By Rod Gudino - RPM Magazine ? Monday September 1, 1997
If salsa and merengue are the defining terms for Latin music in Canada, then a band like Puente del Diablo might have a tough time getting through to the general public. But that only holds true insofar as we are talking about Latin music, certainly not when we sit down--or stand up--to actually listen to it. A band that has been increasingly more visible on local stages in and around Toronto, PDD remain the epitome of the misunderstood Latin band. Certainly their preferred style, a sprightly mix of flamenco rhumba rhythms in instrumental contexts--complex but never complicated--and their name (literally "Devil?s Bridge"), has been the catalyst for much of that, but only before we get to the actual music.
"When you look at the band name, a lot of people get scared because they think we're devil worshippers or something," says Gustavo, the lead guitarist and songwriter for the Toronto based band. "That's not us whatsoever, it's just a name you know. But our thing is totally different from what most people consider us to be Latin music anyway. That's why for me, it is very important that people identify us as Puente del Diablo."
Puente del Diablo was conceived in Spain around the place where the actual Devil?s Bridge can still be seen today. Having traveled there for an extended visit, Gustavo rediscovered the wealth of guitar driven Latin music that had coloured his youth in Canada, even while he was developing a love for home-grown hard rock along the lines of Rush. Returning to Toronto, he decided to make a dramatic adjustment in the music he was playing and listening to, and thereafter drew a lot of momentum from the classic Spanish guitarists and performers, notably Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucia and the Gipsy Kings.
"There's something about flamenco music," notes Gustavo, "my mother always had these recordings of Paco de Lucia, Carlos Montoya and I would listen to it and I would say 'holy smokes man!' Growing up I always tried to play it and listen to it but I was always playing hard rock and heavy metal, even if it didn?t move me as much. When I was younger it was just Rush and that was it; I wouldn't listen to anything else. I guess Spain had a lot to do with it."
When a band eventually formed in 1995, the groups set about to oil the machine and write enough original material to foster an EP. The results of their labour were finalized earlier this year with a self-titled album of powerfully rendered tracks that has made its impact well heard in the clubs and at Latin music festivals that double as retail outlets for the band. Still, if the climb up the mountain has been steady and hopeful, it has also been painstaking, something that has made manager Mike Skellas accept difficulties as part of the day to day.
"Most of the clubs now--any one which has a Latin theme--we're pretty successful, but to go anywhere else, that?s a little more difficult," he says. "Its easy to book the small venues like C'est What and things are like that only because they don't guarantee you anything, they say ok, you bring the people in, you charge them at the door and you collect the money. Which is ok once in a while but when you start doing it on a weekly basis, your crowed will slowly diminish because how many times can someone see you in a month?"
Puente del Diablo's self-titled debut CD is currently being remixed and remastered and is scheduled for a re-release in late September. The meantime, they are gigging in as many clubs as possible and promise to continue that particular philosophy well into next year.
"My personal goal is to play in front of as many people we can play," says Gustavo. "I just love playing live."
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