The London-based, pan-continental female instrumental four-piece, Los Bitchos, share new single and video, “Good To Go!”, taken from their debut album, Let The Festivities Begin!, released on 4th February 2022 via City Slang Records.
Featuring an irresistibly chilled-out tiki lounge vibe, “Good To Go!” comes accompanied by a very fun video directed by Tom Mitchell and featuring the band and Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand.
Los Bitchos said the following of the video:
“Trapped in a surreal courtroom gameshow and spinning the wheel of fortune for our freedom.
This song has always made us think of a 70s game show with its light, fun mood coupled with an intriguing western style intro.
We got all our friends to be our jury and our producer Alex to host/judge the show. We had so much fun making this video.”
“Good To Go!” is the second single to be shared from the band’s much anticipated debut album, Let The Festivities Begin!, set for release on 4th February 2022 via City Slang Records. The album was produced by Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand in Gallery Studios, London, the recording space owned by Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music.
It follows the release of the disco-funk prowler, "Las Panteras", which The Observer described as "a disco-funk workout from this rising London four-piece", called a “deliriously infectious kind of disco meets punk meets cumbia anthem-in-waiting”, and Guitar World “irresistibly danceable” as part of their Essential Guitar Tracks of the Week.
Los Bitchos are very possibly your new favourite party band, with instrumental voyages that evoke scenes of swaggering into a desert saloon bar and setting alight to a row of flaming sambucas, or riding shotgun with a Tarantino heroine, or having the fiesta of your lives under a giant piñata with all your friends. They’re the girl gang you definitely wouldn’t mind being stuck on a tour bus with.
Serra Petale (guitar), Agustina Ruiz (keytar), Josefine Jonsson (bass) and Nic Crawshaw (drums) hail from different parts of the world but met via all-night house parties, or through friends. Their unique sound binds them together, taking in a retro-futuristic blend of Peruvian chicha, Argentine cumbia, Turkish psych and surf guitars. It’s not unlike if Khruangbin – their spiritual cousins, who are fans of Los Bitchos – spent a night getting slammed on cheap mezcal at the Shacklewell Arms in Dalston.
“I wanted to sound like Van Halen and Cocteau Twins – but from Turkey,”
says multi-instrumentalist Serra, who was born herself in Western Australia and takes a lot of inspiration from her mother’s 70s Anatolian rock records. The rest of the band bring influences from their upbringings, too. Agustina comes from Uruguay and the group fell in love with her Latin-American music collection (as much as they did Madonna’s ‘La Isla Bonita’ period). Then there’s Josefine from Sweden –
“who brings a touch of out-of-control pop,”
her bandmates joke – and Nic from south London, who drummed in various punk bands before rounding off Los Bitchos.
“Coming from all these different places,”
says Serra,
“it means we’re not stuck in one genre and we can rip up the rulebook a bit when it comes to our influences.”
Los Bitchos finished recording the album right before the pandemic hit. They kept momentum going during lockdown with their radio show, Planet Bitchos, on esteemed internet station Worldwide FM, which ‘hits the road’ every month to explore a new far-flung corner of the globe. It was a welcome respite in particular for Nic, who was swept up with her job as a physiotherapist working on the NHS frontline.
“Even in times of adversity, everyone's strength has been really inspiring,”
says Agustina.
The band’s live performance for KEXP, which was recorded in France during the 2019 Trans Musicales festival, was let loose last March and has since racked up over 1.5 million views, evidencing their knack for a bun-tight groove, the ease of their rhythm section and their penchant for percussion: timbales, bongos, shakers and cowbells all star.
Let The Festivities Begin! is a maximal, Technicolour strut of an album of hallucinatory surf-exotica, with a celebratory title, something you might say as you toast with your shot glass, signalling the end of the pandemic era and ushering in a bright new dawn of wild abandon.
“It’s about being together and having a really good time,”
say Los Bitchos. Let the festivities begin!
Following live shows as special guests of Mac DeMarco, plus standout performances at Green Man, Latitude and a sold out show at London’s Moth Club, Los Bitchos, who are renowned for their incredibly fun live shows, will tour the UK in February 2022 with a London headline show at The Scala on Wednesday 2nd March 2022. Full tour dates are listed below.
15.02.22 UK Southampton, Joiners
16.02.22 UK Manchester, Gorilla
17.02.22 UK Leeds, Brudenell
18.02.22 UK Glasgow, Stereo
19.02.22 UK York, The Crescent
20.02.22 UK Liverpool, District
22.02.22 IRL Dublin, Workman's Club
24.02.22 UK Birmingham, Hare & Hounds
25.02.22 UK Bristol, Exchange
26.02.22 UK Brighton, Patterns
27.02.22 UK Margate, Elsewhere
02.03.22 UK London, Scala
07.04.22 NL Nijmegen, Merleyn
08.04.22 NL Amsterdam, Paradiso
09.04.22 FR Paris, La Maroquinerie
11.04.22 FR Bordeaux, Iboat
12.04.23 ES San Sebastian, Sala Dabadaba
13.04.22 ES Madrid, Moby Dick
15.04.22 ES Barcelona, Laut
16.04.22 FR Toulouse, Le Connexion
19.04.22 IT Milan, Magnolia
20.04.22 CH Zurich, Bogen F
21.04.22 DE Munich, Milla
23.04.22 DE Berlin, Urban Spree
24.04.22 DE Hamburg, Molotow
26.04.22 SE Stockholm, Hus7
27.04.22 NO Ingensteds, Oslo
28.04.22 SE Goteborg, Oceanen
29.04.22 SE Malmo, Plan B
30.04.22 DK Copenhagen, Stengade
02.05.22 DK Cologne, Bumann & Sohn
03.05.22 BE Brussels, Nuits Botanique
04.05.22 FR Lille, Aeronef
05.05.22 FR Rouen, Le 106
06.05.22 FR Rennes, Ubu
07.05.22 FR Amiens, La Lune des Pirates,
26.05.22 DE Berlin, Desertfest
27.05.22 PL Warsaw, Hydrozagadka
29.05.22 CZ Prague, Chapeau Rouge
30.05.22 HU Budapest, Dürer Kert
31.05.22 AT Vienna, Fluc Wanne
01.06.22 DE Augsburg, City Club
02.06.22 DE Schorndorf, Club Manufaktur
07.06.22 ES Barcelona, Primavera Sound
26.08.22 FR Paris, Rock En Seine