Rock band from Mexico DLD to make EP debut at Neon Desert

Editor’s note: The quotes have been translated from Spanish.

DLD, one of the most popular rock bands of Mexico, will make its El Paso debut at this year’s Neon Desert Music Festival, bringing with them their unique musical style.

“We are very excited and I know it will an incredible experience. We are happy to see our fans from the U.S.,” bass player Edgar Hansen said. “Playing in front of people who have never heard us is exciting, and I’m sure they’ll like the positive vibe of our music.”

The band, formed in 1998, was inspired by rock sounds from the ’70s to the ’90s. They cite artists like INXS, Jimi Hendrix and Pearl Jam as some of their major musical influences.

Through their career, they have released six studio albums, won two TeleHit Awards for best rock album in 2013 and 2015, a Gold Record for the sales of their fifth album, “Primario,” and picked up two Latin Grammy nominations for Best Rock/Pop album of 2013.

DLD is the result of a conversation between Francisco Familiar (vocals) and Hansen who, after being drunk at a bar in Ciudad Satélite, decided to get together to play some music. Francisco then called Erik Neville (guitar), who was one of his best friends and neighbors, to join in.

“I just came to their house with all the equipment and asked them which instrument they wanted to play,” Hansen said while laughing. “We were just a group of teens having fun and messing around. We started making some noise and look how far that has brought us today.”

After the band recorded a demo of four songs, one of the band’s friends sent it to a radio station, who was organizing a band contest. The band won second place without knowing they were participating in the contest. This led to the release of their first album in 2003, “Homónimo,” with the help of a record company.

Hansen said “Dildo,” the original name of the band, was distracting people from the true meaning of the band’s songs.

“With our name, we were basically saying that we were going to pump up the crowd and make them ‘vibrate’ during the shows and at the same time the name was funny,” Hansen said. “We never wanted to make funny music, our goal was to make music about true emotions and things we have experienced through our lives and the name was not adjusting to the music we were making.”

Their second album, “Modjo,” brought more recognition as they were invited to perform outside of Mexico for the first time in their career. DLD had a 14-day tour in the U.S., winning a strong fan base inside and outside of Mexico.

DLD was among the three Mexican bands invited to perform at the 2006 edition of “Rock al Parque,” one of the biggest rock music festivals in the world.

The release of their fifth album, “Primario,” in 2013 gave the band the opportunity to play a sold out show at the Auditorio Nacional, a world-acclaimed venue. The band solidified their success after being signed by Sony Music the year before, then reaching gold status on their album “Primario.”

But just a few days before performing at the Auditorio Nacional, the band lost one of its members, Arturo Rojas (keyboards), due to a heart attack.

“It was hard. Before getting on stage we were feeling lost because he was a great friend of us, he was an important part of our band,” Hansen said. “We talked with his mom and she asked us to not cancel the concert because she knew Arturo would have wanted us to continue with this concert, and we did, the concert was of course dedicated to him.”

With his death, the band was inspired to write a song completely dedicated to their friend, in which the band shows their love to Arturo and their hope to see him again “during this lifetime or the next one.”

DLD has managed to stay relevant through that changes in music over the years. Hansen said DLD has been able to compete against the music wave of reggaeton and corridos because of the love and respect they talk about in their music.

“Some music doesn’t show respect for the dignity of a person, especially for women who in many of times are just shown as exuberant objects,” Hansen said. “Our music centers on real experiences, real emotions and everything happening around us. With some of our songs will tell people that this is their moment, this is the time where they have to get up and keep on trying.”

DLD is set to perform at the Neon Desert Music Festival on May 27, where the band will showcase some songs from their newest album “Futura” and a special track, “Te Sigo Amando,” which was recorded as a tribute to Juan Gabriel on the album “Amor Eterno al Divo.”