É. Arenas Makes Tijuana Debut
Eduardo Arenas brought his unique blend of rock, tropicalia, and vintage Mexican sounds to Tijuana’s Moustache Bar this past Saturday in a solo project show in which fans of Chicano Batman’s bassist and composer could see his personal style front and center.
Arenas, who was hard at work on developing his solo project for years, played songs off of his debut album “Nariz,” in which he takes the sounds many Latinos on either side of the border grew up with and uses these to address a number of relevant subjects from learning to peel nopales, to youth preserving abuelita’s recipes, to smoking weed in public.
Fans of Chicano Batman were able could draw parallels between Arena’s music and his work for the Los Angeles- based quartet. In his solo rendition of “Fantasia,” Arenas takes a different, yet familiar, path in the middle of the song’s guitar riffs compared to the track recorded in 2015 for Chicano Batman’s third album “Cycles of Existential Rhyme.” In songs like “El Nopalito” one can see the common lineage of cumbia and quebradita between this song and Chicano Batman fan-favorite “La Manzanita.”
Although Arenas and his band headlined the show, attendees were also treated to some top Tijuana talent such as jazz/rock jam band Pequeño Asteroide and solo projects from singer Maura Rosa and Nasmar Guzman of Tj psych pop faves Entre Desiertos.
Arenas was joined in first solo project show in Tijuana by Kevin Martin on guitar, Andrew Faerie on bass, Austin Ford on keyboard, and Will Logan on drums.