The Dorados Rockabilly Trio
I knew there had to be a rockabilly scene in Colombia. I just figured it would be in Bogota, not in Medellin where the Paisas (people from Medellin), rock out to the sounds of punk and metal to such legendary bands as I.R.A. and Los Suziox along with other really talented cats like Los Sornos, Industrial punks Nues, the hardcore Fertil Miseria, Desadaptadoz and newer bands like Lokekeda, Alkoholema, Insurgentes, Grito and Nacion Criminal.
I mean there are so many good, solid punk bands in Medellin I’m discovering them by accident all the time.
Dolman - Bass & Vocals
I guess I should not have been surprised after discovering that yes; there is indeed a rockabilly scene in Medellin! Or should I qualify that as there is a rockabilly band in Medellin that is doing its best to establish a scene. They are the Dorados Rockabilly Trio.
Now I discovered them (or should I say they discovered me) through my good buddies Andres (Los Suziox) and Faber (Medellin Rock Festival) at the Medellin Moto Show a few weeks back.
I immediately hit it off with the guys. Felipe Ossa, the bands singer / lead guitar who spends some time with family in New Mexico had just been to the U.S. and witnessed his first Social Distortion in concert there so we had a lot to talk about. Felipe looks a little bit like a young, Latin Mike Ness himself (before the jail time) don’t you think?
Carlos - Drums & Vocals
At the time, I was headed out of the country to Ecuador to work on my side project “Raw Travel” but I promised you that when I returned I’d be featuring some music from these guys.
Good to his word Felipe stayed in touch with me and I made it out to their rehearsal on Friday night.
They played a good mix of covers of rock-n-roll classics (Richie Valens, Eddie Cochran, etc.) as well as a few of their originals which I really dug.
Felipe's tricked out guitar
We had some studio time left over so we ripped through a version of Cold Feelings (Social Distortion) & Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash/Social Distortion) with yours truly at the mic before I let the guys finish it out with “Don’t’ Think Twice” (Bob Dylan/Mike Ness) and “Reach for the Sky (Social Distortion).
Rehearsal was a roomfull of Social D. fans
Good rockabilly finished off with some punk and punkabilly… Now that my friends is a good couple of hours well spent.
Well, proving that I ALWAYS tell the truth MOST of the time, here ya go, a video clip of their original song “Bettie Page” from their rehearsal session is below.
STAY TUNED: And coming up, pics and genius insights from my recent Ecuadorian Punk Odyssey and, keep your fingers crossed, a complete interview and feature on the Dorados Rockabilly Trio.
And for more pics of the Dorados Rockabilly Trio head to Punk Outlaw’s Flikr page HERE.
I would like to show my complete disapproval of this article, this band is not the best exponent of Colombia Rockabilly & Pyschobilly, starting from the fact that in cities like bogota there’s a complete Psychobilly/Rockabilly scene and i must say that there’s whole lot of bands in Colombia who play better music than them. i think that saying things like “Punkabilly Kings” is a complete disrespect to bands like:
” HELLDOGS” “SALIDOS DE LA CRIPTA” “CHICLOSOS DESMEBRADOS ” “COWBOYS FROM HELL” who are better exponents of the gender.
i suggest you to check you sources
thanks.
OK, I already responded to someone on Facebook with an explanation.. but here goes again. Bogota has an outstanding punk scene. been there many times and have many friends there. It also, from what I understand has a good psychobilly scene. But I am not living in Bogota for a variety of reasons unrelated to the punk scene I”m living in Medellin(when in Colombia) so I write about what I see not what’s on the internet or what people tell me.
My observation is that Medellin and Bogota have very distinct scenes, and as far as I can tell when it comes to Rockabilly, The Dorados Rockabilly Trio are pretty much holding it down in Medellin. They play pure rockabilly but since also we jammed on some Social Distortion, I called them Punkabilly for the purpose of this article. I called them punkabilly kings because in Medellin at least, they are working hard to establish the scene. However, your point is well taken in that I probably should have said something like “Paisa Punkabilly Passion” “Pure Paisa Rockabilly” or something like that instead of crowning them kings before getting the full picture of the scene in Medellin. It was a quick, off the cuff headline.
The bands you discuss I have not heard, but from the names, they sound more psychobilly than rockabilly? I hate splitting hairs over what’s rockabilly, what’s psychobilly there is a pretty really, really big difference.
All that being said, I really want to explore the psychobilly scene (and rockabilly if there is one) in Bogota more (and in Mexico and Brasil and Peru). But I’m one guy, this is a hobby that doesn’t pay and I don’t have an inexhaustible travel budget, so I’ll have to get to it when I get to it.
In the meantime, I’m in Medellin at the moment and that is what I write about.
As far as the other bands playing “better” music, well that my friend will always unfortunately be a matter of opinion. The Dorados are a good band, working hard and playing good music. They’ve only been at it for 3 years or so but I’ve heard a lot of rockabilly (including some of the best at Viva Las Vegas and even in Russia) and if they didn’t have some talent, potential and most important heart… I wouldn’t waste my time writing about them.
If I get to Bogota hopefully you guys will show me some of the bands and I can write about them.
In the meantime, I appreciate your opinion and comments and for taking the time to write them. I also acknowledge you have some very valid points. Always feel free to send comments, be they compliments or critiques. I always read them and when possible respond.
Keep rocking!