Los Salvadores play an anarchic blend of folk and punk, combining banjos with blast beats and mixing it together with whatever we damn well please. We practise in an air raid shelter in north Kent, which is probably the best place for us. An air raid shelter that is... north Kent isn't the best place for anyone. Los Salvadores started in 2004 when Mafro and Marf decided to form a folk band the like of which the world had never seen. At least you can say they tried. The first few songs were jammed out at the Sheppey Yacht Club with Pete, and Patrick Jones who used to play sax for us back in the day. By January 2005 the rest of the band had collected together and we started writing proper songs. The band has since played loads of gigs, including support slots with Neck and The Peacocks. We've also written loads of songs, and released three eps. Unfortunately, Jones escaped at the end of 2005 and became a ski-ing instructor. We are still looking for him, but there isn't a reward or anything. Los Salvadores signed to Corndog Records in spring 2007. They are releasing our first full length album, Attack of the Clones, in early 2008.
Los Salvadores are:
G : Marf : Mafro : Pete : Luke : Huw
G
G sings the songs and gets cross when people mess about at band practice. When he gets cross he goes red and glares at people. The rest of the band usually ignores him.
G plays guitar really badly, so he only plays it on his own. He writes some of the songs and lyrics. They are slightly easier to understand than Marf’s lyrics, but this is not saying much.
He writes most of the crap about Los Salvadores, often using excuses like producing bios to slag off everyone else.
G was the last to join the band, along with Luke, in 2005. They both only did so because they promised when they were drunk and it was Mafro’s birthday.
He likes malt whiskey, arguing, and is quite good at taking photos.
G’s influences are Therapy?, drum ‘n bass, The Cat Empire The Levellers and The Specials.
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Marf
Marf thinks he is in charge. He is probably right. He started Los Salvadores in 2004 with Mafro, and they collected everyone else together over the next six months like toys in cereal packets.
He used to be in Six Stage Suicide, a fat metal band from Sittingbourne. Then he started a post hardcore band called Inside the Mind of Henry Holmes.
Marf also writes and records solo work, the songs he thinks are too good for Los Salvadores. He writes a blog about how annoying everyone else in the band is called reviled.
Marf plays guitar, and writes strange lyrics no-one understands. We suspect he doesn’t either. When he is not playing guitar or writing strange lyrics, Marf is doing things on the internet, or sending rude messages to G and Mafro for being lazy and not booking enough gigs.
Marf also does backing vocals.
He likes the internet, and does all the web coding. He is good at it. He also uses made up words and sounds to communicate. Sometimes Marf is confusing.
His influences are Fugazi, The Levellers, and Monster Magnet.
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Mafro
Mafro spends lots of time tuning up while everyone else shouts at him. He is meant to play mandolin and banjo, but more often than not he is too busy tuning up and being shouted at.
He writes all the mandolin and banjo parts. He also has a bazouki, which is Greek for a cross between a mandolin and a banjo.
Mafro is very tall, and has curly hair like Pete. They look the same because they are sisters. He has the loudest nose in the world. When he snores it sounds like a double decker bus pulling away in the wrong gear.
Mafro is very excitable. Once he held his breath for too long at band practice and passed out in the middle of a song. He didn’t mind though.
He has a house in Sittingbourne where he lives on his own. Unless there is a party of course, when it gets full of other people. We often go there after gigs and get wasted. Luckily, his neighbour is quite deaf.
Mafro goes fishing with Pete. They talk about fishing a lot, but we don’t pay much attention.
Mafro’s influences are Flogging Molly, The Dropkick Murphys, The Pogues and hay fever medicine.
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Pete
Pete often does strange things with no warning. He once ordered 500 folding frisbees from China. He plays keyboard, and sleeps a lot. When he is not doing either, he is playing World of Warcraft. Pete is a wizard.
He also plays cello, and at the beginning, when Marf and Mafro made him be in the band, he played bass.
Pete also likes fishing. He often goes fishing with his sister, Mafro. They come back and tell lies about fish. Really, they just get drunk by a lake and fantasize about hair straighters.
Pete owns the biggest heaviest keyboard in the world. It weighs more than G. He bought a smaller one because he was tired of carrying it to gigs. None of us have ever seen Pete run.
Pete is 6ft 4 and his favorite drink is KFC. This is bad and wrong. Pete’s influences are The Cat Empire, The Mad Caddies and Michael Buble... seriously. Michael Buble.
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Luke
Luke plays bass. His sole aim in the band is to play as many notes as possible as fast as possible as often as possible. Luke refuses to play root notes ever, even when we want him to. He writes all the bass lines.
Luke likes junk food and going very fast on massive motorbikes. He does not like speed cameras; he eats too quickly.
Luke joined the band in 2004 after Mafro told him to when they were drunk. Luke can't drive a car, but is obsessed with buying massive bass rigs he can't get anywhere.
Like all bassists, Luke never knows when or where we have gigs, and largely relies on luck to turn up at the right place on the right day. He does not know what the internet is. He thinks it might be a kind of bird.
We tell people Luke has a dungeon at his house in Ashford. He does. We also say he has a peanut head. Sometimes we feel guilty that Luke gets bullied, but it passes.
Luke's influences are The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Korn, and Mudvayne. Yeah, I know.
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Huw
Huw is the drummer. He drinks and smokes and swears, just like it says in the Haynes Manual.
He is kept in an air raid shelter where the rest of the band practise. This is quite convenient as it means he is usually there on time.
He is obsessed with blast beats, double bass drum pedals, and jazz. Huw also does backing vocals. He sometimes has a Norwegian accent because he listens to too much death metal.
Huw joined the band in 2005 after they couldn’t find anyone else. His favourite things in the world are Neighbours, Cutters’ Choice, cider and malt whiskey. All at the same time if possible.
Huw is very good at cooking. He is training to be a chef.
His influences are Pantera, Alter, The Umo Jazz Orchestra and The La’s.
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