Can you imagine a ringing flamenco guitar over top of an electro bassline, forming the musical backdrop for a funky broken beat? If so then you’ve got the beginning of an idea of what to expect from Tijuana Cartel, but the diverse influences of the group extend a lot further than that. Emerging out of the Gold Coast and with their debut Frequent Flyers album on the horizon, here they chat to ITM before they hit the road on an extensive national tour…

Tell us about the various band members who make up Tijuana Cartel?

Carey O’Sullivan – keyboard, guitar, production.
Regan Hoskins – MC
Paul George – Vocals, Lead Guitar, production
Daniel Gonzalez – Percussion
We also use a lot of guest performers both for live shows and on the album.

How did you guys get together and how long have you been together?

I met Carey in our first year of high school; we began by swapping riffs on guitar and mucking around with samples on Amiga computers. We’ve been audio nerds for a long time now. We met Regan and a couple of years back after seeing him DJ around locally, Gonzalez is the newest addition to the band , we’ve been together as a band for around two years now.

What makes Tijuana Cartel so unique?

We blend all our personal influences together into our own sound, I’m into flamenco guitar and world sounds, where as Carey is more into breakbeat and electro styles, Regan and Gonzalez also add there own take on the music. From there the songs pretty much go on their own journey. It’s not at all contrived and there are no limitations on what style they will be, although it does seem that when we add all the influences together there is a similar direction that the songs take on.

The Frequent Flyers – Redeemed album sounds great, tell us about how the album came together?

Most of the songs started with a beat, from there they were passed back and forth between our laptops, we would record new parts or edit phrases and then pass it on again until it felt they were finished. We used quite a few of our friends to record extra parts and loops, The Gathering which is my favourite song features a good friend of ours ramanee king on vocals. Once we felt we had the right songs finished we put them together and listened to them, we found they had a sort of international flavour, so we called the album Frequent Flyers.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

There is so much music around to draw inspiration from. We have spent a fair amount of time in India, studying various aspects of their ethnic and classical music. Some of the experience has started to affect our new tracks, we are also into the nu-breaks scene at the moment, mainly for the production and adrenalin that runs through the music. Locally there are some bands we really get into including Oka, Amanaska and mystic beats

There seems to be a really fertile outdoor party scene in southern Queensland/northern NSW – are these events you particularly enjoy playing.

Most definitely, out door events are great in that there is less restriction on people, whether you want to get messed up or just chill out on a rug up the back. It’s all catered for. There are quite a few local bands and Dj’s that we hang with who are playing a lot of these events as well, so it’s become a large part of our lifestyles that we enjoy.

What’s the scene like on the Gold Coast where you’re based?

There are a few bands and DJs around who keep a small scene going. Events like Wonderland Festival and Thursdays at the Loft have been really good for the locals. If we put a show on here it will pack out, though most clubs in Surfers Paradise seem to run the same cheesy electro week after week, followed by guys in white shirts with collars turned up and very spiky hair. We tend not to venture into the main drag to often, it’s just not our thing.

What’s coming up next for the band?

We’ve got a fair amount of touring to do, we go from Exodus Festival in Tenterfield to WA for the Circus Festival and a few more shows, we’ll be in Beijing for the Olympics and then in Europe for a short stint. We are also working hard on some new tracks for a second album. All in all we are very busy!

Catch Tijuana Cartel at the following shows around the country for some Frequent Flyer action…

11 & 13 Jan: Exodus Festival – Tenterfield, NSW
18 Jan: The Phoenix Bar (with CC Martini), Brisbane
19 Jan: The Swell Tavern, Burleigh Heads QLD
20 Jan: Perigian Originals, Perigian Beach QLD
20 Jan: SOLBAR, Coolum QLD
25 Jan: Freo Markets, Fremantle WA
25 Jan: The Fly By Night, Perth WA
26 Jan: Settlers Tavern, Margaret River WA
31 Jan: Freo Markets, Fremantle Perth WA
1-3 Feb: Int. Circus Festival, Margaret River WA
15 Feb: Glow Dance, UKI UKI, NSW
16 Feb: The Stepp Inn, Brisbane, QLD
23 Feb: Winsome Hotel, Lismore, NSW
1 Mar: The J Noosa, QLD