Ratas del Vaticano @ KDVS Radio Studio
Davis, Calif.
Aug. 3, 2009
Words & Photos Karla Hernandez
With snarly vocals and a fast audacious punk sound, Mexico’s Ratas del Vaticano sparked a fire capable of spreading as rapid as the plague Monday night at Davis’ KDVS radio.
As part of a weeklong tour with dates in California, Oregon and Washington, the band from Monterrey, Nuevo Léon, crammed 21 songs into less than 30 minutes over the KDVS airwaves and in front of a small studio audience. Supporting a full-length record released on Philadelphia-based Siltbreeze Records, Ratas del Vaticano is playing West Coast cities for the first time. The band’s previous U.S. shows had only been in Texas, performing at festivals, such as SXSW.
During Monday night’s performance on the show Art for Spastics, hosted by DJ Rick, the band performed 18 songs off the Siltbreeze release, “Mocosos Patéticos,” as well as two unreleased songs and one off a compilation that was released in Spain. The band’s chilling and straightforward take on early punk easily filled the small KDVS studio, known as Studio A.
While there were only a handful of audience members, the music emitted a strong energy and images of rowdy fans chanting along to songs came to mind as soon as Ratas del Vaticano started its set with the fast pounding drums and grinding guitars of “Cerebro Sintético.”
“Comiénzate a Masturbar” and “Despárame, Ya No Quiero Toser” were just as tight and swift as the opening songs, but added interesting vocal breaks and rhythms. Vocalists and guitarists JoaquÃÂn Cordero and David Serrano, bassist Violeta Malverde and drummer Rafael Trenton did not slow down, but the short broken-down rhythms gave the audience a chance to take a breath.
The lyrics ranged from criticizing society to fantasizing over a girl and masturbation. The vocal style did not stray away too much from an aggressive growl, but on songs like “Te Apuñalaré en el Recto,” the tone sounded more bratty in order to reflect the lyrics about frustration and wanting to punch someone.
The band also performed songs that were a bit more danceable than the usual harsh punk sound. The vocals were still grating, but one could have done a rocking rendition of the twist to “El Cholo del Salón.” Likewise, “Tema de las Ratas” and the unreleased “Asi Funciona el Roca n Rol” had a cleaner sound with delicate drum tinkling. The former was the easiest to understand lyrics-wise, which seemed to be a theme song for the band, translated to English: “We are animals, the most degenerates, we defend ourselves if necessary/We don’t believe in laws or society, we are monstrosities of humanity.“
While punk music might feed off unpolished aesthetics, Ratas del Vaticano’s performance did not get to the point where it was sloppy or off-putting. Despite lyrical language barriers that some U.S. music fans may encounter, Ratas Del Vaticano’s raw energy, passion and knowledge of old-school punk translate beautifully into any language.
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