Photo by Blaine Schultz
Os Mutantes at the Cactus Club
Os Mutantes at the Cactus Club
“Rats!! See them—rats!”
Emerging from the green room and pointing at the floor, was Sérgio Dias already playing the trickster or was something else at play as he and Os Mutantes were guided through the audience to the stage Monday night at Cactus Club?
Time? Space? Both are nice ideas that serve a purpose but neither seemed to matter much to the Brazilian psychedelic-Tropicalia band that began in the late ‘60s and was noticed as much for its music as reaction to that country’s dictatorship.
“We create reality from a Fool Metal Jacket,” Dias said referencing the title that also serves as an ongoing mission statement. Battling voice problems all evening, Dias led the group through a set that began with him playing 12-string guitar on songs that would have fit easily on a playlist among vintage Byrds, Love, Buffalo Springfield and a thousand garage bands whose names we will never know. “I used to have a Rickenbacker and it sucked!” he said referring to the folk-jangle sound. “This is an Eastwood—never heard of it and it’s great!”
Midway through the set the sound had moved to hard rock, echoing the evolution of the band and its influences notably The Beatles. His Stratocaster and swirling chorus sound amped up the intensity. Dias’ black spangled jacket couldn’t have been more perfect, as framed by Cactus Club’s distinctive Op Art back drop.
As a foil, vocalist Esmeria Bulgari balanced the stage, adding additional percussion and playfully interacting with Dias. Other members of the sextet moved in and out of the sound in support of the songs, some of which were likely written before they were born.
At 71, Dias seems to vibrate a higher frequency than many of us. Recalling his adopted home of Las Vegas when pandemic hit, he recalled the eeriness of seeing no lights on the strip and thought, “Here is the chance for the world to come together to fight a common enemy. Boy was I wrong!”
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