Morrissey's words spoke to a generation. A generation of slightly miserable, introverted social outcasts, perhaps, but in the mid 1980s the Smiths made alienation, isolation and pain the essential emotional accessories of the Reagan years. And even though the band split up in 1987, the songs that seeped out of Manchester, England are still finding audiences in the unlikeliest places. For the last five years or so, the Sweet and Tender Hooligans have been spreading the gangly maestro's message to the Latino communities of Southern California and Texas, and even over the border into Mexico itself.
"Our following is mainly Latino, yeah," says Jose Maldanado, lead singer of the band and highly convincing Morrissey impersonator. "To be honest, I've always considered that element incidental to why we started, but when we realized the nature of the audience, we threw in the odd verse in Spanish into a couple of the songs. I have also completed a translation of 'Last night I dreamed that somebody loved me.'" |
|
|
|
|
So, do lyrics like "the rain falls hard on this humdrum town" resonate with someone in El Paso? When Mozzer croons "Farewell to this land's cheerless marches / hemmed in like a boar between arches," does anyone in Chula Vista, San Diego, have a clue what he is talking about? "I can only think of what drew me to him: the lyrics and the voice," says Jose. "Morrissey grew up first-generation Irish in Manchester, and I think that isn't too different from the first-generation Latino experience. Your parents are the ones who came here and you're mainly working class. Morrissey was always drawn to that blue collar culture. When I heard 'The Boy with the Thorn in his Side,' I had to own everything they ever did..."
"I fell in love when I first saw them," says Mary Morales, a fan so committed to the Sweet and Tender Hooligans that she is travelling to England this summer to follow their tour. "Jose is just so real - and also being Mexican , I felt a closer connection. I guess we identify with always being on the outside, never really fitting in, always questioning and observing..." |
|
|
|
|
The Sweet and Tender Hooligans formed in 1992, writing and playing their own stuff before a gig celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Smith's landmark Queen is Dead LP - in which the Hooligans performed the album tracks in sequence - spawned the new direction. Now Jose does the whole deal, including the gold-lame shirt and cheap, UK government-issue glasses. He even sports the rockabilly quiff, which is put in daily jeopardy by his job as a lifeguard. "Believe me, it's all in the blow-drying. In fact, I've been doing it so long , it falls into place on its own accord."
And if Morrissey himself is impressed, then you know Jose and the guys are onto something. Not only does the reclusive Brit have a video of one of their live shows, he introduced his own band as the Sweet and Tender Hooligans at his last L.A. performance. And when Jose ran into him in a mall, he was greeted with: "Of course I know you, it is like looking in a mirror."
--Eddie Taylor |
|
|
|
|
|
|
