Los Lobos will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Waterville Opera House, 1 Common St., Waterville.

The band was already East L.A. neighborhood legends, Sunset Strip regulars and a Grammy Award winning band (Best Mexican-American/Tejano Music Performance) by the time they recorded their major label debut “How Will the Wolf Survive?” in 1984.

Although the album’s name and title song were inspired by a National Geographic article about real life wolves in the wild, the band — David Hidalgo, Louie Perez, Cesar Rosas, Conrad Lozano and Steve Berlin — saw parallels with their struggle to gain mainstream rock success while maintaining their Mexican roots. Three decades, two more Grammys, a worldwide smash single (“La Bamba”) and thousands of rollicking performances across the globe later, Los Lobos is surviving quite well — and still jamming with the same raw intensity as they had when they began in that garage in 1973.

Tickets cost $40-$50 and can be purchased 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday on location, by calling 873-7000, or visit www.operahouse.org.