DONT MESS WITH THE DRAGON THAT IS OZOMATLI

Ozomatli are getting ready to release ‘Don’t Mess with the Dragon’ and the band talks about their unique creative energy during the writing of the album.

Ozomatli, LA’s multi instrumental, multi cultural and multi Grammy award winners are getting ready to release ‘Don’t Mess with the Dragon’ which is the bands follow up to 2005’s ‘Street Signs.’ ‘Street Signs’ saw Ozomatli take home their second Grammy Award, which won for Best Latin Rock Alternative Album. For ‘Don’t Mess with the Dragon’ the band began their song writing process and experimenting with creativity while living and rehearsing together at a local art studio, Tropico De Nopal.

We caught up with guitarist Raúl Pacheco and saxophonist Ulises Bella to discuss their unique creative approach on ‘Don’t Mess with the Dragon.’

“I think this CD we definitely worked hard from start to finish, with ideas completing them and taking them as far as we could and making them songs that we can feel really proud of. So, I think it did start at Tropico that was the time we got together. The main thing about it was our individuality and demonstrate that but also how we could mix it into one sound.”

Ulises also talked about recording and writing in an art studio, where each member had corner of a room which they each decorated individually and drew much of the song writing inspiration for ‘Don’t Mess with the Dragon.’

“So we’re like we should change it up and Raul had this great idea of taking advantage of this space which was called Tropico De Nopal which is a gallery art space and a friend of ours Reyes owns the space so basically what we did was each guy basically had his own little corner, their own little installation and decorated how ever they wanted to. We’d stay there all day and write music and it was all shooting for a day where we kind of opened up the gallery so people could check out how we write music and jam out and check out the art that was going on.”

Ozomatli recently returned from a tour of India and Nepal promoting peace and understanding through diversity in music throughout the world. Ozomatli tour was under the auspices of the American Centers in New Delhi and Kathmandu, and USAID/Nepal and brought their incredible gift of music to Asia for the bands first time. ‘Don’t Mess with the Dragon’ is slated for a April 2007 release.