By Dave Gil de Rubio
Last Word Features

Founded in 1973 by high school classmates David Hidalgo and Louie Perez, Los Lobos has carved out quite a niche for itself as a quintessential American heritage band. For more than 50 years, the quintet has built a legacy with a unique sound that leans heavily into a mix of rock and roll, blues, country, Tex-Mex and soul spiced up by healthy doses of Latin flavors that include cumbia, boleros and nortenos.

For Steve Berlin, the “new guy” in the group who signed on in 1982, the journey began as a fan caught up in the buzz that Los Lobos generated after a legendarily disastrous experience opening for Public Image Limited in Los Angeles during the latter’s 1980 tour. Berlin remembers the story well.

“When they did the Public Image Limited show, it was infamous,” Berlin said. “During that era, they had long hair, long beards and were wearing serapes. These weren’t costumes; they wore what they would wear to a fancy folkloric show, so it was like waving a red flag at a bunch of bulls. People went crazy at that first show, throwing (crap) at them and spitting at them.”

A later show at The Whiskey A-Go-Go really caught Berlin’s attention when he was still playing saxophone as a member of The Blasters.

“The first time Lobos played for real in front of people with electric instruments was opening for The Blasters in 1980 at the Whiskey,” Berlin explained. “They’d shaved, cut their hair and looked relatively like everyone else. It was kind of mind-boggling how amazing it was that there’s this band from 15 miles away. They may as well have been from 15 galaxies away for how unusual it was.”

The band has since built a catalog of 17 albums – the latest of which is the Grammy-winning covers album “Native Sons.” Currently without a label, plans for recorded material are murky at best. In the meantime, the road beckons with U.S. shows on the books through the summer.

Los Lobos, with special guest Taylor Scott Band, will be in Colorado Springs on Friday for a 7 p.m. show at Phil Long Music Hall at Bourbon Brothers. Tickets start at $59 at bourbonbrothers.com.

The road is a place Berlin and his musical brothers are comfortable residing in for the time being. 

“Obviously, every concert is a bit of a look back because we’re playing songs we’ve played before, but there is a bit of nostalgia,” he said. “But I think we’re operating at peak efficiency and a chance for folks to catch us at the top of our game. I just know we’re not planning to stop anytime soon.”