IN CONCERT

What: La Severa Matacera with Los Furios, CFC, and DJ Dub Lion

When: Saturday, 10 p.m. (doors at 9)

Where: Sugar

Tickets: $14 at Lyle's Place, Ditch Records, and www.ticketweb.ca

Note: La Severa Matacera also performs tonight at the Queens in Nanaimo and Friday at Grandview Legion Hall in Vancouver

As a musician, would you rather play Colombia or British Columbia? According to Alex Arce of La Severa Matacera, that's a no-brainer.

"Up [in B.C.] people are more receptive," Arce said. "In Colombia, they like it when you are very traditional."

Arce would know: Since 1996, he has been at the helm of Bogotá, Colombia's very untraditional ska band La Severa Matacera. Arce's group is on tour throughout B.C., with help from the Victoria B.C. Ska Society, whose artistic director, Dane Roberts, is a fervent supporter of the band.

Roberts brought La Severa Matacera to Victoria in 2006 -- the group's first Canadian show -- for his annual ska festival. The next year, Roberts again hired them for dates in and around Victoria. The impressive part? On both occasions, the band travelled to Vancouver by Pacific Coach Lines bus -- from Los Angeles. Overwhelmed by the band's dedication, Roberts went out of his way earlier this year, during a trip that included stops in Mexico, to visit the band while in Colombia.

"I never had to pay for accommodation when I was in either country, and that was all a result of the ska festival," Roberts said.

He clearly believes in the group. Though Roberts has been a concert promoter for well over a decade, the group's current six-date tour of B.C. is the longest string of concerts he has ever booked. To help cut costs, he made room for the five-member group at his home and has been cooking for them when possible.

Every little bit helps. La Severa Matacera's newest release, V.I.S.A., speaks to the band's ongoing travel troubles.

Residents of Colombia are required to have multiple travel visas for nearly every country in the world, some of which can take months to procure. "It is very difficult to get one," Arce said.

He blames the bureaucratic red-tape on his native country's drug trafficking reputation. Arce believes the music of La Severa Matacera, a melange of ska, reggae, rock and punk, is an antidote to that.

"We are trying to change the image of Colombia, which North America feels is very dangerous. We show in our concerts that it is fun. You are not going to get kidnapped and robbed. It is completely safe."

Residents of Bogotá are less receptive to the band. Traditional forms of Colombian music, such as cumbia, are sacred to the country's residents. Any variations are not tolerated, Arce said. "It's hard not as a musician but as a rock musician," he said.

"Rock music is not that popular -- people like traditional or mainstream pop. When you're indie and underground, like us, it seems very odd to people."

mdevlin@tc.canwest.com