Troker

Description

If Salvador Dali ever made a heist movie, then Mexico’s Troker would have been the soundtrack. Their sound careens between the sublime and the dangerous, turning on a dime to switch from precise and complex to wild and free. To do that, the six-piece group has created a blend of the composed and the improvised, where metal riffage merges with powerhouse funk drumming and DJ scratching, and horn lines pull from jazz and the mariachi tradition of the band’s homeland. As a contemporary expression of the Mexican music scene, Troker exports its art from the land of tequila to the world.

The beginning

From its conception, Troker was an initiative to do things differently, something like a laboratory to try new concepts and to have fun. The idea came from Samo and Frankie, bassist and drummer, who met halfway between the cities of Zamora and Salamanca, in the classrooms of the Conservatory de Las Rosas in Morelia; But their story together, really began when they decide to leave their classical training to explore with other genres back in 1996.

Armed with old instruments of dubious quality, they manage to form their first rock band - already with some dyes of jazz - called Evamalva. Contrary to what one might think of a first band, the compositions they recorded on their only album - Blue Paradiso- are a gem that is worth bragging about. Seeking for luck, they moved to Guadalajara in 2003, a Mexican city with a good music scene but live from a rock band was not that easy, so they switched plans and started performing some jazz covers and after a few weeks their own new compositions. This is how Troker began, playing every night in different bars and restaurants of Guadalajara and did so, without rest, for 3 years.

Troker -word invented from the concept of a powerful truck– started with a very clear artistic needs: to be instrumental and guided by jazz, but clearly not traditional; Something more dirty and greasy, a kind of jazz to be heard by a truck driver. They started with bass, drums, sax and turntables; Shortly the band’s lineup was completed with trumpet and keyboards, and then compositions using jazz as a pretext to mix it with other genres such as progressive, funk, hiphop, put the audience around the world to spin. With their debut album "Jazz Vinyl" (2007) Troker was no longer just this pair of friends, they became a collective of creative musicians.

Getting out there

With only few compositions recorded, they shared stage with some of the best international jazz bands whom the admire like with Medeski, Martin & Wood, Sex Mob, Lounge Lizards and Coung Vu. A long story was to be written; In 2010 with their second album titled "El Rey del Camino” or The King of the Road -making reference to the truck driver-, they performed for the first time in Colombia at the prestigious festival Jazz al Parque with a resounding success. In 2011 they were invited to a Music Expo in Medellin and Troker left the audience in awe; That is when they got invited to one of the world's most important festivals, the Glastonbury to performed in the 2013 edition. Musically well armed and with support from the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (Fonca), Troker was able to arrive in Europe to make their debut at the mythical English festival, their music was so well received that they invited them back to the 2014 edition, becoming the first band in repeat Glastonbury's West Holts Stage in consecutive years.

"Troker is world-class, 21st century future jazz, and I love them for that," said Steve Symons, Artistic Programmer at the Glastonbury Festival.

Now days

If there is something that excites the Troker, it’s people carrying Mexican flags during their concerts. From the land of tequila to the world, Troker can be considered one of the most important Mexican exporters of new music, with a sound that careens between the sublime and the dangerous, provoking the listening with a mixture of jazz, progressive rock and dj scratching that seems to come from the future, as well as from the popular mariachi tradition. Nowadays it is a band that counts on an enviable work team, directed by Ana Rodriguez manager and leader of Fijate que Suave, a partnership with Troker’s founders Samo & Frankie, dedicated to culture and arts among with the coordination of Troker’s agencies in Mexico, United States, Canada, Brazil and Europe; They also offer event production, communication and logistics services. 2016 was a great year for them, they had the most extensive tour through the United States they have ever have; Definitely an achievement to highlight was their participation at the Monterey Jazz Festival in California, one of the top 10 jazz festivals in the world. They also made their debut at the Transatlantic Festival in Miami along with Beirut, performed at the New Orleans Center for Contemporary Art and their concert at New York's Winter Jazz Festival, was selected One of the best concerts in NYC during 2015 by The New York City Jazz Record. Actually Troker’s values are more likely established as a family than coworkers, maybe this has been the formula for producing highly creative and authentic music.

Albums

Troker on Spotify

EPs

Members

Ex- Members

Countries visited

United Kingdom | Spain | Germany | Austria | France | Slovenia | United States | Switzerland | Colombia | Costa Rica | Haiti | Scotland | Italy | Portugal | Canada | Brazil

Quotes