VIKO, artistic name used by Mexican songwriter Virgilio Lozano, lives in Monterrey, Mexico. Primary instruments are acoustic and electric guitar. He also sings his own material. Formerly with Mexican rock bands Limit and Karma (1988-1995).
Enter 2004, after nearly 8 years without touching his guitars, VIKO reunited with ex-Karma bandmates Simon Gonzalez and Cesar Gomez, deciding to acquire an 8-track digital mixer to start writing and recording songs together again.
The 13 demos featured in this space are all self-produced home recordings. Additionally, VIKO has written and recorded some other 40 completed songs in demo stage in their equipment. This is just a sample of things to come.
Future plans include recording a selection of songs with real live drums and more available tracks for multi-layer possibilities, to release an independent CD, again featuring music written and performed mostly in English by a proud Mexican band, in this case a 3 man band. Stay tuned!
Long Bio
VIKO, artistic name used by Virgilio J. Lozano, is a songwriter & musician currently living in Monterrey, Mexico. His primary instruments are acoustic and electric guitar. VIKO also sings and produces his original material and is not afraid to grab any instrument or non-instrument at hand, even if he doesn´t really know how to play them at all, in order to capture a sound or texture while giving birth to a song and trying to record it. "Creative spark must never be limited by our own figured limitations", he says.
Since childhood, VIKO has admired poets, composers and songwriters. The challenge and mystery of creating something original eventually lead him to start writing songs, no matter how hard a path it was. The result is a blend of all the influences he absorbed in this process, but with a personal touch that makes his work unique.
VIKO played in two very active rock bands in Monterrey: Limit and Karma (1988- 1995). KARMA issued "Can’t Tell You Why" in 1993, a 9-song CD of original music, the first independent release in CD format from a Monterrey, Mexico band. Recorded at Monterrey based CMG studios and mastered at Emerald Studios in San Antonio, Texas, the CD was a self-financed project produced by Cesar Gomez Sr. (CMG studios owner) and the band itself. In those days, Mexico’s indie recordings were still issued to the public in audio cassette format. Band members, all of them under 20 years old when the CD was recorded, were: Carlos Mendez (guitar), Julio Ayala (keyboards), Eduardo Castaño (bass), Cesar Gomez Jr. (drums) and VIKO (guitar). Lead singing role was shared by Cesar Jr, Julio and VIKO. In 1994, VIKO´s long-time friend, Simon Gonzalez, replaced Eduardo Castaño in bass functions, who parted in friendly terms with the band.
KARMA´s first CD had the rare proposal of a Mexican band playing original material in English. The record was a local success and media in general supported it, noting the great quality displayed in an independent recording. Also, it did not sound like any other Mexican rock band; it seemed like a foreign band was playing.
In early 90s, media in general was closed to rock music and opportunities were very limited. With their independent effort, KARMA opened the media channels with a bold and intelligent proposal, putting their share to help pave the way for a long set of successful bands that emerged in what was called the Monterrey music boom in late 90s. KARMA was disintegrated in mid-1995, after several efforts to take their musicianship to a higher level. Ex-band members continue to be very close friends to the day.
Enter 2004, and after nearly 8 years without touching his guitars, VIKO reunited with ex-Karma bandmates Simon Gonzalez and Cesar Gomez, deciding to acquire an 8-track digital mixer to start writing and recording songs together again and reconnect with what they felt was unfinished years before.
The three of them started working on VIKO´s new home recordings, written and recorded almost simultaneously, without any formal setting or infrastructure, and using the internal mixer’s drum machine as a rhythm track. Simon’s bass and VIKO´s vocal parts were added after in separate tracks, and mixed again using CMG studios monitoring equipment. Cesar acted as a partner in the arrangement of the songs, and singing lead vocals in two tracks. Songwriting credit is shared between the three of them, with VIKO being the main idea generator.
The 13 demos featured in this space are all home recordings. Additionally, VIKO has written and recorded some other 40 completed songs in demo stage in their equipment. So this is just a sample of things to come.
Future plans include recording a selection of songs with real live drums and more available tracks for multi-layer possibilities, and to release an independent CD, again featuring music written and performed in English by a proud Mexican band, in this case a 3 man band. Stay tuned!