The modern hard rock/metal band Like a Villain has heavy ties to Tucson. The musicians have lived in the area for all or most of their lives.
With their new EP, “Lost Souls Searching the Sonoran Highway,” they are honoring Arizona. Like a Villain will celebrate the release of the new EP on Friday, May 30, with a show at Brick Box Brewery.
They will be joined by modern heavy hardcore group LoaLoa, which releases the EP “Jubilee” the same day. Rounding out the support acts is Mythic Underground, a rap act.
Like a Villain is made up of three brothers — guitar player Michael Chico, drummer Mark Chico and guitar player Daniel Chico, along with vocalist Chuck Clark and bass player Sergio Calderon.
Michael and Clark founded the group in 2017.
The band released its first EP in 2019, with singles following. “Lost Souls” features songs such as “R3APER,” “Sand Surfing,” “Low Blow” and “A Deal at Midnight.”
Michael said with “Low Blow,” Like a Villain experimented with new sounds.
“There are some really cool electronic elements. It’s got the rapping. It’s got the heavy vocals. It’s got a giant rock chorus,” Michael said.
Clark said that the album really delves into the idea of self-discovery in the desert.
“As you age, you grow through your experience,” Clark said.
“It’s more about being able to be honest with yourself about your mistakes that you’ve made and the whole concept of failing forward. I think everyone just looks at failing as failing, and it takes a lot to get through it. As you go from 19 to 29 to 39, there are a lot of new questions and different things you learn. I don’t want to say there’s regret, but that growth is through self-reflection and answering challenges.”
Michael said that, as a group, they have faced struggles. Recently, they have really tried to grow and define who they are as a band.
“We kind of lost control,” Michael said.
“I would say for me, COVID did have a little bit to do with that because we were really ramping up there. We had a lot of large things lined up for us. We were hot off the heels of doing the Gathering of the Juggalos, and we were tied into that whole scene for a little bit. And then COVID happened, and it just snowballed internally. I think taking a step back and failing forward on quite a few things really strengthened us.”
Clark stated that being more directly involved in creating new music has significantly benefited the group.
“We weren’t being productive with our time. We weren’t writing new music,” Clark said.
“We were playing the same songs for four to five years, and this was really about like transitioning our sound to something that we were more fond of, a more mature version of what we were wanting. I think in order for us to do that, we had to do that on our own. Let’s go to the lab and create on our own.”
Most of the album was recorded at Mark’s home studio. Michael mixed and mastered the EP.
He has been interested in home recording since around 2008 or 2009.
“It’s something that I’ve been working on for quite some time, and one of the big motivators is I know what it costs to have a recording done,” Michael said.
“If I could do it on my own, one it would save us a lot of money, but two we wouldn’t be under any pressure. We can take as long as we want.”
Michael has watched and learned from other engineers they have worked with in the past for their singles and EP.
“Some musicians might look at that as studio time. For me, this is a class,” Michael said.
“I’m going to learn. I’m going to really pick up on what the engineer’s doing and then put that to practice later. So, that’s how in-house production has gone. I picked up on what the engineers we’ve worked with have done with our music and really picked their brains afterward.”
The cover for their new EP features ghosts wandering through a desert landscape filled with snakes, coyotes, scorpions, and UFOs. It was created in a style reminiscent of 1930s Rubber Hose animation.
Influenced by metal and West Coast hip-hop, the band combined trap beats, down tuned riffs and rap verses on the new record.
“We all listen to hip-hop, but we try to sprinkle it in in a way that’s not traditional,” Clark said.
“Our whole goal is to pay homage and do our thing, but we really want to be more abstract in terms of how we throw out our hip hop elements.”
So far, Like a Villain’s tour itinerary has included stops in New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio and Kentucky. Locally, they have played venues like 191 Toole, the Rialto, the Rock and House of Bards.
The musicians are hoping for a Southwest/West Coast tour soon.
Michael and his brothers had been in bands together previously, however, Like a Villain was founded by him and Clark. His brothers joined later.
Clark and Michael have known each other for around 15 years. Going back to 2010, their bands played shows together. Mark, Michael’s younger brother, also served as a tech on tour for one of Clark’s bands.
“We started jamming,” Clark said.
“We played in one of the storage sheds behind the swap meet on Palo Verde until we got yelled at and kicked out. We only had one outlet in the storage shed. We unscrewed the light bulb and got one of those combo plug-in light bulbs. It was one extension cord, one power strip. We were running super rugged at first, and it was super fun.”
Michael said Like a Villain is a diversion from other bands.
“With each group, it’s changed, just like people do,” Michael said.
“We change, and we grow, and our tastes change. With every band, we’ve gotten a little sharper. We’ve all grown up together. Even with our bass player, I was in my first band ever with him. We lost touch, and we actually met up again around the same time in 2017. I’ve known him for about 20 years now.
“We all have just gotten better and gotten more focused on what we want to sound like and what kind of music we want to make. It’s quite different from the first few bands we’d been in together.”
Clark said he was more of a late bloomer with music. He took band class, but he really started to be in bands around high school.
“I was terrible at first. It took me a little while,” Clark said.
Michael and his brothers got into music at young ages, but they didn’t play together until they were older.
“Mark’s first instrument was drums,” Michael said.
“Daniel actually started on bass before he swapped over to guitar later on when he was a teenager. I’ve always stuck with guitar. Now, when it comes to writing and recording, we can swap around and become multi-instrumentalists.
“For our latest music, my brother Mark wrote a lot of the guitars. I would say 80% of the music there is coming from him. He’s definitely the multi-instrumentalist of the group… In the past, we would bring complete ideas, a riff or two, and that came from everybody. But this go around, Mark had all this music that was ready to go.”
Like a Villain EP Release Party
WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday, May 30
WHERE: Brick Box Brewery, 220 E. Broadway Boulevard, Tucson
COST:$10 in advance from bands, $12 at the door, 21 and older
INFO: linktr.ee/likeavillain
