ride or Die of Dude Cervantes and The Panchos”, Cervantes has delivered an album that fully captures his live shows, with all the explosive energy, band camaraderie and crowd integration that his audiences have come to expect from this multi-hyphenated musician. However, its raucous, high-energy, predominantly punk-rock approach is likely to only appeal to those already converted to this particular brand of rock music.
