Souldies began as a house party in a living room in Northeast El Paso held to celebrate and honor music. The people behind the turntables weren’t your usual run of DJs who play top 40 hits or electronic dance music. The DJs, Cult Heroes, were throwing down an all vinyl set consisting of funk, soul, and rock n’ roll; playing songs in their entirety without manipulating the original production. Their song selection was incredible! The vibe was hot and people danced all night long. The DJs knew at that precise moment they were on to something special. They held several more “Souldies” house parties before their sensation was recognized by notable people in the music scene. Since then, they’ve been invited to play and open for acts such as Peanut Butter Wolf, Andy Rourke, and Ian Svenonius of Chain and the Gang/The Make-Up. Fusion had the opportunity to sit down and speak with the DJs behind “Souldies,” Cult Heroes.
How did you two meet?
Danny: We met as teenagers in the El Paso punk rock scene. I had my own band: The Belvederes. We were a pop-punk band and Abel had his own band: The Sicteens. They were a pop-punk band too. We would play tons of shows together. Later on in life, years later, me and my friend Angel Von Ripper started a night at Dedo. They offered him a night at Dedo to play records. He asked me to help him because he knew I had a record collection too. Abel started showing up to those things and after a while he started DJing with us also.
You asked Abel to DJ with you guys?
Danny: Yeah, we knew Abel had a record collection of good music. We would invite all our friends to DJ with us. At Dedo it was cool because they would let us play whatever we wanted. This place is, if not solely goth club, maybe primarily goth. They took a chance on us and they let us play records there. We would play Hank Williams, Neil Young, sad slow country music, punk rock music, or soul. A few years after that, me and Abel started our own night at this place called The District; it was right next to The Tap. We called it “Bif! Bang! Pow!” We had different nights after that. Eventually Abel came to me with the idea for Souldies.
How did you come up with the idea for Souldies?
Abel: We came across these really cool records. Danny and I were like, “we need to share these records,” but we didn’t have a club or a bar to do it at. We thought, “what if we just do it in a living room?” I had gone and experienced a party in Oakland. They did it all indoors; girls had their shoes off; they were doing the mashed potato; doing all this crazy stuff and dancing. I thought about that; I thought about movies I grew up with, like Animal House and Quadrophenia, all those crazy movies…back in the day, kids, the way they would party: they would throw a record on. The party would be about the music or about a dance. I thought that was cool. We also got tired of going to a lot of parties here in town and the parties weren’t based around the music anymore. Music was just a secondary background kind-of-thing. We thought what if we threw a party ourselves and celebrated the music, instead of having a party for the sake of having a party. Let’s have a party to celebrate the music and share our records and bring a lot of these artists and a lot of this music back to life!
What’s the difference between Souldies and Cult Heroes?
Abel: Cult Heroes is the name of our duo. He goes by D-Rex and my individual DJ name is Fantom. But together it’s like Voltron or Power Rangers for the younger kids.
Danny: Souldies was the name of the party first. People associated us with that name than Cult Heroes. As far as the name goes, we’re attached to both. People will know us as Cult Heroes and people will know us as Souldies.
Abel: Part of putting names to things is fun. It’s your alter ego in a way. I like that kind of stuff. It makes it easier for people to remember what you’re doing.
How much have you invested in your record collection?
Danny: I’ve been collecting since I was a little kid. I still collect. I go to Goodwill, I go to Savers, and the Whoopee Bowl. Money? I don’t know. I try not to spend too much on records. The most I’ve spent is like 30 bucks on a record. It was an El Paso band called The Triangle. It’s a super rare record. I had to get it because it’s so hard to come by.
Abel: I’ve spent some ridiculous amounts. I’ve spent a big deal of cash on just one single 45. I’ve done it more than a few times. I’ve spent some money but it’s worth every cent to me. I’ve spent 400 bucks on one 45 and it was a Misfits 7 inch Horror Business. The original.
What’s your favorite record?
Danny: I like to collect a lot of the El Paso stuff: The Night Dreamers, I love my Night Dreamers records off of the Frogdeath Label. My Suemi stuff, the I Love You Gorgo compilation. I love my Zombies records. There’s so many to name; it’s hard to pick one.
Abel: All of the Chicano soul is some of my favorite stuff. I have Bobby and the Premiers and then my Misfits collection is pretty bad ass. I just recently bought a killer Black Sabbath lot. It has six Black Sabbath albums all in one shot.
Is there anyone else doing what you guys are doing?
Abel: Yeah, of course. Just about every city has people like us; doing the same thing or feeling passionate about the same thing. I think we just put our own stamp to it.
Danny: In the 70’s in the U.K. there used to be The Wigan Casino, and it was just that: it was nothing too fancy. It was just somebody playing records. Let the song play all the way; put the next record on.
Abel: It started with Alan Freed, just playing records. It started in the 50’s: these guys throwing down some 45’s of hot rock n’ roll tracks of the time, and people go crazy. In a way, we carry on that tradition. Just keep it simple, nothing against any other styles of DJing or any other formats, just bringing it down to its primitive state.
Danny: I like to think we’re doing things the way Steve Crosno was doing it in the 60’s. He was a promoter. He would bring down bands. He brought down Thee Midniters from L.A. and he would DJ his things too. Abel books a lot of bands and we do the same thing; we have a band and then we play in between and then a band. We like to think we’re still doing an old traditional thing.
Abel: Yeah, keeping the tradition going; keeping it alive. I wouldn’t say that we invented anything or created something new. I think we’re carrying on something that has been forgotten. We’re here to remind everyone that this music is great for a reason; its timeless. I think a lot of people can identify with that in some way or another and relate it to what they’re doing.
What’s it all about?
Danny: Its all about passing the time and having a good time. I think that’s what we like to create. We love to see people uninhibitedly having a good time; just wilding out. I think thats a big part of what soul music is; its for the soul. Soul music touches you somehow and its a good feeling. I guess thats why I was drawn to it. Music puts you in a mood and soul music puts you in a good mood.
TEXT: ALEX DURAN
PHOTOS: HECTOR RIVEROLL JR.
www.riverollphotography.com