For some bands, there are worse fates than being booed off stage. Being ignored can prolong the agony of rejection, as members of Quetzal discovered during a national tour last summer.
The veteran East L.A. ensemble had been booked to play some Midwest shows with unruly arena-rock acts Aerosmith and Kid Rock. It was an oil-and-water billing for a band that plays sweet and thoughtful Afro-Chicano fusion music inspired by Zapatista rebel politics.
While the band played its subtle, socially conscious songs on a side stage, people walked by with stinging indifference as loud rock blared from a nearby radio booth and fans bought beer at 7 bucks a shot. The few who stopped to listen mostly stared blankly, then walked away. When Kid Rock came on, dejected band members recalled, the crowd cheered as a large Confederate flag unfurled and women in bikinis pantomimed sexual moves on his guitar.
At first, band founder Quetzal Flores, 30, relished the challenge of playing for an unfamiliar audience.
"But the Aerosmith dates were hell," recalled the lean and intense guitarist as he relaxed in the colorful Highland Park duplex he shares with his wife, the band's lead singer, Martha Gonzalez. Quetzal left the tour after half a dozen shows and returned to L.A. broke and disheartened. Without sleep, they headed straight to perform at a festival of son jarocho, the lively music of southern Mexico that stamps their unique sound.
"Coming back to that was just like feeling, 'Wow, we're alive again,' " said Gonzalez, relaxing in an armchair and sipping espresso she had just brewed. "It felt good to be home, like we had fallen in love with music again."
It's been a year of progress and setbacks for Quetzal, celebrating its 10th anniversary. The group recently signed with Vanguard Records and last year released a moving album, "Sing the Real," which was hailed as the advent of a new East L.A. sound blending salsa, son jarocho and rock.
Despite the Aerosmith debacle, the band completed successful tours with Taj Mahal, Cubanismo and Los Lobos, the godfathers of Chicano rock.
Quetzal's new Vanguard release, due in stores July 8, was produced by Lobos' saxophonist, Steve Berlin. Titled "Worksongs," it has a more contemporary and edgy feel, with less folkloric flavor, less dominant violin and less Spanish. Berlin said he volunteered to work with the group, which he considers the heir to the lofty Lobos legacy.
