New York has always been a breeding ground for rare grooves. Manhattan, in particular, is one of the state's most treasured provinces-- rich in culture, life, and more importantly funk. The latest group to inherit the city's vast riches, with emphasis on the latter ingredient, is the ethnic quintet of Maggie's Dream.
"The thing about growing up in Manhattan is that your experience is well rounded," relates the band's lead guitarist Raf Hernandez, from Room 619 of the Los Angeles Holiday Inn. "Manhattan is a melting pot for a lot of things -- music, culture, integration, rich, and poor. It's a whole experience. If anyone is going to relate to someone out of their own environment, I think we have the most potential, because we come from an environment that contains so many different ingredients."
Blending the seductive mix of rootsy soul, harmonious pop, and deliberate funk, Hernandez and fellow cohorts, vocalist Robert Rosa, rhythm guitarist Danny Palomo, bassist Lonnie Hillyer, and drummer Tony James, place themselves at the forefront of the '90s groove invasion (á la Lenny Kravitz and Living Colour) with their striking self-titled debut album on Capitol.
Although an easy target for comparisons, Maggie's Dream refuses to be pigeonholed with any other movement than their own. Their music stands strongly in its own right, melding the band's groove induced tunes with thoughtful lyrics touching on social phenomena such as AIDS ("One in Six"), racism ("Human"), and romance ("Love & Tears").
"There's always room for good songs," emphasizes Hernandez. "We don't relate ourselves in any way to any of the other bands that are out there. We're our own entity. We're out there trying to write good songs, and I feel no matter how many bands are saturating the market, the bottom line is that people are going to listen to good music."
Hernandez and Palomo started writing the material for Maggie's Dream during the summer of 1988. The first two songs that they wrote ("Love & Tears" and "It's A Sin") were also the ones that initially sparked the interest of Capitol, leading up to their signing. Following the album's release late last year, the band's progression into the mainstream has been a slow, but steady process which is, just now, picking up some serious momentum. However, the group is taking a wait-and-see attitude before popping the champagne bottle cork.
Today, the band is in town rehearsing for their upcoming club tour which extends throughout the States. Although previous tours revealed that the band's success has thus far been inconsistent (Friday night- 500 people, Saturday- 5 who didn't even applaud), the band is hopeful that Maggie's Dream will someday take their Manhattan roots to the rest of the world.
"I don't know what to expect," Hernandez explains. "There was a time when I was scared, and there was a time when I started feeling positive. And then there was a time when I felt realistic.
"All we can do is present a good product, and now we realize that it's a little more special than we originally imagined. We have good songs, a good live show, and total support from our record company. With those ingredients, it should do well. It's not necessarily something that's going to happen over night. Anything new takes a while to catch on...unless it's something safe like Vanilla Ice."