A starting point

Okay, a little history on my knowledge of this band:
About 10 months ago, a friend got me to go out to a local venue called Sam's Burger Joint to see her friend Patricia Vonne perform. Patricia (sweet person incidentally-more on her later)was opening for another band. It was del Castillo. Now, when my friend Stacy said they played Spanish styled music, I remember saying to her "If there is one accordion on that stage, I am outta there!" I learned to loathe accordions of any type while in college in Austin: not one but TWO in my apartment complex, and they both wanted to play at the same time, but different things! Yikes. And for some reason it was always at 10 AM on Sunday morning. Any college student worth his salt should know better than that! Saturday nights don't end til noon Sunday.

Anyway, when I saw the stage (no apparent accordions), I decided to give these guys a chance. I am so glad I did and sorry I didn't do it before. They blew me out of my chair.
I didn't know who to watch first. The guitarists were nearly setting the instruments on fire, the drummer was, in fact, doing that, the bass player and percussionist were backing all the insanity up, and on top of it all was The Voice.

He sang almost everything in Spanish, but though my understanding of Spanish is minimal, I didn't care. Translation could come later. Whatever he was singing was so passionate the words didn't matter. I was hooked.
The lead singer, Alejandro "El Lobo" Ruiz, was a bit odd on first take but, damn, what a voice. He has a stage appearance of something between Steve Tyler and Little Steven ( a member of Bruce Springsteen's band who had a brief solo career.) I have come to know Lobo, and it isn't just appearance. He is a very honest sort of fella and what you see up there is him. The heart is definitely that of a poet; the soul, well, I haven't figured all of that out yet, but I know it is deep.

The one emphasis I must make about these guys is the level of spirituality. Though they are not necessarily all of the same faith (Christian, pagan, Hindu, etc.,)they are all deeply spiritual. It is one of the things that has drawn me to them. It is blatant in their playing that God pays a roll in their lives. I appreciate that. Too many people in this world find themselves lacking something, a sense of belonging perhaps. One thing that draws people to this band is this sense of spirit belonging. And unlike too many sources of such out there, this one is completely real.