You don't need to be the most devoted fan of rock en español to know La Secta Allstar, especially if, between 2005 and 2006, you turned your radio dial to any Spanish-language station for even five minutes. And if you did, there's at the very least a strong possibility you heard their massive hit, "La Locura Automatica." The ballad featured mariachi-tinged classical guitars and a heavy dose of horns reminiscent of regional Mexican music, plus a perfectly mournful delivery, equal parts nasal and rasp, by vocalist Gustavo Laureano.
Though previously known as much for their ballads as their rock sound, the track was a step outside of their comfort zone for Laureano and his La Secta Allstar bandmates, bassist Mark Kilpatric and drummer John Lengel. But then, so was the 2005 album on which it appeared, the group's fifth and most mainstream effort at that point, Consejos.
"We don't really plan the direction the albums are going to take," explains Laureano in a recent phone call from Puerto Rico. "Consejos was just a reflection of what we felt like doing at the time."
He goes on to concede, "It was a good moment for us. We were experimenting and the result was very commercial, more radio friendly outside of P.R. than our typical rock sound."
And though that was hard to top, the group made a valiant go of it with the 2008 follow-up, Fuego. It signaled a return to the more rock-centric vibe for which the band had previously been known, and earned them more awards in the process.
Now, two years later, Laureano's excitement about the band's upcoming seventh studio release is palpable, and its first single, "Vivamos," is promising. From Laureano's point of view, it's representative of what fans can expect of the disc ― a bit of what they got on Consejos, but also some of what they got on Fuego.
"We're in the midst of an explosive creative moment," he says. "Just last night I wrote a song and was like, 'Oh, this needs to go in the album!' We're still making decisions, though."
So fans will have to wait a bit for the record, which as of now remains unnamed, though Laureano believes it'll be titled after the first single. But in the meantime, they'll have "Vivamos" to tide them over, which Laureano says has a sort of apocalyptic theme, and "shows both sides of the coin, positive and negative outlooks. I mean, musically, of course," he clarifies, laughing. "We're not trying to solve the world's problems. Just our own."
La Secta Allstar. 10 p.m. Friday, July 16. Grand Central, 697 N. Miami Ave., Miami. Tickets cost $25 in advance from wantickets.com. 305-377-2277; grandcentralmiami.com
