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Taken from VC Reporter (Mar 17, 2022)
Thievery Corporation to bring its mixed-up, multicultural EDM to Ventura Music Hall
by Nancy D. Lackey Shaffer
Thievery Corporation: (from left) Eric Hilton & Rob Garza. Photo: Jen Maler |
Ventura's newest music venue will be pulsing with hypnotic electronic multiculturalism when Thievery Corporation comes to town next week. This marks the first time that the genre-defying, influence-mixing band comes to Ventura County, and it's a coup for the newly opened Ventura Music Hall, which took over the space once occupied by Discovery in Midtown.
Thievery Corporation has been a darling of the electronic dance world for more than a quarter century. But as any fan can tell you, the outfit founded by Rob Garza and Eric Hilton in 1995 is about much more than EDM. Everything from trip hop to dub to bossa nova, jazz and world fusion is in the mix, with lyrics sung in a variety of languages, including English, French, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish. The artistry of Garza and Hilton, brought to the studio and stage with the help of a frequently shifting lineup of talented musicians, has given Thievery Corporation a sound uniquely its own.
From '80s punk to Eighteenth Street Lounge
Some of that multiculturalism undoubtedly comes from the band's hometown of Washington, D.C., the nation's capital and the seat of numerous cultural and international organizations. But the D.C. punk scene was Rob Garza's first musical love.
"I was really into a lot of the punk and post punk, Dischord [Records] scene," recalls Garza, who was a teenager in the 1980s and rocked out to bands like Fugazi, Bad Brains and State of Alert (better known as S.O.A. and fronted by Henry Rollins - who would later move to California to join Black Flag).
He recalls getting into music almost by accident, simply by participating in an electronic music program, where he had the opportunity to play with synthesizers, drums and other instruments on machines.
"That's when I fell in love with electronic music and creating music," Garza says.
By the 1990s, he was a familiar face on the D.C. club scene, which is where he eventually met Hilton.
"In 1995, and friend of mine and I, we were going to a house club. My friend asked, 'Do you wanna check out this lounge a friend just opened up?'"
That would be the renowned Eighteenth Street Lounge, where instead of hardcore punk, Garza heard bossa nova, dub and jazz.
"It was something very unique at that time."
Hilton was there, and the two realized they had a lot of overlapping interests. They decided to "create a project," sharing equipment - a common way that musicians came together in those days, as it was rare for any one person to have all the various equipment needed for a band - and using the Eighteenth Street Lounge as a practice space and studio.
"We started off in the liquor room creating those first singles," says Garza.
Independent spirit
From the very beginning, Thievery Corporation followed a do-it-yourself ethos.
"With Thievery, we had our own record label," Garza explains. "We did everything very independently. If you had drive and a passion to create music, you didn't have to wait for a label to discover you.
"It paid off in the end. I think if we would have worked with a major record label, it wouldn't have been considered a success, in the sense of a commercial success."
But Thievery Corporation was absolutely a success. Shortly after the duo began releasing singles, "all of a sudden we're getting calls from London and Germany, wanting more . . . it just kind of snowballed."
The band's first studio album, Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi, was released in Germany in 1996, and in the United States the following year, peaking at No. 12 on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums list. Nine more albums were to follow between 2000 and 2020, with The Richest Man in Babylon (2002), The Cosmic Game (2005) and Radio Retaliation all searing up the U.S. dance charts. The band also toured extensively, both stateside and internationally.
"It struck a chord at the time," Garza says of Thievery Corporation's early success. "People wanted to hear a lot more of what we were doing."
Being independent was far from being a hindrance. "The business could be challenging . . . but people were falling in love with the music. We were part of the zeitgeist. That allowed everything to flow smoothly."
Daydream-er
During the pandemic, Garza enjoyed spending time with his son, now 11.
"Those types of moments you realize are really special. Being able to have quality time . . . seeing each other every day . . . it was incredible."
Thievery Corporation's 2020 touring hiatus also allowed Garza and Hilton to pursue solo projects. Hilton produced three albums (Infinite Everywhere, The Impossible Silence and Ceremony) while Garza released Daydream Accelerator, under the eponymously named GARZA, on Garza's independent label, Magnetic Moon Records.
"I'm constantly working on music . . . and during the pandemic, it opened up a lot of time to explore those ideas and sketches. For me, it was a great time, to be honest. We've been touring and traveling for 25 years . . . which is OK, that's part of the creative cycle . . . but I finally had time to stretch out."
Garza explains that Daydream Accelerator allowed him to pay tribute to the musical influences of his youth, "more what I considered to be pop. I really love that sort of independent spirit, New Wave synth sound."
As one half of Thievery Corporation, Garza has had the opportunity to work with the likes of David Byrne, Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips and Jane's Addiction's Perry Farrell. But with GARZA, he found that he "opened up to the spirit of collaboration even more."
Daydream Accelerator features the talents of alt-synth band Enemy Planes, deep house producers Walker and Royce, up-and-coming singer/songwriters Calica and EMELINE, and frequent Thievery Corporation vocalists Natalia Clavier and Racquel Jones.
"To have these sort of different ideas to explore with different writers and producers, it allowed me to step out of my own head space.
"I also got to work with a lot of young singers . . . that was fun for me."
Back on the road
At the moment, however, it's back to Thievery Corporation for Garza - and back to a busy touring schedule.
"We're getting ready to hit the road in the next couple of weeks," he says, referencing The Outernational Tour v. 2, which will take the band across the U.S. this spring and then to Europe in the summer. His break was a productive one, but he's excited to get back to live performances - and finds he's more appreciative than ever that he has the opportunity to do so.
"It's really such a beautiful thing in your life, to play music for people," Garza says. "After doing if for so long, you take it for granted. Then during the pandemic, there was this sense that this could be taken away. But getting to do it again is so incredible."
Thievery Corporation performs with Boostive on Thursday, March 24, at Ventura Music Hall, 1888 E. Thompson Blvd., Ventura. Doors open at 7 p.m. For tickets and more information, visit www.venturamusichall.com
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