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| Nuclear Valdez, 1989 (from left): Robert Slade LeMont (drums), Jorge Barcala (guitar), Juan Diaz (bass) and Froilan Sosa (vocals, guitar). Photo: Lou Salvatori/Epic Records. |
Prior to his management of Marilyn Manson, local impresario John Tovar guided the career of this all-Latino quartet (one from the Dominican Republic; the others from Cuba) that formed in 1985.
After a few years of well-received South Florida club dates — including two local radio hits with “Apache” and “Summer” — Nuclear Valdez became the go-to band for the Miami national tour stops of alternative bands, such as Jane’s Addiction and Living Color. Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones loved them, so they oft played his South Beach club, Woody’s on the Beach.
Brill Building legend and Sire Records co-founder Richard Gottehrer (Blondie, the Go-Gos, the Ramones, Talking Heads) and Thom Panunzio (Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones) co-produced the band’s Epic debut, I Am I (1989), featuring contributions by Bruce Brody of the Patti Smith Group and Benmont Tench from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
An extensive tour with the Hooters in the U.S and the Church across Europe, along with MTV booking the band on an early episode of their new, weekly series, MTV Unplugged (alongside the Welsh-band the Alarm), as well as placing the band in “active-rotation” (and not in the 120 Minutes, alt-rock Sunday night graveyard with the likes of the deserved-better Soul Asylum and Mary My Hope), the single for “Summer” became a minor, commercial radio hit — but the second single, “Hope,” didn’t chart.
The equally respected Steve Brown (from Thin Lizzy in the early ’70s to the Cult in ’80s) produced the sophomore album, Dream Another Dream (1991). Featuring the singles “(Share A Little) Shelter” and “Dance Where the Bullets Fly” — the latter appearing in an episode of the hit Fox series, Melrose Place — failed to build on the momentum of the first album.
So, why does a band of the industry-respected caliber of Nuclear Valdez, fail — record covers featuring a toothless old man and promotional videos featuring a crusty old dude chomping a stogie while playing dominoes, not withstanding?
Well, while career-connected to Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers — Nuclear Valdez, with their politically-charged lyrics (subjects such as the 1959 “Cuban Revolution”) backed by jangly guitars aligning them, more so, with the chart-successful the Alarm (from Wales) and Midnight Oil (from Australia) — sounded like neither (which is really the point: be original, not gimmicky). Additionally, as the musical landscape changed for all things Seattle, the Latin-based quartet didn’t conform to the then rising, programming-safe (and gimmicky) sounds of alternative bands like the Crash Test Dummies or the Spin Doctors, and didn’t benefit from having a “bee girl” dancing around in their videos like Blind Melon.
Post-Nuclear Valdez, John Tovar came to manage the career of Dore Soul, which morphed into the C-60s.
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You can enjoy the albums I Am I and Dream Another Dream on Over the Edge Radio You Tube. The best known and only charting single, “Summer”is embedded below.
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