Week three of Latino Heritage Month was capped off on Friday, Oct. 11, as Lance Canales and the Flood performed in the Free Speech Area of Fresno City College.
The band, made up of lead vocalist and guitarist Lance Canales, stomp box and snare drummer Chris Estep and “upright bassist” David Quinday. With influences from Woody Guthrie and Muddy Waters, the band gives its music a unique classification.
“We call what we play root stomp music,” said Canales.
Canales explained that the difference in the band’s music is that it encompases many different influences.
“It’s basically roots music with more of an edge to it,” said Canales. “The whole idea comes from the stomp dance which is a native tradition. Every tribe does it or a form of it. It’s incorporating native tradition with Americana and roots music.”
The Flood’s music, according to Canales, is a blend of old ideas and traditions that are not embraced or sang anymore and that the blend also includes a rock and roll vibe.
Estep, the band’s drummer, has only been with the band for three months and is a FCC alumnus.
“Well, I have known Lance for a while and I was playing in some other bands and that went away. For me, it worked out at the right time. Zak (previous drummer for The Flood) left at the same time I was leaving my other band so Lance called me up,” said Estep.
The Flood played its rendition of “Plane Crash at Los Gatos: Departee,” originally created by Woody Guthrie. The song references the 1948 crash of a plane en route from Oakland to the Mexican border taking 32 passengers, 28 of which were farmworkers.
Until now, the victims of the crash were unnamed. This song reveals the names of those that died in the crash.
This performance, along with the other performances throughout Latino Heritage Month, have been brought to FCC by Chicano/Latino Studies instructor Matt Espinoza-Watson. Watson has brought the various bands to FCC in order to increase awareness of local Latino musicians.
“The goal was really to just bring some music to campus,” said Watson. “..in particular to showcase latino musicians from the valley who aren’t playing necessarily traditional mexican music or mariachi.”
The idea is to expose students and local residents to latino musicians around the valley that are playing not just the standard types of mexican music but are branching out to genres such as reggae, blues and rock.
