by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

The bad news is, Montreal's metal mariachis Mi Santa Sangre are no more. The good news is, from the ashes of MSS comes la Internacional Sonora Calavera - they may not be metal, but they've got a hell of a lot of other stuff in there.

"There were little things I wanted to try that definitely didn't match with what we were doing in Mi Santa Sangre," recalls ISC singer Mariano Franco. "We were having different experiences in our lives, and wanted to talk about different things. The music we were playing during those days didn't match those experiences. It was more about rage, and we weren't angry anymore. I wanted to have a show where I can dance and be more dramatic, theatrical.

"Being theatrical is just about feeling. I was telling Fernando, when I'm singing a song, I really imagine the words physically. If for example I go, ‘Ahhh,' I feel like this ‘Ahhh' is going up and then coming down, and I'm waiting to get it and send another one up - like a circus juggler. So theatrical, for me, is about really enjoying what you're doing, moving and jumping. It's almost ritualistic."

The juggling analogy applies to the music of ISC as well. A short definition would be Latino rock, not to be confused with rock en espanol - largely grunge with Spanish lyrics. But even the Latino tag comes up short.

"There's definitely a big influence of African rhythms," says Franco. "When I saw Antibalas three years ago, it changed my life completely. I know it'll sound corny, but all this rhythm, happiness and energy came out of the music - I wanted to do something like that. Of course, we had different influences. The Spanish thing, punk and rock, all mixed together."

"We were interested in having an overall dub sound as well," adds guitarist Fernando Pinzón. "But none of us had played dub before. We come from different backgrounds, mostly rock - we couldn't get away from the rock part, but that's okay, I'm comfortable with it. The dub comes through in a few of the songs. Some of them are really folk, others are really reggae. There's the Latin part, and the folkloric part that we're getting more and more into. None of the songs sound like each other at all. Talking like that, it's very hard to say what we do."

Whatever they're doing, Franco and Pinzón - and drummer José Dominguez, bassist Rodrigo Olguín, percussionist Manuel Jamarillo and trumpet player Ed McGregor - are happy with it.

"When I came to Montreal from Mexico not long ago," says Jamarillo, "I heard it was a good place to make music. I tried with many people, but of course it's very difficult to feel part of a new band. But that didn't happen with these guys. They're very open to new propositions, and no egos.

"Montreal is very special. I love that mix of people, of food, music and culture from all over the world. You have a smaller synthesis of that in this band - guys from Mexico, Panama, Chile, El Salvador and Canada. Everyone puts in part of his background."

That's an important part. Pinzón points out that many young Latinos, the rockers especially, turn up their noses at traditional sounds. "But it's in there, it's part of you too," says Franco, "part of your unconscious, repressed all the time. So this was an experiment, a therapy for all of us, to bring that part of ourselves out. And I think it's working!"

At la Soirée Solidarité avec le Chiapas at la Petite Gaule (2525 Ce ntre) on Saturday, Dec. 20, 7pm, voluntary donation suggested

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