Chicano Batman is a band made up of four Latinos from Southern California whose singular sound mixes psychedelic rock sensibilities with a host of vintage references: Brazilian tropicalia, Latin American soul ballads from the 70s, Mexican cumbia and so on.

Since forming in 2008, the band had been playing small clubs in California and steadily growing a cult following, when suddenly, a few big breaks happened for them all at once. They landed a spot playing at the massive Coachella music festival. A few days after hearing the news, they were invited on tour opening for Jack White.

The band was excited—it meant that what they were doing was working. But suddenly playing in huge, sold-out arenas was difficult for them as well, exposing them to audiences (and concert reviewers) who didn’t always get their bicultural music and throwback style.

For this week’s Sabiduría, members of the band tell the story of how they braved the negative feedback, grew stronger and ultimately, rocked out.

Photo by Josue Rivas