Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The TJ Cliché

TJ/San Diego band Electric Healing Sound: “We don’t hide our influences.”
TJ/San Diego band Electric Healing Sound: “We don’t hide our influences.”

“We knew it from the get-go,” says Electric Healing Sound rhythm guitarist Ricky Soltero when I refer to the Velvet Underground. “We even cover ‘Waiting for My Man’ live. We don’t hide our influences.”

Soltero came to the States from Mexico in the third grade and grew up in San Ysidro.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“I’ve been called pocho once or twice,” Soltero laughs over a beer at the Star Bar.

Fellow San Diegan Aldair Cerezo plays lead guitar and is joined by bassist Eric Curiel and drummer Cesar Ortiz, both Tijuana natives.

“We take advantage of the San Diego-Tijuana thing,” Soltero says. “Up here we are a TJ band. Down there we’re a San Diego band. People like it.”

Since their first gig last September at El Burro Reyado in Tijuana, Electric Healing Sound has been bringing San Diego bands such as Shiva Trash, Baghdad, and the Last Years to play south of the border.

“I want to get rid of the old clichés about Tijuana,” Soltero says. “If you go looking for trouble, yeah, you’ll find trouble. But Revolución and [Calle] Sexta is really chill. There are really good musicians down there, and it’s ridiculous that nobody knows about them.”

Stringent visa laws aside, Tijuana bands hesitate to play in San Diego because “they feel like they’ll get ripped off. There are places in TJ who’ll charge cover and won’t even give you a free beer. So, we started boycotting those places and playing other venues who give us drinks all night.”

“There’s a weird thing going on in Mexico,” says bassist Eric Curiel. “People get really excited when something from outside happens. That’s why we’re bringing San Diego bands down there. It keeps it exciting.”

“There’s a thriving scene down there,” Soltero says. “People are coming to our shows and being inspired. Bands spring up and ask to play. They open doors for us, and that’s the only way we will get our scene started. At the Dragon Rojo gig with Shiva Trash, we couldn’t even move. I’m looking a guy in the face while singing. They haven’t heard music like that in a long time.”

Band songs

Electric Healing Sound

More

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Born & Raised offers a less decadent Holiday Punch

Cognac serves to lighten the mood
Next Article

Memories of bonfires amid the pits off Palm

Before it was Ocean View Hills, it was party central
TJ/San Diego band Electric Healing Sound: “We don’t hide our influences.”
TJ/San Diego band Electric Healing Sound: “We don’t hide our influences.”

“We knew it from the get-go,” says Electric Healing Sound rhythm guitarist Ricky Soltero when I refer to the Velvet Underground. “We even cover ‘Waiting for My Man’ live. We don’t hide our influences.”

Soltero came to the States from Mexico in the third grade and grew up in San Ysidro.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“I’ve been called pocho once or twice,” Soltero laughs over a beer at the Star Bar.

Fellow San Diegan Aldair Cerezo plays lead guitar and is joined by bassist Eric Curiel and drummer Cesar Ortiz, both Tijuana natives.

“We take advantage of the San Diego-Tijuana thing,” Soltero says. “Up here we are a TJ band. Down there we’re a San Diego band. People like it.”

Since their first gig last September at El Burro Reyado in Tijuana, Electric Healing Sound has been bringing San Diego bands such as Shiva Trash, Baghdad, and the Last Years to play south of the border.

“I want to get rid of the old clichés about Tijuana,” Soltero says. “If you go looking for trouble, yeah, you’ll find trouble. But Revolución and [Calle] Sexta is really chill. There are really good musicians down there, and it’s ridiculous that nobody knows about them.”

Stringent visa laws aside, Tijuana bands hesitate to play in San Diego because “they feel like they’ll get ripped off. There are places in TJ who’ll charge cover and won’t even give you a free beer. So, we started boycotting those places and playing other venues who give us drinks all night.”

“There’s a weird thing going on in Mexico,” says bassist Eric Curiel. “People get really excited when something from outside happens. That’s why we’re bringing San Diego bands down there. It keeps it exciting.”

“There’s a thriving scene down there,” Soltero says. “People are coming to our shows and being inspired. Bands spring up and ask to play. They open doors for us, and that’s the only way we will get our scene started. At the Dragon Rojo gig with Shiva Trash, we couldn’t even move. I’m looking a guy in the face while singing. They haven’t heard music like that in a long time.”

Band songs

Electric Healing Sound

More

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Reader writer Chris Ahrens tells the story of Windansea

The shack is a landmark declaring, “The best break in the area is out there.”
Next Article

At Comedor Nishi a world of cuisines meet for brunch

A Mexican eatery with Japanese and French influences
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader