Adrian Quesada

Seems an odd musing for the Austin guitarist as he takes in the 13,000-foot majesty of Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. But Quesada isn’t on vacation; he’s in the middle of a sound check. His widely popular, 10-piece Latin funk orchestra, Grupo Fantasma, plays the Telluride Jazz Festival later—an early stop on a 39-show tour that will take the band to six countries in two months in support of a new, already acclaimed record, Sonidos Gold (June 17, 2008; Aire Sol Records). This, of course, is the same band that captured national attention as Prince took Grupo Fantasma wherever he went (Golden Globe parties in L.A., Super Bowl performances in Miami, weekly gigs in Las Vegas).

No? You thought he was behind Ocote Soul Sounds, the ambient/dub/soul collaboration with Antibalas’ Martín Perna. Ocote has their own new record, Alchemist Manifesto , on the influential ESL label, gaining street cred with DJs and electronica musicians coast to coast. Earning a slot opening for labelmates Thievery Corporation as their hits Austin (Stubb’s, June 24).

Quesada is all three, on top of being a devoted family man and father. So the disconnect with what comprises a “normal work week” is not that surprising. And it couldn’t be further away from Quesada’s visionary, musical reality.

Quesada grew up in the Texas border town of Laredo; half his family lived on the Mexico side, half on the U.S. side. Like many Grupo members, Quesada grew up listening to cumbia before finding funk as a teenager and diving right in. He moved to Austin only three days after high school graduation to find his musical voice. “I could be four hours away from home and at the same time be in a whole other world,” Quesada explains. “Compared to Laredo, Austin might as well be New York City.”

Grupo Fantasma

When Grupo first formed around 2000 their repertoire went back and forth between cumbias and funk. This dichotomy soon evolved where the two elements were no longer separate, but one in the same, bolstered by the influence of NYC’s Fania Records’ genre-forming output of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s—the original salsa. As the modified Latin orchestra (sans piano, added guitars, extra horns) evolved into a perfectly in-synch Latin funk machine, they joked about putting together a loosey-goosey project to let the pure funk out from the ensemble constraints.

Eight of the ten Grupo members formed Brownout, gigging occasionally when Grupo had downtime. They nonchalantly sent demos to their label, “and they just flipped out,” Quesada recalls. “That was the first time we kind of raised an eyebrow and thought, hey, this Brownout shit is really cool; we started to take it a little more seriously.”

The nationwide release of Homenaje in January ’08 raised the eyebrows of everyone else. The immediate success made it hard to retain “side project” status. But rather than overwhelm the musicians, the added tour dates infused more energy. “There’s something about Brownout that’s a little rawer and a little looser,” Quesada explains. “It’s refreshing after playing Grupo shows where the band rehearses so much. Brownout’s almost under-rehearsed; it’s just a little more spontaneous and loose.”

At this point, both bands influence each other. When magic happens during a seat-of-the-pants Brownout set, the members intuitively inject the moment into Grupo performances. One Brownout song, “Gimme Some,” found its way on Sonidos Gold with added lyrics and guest sax from Maceo Parker. On the flip side, Brownout could be the only funk band that has the chops to not only bust out a straight-up salsa jam, but do it with the skill of a band tight enough to back Prince on stage.

Brownout

There’s an added bonus according to Quesada. “We’ve been lucky enough where the audiences for Grupo and Brownout have actually turned out to be different. There’s a lot of people that dig Brownout that don’t dig Grupo, and vice versa. It’s even better for us, because we get to play in town more and not burnout our music or our name.”

Meanwhile, Ocote Soul Sounds allows Quesada to stretch out in completely different directions. It’s no surprise either that Grupo members appear on Ocote recordings. And any fears the musicians will get pegged as one-trick, or rather, two-trick Latin funksters are immediately erased with the beat-driven, psychedelic dub of Alchemist Manifesto.

Each of the three bands represents “making it” in the increasingly difficult music business, a blessing that isn’t overlooked by anyone. The challenge of reaching this point with ten musicians would seem almost insurmountable from the outside. But a factor too often overlooked by fledgling bands is friendship. Quesada wholeheartedly admits to lean times in the first few years, but credits the close-knit, family-like friendship for keeping things moving forward. Likewise, the seemingly difficult nature of juggling multiple bands is made moot by the revitalizing energy they bring to each other. In fact, while at the very peak of their international Grupo tour, Quesada and company are already discussing making time to re-focus on Brownout once back in Austin.

It’s a dizzying schedule in an industry notorious for pitfalls. But again Quesada points to friendship as the saving grace. “It’s a lot of fun to be around each other. We always kind of laugh everything off. We don’t take ourselves that seriously.”

Good thing. Otherwise he might think of all the long hours and commitments as a job. And that would be no fun.