For a little over ten years, Dos Santos continues to be one of Chicago’s prominent alt-Latinx bands. Consisting of Alex Chavez, Daniel Villarreal, Jaime Garza, Nathan Karagianis and Peter Vale. They all continue to bring their exploration of progressive experimental latin rhythms to the stage
Collaboration
I have known Dos Santos solely in their intimate community shows in the the Pilsen/Little Village neighborhoods when I was exploring the latin indie music scene in the beginning of my photo career. It was a show at the Double Door I finally introduced myself in 2015 through Sonorama Discos who released their first single that night “Corre Caballo”. I recently just found their photos from that night going through my drives to redo my site.
We continued to stay in contact and through a “DM” as they say these days on Instagram, we coordinated our first photoshoot in August 2016.
Dos Santos was the first band I ever photographed professionally in my career in Chicago. We planned to meet at their rehearsal building and shoot around the area. These photos were used for all promotional needs for the band and later to start promoting their new album Logos.
Each member of Dos Santos come from different backgrounds and musical studies. From Panama to Mexico to Puerto Rico to Texas. Daniel is coming from a punk rock background which he grew up playing in Panama. Pete is the salsa man of the group hence the congas. Nate has a background of jazz and electronic. While Jaime & Alex studies come from traditional Mexican folkloric jarocho musical styles. These merger of different styles make what Dos Santos is today and what makes them stand out.
After our first shoot, we knew we still wanted to work with each other continuing into their new album Logos which was their first album with their new label International Anthem in 2017. I was able to document part of their album recording in the neighborhood of Bridgeport which was the hub for all recordings. The album finally came out in 2018.
Through the years I attended any Dos Santos show I could and even documented them going to SXSW in Austin, Texas. Thats where I started photographing the band in instant film and trying new ways to capture the latino music scene in different ways. Having a tangible photo in my hand I found very important in the preservation of latino music history. Not just digital data of 0’s and 1’s in the internet world where there is so much of.
Here on this page shows what I was able to document with Dos Santos so when future generations ask who made that song or who that band in the photo is. I can say well funny story……
