Los leaders

“I seriously don’t know how many bands I’ve been in,” says Graham Rainey, guitarist with Belfast sleaze-core rockers Los Cabras. “Probably about eighteen. At one point about three years ago I was in six at the one time. But I was on the dole. I hadn’t anything else to do.”

Shake down the various members of Los Cabras and you’ll find they all have extensive previous form in Belfast’s twilight world of punk and hard rock. From thrash to death metal to surf rock, every one of the quintet has, in one form or another, spent much more time than is healthy worrying soundmen and petrifying indie kids.

Thankfully, since uniting under the Los Cabras banner (Spanish for ‘the goats’, by the way), the band has also been creating good impressions beyond the confines of garageland. Their debut EP was a dynamic fusion of heavy chords and daisy-cutting riffs that served notice of their massive potential; a series of finely splenetic live shows saw them establish a devotedly manic fan base, and late last summer they played Witnness after winning a competition on BBC Radio. The band enjoyed a meteoric first six months, for which they thank a collective youth misplaced somewhere in the Belfast underground scene.

“Places like Giros and The Front Page have been brilliant for us to play at and just hang around,” says Graham. “The guys involved in that scene have been putting on local shows and bringing over bands for years. The first time Green Day played in Belfast it was in Richardsons in Waring Street. Bands like At The Drive In and Burning Airlines have all played tiny shows in Belfast years before they became well known. And local bands have always been given a chance to play with them. We have to pay our dues and thank the people responsible for that.”

It’s a tradition that Los Cabras have benefited well from. Since forming they’ve nabbed support slots with name guitar worriers such as Rocket From The Crypt, Clutch, Icarus Line and many others. But while the intentions have been pure, how far does this cooperative spirit really stretch?

“It depends,” says lead singer Jamie Holmes. “There’ve been bands who we really loved, then met, and they’ve been complete dickheads, and crap bands who’ve turned out to be great people. I’m not naming any names but there was one band who were ignorant fuckers to us. Fat American midgets, just being nasty. Graham and me are over 12 foot combined, so they apologised. But wankers. I think you’ve to take them as you find them. It’s great playing with better known acts, but American bands get an easy ride sometimes just because of where they’re from. You can’t feel inferior to them.”

It’s an attitude that served them well during their unexpected call-up to last year’s Witnness Festival. Eschewing 2002’s musical vintage in favour of the delights of the VIP area, Los Cabras claim not to have seen another performance on the bill. Not that it curtailed their enjoyment.

“The gig went really well,” Jamie admits, “but we didn’t really know anyone down there, so had to occupy ourselves. It was all about free beers in the sauna, trying to get on Groove Armada’s bus and playing football with Badly Drawn Boy. We also had a match against a Stone Roses tribute band at 3 o’clock in the morning, but it got called off after Less Than Jake called security.”

And do our heroes have any problems squaring this shameless ligging with their 4 Real ideals?

“Nah,” says Graham. “I’ve kinda changed my principles recently. Five years ago I probably would have refused to play Witnness because it had corporate backing. But you can’t be hardline all your life – you end up sad, depressed and stuck in your room. I don’t want to be one of these guys who moan about almost making it. Stop whining, live your life. I think we’re a great band and I want as many people to know about us as possible.”