Carne Cruda
Carne Cruda is a Post-Latin band based in Oakland, California. The band consists of 5 core members and incorporates frequent guest appearances, and also frequently backs up other artists.
Band History
Camilo Landau and Charlie Gurke met while attending high school at San Francisco School of the Arts, where they formed a band called The Ska Messengers. In the year 2000, while attending college at UCSC, guitarist and tres player Camilo Landau decided to form a band to experiment with blending Latin music and Caribbean music with other musical genres. While playing in the UCSC Jazz ensembles under the direction of Ray Brown and Smith Dobson, he met drummer E. Dillon Westbrook and asked him if he wanted to start a group. They teamed up with conga player Jeremy Fisher and began experimenting and practicing. They added Charlie Gurke to the group and began playing around local venues in Santa Cruz, California.
In 2001 Landau and Gurke went to [Cuba] for three months to study music. There they wrote arrangements for what they envisioned as a new direction for the band. When they returned they added Luke Kirley on trombone and Matthew Val Hall on trumpet to the band and began playing again. They were featured in Metro Santa Cruz's column "New Band Alert" where they were described as "the Latin Squirrel Nut Zippers."
