Los Lobos ready to rock two Healdsburg shows

While the East Los Angeles band Los Lobos can trace its origins back to high school days in the ’70s, the band’s saxophonist and keyboardist, Steve Berlin, joined the band a little later in its evolution, in the early ’80s.

“I was playing with the Blasters, and Los Lobos opened for us one night at the Whiskey A-Go-Go in L.A., and they were about to become an overnight success, after years in the making,” said Berlin, who will play two shows with Los Lobos next weekend at the Raven Performing Arts Theater in Healdsburg.

He likens Los Lobos’ early years to the time the Beatles spent in Hamburg, Germany, in the early ’60s, honing their musicianship and tightening their act before they became stars in their native England. (That casts Berlin in the role of Ringo Starr, who joined the Beatles just before they were poised to hit the big time.)

“It’s not exactly the same,” Berlin conceded, “but nobody on the west side of L.A. had ever heard of Los Lobos until they were fully formed and mature. Then everyone was blown away.”

Initially, Berlin worked with the band as a producer on their first extended-play recording, “... And a Time to Dance,” released in 1983. “By the time it was finished, I was in the band,” he said.

Berlin officially joined Los Lobos in 1984, and his timing couldn’t have been better. That summer, the band scored its first major-label album, “How Will the Wolf Survive,” produced by Berlin and T-Bone Burnett.

In 1987, Los Lobos recorded cover versions of classic Ritchie Valens rock ‘n’ roll hits for the movie based on his life, “La Bamba,” including the title track, which scored a No. 1 hit for the band.

“The band had been playing traditional Mexican music at first, not rock ‘n’ roll,” Berlin said by phone from his home in Portland, Oregon.

Los Lobos, whose last album was “Gates of Gold” in 2015, has been touring continuously and expects to make a new album at some point, Berlin said.

“There are no immediate plans to do so, but we’re talking about it,” Berlin said.

In addition to his work with Los Lobos, Berlin has found time to reunite with the ‘70s punk band, The Flesh Eaters, including Dave Alvin, a former founding member of the popular Southern California roots rock ensemble The Blasters, another band from Berlin’s busy resume.

“It’s safe to say there’s nothing else quite like the Flesh Easters,” he said, with lyrics by Chris Desjardins, best known as Chris D, characterized as a blend of B-movies, Mexican Catholic references and punk poetry.

With Los Lobos, Berlin and his bandmates “tour almost nonstop,” he said, with the band showing a special fondness for Northern California, as well as the southern part of the state.

“We love that part of the country,” he said of the greater Bay Area. “It’s our second home.”

Los Lobos will play two nights in a row at the Raven, mixing up the repertoire each night.

“We know that some of our fans will come both nights,” Berlin said, “so we’ll do our best not to repeat ourselves too much.”

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 707-521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@danarts.