Chuck Prophet, the old rocker who was saved by cumbia | Culture

During the worst days of his life, as he waited with toxic uncertainty to discover its severity of his cancerChuck Prophet, 61, could only distract himself with the records in his vinyl collection. During those 14 days, the albums of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Clash, The Band and many others from his extensive collection took on new importance; but unexpectedly he also connected with a record of cumbia hits. “I didn’t know anything about this genre,” the singer and composer confesses via video call from his home in California. “Suddenly my body was craving something like that.”

After two weeks, the doctors told him he had treatable lymphoma, and he breathed a sigh of relief. But his body still yearned for that folkloric sound he had heard, as varied and rich as all the Latin and Caribbean communities where it developed. And so, sick with cancer and facing chemotherapy, Cumbia came into his life and left a mark on his new album: Awaken the dead (Everlasting), which is a significant departure from the classic and alternative rock of which Prophet is such a good representative. The California native and premier composer of the underground scene was the leader of Green On Red, a band that, along with The Long Ryders and Dream Syndicate, helped open a great path known as New American Rock in the late 1980s.

“Cumbia just asks you to get out of bed,” he explains. “It’s not the music an old Anglo man like me usually listens to, the music I would listen to if I had to live in a locked room. Music contained in albums like Third by Big Star; Blue by Joni Mitchell; or Tonight is the night by Neil Young. Very introspective music.”

I knew nothing about this genre, but my body was craving something like this. Cumbia just asks you to get out of bed

Chuck Prophet

While undergoing chemotherapy, Prophet thought he would never make another album in his life. However, the energy of cumbia made him overcome his fears, especially when, as a new fan of the genre in Salinas, he met a band that fascinated him: ¿Qiensave? “It’s a bond that comes from a Mexican family of nine brothers and sisters. When we played a festival together in Southern California a few years ago, they all danced with the crowd. That reminded me of the early days of punk rock,says the musician. “I really enjoyed it. When I started playing, I started as a fan. I went to a punk rock concerts in San Francisco. That’s where I saw Dead Kennedys when I was very young. There was a moment during that concert when there was no dividing line between the audience and the stage. Everything was one. That’s what punk was about. The audience and the musicians dressed the same and could express themselves in the same way they looked.” Cumbia, according to Prophet, offers the same unifying force as punk, and in this case it is music that comes from the city of Salinas, ‘a forgotten part of California, the land of John Steinbeck’, where the neediest helped each other. other in a community.

Awaken the dead is an eclectic album in which this musician, with a talent for creating fast rock songs, manages to unite rock with cumbia and diverse sounds, creating a broader and more danceable palette. He does it like his admired The Clash, the most restless and exploratory punk rock band of all time. “I’ve spent a lot of time in my life listening to The Clash. Especially the album Call London. It’s a masterpiece. That album was a kind of medicine that served as a bridge to a philosophy,” he says. “If the message of punk was that anyone could pick up an instrument and start a band, then with The Clash and that album the message was that once you put that band together you could play any kind of music no matter where your inspiration came from came. by. The same goes for my album and cumbia.”

His cancer is “100% gone” after a year of treatment, he says. “I’ve changed as a person, I think I’m a little nicer now,” he confesses. He also has many more records in his possession. Overcoming the disease has made him realize that he wants to have a better collection. He moves the camera and shows some albums. His latest acquisitions are the new works by Los Destellos, “a great band from Peru”, Ezra Furman and Los Hijos del Sol. Bob Dylan is there tooseen in a painting hanging in the room. “I love Bob Dylan,” he says. “He gives me peace of mind, he always gives me more than I ask for. For example, I recently saw a video of him playing percussion with a key with the microphone and it was a joy to watch. I love this old Bob with all his records. The other day I was listening Modern times and I stopped at Thunder on the mountain. I sat there all alone and thought, ‘What is this?’ It’s the English language at its best, and it’s also a blues song. How exciting.”

Will a rock band take over the crown? “There’s always talk about streaming music killing musicians. But I see a lot of people walking around with headphones in their ears. They all listen to music! Maybe the guitar doesn’t fit in those ears like it used to, but I’m not worried. The interesting thing is to get an idea of ​​what a singer should look like. Does he have to be like James Taylor, Townes Van Zandt or Guy Clark just because he sings about a certain America with an acoustic guitar? Does this mean Peaches can’t be either? There are all kinds of musicians because there are so many different styles, and I like all the different ones.”

Chuck Prophet laughs loudly and speaks passionately. Cancer is now a thing of the past and from the living room of his house he can be seen surrounded by plates. The man changed by the disease leaves one last thought before saying goodbye: “If you get up in the morning and are interested in what you do, I think you are a happy person. You have to find something that interests you. Whether it’s music, Bob Dylan, family, work… that’s what I learned. And I consider myself a lucky person. I swear.”

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