Eddie Perez mavericks BW.JPG
Mavericks guitarist Eddie Perez, known for his ebullience onstage, is just about as animated offstage, at least in telephone conversations. The Latin-infused, Grammy nominated band returns to the Hard Rock Rocksino on Saturday, Nov. 5.
(Ray Lewis)
PREVIEW
The Mavericks
When:
8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5.
Where:
Hard Rock Rocksino, 10777 Northfield Road, Northfield.
Tickets:
$38 to $50.50, plus fees, at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets, online at
and by phone at 1-800-745-3000.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Up for a challenge? Try listening to a Mavericks song and NOT being happier.
"The band brings a lot of joy to a lot of people,'' said lead guitarist Eddie Perez in a cellphone call from the band's three-day stop in Tarrytown, New York. "The demographic who comes to see us is parents and their 10-year-old kids, and daughters and sons bringing their 85-year-old mothers and dancing in the aisles with them.''
Indeed, the music of the Mavericks, who will return to the Hard Rock Rocksino on Saturday, Nov. 5, is just about as ebullient as Perez himself. The Latin-infused sound could turn a funeral dirge into a thing of joy, and that's the point.
There's enough sadness and anger in this world, and the Mavericks are out to do their part to obliterate as much of that as they can.
That's been the mission since the band that formed in the late 1980s returned four years ago from a hiatus that began in 2005. Lead singer and principal songwriter Raul Malo, whose infectious, Cuban-flavored vocals helped give the band its identity when he and Painesville-born drummer Paul Deakin formed the group, took some time off to pursue a solo career, and the other members followed their own musical muse. That includes Perez, who spent time shredding for country singer Dwight Yoakam before the band re-emerged.
And in retrospect, though it was painful, the break was beneficial, Perez said.
"Knowing what I know now, when I look back, I was really sad and distraught when we went away the last time,'' said Perez, who joined the group in 2003. "I didn't feel like I had a chance to contribute and I was still 'the new guy.'
"Ultimately, I can look back and say that it was destined to fail,'' he said.
"But in the time we took off, Raul had gone off to do lots of different solo albums, in lots of styles,'' Perez said. "He was on a musical quest. But I can honestly say now that it was absolutely essential to the Mavericks becoming the modern-day Mavericks and what we are now.''
The music world, just like every other world, has changed dramatically since 2005 - with the proliferation of cellphones, the boom in social media and the death, really, of the record label system.
The last is one reason why the band has created its own label, Mono Mundo Recordings, and why the group's own "All Night Live, Vol. 1'' is its first and thus far only release.
"The first reason is fans were asking for [a live album],'' Perez said. "They come to the shows and wanted a to take it home with them.'' The best way to do that was the live album.
But it turned out to be a really pleasant surprise for the band itself, Perez said.
"When you're on the grind, and doing it every day, day in and day out, with the parties, the meetings, the shows, a lot of times it's hard to see where you are in the scheme of things,'' Perez said.
But when the band began compiling live tracks for potential inclusion in the album, something became clear.
"We started realizing this is something to be celebrated,'' he said. "The band is just on fire.''
That's not lost on the group, either.
"The difference this time around is it just seems we're taking more care of this thing,'' Perez said. "We all realize the significance of this moment.''
Nor is the group looking to shut things down any time soon. The frenetic touring pace - more than 120 shows a year since reforming - will continue. And a new studio album is already in the can and set for release next spring.
"We don't have a name for the album yet - we're still tossing a couple around,'' Perez said. "All I can tell you is that it's really 'big-sounding.' "
He laughed and noted that "this is what you say every time you have a new album,'' but he's confident that this is the band's best effort since its return, which saw a pair of Grammy nominations for the first album, "Mono.''
"We want to go back to the Grammys,'' he said. "That's what it's all about, that's the adventure of life, to see where it's going to take you.''
Happily, of course.