Ill Nino

Ill Nino formed in Union City, New Jersey, in 1998, when drummer Dave Chavarri assembled a group initially called El Nino. Ill Niño was formed as El Niño by former Pro-Pain drummer David "Dave" Chavarri in May 1998. He enlisted Merauder vocalist Jorge Rosado, guitarist Daniel Gomez and bassist Christian Machado and took on the position of drummer and percussionist himself. Gomez's departure led to a revolving door of guitarists, including future full-time member Marc Rizzo, Scott Roberts of Biohazard, and Derek Sykes of Demolition Hammer. The group later renamed itself Ill Niño and underwent lineup changes with Machado becoming lead vocalist and the addition of guitarists Marc Rizzo and Jardel Paisante, along with bassist Lazaro Pina and percussionist Roger Vasquez. The band quickly built a reputation for fusing heavy American metal with Latin percussion, alternating lyrics between English and Spanish, a sound rooted in the members' South American heritage.

The band's breakthrough came through steady grassroots momentum rather than a single overnight hit. The band gained exposure through New Jersey's metal college radio station WSOU and played the World Series of Metal festival. They were signed to Roadrunner Records in June 2000 and began recording their debut album later that year. Ill Niño released their debut album, "Revolution Revolución," on September 18, 2001. The album peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 350,000 copies worldwide within two years. The band's true commercial peak arrived with its follow-up. In early 2003, just before Ill Niño was set to record their follow-up, the band parted ways with guitarist Marc Rizzo and percussionist Roger Vasquez. Confession was recorded in mid-2003 and released on September 30, 2003. It is their most successful album to date, selling more than 600,000 copies worldwide by 2023. It was the first album to not feature Marc Rizzo, who left during recording to join Soulfly, and also the first to feature Ahrue Luster, formerly of Machine Head. The lead single, "How Can I Live," was their first to break into the Billboard charts, peaking at No. 26 on the Mainstream Rock chart. Throughout the mid-2000s, Ill Nino solidified its place among the era's heavy touring acts. Roadrunner Records coordinated radio campaigns on mainstream rock stations and in-store appearances at major retailers, while the album was supported by extensive touring in 2003 and 2004, including second-stage slots on Ozzfest alongside acts like Korn and Marilyn Manson, which exposed the band to large festival crowds. The band appeared on Ozzfest's main and second stages across multiple years, sharing bills with acts such as Tool, Slayer, Drowning Pool, and Kittie. The band's third effort, One Nation Underground, was released on September 27, 2005, and debuted at No. 101 on the Billboard 200 chart. On July 15, 2006, Ill Niño parted ways with Roadrunner Records and guitarist Jardel Paisante, and just a week later, they signed a new deal with the recently formed Cement Shoes Records. The band continued releasing albums over the following years, ultimately putting out seven studio albums, two EPs, and one compilation album, with total worldwide album sales exceeding 1.3 million , while weathering numerous lineup shuffles around the constant presence of founder Dave Chavarri.

Ill Nino remains active into the present day, still led by Chavarri and longtime members including bassist Lazaro Pina and guitarist Ahrue Luster, and continues to tour internationally. The band planned a tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut album Revolution Revolución, announcing on their Instagram page that they had the first seven dates squared away of their celebratory tour , a testament to the enduring fan interest in their catalog. The band has undergone recent vocalist changes, and continues working on new material, cementing its legacy as one of the pioneering acts of the Latin metal subgenre and a fixture of the early-2000s nu metal and alternative metal touring circuit.

It is fitting that a band with such deep roots in that era's club and festival circuit found its way into Wayne Dennon's lens. Wayne photographed Ill Nino across six shows between 2003 and 2005, capturing the band right at the height of the Confession era and its accompanying touring cycle, and those performances, spanning five different cities in four states, now form a collection of 148 photographs in the archive, a body of work that fans have returned to again and again, racking up over 112,000 views over the years.