Promoters of Grupo Fantasma like to call the band "the finest and funkiest Latin orchestra to come out of the United States in the last decade." And they're not far from the truth. Eleven performers strong, the band writes collaboratively and then puts it all out musically on stage, wowing crowds with their full-bodied sound. Their electrifying blend of samba, cumbia and other Latin rhythms often merges with an alternative edge which even includes hip hop on some of their studio tracks.

Hailing from Austin, Texas's thriving music scene, Grupo Fantasma has wowed audiences on NPR and Austin City Limits, and they've even received the personal endorsement of the Artist formerly known as the Artist formerly known as Prince. After their performance on Austin City Limits, Austin Chronicle and Village Voice music critic Jim Caliguiri wrote that "the only other band I've seen get that kind of audience reaction was the Ramones."

The band, which released its first live album, Comes Alive, in 2006, is at work on new material and continues to fight for radio airplay. We sat down with the band's self-described "elder statesman," Jose Galeano, to discuss the band's new direction, their collaborative songwriting process, and how even Spanish speaking fans tend to shy away from questioning what his lyrics actually mean.

SSv: What would you say makes music meaningful to you?

Jose Galeano: It's the fact that you can express what you are feeling - the interpreting of what one has in mind and what actually ends up making it onto a recording. Whether you can ever achieve on a recording what you had in your mind at the start, there's satisfaction in there of even attempting to express such things. Then when someone hears your music and connects personally with what you managed to put on paper from what was in your head, that's magical.

SSv: Being a band with a large group of performers, how do you all go about writing songs? Is it a collaborative process?

Galeano: Yeah, you know on the last couple albums everybody got to have their two cents put into the mix. Sometimes people bring in an incomplete song and we work together to add parts, depending on our individual areas of expertise. Lyrics, then, are almost always the final touch, no matter which way the song is developed. In my case, I try to bring complete songs to the table, songs which are finished, and then the band puts their touches on the final recording when they learn the song and put their experience to it.

That, bringing a complete song to the table, is simply a goal of mine, a personal goal. We're getting good at collaborating, building to where everybody's happy with the finished product because they all had something to say about what went into it. We all have a stake in these songs.

SSv: Comes Alive is your first album to fully capture the live sound of the group. On Grupo Fantasma and Movimiento Popular, how did you go about recording the band in a studio setting? Was it difficult to capture the band's varying sounds in that kind of setting?

Galeano: Well, first, let me tell you, I was not on the first album. But on Movimiento Popular, it was my first album with the group and there were some songs we already had rehearsed when we went into the studio. We used ProTools and laid down percussion, then added bass, guitars, horns and finally vocals last. But other times we just played together, capturing the sound of all of us playing, rather than focusing on overdubs. We were trying to capture that live sound then, and we're doing a better job of it on the new album we're working on. Movimiento Popular was a bit mechanical because we were still getting used to it, the recording process, and how we wanted to express our original sound.

With Comes Alive, we were completely live, and got to work on instinct. We rehearsed beforehand, but when it came down to the live recording, we were lucky it all worked out, that the performance was ready for release. Usually when you do a live album you record five or six shows and pick the best performances of each song for the final version. In our case we only did one night of recording, so we had to fix a few kinks in the mix later on. But for the most part you get what the audience heard that night.

SSv: How would you describe your sound to someone who hasn't heard you?

Galeano: A lot of bands now are trying to touch on different styles because you can't just stick to one niche anymore and expect to draw an audience continually. You should be able to try different styles and build those into the original vibe. With us, we're not a dance band by definition, but we do experiment with new things in our music, building on our energetic sound and the Latin music base we started with, to create music people tend to enjoy dancing to.

When you come to see us live, you get happy music that makes you feel good, even if you don't know Spanish. If you had to sum us up quickly, we're a hybrid, and we're crossing borders. I'd like to think people could just say "Fantasma? That's a fun band! You'll have a good time!" Come to one of our shows, relax and listen to the melodies. Then let them tell you how you should move.

SSv: Having built your reputation by word of mouth, how do you go about spreading the word about Grupo Fantasma nationwide? Is it difficult breaking into the touring market, say, in the Midwest?

Galeano: We have hit some places more often than others, so it's good that we can rely on word of mouth helping to build our audiences in those places - or if we've only been to a place a few times, the next time we show up we draw a significantly larger crowd. But we'd love to have a hit on the radio to connect nationwide interest to us through that one hit song.

Exposure to new ears is important. Getting there comes down to the right combination of marketing, playing good large shows, and word of mouth building with radio play. That's a process we're still trying to fine-tune, but anyway, the journey's the fun part, right? We know it's working when peopel come in thinking "who are these guys?" and ten minutes later we see them in the crowd dancing as much as anybody.

SSv: Does it bother you to have your music summed up simply as "Latin music," when you merge so many different sounds on your albums?

Well, you can't gloss over the fact that we are producing Latin music. People cross over and that's what we're glad to do. I'm the only member of the band not born in the United States. I'm from Nicaragua, so my first language was Spanish. They all came from the United States, so English is their first language.

Now that we've had a few albums where the music has been primarily in Spanish, we're looking at what it would take to have that big crossover hit, and if that requires us to record songs in English, we'll do it. It's important to try new things, even when that means singing in English. We can do that and stay true to our sound, all while gaining new fans. That's what's more important than what people sum us up as now.

SSv: You've said that "you don't have to speak Spanish and know how to salsa to like our music." What would you say is most appealing to a wide audience about what Grupo Fantasma has to offer musically?

Galeano: I think it's our personalities, the energy that is transferred to the audience when we perform live. You're hooked by the melody and the backbeat, something you can connect to and say "that's familiar," even when you can't necessarily understand what we're singing on stage. We craft simple melodies that fans can sing along with even if they only pick up bits and pieces. You almost have to see one of our shows live, though, if you really want to understand what works so well.

SSv: Do you have a question you wish you'd never get again?

Galeano: What kind of music do you guys play? [Laughs] Come and listen! If the band sounds good, shouldn't that be enough? Just come out and dance!

SSv: What question do you wish someone would ask you but they never do?

Galeano: That's a great question. I am always surprised that no one ever asks me what I'm trying to say through my lyrics! I think fear may be a part of it, people don't want to embarrass themselves by requiring a translation. But even Spanish speakers rarely ask me about the meaning of the words.

I like to write about religion, politics ... there's often a lot of double meaning to the words. Like the song "Chocolate," that one's actually about the devil, but most people just assume it's about chocolate! [Laughs] When I was a kid growing up, parents would tell us scary stories. "Behave yourself, or the devil will come and fool you with chocolate!"

Seriously, though, all I really worry about is that people come to the shows smiling and the leave after having a great time. And they come back. We need them to come back for more. Whether or not we ever have a big hit, as long as we're still able to pack people in here in Austin, our home-base, what it will always be about is making connections on a personal level.

SSv: You've been featured on NPR and Austin City Limits, you've performed live with Prince and you've spent years touring incessantly. What's next for Grupo Fantasma?

Galeano: Well, 2008 should be a fun year. We're currently working on our next album, we're about three-quarters done on the recording process itself. We've recorded a lot of exciting new material, and we're trying to bring some "names" into the mix, in the hope of finally getting some radio exposure. Then we'll have summer tours, which will hopefully expose the band to more new fans. We've just got to keep going as best we can and see where it all takes us. Whatever is going to happen will happen.

• www.grupofantasma.com
• www.myspace.com/fantasmatics

[Jonathan Sanders is the News Editor of Stereo Subversion.]