Cheap Miami Records Celebrates a Birthday with Las Robertas

Burger Records babes Las Robertas are on the way to make their Miami debut this week. 

Today, the Costa Rican lo-fi garage group with '60s sensibilities is made up of bassist Sonya Carmona, drummer Fabrizio Durán, and vocalist and guitarist Mercedes Oller, the only member from the original lineup. The trio have previously gone through various incarnations, including a time that saw a male member take on the persona of a woman on stage.

The show is presented by Cheap Miami Records’ Patrick Garcia, who will also be celebrating his own birthday as part of the label's third-annual birthday celebration event.

We got to sit down with Las Robertas to talk about the show, the band's upcoming album, and what the Costa Rican music scene looks like today.

You have a new album expected to come out this year. Tell us a bit about the creative process behind it. Are you exploring anything new or different from previous releases? What do you hope fans take away from it?
We just received the final mixes for it a few days ago, so we really don't have a release date yet. All of the songs were written in a period of one year, and some of the best parts of the songs came out of jamming at our weekly practices. We're definitely exploring more the late-'60s sound. We've always had a strong '60s influence, but now it's even more present. It's gonna be a very different sounding record, but still with our essence. We really hope people enjoy it so we can keep traveling and playing a lot.
You're no strangers to touring away from home, but this will be your first time playing in Miami, right?
Yes, this is actually our first time in Miami, and first time in quite a while in the east coast. We regularly travel to Mexico and California, so we're pretty excited to play and get to know new friends and bands. We've heard a lot of good things about the scene in Miami. We're superpsyched to play shows there. We've researched a bit about the bands we're sharing the stage with, and they sound amazing. 

What do you know about the scene down here in Miami and its bands? How would you compare it yours?
We don't know much about the scene in Miami. We've heard a few bands. We really like the Plastic Pinks — they're friends of friends and label mates and that's how we met — and Jacuzzi Boys — we're big fans — but we've had other friends that have played here and loved it. We're also aware about the label Cheap Miami and Ghost Drag. I think the main difference in here is that if you live anywhere in the states or bigger places than San José, you can tour and play a lot. In our country, there are basically, like, three different venues to play at, and they recently closed the one where we always played at. There are a lot of great local bands in San José, so definitely check out Colornoise, Ave Negra, Niño Koi, Desorden Siniestro, Monte, Los Waldners, and Esto Mató a Dylan Thomas — they're the ones we like the most.

Cheap Miami Records Presents: Las Robertas with Fat Sun, the Gun Hoes, and Timothy Eerie. 9 p.m. Saturday, July 16, at Gramps, 176 NW 24th St., Miami; 305-699-2669; gramps.com. Admission is $5; ages 21 and up.