Hocico

Live at The Dragonfly

Los Angeles, CA

October 8th, 2016

Review by Travis Baumann

Photos by Tina and Travis Baumann

Hocico are the premiere Electro-Industrial band hailing out of Mexico. The duo originate in Mexico City and for over twenty years have been packing dance floors and playing concerts the world over.

Tonight, Tension and DJ Madin presents Hocico on their "We Are Made of Hate Tour" for their only Southern California appearance.

Hocico (pronounced "Osziko") are Erk Aicrag on vocals and Rasco Agroyam on synthesizers and programming. The name of their band means "mouth" or "snout" in Spanish but is a derogatory term referring to a "bad or foul mouth".

Their music embodies horror and sci-fi sounds and concepts reflecting the modern world, especially the place they grew up and the things they have witnessed.

I started listening to Hocico in 1997 with their debut album "Odio Bajo El Alma" and have been a fan ever since. It has been 14 years since I saw them last so I was excited to get to see them on stage again.

They put out their latest release, "Ofensor" last year which marks their tenth studio album and over two decades of audio aggression.

Hocico took to the stage just after Midnight to a packed room. Rasco stood at the back of the stage behind his keyboard dressed like a Cenobite from Hellraiser. Erk came to the stage a moment later wearing a similar dark outfit with large shoulder pads and a really cool silver mask shaped into a bird-like creature made out of wire.

They had a projection screen behind them and the projector cast across them both, providing excellent thematic imagery and also acting as really trippy stage lighting at the same time.

Erk is always a hurricane of motion and energy on stage, moving about, gesturing, and singing his lungs out. The stage show is intense and was as great as I remember them from years ago.

Their set list featured a lot of songs from the "Ofensor" album such as "Déjà-vu siniestro", "Sex Sick", "In the Name of Violence", and "I Will Be Murdered (4 Minutes of Horror)".

They also worked in a number of classic Hocico tracks from throughout their back catalog like "Bite Me!", "Poltergeist", and "Forgotten Tears".

They played an extended show, nearly two hours when it was all said and done, and up until the very end the audience danced, jumped, and at one point got a circle-pit going in the intimate venue.

Hocico are consummate performers, having played concerts and festivals all over Europe, and Russia as well as the Americas (totalling nearly 400 performances in their career), so it is no surprise they were so awesome live but none the less, it still is amazing how much I love these guys after all these years. It really was a great show and I highly recommend seeing them live.

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