Black Mambas: Bell Gardens' Best

Eddie Cochran moved to Bell Gardens, CA in 1953, but little did he know that 60 years later, rock n' roll would still be alive and well in his adopted city in the form of the Black Mambas! With Michael Prince on vocals, Dorian Chavez on guitar, Leroy Martinez on drums and Eric Martinez on bass, the Black Mambas are a revved up rockin' good ride that keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way through their set.

Their debut self titled CD and a 45 single "Baby, I'll Give It To You" came out in 2013 on Wild Records, who describe them as a 4 piece rock & roll band playing first wave punk. Rodney Bingenheimer has said "they have a Rolling Stones-meets-Iggy and The Stooges way about them. Very blusey side of the Stones vibe, with an edge of garage". And they were described by Chris Ziegler, editor of LA Record, as "staggering into 1976 with gutter-glam songs and dawn-of-punk velocity and attitude".

I was introduced to the band through promoter Asia Muka, who's enthusiasm for them was so great, I took note. I caught up with Eric Martinez recently and the following interview with him, along with shots I took of the band at their record release party at the Cochran Club last year, provides a small peek into the world of the Black Mambas! 

Their Gonna Give it to You!

Julie Pavlowski Green
May 10, 2014

How did the Black Mambas form?

Eric Martinez: We are all from our home town of Bell Gardens and went to high school together. We’ve all known each other from different circle of friends and all met up partying. Eventually Michael and Dorian started the Black Mambas with just vocals and guitar. They later recruited Leroy on drums and started playing as a 3 piece. They went through a couple of bass players but for some reason it never worked out. I was on the brink of breaking up with my previous band and took the opportunity to join the Mambas and eventually made it my permanent band and so it began.

Tell us something we don’t know about your hometown!

EM: We’ll for one thing it’s not very special haha other than Eddie Cochran living there decades ago. It’s a predominantly Hispanic city South-East of LA. It’s fairly unknown but we take pride in the fact that we are from there. There aren’t many bands (if any) that come out of here.

You have a dedicated following. Have they been with you from the start?

Michael Prince

EM: Definitely, a lot of our fans have seen the band grow and change and almost all of them we consider our friends.

Being compared to the likes of Slaughter & The Dogs, Real Kids and Stooges you must have been turned onto 70’s punk at some point. How did you get hooked on Rock n’ roll and who is your favorite all time band?

EM: The great thing about coming from a small town is that you get to know most of the people your age group. We were all into music and that was the main reason we even bothered to try and get to know each other in the first place, haha. We all discovered a different and new band and just shared that excitement. I went through my fazes as a kid listening to different types of music but it wasn’t until a friend of mine came into our high school art class, popped out his CD player and played “Money” from The Kids. The steadiness of the drums, the gritty guitar and catchy lyrics, I was blown away. I felt as if it was the sound I’ve been looking for my entire life. After that Rock n’ Roll was just inevitable. I can’t speak for the rest of the guys but I am sure our situations where all the same …oh and the Stooges. Stooges, man.

Dorian Chavez

What has been your most memorable show so far?

EM: Well the ones we can remember Hahaha There were a couple. We had a show at the Five Star Bar in Downtown LA one night and it was when the Occupy LA movement was happening. We were unloading our equipment down the street and I was the last one. As soon as I got to the corner the cops blocked the entire street. I had no way of getting pass the yellow line to the bar and it was literally 5 steps away! The cops were being dicks though. I literally had to walk down to 2^nd street from Main and back up Figueroa to sneak through. I felt like some special ops agent sneaking in between the cops. I made it through haha there ain’t no yellow lines that can stop rock n’ roll!

You guys have a full length out on Wild Records. Tell us a story about either a song on the record or the production of the record.

EM:The record has been out since November of last year. We had an amazing record release party down at the Cochran Club in Bell Gardens. That’s where we met you Julie! The production was really simple, stripped down and raw. That’s usually how Wild Records does their recordings. Plus some added whiskey for good measure. There isn’t much of a story to our songs, their mostly about having a good time, drinking, sex and partying. Plus some covers.

Eric Martinez

Who produced your new record?

EM: Mr. Reb Kennedy and Omar Romero of Wild Records.

How did you get hooked up with Wild Records?

EM: We were introduced to Reb through our friends from The Hurricanes. We’ve met them will playing a few gigs down in Santa Ana. They recommended Reb check us out and he liked our sound and asked us to join the label and so we did. At first we we’re a bit confused about his interest being that the label is known to have more rockabilly artist but it’s all rock n roll anyway and we’d like being the odd band out of the label. It gives us street cred.

Are you guys related?

EM: Why, cuz’ we’re Mexican? Just kidding. No, we are not but we do consider ourselves brothers. People think Leroy and I are since we have the same last name. But no, he came out of some other womb.

Leroy Martinez

If you’re not a snake or a dance, what are you?

EM: BLACK MAMBAS! There are lot of people that get confused from where we got our name. If you look up what a Black Mamba is and why its deadly, then you’d know why we are the one and only Black Mambas.

Have you seen the ghost of Eddie Cochran at the American Legion Hall? 

EM: Yeah, every time we play the Legion. Through Dorian’s guitar playing and Michael's singing!

Are you going on a European tour soon? If so, where and who are you playing with?

EM: Yes! It is being booked as we speak. It should be at the end of August beginning of September. At the moment there aren’t any names yet. I won’t be joining unfortunately but our friend Bobby who sat in for The Ladykillers from the UK on our tour last month will be filling in for me.

What was the first record you ever bought?

EM: Let’s see the first record had to be…Dead Kennedy's “Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death” when I was about 13 years old.

           

Tell us an Asia Muka story.

EM: She interviewed us a while back at a bar in Hollywood, she had this toy microphone that lit up that we thought was weird, haha. We we’re having a good time, having some brews only to turn out her camera was never recording, hahaha, it was great tho. There was also this time we played for one of her events and she decided to throw her heel at us, I think she wanted to see some blood. Asia is great. She’s always been a big supporter of our band and is a unique soul with the true passion for Rock n’ Roll. The scene would be a lot livelier if there were a thousand more of her.

           

When is your next show and where?      

EM: Our next event will be this Saturday, May 10th with Luis and the Wildfires at Viva Cantina, in Burbank. We will also be at Fern’s in Long Beach the 17^th and on the 23^rd at the Redwood Bar in Downtown LA with The Stitches and Sex Crime. We are trying to branch out of LA a bit more, so please make sure to catch us when we do. We’ll try not to disappoint!