London-based, pan-continental female instrumental four-piece Los Bitchos share new single and video, “Pista (Fresh Start)” taken from their debut album, Let The Festivities Begin!, released on 4th February 2022 via City Slang Records.
Los Bitchos, share their latest single and video, “Pista (Fresh Start)”. The whooping, hollering single which sounds like William Onyeabor discovering cumbia, is accompanied by a video, the final in a trilogy from director Tom Mitchell.
The band said the following about the song and video:
“We are so excited to put out this track. Some people may recognise it and we hope you enjoy the sassy makeover we gave it for the album.
The video transports you to our life in witness protection following our game show/court room victory - the good life and new beginnings. Things aren’t quite what they seem though...
We had so much fun shooting this video and didn’t want to leave our cosy, wholesome nest!
Thank you to Dario Argento and Are you afraid of the dark? for inspiring the final instalment
of this trilogy.”
“Pista (Fresh Start)” is the third single to be shared from the band’s much anticipated debut album, Let The Festivities Begin!, released 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 “Good To Go!”, with its irresistibly chilled-out tiki lounge vibe and a very fun video directed by Tom Mitchell, featuring the band and Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand.
Other singles from the album include the disco-funk prowler, "Las Panteras", which The Observer described as "a disco-funk workout from the rising London four-piece", Clash called a “deliriously infectious kind of disco meets punk meets cumbia anthem-in-waiting”, and GuitarWorld “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.
“And we bring out the best in each other, too.”
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 1.6 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, which also includes a Rough Trade East instore in London on 9th February, are listed below.
Feb 09
Rough Trade East (Instore)
London, UK
Feb 15 The Joiners Southampton, UK
Feb 16 Gorilla Manchester, UK
Feb 17 Brudenell Social Club Leeds, UK
Feb 18 Stereo Glasgow, UK
Feb 19 The Crescent York, UK
Feb 20 District Liverpool, UK
Feb 22 The Workman's Club Dublin, Ireland
Feb 24 Hare and Hounds Birmingham, UK
Feb 25 Exchange Bristol Bristol, UK
Feb 26 Patterns Brighton, UK
Mar 02 Scala London, UK
Apr 07 Merleyn Nijmegen, Netherlands
Apr 08 Paradiso Kleine Zaal Amsterdam, Netherlands
Apr 09 LA MAROQUINERIE Paris, France
Apr 15 LAUT Barcelona, Spain
Apr 16 CONNEXION LIVE Toulouse, France
Apr 19 Circolo Magnolia Segrate, Italy
Apr 20 Bogen F Zürich, Switzerland
Apr 21 Milla Munich, Germany
Apr 23 Urban Spree Berlin, Germany
Apr 24 Molotow Skybar Hamburg, Germany
Apr 26 Hus 7 Stockholm, Sweden
Apr 27 Ingensteds Oslo Oslo, Norway
Apr 28 Oceanen Gothenburg, Sweden
Apr 29 Plan B Malmö, Sweden
Apr 30 Stengade Copenhagen, Denmark
May 02 Bumann & Sohn Cologne, Germany
May 03 Botanique - Grand Salon Brussels, Belgium
May 04 AERONEF Lille, France
May 05 LE 106 Rouen, France
May 06 UBU Rennes, France
May 07 La Lune des Pirates Amiens, France
May 26 Arena Berlin Berlin, Germany
May 27 Hydrozagadka Warsaw, Poland
May 29 Chapeau Rouge Prague, Czech Republic
May 30 Dürer Kert Budapest, Hungary
May 31 Fluc Wanne Vienna, Austria
Jun 02 Parc del Fòrum Barcelona, Spain
Jun 02 Club Manufaktur Schorndorf, Germany
Jun 05 Parc del Fòrum Barcelona, Spain
Aug 25 Domaine National De Saint Cloud Saint Cloud, France
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