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TODOS SOMOS ILEGALES / WE ARE ALL ILLEGALS TOURApril 4 Mcallen TX @ Hermes MusicApril 4 Brownsville TX @ Galeria 409April 5 South Padre Island w Los Amigos Invisibles + Nortec CollectiveApril 6 Laredo, TX @ AJ'sApril 7 San Antonio, TX @ Hi Tones with Piñata ProtestApril 9 Marfa, TX @ Padre'sApril 10 El Paso, TX @ Lips LoungeApril 11 Sells, AZ (Tohono O'odham land) @ TOCAApril 12 ASU, Phoenix, AZ @ Border Justice eventApril 13 Flagstaff, AZ @ Taala Hooghan InfoshopApril 14 Tuscon, AZ @ Breaking BoundariesApril 16 Cal State Dominguez HillsApril 19 Santa Maria, Ca @ CE'ENIApril 20 Fresno, CA @ Fulton 55April 21 Sacramento, CA @ Sol CollectiveApril 22 Berkeley, CA @ Revolution BooksApril 23 San Francisco, CA @ Elbo RoomApril 25 Reno, NV @ Reno UndergroundApril 26 Occupy Fresno @ Courthouse ParkApril 27 Tijuana, Mexico @ Black BoxApril 28 San Diego, CA @ Roots FactoryApril 29 Los Angeles, CA Unplugged @ Fais Do DoMay 2 Tempe, AZ @ Tempe Tavern FREE CONCERTMay 3 El Paso, TX @ Garage Tequila Bar FREE 18+May 5 Houston TX @ Continental Club w Los SkarnalesMay 10 Houston TX @ House Of Blues w Calle 13May 11 Austin, TX @ Pachanga Fest w Calle 13May 12 Austin, TX @ Pachanga Fest - Hierba StageMay 13 San Antonio, TX @ Night RockerMay 15 Hot Springs, AR @ Maxine's LiveMay 16 St Louis, MO @ 2720 Cherokee Performing Arts CenterMay 18 Chicago IL @ Abbey PubMay 21 London, ON @ Call The OfficeMay 22 Toronto, ON @ The BovineMay 24 NYC @ Dominion NY TicketsMay 25 Staten Island, NY @ The Full CupMay 26 Amagansett, NY @ Stephen TalkhouseUPCOMING FESTIVALSJune 21 Staten Island, NY Make Music NYJuly 21 Bridgeport, CT Gathering Of The VibesAug 31 Laredo, TXSept 1 Rio Grande Valley, TX Texas Street Festival
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“We’re on some emancipate-humanity-free-planet-earth tip.” || Great interview from Austin, TX with Miles Solay, Leo Mintek and Dr. Blum in the midst of their ‘Todos Somos Ilegales: We Are All Illegals’ tour in mid-May at Pachanga Fest via Latin Recap!
- WE ARE ALL ILLEGALS TOUR JOURNAL PART 3 – by Leo Mintek
Check out Tour Diary #3 via our Official ‘Todos Somos Ilegales: We Are All Illegals’ tour partners, CUENTAME.
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WE ARE ALL ILLEGALS TOUR JOURNAL PART 3 – by Leo Mintek of Outernational
April 19 – Santa Maria, CA
We began the California leg of the Todos Somos Ilegales Tour in Santa Maria, California. the strawberry capital of the USA. We were invited by CE’ENI (Colectivo Educativo Estudiantil de Naciones Indigenas) and were greeted by an airbrushed banner announcing our concert: in a backyard. We rocked through an acoustic set of songs from Todos Somos Ilegales and the coming album Welcome To The Revolution. A circle pit broke out and the fired up young crowd danced and sang along to songs like For It All Now, Que Queremos and Across the Borderline.
Santa Maria is the strawberry capital of the USA and most of the workers in the fields are from far south in Mexico and Central America. Many of our hosts were Mixteca people from Oaxaca in southern Mexico. Afterwards they treated us to an incredible Pozole dinner accompanied by fresh strawberry juice. We heard stories of recent border crossings from Baja California all the way to Santa Maria. One friend had just crossed back to the US through the Arizona desert, the very same land we had visited last week, hosted by our indigenous O’odham friends from the Tohono O’odham Nation - which the Arizona-Mexico border cuts in half. It was chilling to hear his stories of a week long journey: hiring a coyote, climbing desert mountain passes for days, running out of water, and riding in an overcrowded truck all the way to Phoenix. It was very heavy to hear his story and remember the desert mountain ranges from last week, having been told by our O’odham hosts that the migrants travel the mountains to avoid the Migra surveillance on the desert floor.
April 20 – Fresno, CA
In Fresno CA we played a rock show hosted by the Todo A Pulmon: Radio Bilingue radio show and played alongside Los Angeles punks Chencha Berrinches. Fans were waiting for us, ready to sing along to all the new songs from Todos Somos Ilegales. Little did they know that the intense touring had taken its toll on Miles’ vocal chords and they would have to indeed sing along – from the stage! We invited fans to jump up and sing and we rocked an amazing wild show, supported by our fans who knew all the lyrics and gave back such energy! What a night!
April 21 – Sacramento, CA
We were invited to Sacramento, CA by the Sol Collective, an amazing local art/culture/activism group we worked with at SXSW in Texas just a month before. They host concerts and have been providing a center for local youth for years despite police repression and harassment. They were having an awards dinner and Outernational was the afterparty. We played acoustic in the back room and received a standing ovation from the mostly older crowd, some of them beaming with smiles, seeing that their lifelong efforts were being carried on by a new generation. It was powerful; afterwards we heard stories of everything from SWAT team raids to neighborhood harassment of the center - because of the ‘dangerous youth’ Sol Collective works with. This is Sacramento, the capital of California, the city Arnold used to commute to daily from Beverly Hills in a helicopter; and where 40 years ago, Emory Douglass and other Black Panthers marched with arms into the capitol building.
April 22 – Berkeley, CA
We rolled into Berkeley down Telegraph avenue, passed People’s Park and entered Revolution Books. This revolutionary communist-led bookstore was throwing a fundraising concert to raise money for the BAsics Bus Tour which just kicked off from Atlanta, GA, spreading and promoting the writings of Bob Avakian, who you can hear twice on our new album: The Theme From Todos Somos Ilegales VI: ”The Greatest Country”and singing lead on Across The Borderline.
April 23 – San Francisco, CA
In San Francisco we played at the great rock club the Elbo Room. It’s in the mission district and we were greeted by this mural in the alleyway “To all indigenous people made prisoners in their own land”. We played a super high energy rock show to a near empty room. Nonetheless the people wilded out during the set and the encore of Fighting Song, but we walked away feeling ‘why is this band such a secret’? I heard the same sentiment from all the folks at the show. We left and hoped to return to the Bay again soon.
April 25 – Reno, NV
We arrived in Reno the morning that SB1070 entered the Lower Supreme Court. Actions were called for around the country and we performed in the street downtown with a local coalition rallying to make sure no SB1070 copycat bills are passed in Nevada. It’s important to understand that the Federal government blocked some parts of SB1070 when it passed in 2010. This Supreme Court hearing - happening right now - is to try to enforce the full draft of SB1070, to increase the racist climate of policing, fear and deportations in Arizona.
That night we played at the Reno Underground, where years before we toured with UK punk godfathers GBH. The owner of the club is from France, he grew up and cut class with Manu Chao and loves Todos Somos Ilegales so much that he set up a great cool show, which was broadcast live on the web. Reno is a very dark place. There is so much suffering in the streets: homeless, drugs, drunks, down and out people looking for saviors in the slot machine or a bottle. It’s also the state capitol and gambling extends from the glitzy downtown to neighborhood 7-11s where you can find slot machines next to the beer cooler and porno magazines. We left that night, and drove through the mountain pass, past the memorial to the Donner party: white colonists from 160 years ago who got stuck in the snowy mountains and ate corpses to survive. We made it back to California.
April 26 / Part 1– Sacramento, CA
We made a quick appearance in the morning outside a State building in Sacramento where family members of prisoners in California State Prison at Pelican Bay were rallying. Pelican Bay Prison is the most notorious of the super max prisons in California, at the furthest point northwest in California, over 13 hours drive from LA. There, on the beautiful Pacific Northwest coast, the state houses prisoners in Secure Housing Units (SHU) which are sensory deprived torture chambers, designed for short term punishment, and now used on people for decades. These are people whose only physical human contact comes from beat downs by guards and who are kept in windowless cells for 23.5 hours a day for years and subject to what is understood as Torture by any modern definition. Last year the SHU prisoners began hunger striking, led by a defiant multi-racial unity coalition, unheard of in California prisons, where the administration fosters and enforces racial division and warring. Read more about the SHU and the Hunger Strikers here.
April 26 / Part 2 – Occupy Fresno
We returned to Fresno and set up a DIY outdoor concert at Occupy with 24 hours notice. It was incredible. The fans, friends, the rebellious youth,and the local occupiers all came out and sang along to Que Queremos, Fighting Song, Sir No Sir and other acoustic jams including First Among Equals’ Fresno has a very inspiring new generation coming up, many of them students whose Chicano Studies professor told them to take off class and come to the Outernational Occupy Fresno concert.. It was one of those concerts that was so honest, so face-to-face and real… the type of show that will keep you going for weeks of no sleep and hard times.
April 27 – Tijuana, CA as told by Dr Blum
I was so excited to go to TJ and glad to finally leave stinktown USA. We dropped our van and trailer off with the San Diego promoter and jumped in a van from across the border. We drove across to Mexico which took a much shorter time than anticipated. We went to the club and met the promoter, a very cool laid back old school kind of guy. He took us around TJ and showed us the town. He showed us all the maquiladoras, which are those huge factories where America farms out its production to cheap labor. He showed us the wall which was pretty crazy and built into the ocean. It was covered in street art. We ate tacos.
After sound check we went to a Luchador match which was a silly cultural experience: dudes in wrestling masks pretending to hate each other. More like ballet than fighting.
We were performing at and old strip club. There was a pole on the stage. We rocked the show despite obvious sound system issues and we were joined by Ceci Bastida and we played Canta El Rio. I forgot how awesome that song was, I get to play a lot of accordion. The show was decently attended and fun was had by all. Afterwards we hung out in TJ and we met up with Pepe from Nortec Collective. What a crazy cool guy. Had a long talk with Pepe about the state of music today and how disappointed he is that there’s no new music, there’s too much just recreating old styles; no one is pushing boundaries enough.
I got a chance to hang at the oldest bar in TJ before retiring to our hotel. It was interesting, people tell you “TJ? Be careful!” But it didn’t feel dangerous; it’s like every city, there are parts of town that are tough. I thought it was going to be poor and violent, but just like any city it is a mix between all classes; the area we were in was where middle class Tijuana people go to party. TJ is no longer the American tourist area it was; there are no longer crowds of drunk Americans. It has been decaying and now revitalized for Mexican party-goers.
We saw police officers armed with machine guns. We drove by the red light district. Pretty fucked up that anywhere in the world is a red light district. It’s a cash town; many handshakes were exchanged. There’s a lot of hustling going on in that place.
When we were leaving to cross the border, that’s where we saw the poverty. There are all these people whose job it is to sell things to people waiting in line to cross to the US. Even I bought a $10 statue of a rooster from a man in the street. We crossed over and I was sorry to leave so quickly…. (Dr. Blum)
April 28 – San Diego
We crossed back to the USA, and looked back into Mexico from Tijuana. There are 4 border walls between the cities, walls which extend deep into the ocean, severing the land in two and maintaining two very different worlds on both sides. That night we played the Roots Factory, who built a stage and painted this Todos Somos Ilegales mural in our honor.
April 29 – Los Angeles
We arrived in Los Angeles on the 20th anniversary of the LA Rebellion (aka the Rodney King Riots). Revolution Books LA threw a series of events and we performed at their fundraiser concert at the historic Fais Do Do music hall the Crenshaw district. People spoke on the meaning and significance of the LA Rebellion – the largest rebellion in US history, sparked by the acquittal of the police who savagely beat Rodney King - which was exceptional only in that it was caught on videotape and laid bare for the world to see. The rebellion was responded by the largest domestic military operation ever and should be celebrated, with its shortcomings, as a righteous people’s uprising. We performed acoustic on stage and were followed by Leon Mobley and Da Lion: a super energetic, highly skilled and orchestrated symphony of African drumming and voices. He called his music American-African. It was incredible and everyone danced.
We left Fais Do Do to take a well earned day of rest before May Day, where we were preparing for street performances and a big Los Angeles concert before rushing back east to Texas, Chicago and NYC: for the final return leg of the Todos Somos Ilegales / We Are All Illegals tour.
- Radio Interview on WBEZ / Vocalo's "The Music Vox"
Listen to the entire 15 minute interview with Jesse Menendez and Outernational: http://bit.ly/JoEteB
“I feel bad if those people who know of a way out keep their mouth shut. See, if you feel bad for bringing people the truth, that’s just another form of condescension. Cuz really what you’re saying is ‘Hey, these people can’t actually be confronted with reality and challenged with reality to transform themselves and change their own thinking’…and human beings been doing it for many years…and it ain’t easy! We’re making rock & roll, shakin’ our stuff on stage. We’re not up there patronizin’ people. There’s a “shake you out of your laissez-faire malaise,” and let’s get ROCKIN’ cuz we have a lot of work to do!” - Miles Solay
“The sound is a brilliant, aggressive, bottom-heavy hybrid that brings to mind bits of rock, rap and rock en español.”
- Outernational in The Chicago Tribune- #NONATO | Outernational + Chicago This Weekend!
Miles in CHI REMEZCLA in “Rebel Music: The Sounds of Anti-NATO”
“What’s the importance of an anti-NATO summit show this weekend?
Outernational is coming to the city of Chicago this weekend to deliver the revolution rock, as we do night in and night out. Our concert Friday night at the Abbey Pub is timed to coincide with the anti-NATO protests going on this weekend. We will be there with The World Can’t Wait, Saturday night’s Woody Guthrie tribute show at the Metro, and then on Saturday for the IVAW march and protest. Why? Because NATO’s supposed “peacekeeping” is aimed at maintaining a world of Western imperialist—especially U.S. imperialist—domination over the people of the world.”OUTERNATIONAL’S CHICAGO SCHEDULE:
Fri - St. Luke’s Lutheran Church | World Can’t Wait Concert - 8pm (unplugged) | RSVP: http://on.fb.me/JOg2Et
Fri - Abbey Pub | HEADLINING CONCERT - 11pm | RSVP: http://on.fb.me/JiZTK1
Sat - Grant Park | Malcolm X Freedom Festival - 4 - 8 PM w/ Rebel Diaz + more
Sat - Metro | Woody Guthrie Tribute Show - 8 pm | INFO: http://bit.ly/J0PGgj
Sun - Grant Park | IVAW rally (Iraq Vets Against The War) | Info: http://on.fb.me/Jzebah Hello from Memphis, TN. Big up to DUCK DUNN who just passed away. Original Stax bass player, so many records this guy did. #soul #integration
Miles Solay of Outernational & René Pérez Joglar of Calle 13 in Houston, TX - House of Blues on May 10th, 2012!
“Again last night, in less than a week, I was able to enjoy two of your shows in H-Town.
I love your lyrics, poetic and powerful with the right messages. I, also, love what you call your “future rock” sound; your eclectic sound is a brilliant fusion of wonderful music enjoyed in multiple cultures; the diversity of cultural music in your sound is especially apparent when one looks at the history of each of the present day cultural sounds. Keep going the direction(s) you are going with some more artistic adventurism, experimentation. (Or should I not say “stay the course;” no, I should not make any reference to such ignorance!!!)
Your show last night was great, but I have to be honest; I enjoyed your show on Saturday, May 5, a little more because my wife was there with me and because I believe you played a few more songs. I wish I could make it to Austin for your show tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing Outernational as the headliner band. That will happen soon.
Todos Somos Ilegales!!!
Gregg Carleton (A New Outernational dan in Houston, TX)- "Tom Morello, Outernational, others lead the charge (and sing-alongs) on Chicago's NATO weekend"
Check out Outernational in the Chicago Sun-Times on this piece about Chicago + Anti-Nato events going on next week! Get Tickets To See Outernational @ The Abbey: http://www.abbeypub.com/outernational-and-graham-czach
Outernational relations
Morello’s presence will be felt throughout this weekend’s citywide demonstrations. He’s planning to perform at the Barefoot Summit, a series of free concerts planned (but still pending) in Grant Park during the NATO summit. He’s hoping to march with Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, and he’s already made headlines as the center of a controversy over a march by National Nurses United workers. Last week, the city yanked the permit for the march, scheduled for May 18, citing Morello’s participation as constituting, in the mayor’s words, “kind of a rock concert.” Morello responded on Twitter: “Why is Rahm Emanuel so afraid of The Nightwatchman??”“The day it was announced I’d be playing there for the G8 protests was the same day Obama moved the G8 summit to Camp David,” Morello says, chuckling. “I’m wondering if it was a coincidence. Maybe the Nightwatchman was too much for him.”
Even some of Morello’s protégés will be in town.
“Todos Somos Ilegales (We Are All Illegals),” a new album by Brooklyn punk band Outernational, features Morello on both the title track and a mariachi-flavored cover of Guthrie’s “Deportees.” The set, mixing Clash-ing fight songs with native Mexican music styles, is a concept album about the human costs of American immigration policies along its southern border, and for the last few weeks (after also participating in various Occupy events last fall) the band has been touring back and forth on either side of the Rio Grande and points west. They play Chicago this weekend, too.
“It’s been wild and wooly,” says Outernational singer Miles Solay, from a tour stop in Arizona. “It’s an incredibly militarized and polarized situation, up and down the valley. There are neo-Nazis, Minutemen, vigilantes out here. I wondered if we’d be interacting with them on this tour, but so far not so much. The idea that any human being in 2012 is deemed illegal is obscene, absurd and obsolete to me. We didn’t make an immigrant rights record, though. We made a record elucidating our vision of the way the world could be. There are a million and one stories along this border, and we’re trying to tell a few as a springboard for people to see the issues in a different way. It’s not a policing issue, it’s a people issue.”
Guthrie’s song, “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos),” details a 1948 plane crash, specifically the way the victims, mostly migrant workers, were dehumanized by being unnamed in official reports: “You won’t have your names when you ride the big airplane / All they will call you will be ‘deportees.’”
Outernational didn’t plan the song to be part of a full-length album.
“I told [Morello], ‘How about we do this Bob Dylan-Joan Baez bit from the Rolling Thunder Revue, when they sang ‘Deportee,’” Solay says. “Let’s do it as a duet. We pulled it together one afternoon at Tom’s house, this Mexican-folk version. That’s what kickstarted this particular record. It was just supposed to be an EP, but we wound up telling this whole story.”
The band’s other full-length, “Welcome to the Revolution,” recorded by Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), is due later this year. But first, they’re touring the immigration songs — and joining Morello in Chicago (possibly at the Guthrie tribute, too) for a busy weekend of protest music.
“There’s a lot to learn from that guy,” Solay says of Guthrie. “He wrote in a very different time period and we are different people, but there are a lot of parallels between this tour and what Woody did.He was out there on the front of things. Everybody knows the railroad hobo thing, but why did he do that? He went out there and tried to know the people. You hear that in his songs, and in ‘Deportees.’ I’ve thought about that a lot. Not every band gets to do that. Singing your message at the exact time people need to hear it most — no one should take that opportunity for granted, man.”
- Outernational on MTVIggy
Great profile on the band in MTV Iggy by Marlon Bishop. Some highlights:
“Both Solay and Mintek agree that the border tour really invigorated them about the band’s mission “The biggest lesson from the tour for me, is that a new generation of rebels and dreamers and fighters is emerging,” says Solay. “People really came out of the woodwork. They’re looking for another way. A lot of things have happened since last year, from the Occupy movement to the Arab Spring to the outrage over the death of Trayvon Martin.””
“Solay, however, doesn’t stop there. His vision is much more grandiose – and why not?
“I hope that we not only have influence on people already out there doing good stuff, but Ihope we’re able to kickstart a new culture of revolt against this revolting culture with thousands of bands and writers and actors,” he says. “ We’re not trying to go down this road by ourselves.””
Read the entire profile here and spread: http://www.mtviggy.com/articles/outernational-and-the-return-of-rebel-music/
photos by Crespin Medina (San Antonio)
featuring special guest CECI BASTIDA for ‘Canta El Rio’ and more!!
@ THE ECHO, 8:30pm doors, Outernational at 9:30pm! $10, ages 18+
TUESDAY MAY 1st aka MAY DAY!
- NEEDED: 100 people to be in the music video for 'We Are All Illegals' with Outernational, Calle 13, Tom Morello, Chad Smith, and Thom Russo
SEND YOUR VIDEOS NOW TO BE INCLUDED // FINAL WEEK
We have already filmed Chad Smith, Tom Morello, Residente of Calle 13, and Thom Russo. Now, WE NEED YOU!
* You can do this from anywhere! All you need is a video camera (cell phone, webcam fine).
* The point: We are fighting for a whole new world where no human being is illegal. Until that day, WE ARE ILLEGALS
* Sing along to your favorite lyrics from the song, either Miles Solay or Residente Calle 13.
* Make a sign with words from the song
* If you play an instrument, play along to the song! Trumpets, guitars, bass. SING!!
* If you want to be part of making this music video but want to remain anonymous for whatever reason, be creative!
* Take a picture of yourself on the border itself or at the border fence.
* Film yourself or your friends expressing the sentiment and statement of the song
When the music video is done, we will ask EVERYONE involved (including all of the artists) to tweet it and post it everywhere.
SEND YOUR VIDEOS NOW TO BE INCLUDED
to ’ FUTUREROCK@OUTERNATIONAL.NET
the song: http://outernational.bandcamp.com/track/we-are-all-illegals-feat-tom-morello-calle-13-chad-smith
Here is Week 2 of the tour’s Arizona diary. The Week 1 diary can be read at the HuffPost.
The “Todos Somos Ilegales Tour”
Leo Mintek – April 20, 2012, writing to you from Santa Maria, California: the Strawberry Capital of the USA.
April 11, 2012
We left Sunset Heights, El Paso, the hilltop above Ciudad Juárez, and drove for the Arizona desert. We crossed the obligatory checkpoints and strip malls and made our way to Sells, AZ, the capital of the Tohono O’odham Nation. We had been invited by TOCA (Tohono O’odham Community Action) for their Cholla Bud harvest feast day. TOCA and the Desert Rain Café are part of a project to farm and revitalize traditional foods of the land—cactus fruits, bean pods, mesquite, etc.—for an indigenous reservation otherwise fed from one huge Basha’s supermarket. It’s being done with the bigger picture in mind: survival and education of native people on their native lands and in particular for the youth who will inherit it all.
We sang campfire style for the small group left after sunset in the community garden – organizers, teenagers, gardeners, O’odhams. We sang about the illegitimacy of the border, they told us what it means for them: the checkpoints they must face every time they come or go from the rez; the helicopters, satellites and militarization; the broken connections to their families and their land south of the line. They told us about the thousands crossing through their reservation, of immigrant deaths from dehydration and coyote infighting, and arrests and captures by the migra. We ate Cholla Buds with garlic and bacon in tortillas. It was our first performance that wasn’t in a bar/club since we left the Galeria way back in Brownsville, TX. This week would be all community venues, off-the-grid spaces, and outside-the-box venues. We planned to return.
April 12, 2012
At 8 a.m. we drove onto the West Campus of Arizona State University in Phoenix. We were invited to perform and close out their “Border Justice Conference.” Carlos from Puente gave the keynote speech including a modern history of Arizona’s war on immigrants and battle for white supremacy. Starting with NAFTA, he laid out an escalating series of legal attacks on civil and human rights and told stories of heartbreaking deportations and the resulting climate of fear. Students from Tucson (UNIDOS) Skyped in and gave a Q&A about their work trying to save their nationally recognized ethnic studies curriculum and mentorship programs, which are being eliminated from the top down. Afterwards we talked with members of BAJI (Black Alliance for Just Immigration) about the importance of solidarity against white supremacy and the need for everyone’s voice against this systemic problem. We talked about the lack of non-black people in the actions following Trayvon Martin’s murder and the message that sends to black youth that once again they can be killed with impunity.
And we performed. Fighting songs, dancing songs, thinking songs, stories and heart. It was a great show. Afterwards we sat down with the graduate students and discussed our music, the concept, the songs, the tour and why were here in the Southwest singing about the border. We discussed the deeper issues of capitalist-imperialism that create these nightmarish conditions for millions of people. We talked about revolution. We took off in the evening and drove the furthest north we had yet on the tour—to Flagstaff.
April 13, 2012
We were at the Taala Hooghan Infoshop in Flagstaff, AZ—the “Indigenous established, anti-colonial, and anti-capitalist space.” Next door is Outta Your Backpack Media, an organization that teaches and provides youth, many of them Dine Navajo, with video/photo/Internet skills and equipment. On the bill were Tuba City punk rockers The Blissins, a crazy touring band from the Bay Area, local sober rockers, and our new tour partners in AZ, Shining Soul. Watch their music video for “PAPERS.”
Great music, important lyrics, catchy, strong, soulful beat; it is a great song on many levels.
April 14, 2012
We dug the van out of the snow which had fallen at night in Flagstaff and alongside our new partners Shining Soul, we traveled to Tucson for a benefit concert at a hip-hop breakdancing space: “Breaking Boundaries”.
The show was for the UNIDOS students who were fighting for their education/future and the O’odhams fighting to stop a new freeway being built through their reservation. First on stage were local young MCs, including a student who you can see in the following video, taking at a Tucson School district meeting voting to end ethnic studies programs.
Shining Soul rocked it, including their remix of “Papers” set to a chopped+screwed sample of “Bulls On Parade”. We played loud and electric but stepped into the crowd to sing “Ladies of The Night” and “Deportees” with accordion and acoustic guitars. Between breakdancing intermissions, an O’odham “Chicken Scratch” (Waila) band performed, and couples broke out dancing all around. “
Chicken Scratch” is the popular music of the O’odham. It sounds like a mix of Mexican music, cumbias and rock and roll, all with a certain musical accent I have yet to digest fully. Really cool music, great melodies played by a multi-generational band on drums, bass, sax, bajo sexto (like a guitar), and a mighty accordion. Watch these to get a sense of it:
April 15, 2012
We traveled back to Sells on the Tohono O’odham rez. We unhitched the trailer, loaded up the van with Shining Soul and folks from Outta Your Backpack Media and TOCA, and drove south to the border. Cows and horses crossed the road and thousands of different cacti passed by the windows.
The desert valley is surrounded by mountains, which they told us are the preferred route of coyotes and their parties of immigrants since the desert ranchland is too hot with Border Patrol. We walked up to the border, which is a metal “vehicle barrier.” You can simply step over it. It’s the miles and miles of desert, mountains, and military surveillance that are the real obstacle to cross.
Empty water bottles litter the ground, we found a razor and toothbrush, and were repeatedly checked out by migra in pickup trucks. An O’odham elder told us all the ways the desert holds life for them—the different cactuses, fruits, flowers, and beans. We even saw tiny wild fish and bees inhabiting a well of fresh water, which I can imagine has served many globetrotters coming to the USA. It was beautiful to tour the land and learn its past and its bounty, and very sad to face the current state of events. Native people live under militarized surveillance created to keep out travelers from thousands of miles away. Native people have been completely left out of the story since this land was colonized by the Spanish, then by Mexico, and now by the United States. They have never been consulted about the border, which is now more traveled than ever as the Texas and California border operations drive migrants here to the open desert.
We left Tohono O’odham and the barrier that splits it in two. We drove west through the checkpoint leaving the rez, which included a van search by a German shepherd, and passed through Yuma into Southern California. The next morning we needed to be on campus at Cal State Dominguez Hills for “Music Mondays.” But we could only make it as far as a gas station outside of San Diego, where we parked for a few hours rest.
And so ended our journey through the native lands of Arizona, just another stop on the borderline we had picked up 2000 miles back at the Gulf of Mexico in Brownsville. Now we were entering California, the destination of so many who cross Tohono O’odham, crossing to find work in the cities and the fruit fields of the central valley: the next stop on our “Todos Somos Ilegales” Tour.
“Music doesn’t get any more relevant than this”
April 3, 2012, Texas Border: Tour began as Miles and I drove the Outernational van down from Austin, TX and headed for the Southernmost point in Texas, called Brownsville. The rest of the band was on a plane from NYC. Tornados in north Texas diverted their flight to Tulsa Oklahoma, and after hours of confusion they finally got a flight into Austin, where they had no choice but to rent a car and make the 6 hour midnight drive to Brownsville. Meanwhile, Miles and I were standing dismayed on the Texas roadside south of Corpus Christi. Our trailer wheel snapped off the axle. I thought we had hit a group of deer and one was hopping away in fear, but it was our wheel bouncing away into the bush. Tough decisions had to be made. This was no simple flat to fix. We decided our 11am tour press conference kickoff in McAllen TX could not be missed. We caught a tow and followed our trailer 3 hours into the night to a shop in McAllen. The next morning with very little sleep Outernatonal was reunited in south Texas and headed to Hermes Music.
April 4, 11am: We kicked off the Todos Somos Ilegales / We Are All Illegals Tour with a press conference at the Texas/Mexico music store chain Hermes Music. We interviewed with Univision and local NBC and ABC affiliates and then played a short unplugged set – “Deportees,” “Ladies of the Night,” “Que Queremos,” and “Fighting Song.” Somos Tejanos livestreamed the whole event. We got a deep response from everyone there – all asking: “Why did you make this album? Why are you here? What motivates your art and your tour?”
That night, we headed into Brownsville TX for our kickoff concert at Galeria 409, a badass art gallery 100 ft from the border: the beautiful Rio Grande river. Thru the ugle border wall we could see the lights of Mexico across the river. Downtown Brownsville is all little shoe stores and clothing stores; it reminds me of somewhere between Sunset Park, Brooklyn and the old west 100 years ago; except with armed border patrol. The show was tremendous – local bands Cutters, Farmertron and Son De Valle opened up, local Brownsville/Tamaulipas stencil artist Rene Garza spray painted ‘Todos Somos Ilegales’ stencils on anything people handed him and the crowd was LIVE! Hi energy, passionate and deeply understanding of the message; it was an inspiring kickoff to the tour. We met university archaeologists of indigenous art and heard about all the tension near the border: the drug wars, the people crossing to work, the heavy police presence everywhere and the dark family histories of murder and harrassment. Afterwards, I interviewed with Somos Tejanos – one of the best interviews yet – she cut right to the chase, “So what can we do?”
April 5, 2012: We traveled to South Padre Island, the tourist spring break strip on the gulf coast. We opened up for Los Amigos Invisibles and Nortec Collective. Nortec played a giant robot laptop along with accordion and tuba. Los Amigos are like the Venezuelan Jamiroquai with some Tropicalia mixed in. The crowd was half locals from the ‘Valley’ (Mcallen, Brownsville, etc) and half people from Mexico coming up for the show. The cops were all over the place and during our set, a pig went up to the sound board and pulled all the faders down, cutting our sound. We grabbed the acoustic guitars and accordion, went out onto the balcony, and serenaded the crowd with “Ladies of the Night” and “Deportees” until the cops got paid off and we could return to the stage.
April 6, 2012: We said goodbye to the Valley and drove to Laredo, TX, only to be shut down by another shredded tire. We hitched a ride into Raymondville TX and got repaired all while listening to local radio Q94.5, who in addition to Queens of The Stone Age and System Of A Down, will now be spinning Outernational in rotation! We hit the road again and made it just in time to Laredo after passing a few border patrol checkpoints aka toll booths with German Shepherds. We hit the stage and I think people had no idea what was happening. As the show went on, people got closer and closer and by the end were singing along and jumping up and down to “Fighting Song” and “Outernational.” People thanked us for coming to Laredo, saying no one knows about them or comes to them, let alone make songs about what they deal with on the border. I argued with the owner about the role of the border patrol (apparently they frequent the bar and were in the crowd) and hung out with members of the local Laredo gay community. Very cool scene, very contradictory… we will be back….
April 7, 2012: We headed to San Antonio and passed thru Natalia, TX – beautiful purple and yellow flowers everywhere, oil fields and horse ranches, the air was amazing. We pulled into San Antonio, literally down the block from the White Rabbit where we played with GBH back in 2010. There was an all ages punk/screamo matinee going on– so many kids, hundreds of them all dressed in colorful styles. I wish we could play for them. We set up the stage at Hi-Tones and watched a crew of artists paint canvases in the courtyard along with a fire-spinning dancer and a DJ spinning Hendrix, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and The Clash all night. The show was wild—moshing, dancing, jumping, singing, old and new fans—and once again a deep connecting response from people asking, ‘Where are you from?’ “What are you guys?’ ‘What’s the album?’ ‘Thank you for coming here.’ The homies Piñata Protest closed the show with their accordion punk rock. Watch out for them. They’re doing a national tour with Girl in a Coma at the end of April. Great band and their singer Alvaro is the only person, other than Dr. Blum, that I’ve ever seen play accordion and trumpet at the same time.
April 8, 2012: We drive west across the Texas plains and enter what looks more like desert. Another border patrol checkpoint – the agent walks right up and says, “Outernational? What do you think of the border patrol?” We tell him we are going all the way to San Diego and get out of there quickly. We cross the Pecos River and head into what they call The Big Bend.
April 9, 2012: We enter Marfa, TX (population 2000) known for the mysterious atmospheric night lights and their growing art gallery scene. Spend the day meeting people and hearing the Sex Pistols blasting from art studios. We head to the famous venue Padre’s and rocked through a mixed electric/acoustic set. Once again, deep responses: ‘Thank you for singing about these issues.’ Train tracks roar out in front of the venue and we pile into the van to hit the road once again. Tomorrow we will visit El Paso, the other side of Juarez, Mexico which is one of the most violent cities in the hemisphere. Everyone watch the film Backyard to learn more. It’s sampled on our album – track 11 - “The Theme From Todos Somos Ilegales V: Señor Juarez.”
April 10, 2012: We leave Marfa at 2am through an incredible lightning storm over the desert and drive through small flash floods to Terlingua, TX. Terlingua is a tourist section of the border, a national park. The landscape is incredible: mountains, hills and the river itself. We enter Presidio TX, formerly Texas’ largest cocaine smuggling point. It’s a tiny town of 4,000 with a huge militarized border entry. From Presidio, we drive a long barren stretch of land to El Paso. Lightning storms flash over Ciudad Juarez across the river. Juarez is 3 times larger than El Paso, one of the fastest growing metropolises in the world. The history of these sister cities is a story of migrations, from the time of Pancho Villa through NAFTA, up until this moment where everyday commerce and drugs move across the border along with new waves of desperate labor from all over Mexico and Central America.
I can see from the hilltop in the historic Sunset Heights neighborhood the panorama of Juarez: the Backyard, the mega-city where the Sierra Madres meet the Colorado Rockies and the United States meets Mexico. One week ago we traveled from the Rio Grande Valley at the gulf coast. Tomorrow, we enter Arizona and the O’odham nation. Soon, we’ll be all the way to where the border meets the Pacific in San Diego and Tijuana. Until then…
—Leo Mintek, Sunset Heights, El Paso, TX (El Chuco), sunrise 4.11.12
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Merch
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Press
MTV IGGY: May 3, 2012: Outernational and the Return of Revolution Songs
REMEZCLA: May 7, 2012: Outernational, Ready for the Revolution
UNIVISON: May 7, 2012: Outernational, Revolution Rockers on a Cross-Country Mission
ALTERNET: April 25, 2012 Rockers 'Outernational' talk about their new political album 'We Are All Illegals'
NEW YORK MUSIC DAILY: April 19, 2012: "music doesn’t get any more relevant than this."
RECENT QUOTES:
"We're excited to be the tour's official documentarians and follow the sounds that open minds AND make you dance porque una revolución sin baile no es una revolución. A revolution without dance, isn't revolution!" - Cuentame
"There is a movement afoot within Rock music that speaks to the issues on the minds of those young people who aren’t selling themselves on Reality TV, and the band Outernational hopes the concept of #futurerock takes hold and more emerging rockers start using their music to do good and make change."- Latin Recap
"Outernational Take Their 'Todos Somos Ilegales: We are All Illegal' Tour & Message Directly To Where It Matters Most: The US/Mexico Border" - Amoeba Records
"As soon as the tune takes full sound, frontman Miles Solay shouts out some demands while prancing around, maybe targeted at us, first, second, third generation peeps and whoever else is listening, to get our asses out of comfort zone and take action." - Remezcla
"It simultaneously makes you want to dance and get involved at once. Check it out!" -MTV Iggy
"The four young men of the band Outernational want to start an activist revolution with Rock music. -Good Men Project"Channelling the radical stance and the disregard for stylistic parameters that were a hallmark of the Clash, New York City’s Outernational is hellbent on restoring righteous indignation to rock and roll." -The New Yorker
"Outernational uncompromisingly tells the truth, and they paint a picture of the world the way they see it and a way that we don't hear on the radio and television as much as people need to." -Tom Morello
"Coupled with dynamic rhythms that somehow flow together like streams of water, their ripped-from-the-headlines lyrics of liberation struggle had the audience literally—at least in the case of one wild fan in a Mexican wrestling mask—hanging from the rafters." -The Village Voice
"These boys are the next big thing... They are an incredible mix of hard-rock, hip-hop, and world music. They mix politics and dance music in the best way, much like The Clash did." -BBC Radio
"Seeing is believing. They are down for the cause. They live it; it is no bullshit. It's awesome and humbling and inspiring all at the same time. The new grassroots movement has Outernational for soil." -Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers)"Outernational with Chad Smith absolutely killed it last night! Thanks for everything. You guys are starting a revolution" - John Varvatos at the former home of CBGBLinks
Feb 4, 2012: Clayton Patterson photo set of 2/2 Outernational/John Varvatos event"My world is gone. The new world is here. One has to adjust- die- or leave. Last nights show was Outernational with special guest Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. The energy reached the level of the one of the memorable shows at the old CBGB’s." Clayton Patterson"They don’t believe in intellectual or artistic property, they don’t mind fans downloading their music for free, and they play a unique brand of politically charged rock n’ roll that makes you think as well as dance." - max soeun kim"The music of Outernational, denouncing the shameful stories of the old world while beholding visions of the new, could truly be the beginning of the revolution." -Catalina Maria Johnson"[Todos Somos Ilegales] opens with half-melancholic, half-triumphant Mariachi trumpets, as if it was the beginning of a western adventure inviting you to the revolt and protest, and continues with an exuberant mix of Latino rhythms, ska, reggae, punk, dub, polka, mariachi and a dash of hip hop. Undoubtedly, Miles Solay’s delivery finds its place between Joe Strummer’s and Eugene Hütz’s, and may venture at times so close to the original, like on ‘First Among Equals’, ‘Ladies of the Night’, or the Reggae-ska ‘Buried and Done’, that Solay’s vocals just make [you] visualize a young Strummer." -Alyson Camus"Above all else the band embodies the spirit of The Clash. It's in Miles Solay's swagger and the way he growls and spits lyrics with such fervor and love. It's in Jesse Williams' Paul Simonon-like wide-legged stance; this man is making a fierce and funky stand! Leo Mintek is coming into his own as a lead guitarist, alternately bringing dance grooves worthy of a BAD-era Mick Jones and wailing classic rock solos, all the while keeping time on stage with a deconstructed John Lennon knee bounce. The sharply dressed Dr. Blum is the band's secret weapon." -Eve"They make riotous rock music that I am compelled to march to. Put these guys on, elevate your fist and make your voice heard. Outernational has arrived to save us from our own demise. Stand for something people or you will fall for anything. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!!" -Wurds Smith"So... who's the best drummer in the world who I know who knows Dylan songs and who heard the Outernational demos and totally loved them? Right! So this week, Jim Keltner started the week working on a new Jackson Browne song and ended the week working on a cover of an old Bob Dylan song with a band that only a handful of people know about so far." -Howie KleinMay 18, 2011: COLORLINESToday's Love: Outernational's Community-Funded Music"This week the Brooklyn-based band Outernational wrapped up its successful Kickstarter campaign to fund its first full-length album, and today we’re going to take this moment to celebrate the power of community to support progressive art.
Outernational was formed in the wake of anti-war and immigrant rights rallies, and for its next project, has turned its attention to Arizona."-Julianne Hing
May 13, 2011: OC WEEKLY Music News
Sound Strike Supporters Outernational Reach Kickstarter Goal, Promise New Music
It has been more than one year since Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed controversial anti-immigrant legislation SB1070 into law provoking a swift activist response that stretched all the way to the music community in the form of theSound Strikeboycott. Since that time, and in the wake of certain provisions being struck down by a preliminary injunction, a number of bands previously committed officially and unofficially to the Sound Strike's call for canceling commercial shows in the state, including most recently Los Lobos, have reversed course and taken to the stage.
New York political rockers Outernational, touted by Tom Morelloback in 2006 as potentially the next Rage Against the Machine, remain steadfastly committed until SB1070 is fully repealed as they ready for two new releases.
The band recently reached a Kickstarter fundraising goal of $20,000 last night to help finance the recording of their Morello co-produced debut full length album. Accompanying their accomplishment is the promised release of the band's second EP Todos Somos Ilegales for free. Outernational was in Arizona last week with the Sound Strike and Tuscon youth coalition U.N.I.D.O.S. support efforts to fight against the elimination of Ethnic Studies/Mexican-American Studies programs in the city's school district. While there, they also visited the U.S.-Mexico border wall and uploaded a preview video of their trip. Outernational says of their forthcoming free release, "This EP was conceived last May when we traveled to Arizona to challenge the racist immigration law SB1070. Todos Somos Ilegales is dedicated to the US/Mexico border and the humanity and rights of all immigrants worldwide." The first single of the EP is "Que Queremos/The Disappeared" and collaborations include those with Uproot Andy as well as Ceci Bastida. Fellow Sound Strike artist Tom Morello also joined Outernational for a rendition of Woody Guthrie's classic "Deportee" that is one of a number of covers to be included in Todos Somos Ilegales as well. Check out the Cuéntame produced video! -Gabriel San Roman
June 15, 2010: Huffington Post
'Deportees': In Response to Arizona Law, Cuéntame, Outernational and Tom Morello Release Music VideoIn response to Arizona SB 1070, Outernational with Tom Morello released a cover version of Woody Guthrie's "Deportees." The song has spread online as an anthem to immigrants' struggles and the effect that draconian laws such as SB 1070 are having on Latino communities.Cuéntame -the largest Latino organization on Facebook-has now joined this collaboration with a moving music video that accentuates the need to fight for social justice and against the continuous prejudice prevalent today: DEPORTEES VIDEO
Cuéntame is an interactive online platform for social media, news, original video content, and activism, created to engage the rapidly growing online Latino community. Using new media and internet video campaigns, Cuéntame has created a quick-strike capability that informs the public, challenges legislation, and motivates people to take action on social issues throughout the country. Launched on Facebook in January of 2010, Cuéntame has grown to a community over 34,000 in just half a year.
Cuéntame has become the leading voice against SB 1070 and for a prolonged boycott against Arizona with its "Do I Look Illegal?" campaign. With a catalogue of over a dozen Arizona videos and enlisting a wide array of celebrities and personalities, Cuéntame has targeted the social networks to make sure the issue is not quickly forgotten.
Outernational has been touring non-stop for many months, revitalizing the impact of Woody Guthrie´s migrant ode. The band, known for its revolutionary message and electrified genre bending rock sound, has been at the forefront of the opposition and protest of AZ SB 1070.
Together with Tom Morello and Cuéntame, as well as the music, video, and the engaged and active fans, they are ready to continue the fight until the law is stricken down once and for all. -Axel W. Cabellero
Nov 3, 2010: BrooklynTheBorough.com
The Acoustics of Outernational’s Future Rock
BrooklynTheBorough.com caught up with local rockers Outernational a few times this year, most notably for an acoustic performance at Bar 4 in August. That acoustic performance and our interview with singer Miles Solay (pictured) turned into the premiere episode of our new video series profiling local musicians featured below.
“So check it out, as some of you guys may know we’ve been on tour for six months,” Solay, 29, told the Bar 4 crowd back in August, “we played 102 shows and we clocked 37,000 miles on the odometer, but we wrote all these songs down the block by coincidence.”What we did not know at the time was that the guys would be previewing their acoustic set before heading to nearby Southpaw to share a stage with Shilpa Ray and Patti Smith & Lenny Kaye on November 11 for our evening to benefit FortnightJournal.com.Outernational – which also features bassist Jesse Williams, guitarist Leo Mintek, with keyboards, harmonium and trumpet by Dr. Blum – are clearly influenced by a variety of genres, but in spirit – and fashion – the Clash is an obvious parallel. Solay specifically cites Joe Strummer and The Clash's ability to inject “psychic soul and heart and meaning” into their songs.In the vein of Fortnight Journal’s mentorship mission, the guys in Outernational were swooped up under the wing of one Tom Morello, of Rage Against The Machine fame after he and Solay crossed paths in New York City. Morello appears on “Fighting Song” on the band's latest EP Eyes on Fire, which he produced along with their forthcoming full-length record. The band are currently seeking a label after severing ties with Warner last year.“Tom Morello has been a big influence, we learned a lot about crafting songs from him, “ Solay says in the video below. “Whereas people think, ‘Oh, just like the politics,’ or ‘Oh, you guys are going to sound like Rage Against The Machine.’ You know, both of those things intertwine – I almost feel like our sound and our politics if people listen are different – but [on] song crafting we learned a lot.”Watch the video below to meet Miles Solay and Outernational, and get a sneak peek at their acoustic performance ahead of their big gig at Southpaw on November 11, 2011. -Nicole Brydson
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Tweets
- Photo: http://t.co/SHjBM233
- Who's taking the 7:30 Staten Island Ferry with us? Tonight at @FullCupSI! #TODOSSOMOSILEGALESMay 25, 12 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- @PWeiskel08 Paul, pick up more of our music here: http://t.co/v1hOGlPH
- Excited to take the Ferry to Staten Island tonight for our show at @FULLCUPSI on Van Duzer - come out!May 25, 12 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- "Fresh mozzarella grows on trees & great Italian food is everywhere, but it's more than that; I grew up there." - @JesseBlum in @SIadvanceMay 25, 12 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- "Before I was in Outernational, I was in 15 bands. They changed my life. They gave me the opportunity to blossom as a musician" -@JesseBlumMay 25, 12 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
