Studio Log: “El Velo” by The Möbius Trip

A long time ago in a bizarre land far, far away called Hollywood, I played bass in a band called Santí — Latin rock with a blend of Spanish and English lyrics. The band was fronted by actor-turned-singer Santiago Douglas (a.k.a. Santí). Santí got us a lot of fun gigs in LA nightclubs and a couple on television. He even landed one of our tunes in a movie, Freezerburn. I don’t know if the movie was good (pretty sure it wasn’t) — Santi and I skipped out of the premiere after about a half-hour, but we stayed long enough to hear the tune, which was playing on a transistor radio in a scene taking place in a short-order kitchen. Now that’s what I call making it to the big time!

To prepare for my participation in this band, my musical mentor, jazz/rock/funk/Celtic guitarist Patrick Butler, led me through a crash course in Latin folk music. I learned some of the basic chord structures and scales, and Butler took me on a field trip to see legendary conguero and bandleader Pancho Sanchez perform.

During this time, I composed three songs with the hope of getting my goods onto the Santí setlist. I did not succeed in this grande goal, but one of these tunes, which had the working title “El Canción,” always seemed to have potential to me. My girlfriend at the time (now my wife) thought the main Gypsy Kingesque lick was pretty slick and I liked the lyrics. A mere sixteen or seventeen years after I composed the initial version of the song, I brought the tune to my band, The Möbius Trip, and we knocked it out, complete with the new title, “El Velo.” I made the controversial decision to sing lead on this one. We could have gone with Aaron Baker, the band’s vocally gifted singer, but I thought it was finally time to dazzle the world with my .75 octave range. Aaron generously sang harmony, adding the multidimensional mellifluicity our fans have come to expect over the years. 

I have written before about a powerful musical portal called the Space Station. It has been described, by me, as a “euphoria factory” producing “psychedelic, frenetic, angelic exhalations.” As you might remember, Butler loaned this pedal to me years ago. I supposedly “abused” said pedal while it was in my custody — so much so that the expression pedal produced an irritating squeak whenever it was depressed. Well, as destiny would have it, Butler’s abused Space Station is now my Space Station, squeaks and all. The first thing I did when we were reunited was lay down a couple tracks on “El Velo.” 

. . . 

In the early 1980s, music fans hungered for a video from rock legends Van Halen. Finally, the band released its first offering for the MTV generation with “Jump.” Fans were not disappointed. The Möbius Trip found itself in exactly the same situation and decided we need to join the modern times (of the 1980s at least). (Yes, I am comparing us to Van Halen. Tune in next week when I’ll be comparing us to The Beatles.)  For this momentous creation, we called in our children to co-star in the video and enlisted Aaron’s wife, and my friend, Noel, to be our cinematographer.

So, here she is, folks. We hope you enjoy “El Velo.”