"Everything changed. [Guitarist/vocalist] Raul [Pacheco] has a buddy who owns an art gallery right next to downtown Los Angeles. It's a really nice building. We asked if we could use his space to write and record a little bit, but just do demos and stuff."

As payment, the gallery owner decided to make an art installation out of Ozomatli. Graffiti artists decorated the gallery and the band members--who also include percussionist/rapper Justin Poree, trumpeter/pianist/acoustic guitarist Asdru Sierra, saxophonist Ulises Bella, tabla Jiro Yamaguchi, drummer Mario Calire, trombonist Sheffer Bruton and rapper M.C. Jabu Smith-Freeman--designed their own space.

"In front of the graffiti art, we all picked a space, a corner of the room where we could set up anything we wanted to," Abers explained. "So each one of us had our own space. For me I set it up like my bedroom. I put 1,000 pairs of shoes everywhere. I have this obsession with shoes. Everyone kind of did their own thing."

For the art opening, each member was given 10 minutes with the audience to do as they like--talk, play or record something--just so the audience had the opportunity to see how the writing process works.

"For a month after that, we were in the space every day after that writing our music and anybody could come by and view us writing if they like," Abers continued. "A lot of schools came by and kids. That was really cool. For the closing, we performed all the songs we had written while we were there. That's what was a really cool experience. We wrote the bulk of the album there. It went really well. After that, we kept going at studios and stuff and coming up with different jams and kept it going until it's done."

Mixing it up with the audience is a central theme of Ozomatli, according to Abers, who said the key to the group's live shows is to break down the barrier between audience and performer.