Jaguares Makes Spirited Return

Mexican rock group Jaguares is known for concerts that at times feel more like religious ceremonies.

Whether the band plays in a soccer stadium in Mexico or a small club in Southern California, adoring fans fall into a trance with its dreamy art rock, a melodic Latin rock fusion held together with pre-Columbian elements.

Chief Jaguar Saul Hernandez, 36, has come to be considered the poet laureate of Mexican rock. He considers the band’s connection with fans a natural bond built over the last 12 years.

“It’s a gift from the gods, of course,” the singer-songwriter said by phone Friday from Playa del Carmen, off Mexico’s Caribbean coast. “The connection we have is magical. . . . There is some ritual, ceremony that transcends the group. . . . You can feel the energy that the public generates.

So impressed was the band with the crowd response as well as the sound at Santa Ana’s Galaxy Concert Theatre when Jaguares played to a capacity crowd in March, Hernandez and company quickly scheduled three more shows that will take place Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. The band will record portions of the shows for a forthcoming live album.

“I have a lot of respect for the stage,” he added. “It has always been a sanctuary for me. Everything and nothing happens up there. You are completely naked, engulfed by all of it.”

Hernandez isn’t, however, out to set himself up as a priest or shaman:

“That’s a path for others.”

From 1987 to 1995, Hernandez played in Caifanes, but following a legal dispute with guitarist Alejandro Marcovich, Caifanes disbanded and Hernandez formed Jaguares.

“During the time of the dispute, I had a dream that my band was playing between the fangs of a jaguar,” Hernandez said. “ ‘Jaguares’ came to me--I didn’t go to it.”

He has developed the reputation as something of a Mexican Jim Morrison or Bob Marley, in part because of his charismatic stage presence, his use of poetic speech and his frequent references to Central American mythology.

He speaks of the human condition through metaphorical lyrics. The band’s critically acclaimed album “El Equilibrio de Los Jaguares” (The Equilibrium of The Jaguars), for instance, celebrates Mexico’s indigenous heritage using layers of imagery and indirect references to the forces of nature.

Produced by famed producer Don Was, who has worked with the Rolling Stones and Bonnie Raitt, “Equilibrio” won tremendous crossover attention in the United States while the group developed a stronger cult following among Mexican rockers.

While the album featured only two of the original four members of Caifanes--Hernandez and drummer Alfonso Andre--it had a stellar cast of Mexican musicians as guests, such as accordion master Flaco Jimenez.

As of last year, original Caifanes bassist Sabo Romo rejoined his former bandmates as a member of Jaguares.

Where Caifanes had one guitarist--Marcovich--Jaguares has two: El Vampiro (Cesar Lopez), who was Mexican pop group Mana’s original guitarist, and rock guitarist El Harris (Javier Marquez).

The two guitars balance each other, Hernandez says. Where Vampiro is volatile, El Harris is cerebral, helping create a colorful, jazzy, ambient sound that contrasts with the earlier synthesizer-oriented music of Caifanes.

Jaguares continues to play some Caifanes songs, but updates the arrangements.

“Probably the most important aspect of Saul is his permanence in the scene,” said Emilio Morales, publisher of La Banda Elastica, which has put Hernandez on its cover twice in the last year. “He is the only Mexican rocker of his generation that has survived. Alex Lora [of El Tri] comes from an earlier generation. But Lora’s lyrics and importance to innovative music-making doesn’t compare to what Saul has accomplished.”

* Jaguares plays Sunday at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana. 8 p.m. Also 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday. $40. (714) 957-0600.