Santeria, a rock band with three-parts pure Cajun blood and one-part East Indian, was born in the haunted bayous and swamplands of Louisiana where atmosphere plays as much a part of the music as the rich cultural legacy of the Deep South.

For 10 years, they defied expectations by releasing three exceptional records (Santeria in 1998, Apocalypse, Louisiana in 2000 and House of the Dying Sun in 2002) on their own label (GolarWash Labs) while banging out hundreds of gigs in Nowheresville towns across America.

By some miracle or supernatural force, they somehow retooled the basics of “southern rock” and modified it into a new and inspired form-relatively free of Confederate clichés and beer guzzling drunkenness - concentrating their creative energies on expressing the isolation and loneliness of the modern South - at times loud and overbearing and alternately quiet, subdued, and withdrawn.

The band is set to unleash their latest full-length ‘Year of the Knife’ on March 10, 2009.

Produced by four-time Grammy winner Tony Daigle (Sonny Landreth, Dr. John, Gatemouth Brown) ‘Year of the Knife’ is a dark, complex and compelling album that mixes hard-rock, ghost-town blues, psychedelia, world music and primordial punk. Despite purposely eschewing the Cajun/zydeco musical influences of their region, there’s no escaping the Southern Gothic mystique that lurks within these 13 tracks.

The quartet is renowned in their region for their explosive live shows - with some journalists going so far as to claim that they’re one of the best live bands on the planet.

Santeria will be touring in support of ‘Year of The Knife’. Dates to be announced soon.

Here’s what people have already been saying about Santeria:

“Soaring melodies with a Soundgarden-ish crunch.” - Billboard Magazine

“Live, Santeria take no prisoners. They are up there with the best bands on the planet. They have truly outgrown Louisiana and the South for that matter.” - StonerRock.com

“Songs so hauntingly beautiful and powerfully deep, I cannot recommend this highly enough. Deep South acoustic mysticism that is played like a work of art. Make no mistake, this band is genius.” - Perkleit (Italy)

“Santeria’s ‘Year of the Knife’ sounds as if, instead of Detroit, Iggy & The Stooges had cut their musical teeth in the murky backwaters of Louisiana’s Cajun country, and the only records to survive the flood were their tattered copies of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Junior Kimbrough.” - ConcertLivewire.com

“Santeria is the greatest rock band in America. An America, mind you, that’s more Mexican than McDonald’s and more mystic and magical than muck and mire.” - SleazeGrinder

Santeria on amazon.com

Listen to Year of the Knife

Santeria Official Website
Santeria MySpace