Let's Get Chessy!

Los Cheesies is a high-energy fusion party band with a reputation for playing different genres of music.

“It's hard to explain what Los Cheesies is,” said Shawn Camden, Los Cheesies’ frontman. “It is an experience you have to see for yourself. I guess you could say when you see us perform it makes you feel like you are hanging out with Weird Al Yankovic or Jim Morrison of the Doors, out in the desert in Mexico taking peyote.”

According to Camden, his band plays a combination of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Ska, Reggae, Blues, Country, Cumbia, Rap, and Disco Funk. He said it is hard to explain their music but encourages people to come watch them perform.

Camden said people should look at their music with a little bit of comedy. He also said it's all about bringing energy to the crowd and getting everyone fired up.

“There is comedy to our music,” Camden said. “What you will see at our concert is high-energy participation from the audience with everyone jumping around. People will be psyched up, dancing and partying to our music.”

According to Camden, Los Cheesies has been to Saratoga to perform at the What Festival for the last two years. He said this would be their first time at Saratoga Days.

“Scott and Michelle McIlvaine—owners of the Lazy River Cantina—along with Chris Shannon—owner of the Yard—saw us perform at the What Festival,” Camden said. “We had our gigs at the What Festival for the last two years. Scott, Michelle, Chris, and some locals loved us. People were blown away by our performance. We first played in Saratoga in 2022 and since then Michelle loved us and she booked us for Saratoga Days.”

Camden said he had the opportunity to live in different countries and learn different languages and musical cultures, which has influenced the type of music he plays.

“I come from a long history of playing in bands, music theater, and acting,” Camden said. “I lived in Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina where I performed in musicals and Mariachi bands. I also speak different languages, Portuguese and Spanish. I learned music mainly in Brazil and Argentina.”

Camden said when he came back to the States, he met Carmelo Lopez and started Los Cheesies together.

“When I came back to the States, I connected a lot with the Latino community,” Camden said. “I formed Los Cheesies with my best friend, Carmelo Lopez, in Boulder, Colorado. In our music, we do different styles and sing songs in English and Spanish. Lopez is an incredible keyboardist, songwriter, and rapper. We later met Nick Thompson, our lead guitarist, and the three of us started writing music together. Each of us has a different style of music and we brought it all together and formed a crazy fusion party band.”

Los Cheesies has been together for 12 years. Camden said it has been an amazing experience and a fantastic journey.

“We have brought in different band members. Our most recent new member is Kylee Lund from Rock Springs, Wyoming. He is an amazing vocalist and trumpet player. We have Mark Anderson, who has been a drummer for 30 years. He has a background in playing different metal bands. We also have our young saxophone player, Tom Overmann. He studied music in school and joined our band.”

According to Camden, Los Cheesies' notoriety has led them to travel to different places. He said the band has caught the attention of Wyoming and all of Colorado.

“We have been traveling a lot more in the last few years,’ Camden said. “We've been traveling all over Colorado and Wyoming. Ever since we played at the What Festival last year, people have been booking us in different towns in Wyoming.”

With a name like Los Cheesies, those unfamiliar with the band might be wondering where it came from. According to Camden, it comes from when he was living in South America and he would buy pirated 1980s music videos. The people he hung out with would say “Let’s watch Los Cheesies video” or “Let’s watch cheesy videos.”

“I thought it was the coolest name ever so I decided to give the band its name after the videos,” said Camden. “The name fits our image.”

Camden said Los Cheesies will do a special tribute to their late band member, Big John Flanigan who played percussion. Flanigan lost his battle with lung cancer in March of 2023.

Camden said the band will do a spaghetti western song in honor of Flanigan.

“Big John is a legend,” Camden said. “We will do a spaghetti western song we wrote for him and will play it at Saratoga Days.”

Los Cheesies will perform in downtown Saratoga at 5:30 p.m. on July 6.