Photo by Dwight Marshall courtesy The Iguanas
The Iguanas
The Iguanas
For more than 30 years, the Iguanas have brought their party-ready mix of musical styles from New Orleans, Texas and Mexico—and from wherever else and whatever else thrilled them—to audiences across America.
And they’ve managed to do it with the same “four dudes,” says saxophonist and bajo sexto player Joe Cabral. The Iguanas, who also include Rene Corman (bass, and keyboards), Doug Garrison (drums and percussion) and Rod Hodges (guitar and accordion), play Shank Hall on Friday.
But through all those thousands of performances, the band continues to find new ways to find excitement in their music.
“It’s pretty fascinating to have these songs go into this bag, and it is what it is at that time,” says Cabral. “It’s like, ‘Oh, yeah. OK, cool. That was interesting. Wow, that never happened before, even though we played it a thousand times before.’ It’s beautiful that we’re able to dig and unearth aspects of these things that are there but don’t always come out.”
In addition, being veterans of the New Orleans music scene and its traditions is special, Cabral says, but he does not see it as a static concept.
“You wake up every day a new person, and so it’s like, hey, this is the new stuff inside the old stuff.,” he says.
“There are these things that are given, but they also allow for a lot of other stuff to be brought in and also that you can bring out of it.”
While the Iguanas have not visited Milwaukee for several years, the band is well known in the city, playing frequently at outdoor festivals including Bastille Days and Summerfest.
Favorite Milwaukeeans
Cabral calls Paul Cebar one of the band’s “favorite Milwaukeeans.” With Cebar as their tour guide, they have shared food and wine and tried out accordions. The Iguanas also share a booking agent with the Milwaukee musician and will play with Cebar’s Tomorrow Sound in Minneapolis on Sunday.
It has been nearly a decade since the Iguanas’ last full-length album, Juarez. They backed Memphis musician Will Sexton for 2020’s Don’t Walk the Darkness, but support for the album was limited because of the pandemic. In recent years, the band has released singles with New Orleans musician Alex McMurray.
Cabral says the band is working “in the direction” of a new album, but they are not in a rush to release an album just to do so. The songs they are working on are consistent with past Iguanas efforts.
“We’re not reinventing the wheel and probably aren’t going to have a marked departure from what you typically hear in the Iguanas, which for us means danceability, a groove, perhaps a message,” he says. “But it’s the marriage of all these ideas that results in a good song. That’s the goal. To get some good songs out there that people dig and strike a chord with all kinds of people.”
Movie and television creators have long dug the sound and songs of the Iguanas. The band’s music has appeared on shows like “Homicide: Life on the Streets” and “Bosch,” and movies including Varsity Blues and Fools Rush In.
“We have a sound, and we have a vibe, and it’s palpable. People come to us for what sounds like the Iguanas, and that’s what we like,” Cabal says.
Identity, Longevity
The Iguanas feel a connection with bands like NRBQ, the Sun Ra Arkestra, and the Skeletons, who introduced them to the song “Waiting for the Gin to Hit Me,” a song originally done by Ronnie Self that the band recorded for 2012’s Sin to Sin.
“Bands that have identity and longevity, they are heroes to us,” he says. “That’s the stuff, something to aspire to.”
How have the Iguanas stayed together all these years?
“It’s a love of music. It’s a common ground,” he says. “We’re all fans of good music. We have similar tastes, but everyone will bring something of their own to the table. A lot of respect. That goes a long way.”
But really?
“We don’t share rooms, and we don’t necessarily need to sit next to each other on the airplane,” he says.
The Iguanas perform at 8 p.m. Friday, July 21, Shank Hall. Jim Hoehn opens.
