El Vez is one red hot tamale! Routinely described as “The Mexican Elvis”, that only hints at what El Vez (aka Robert Lopez) actually does. Injecting the Elvis Presley song book with a jolt of spicy ancient Aztec blood, El Vez looks like a black velvet painting come to life, and his shows are a riot of rock’n’roll, punk energy, kitsch, sex appeal, politics and humour.
Sadly he rarely performs in London these days, so when El Vez returned to play at the 100 Club attendance was mandatory! True to form, he put on an explosive show backed by his band The Memphis Mariachis and accompanied by the Elvettes.
The whole night was a bit of a reunion and nostalgia trip: it was my friend Sparkle Moore (the platinum blonde doyenne of the London vintage / retro scene) who first brought El Vez to London in the mid-90s for his London debut at The Garage. A gang of us who were at that historic gig also went to this and we were dazzled by El Vez all over again.
Postscript: It looks like I’ll be interviewing El Vez for Nude magazine, so watch this space.
/ Mexican Elvis Impersonators Prefer (Platinum) Blondes: Vivien (aka Vivien of Holloway), El Vez and Sparkle Moore /
El Vez and I: Unfortunately I seem to be doing an imitation of Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel from The Simpsons.
See all the photos on my flickr page
Check out the official El Vez website
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