'Los Minstrels Del Diablo' … Devil is in the Details
Posted: 2/14/2008

Detroit’s own Los Minstrels Del Diablo, a duo created by Pete Coe and Jason McCombs, performed at The Belmont in Hamtramck to a full crowd. Despite the familiarity of the audience with the duo, there were verbal utterances and loud roars of support that were heard throughout the show.

The duo performs a live blend of techno and industrial interspersed with touches of dub and ambient, but the real life that is breathed into the music comes from its accompanying live visuals. They perform with a projection screen of distorted and edited visual clips that match the momentum of the music. They also have samples of voices or sounds that match the clips that are mixed in with the music that made the entire performance like a story weaved together.

Los Minstrels Del Diablo were donning their usual attire that adds an eerie element to their performance. Matching black suits, red ties and a skeleton mask make the focus entirely on the music and add a character to their motions.

The themes of the night went from fear and horror to political statements made about the President and the manufacturing and use of arms in America, but the duo isn’t without elements of humor to lighten the tone of the night. The use of images has always been one of the main prerogatives of performing. "Visuals have always been important to me", says Pete. "As a painter and illustrator, I used to do a lot of artwork to music, and performing our music with video is much like painting and sculpting with sights and sounds". Members of the audience were very responsive to the performance, being quiet and thoughtful during the deeper moments of the show and playing into the jokes of the night. The best example of this is with the portion of their show titled "'Theatre Bizarre Screams', which features a lot of our friends, well, screaming" explained Pete, when that song came on members of the audience began screaming along with the people screaming on screen.

The show had seven years of research behind it, which made it a unique experience that had created a loyal following that was present at the show. Their gear is put together in a customized way specifically for their performance style; they also have a hand in the development of the actual software that they use. They do more than just push buttons behind their set up, Pete also steps out and does drumming on a pad that triggers specific video image sequences and sounds that match.

The name for the duo can be somewhat misleading when it comes to expectations for their performances. "The Minstrels of the Devil", laughed Jason, "the name originated from Theatre Bizarre, which is a massive Halloween event that we started to DJ at in 2000. The name was made for its 'Halloween' feel, and it stayed on with us. As for the name being in Spanish, well... it sounded better in Spanish! Since the groups inception, we've grown into what we are today, performing our own original musical works, and not DJ'ing. We are not DJ's, not anymore," finished Jason.

They have another show this Friday, February 15th that benefits the victims of fire at Forest Arms Apartments, all of the proceeds from the show go to benefit the cause. So go and see a live audio-visual performance that also features and A Stowaway performing live, and DJs milieu, dirty D, Cirque and JOHNb as well as the resident People’s Records DJs that will support the local community. The benefit will be from 7:00pm until 2:00am at the Atwater Block Brewery, 237 Joseph Campau, Detroit, MI.

'Los Minstrels Del Diablo' currently have three CDs released, comprised of sets performed at Theatre Bizarre. There is also a DVD showcasing their live performance as captured at The Magic Stick. You can find them at their website, 'www.LMDDAV.com', as well as on 'www.myspace.com/losminstrelsdeldiablo'.

- Ashley Star

Ashley@detroitfashionpages.com

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COMMENTS

Submitted by Los Minstrels Del Diablo on 2/29/2008 8:10:43 AM
Thank you for our article. Please visit http://www.LMDDAV.com and check our Gallery for more photos from our Belmont set.