​About a week ago La Santa Cecilia, whose band name is based on the patron saint of musicians, stopped by la frontera to play at the Lowbrow Palace in El Paso, Texas. This wonderful band based in Los Angeles is currently on tour promoting their album, “Amar y Vivir”, whose tracks were recorded live in Mexico City. It is truly a treat and honor when a band that plays traditional music stops by this venue. 
 
That evening the opening band, Dulce Mal, had finished playing and people were still walking through the door, getting their ticket checked and eagerly walking into the venue. There was some type of magic in the air that night. The venue was pretty packed and the crowd was anxiously waiting for La Santa Cecilia to go on stage. This crowd was also distinct to others at this particular venue. It’s clear that there is no specific age group for La Santa Cecilia fans. There were so many generations present, which made the evening even more special. 
 
As soon as La Santa Cecilia took the stage, the crowd went wild and immediately everyone started singing along. The band sang from “Mexico Americano” to “Leña de Pirul” to a cover of the Juan Gabriel song, “Amor Eterno”.  It even made wish that my mother and grandmother were there. I know they would have loved it. La Santa Cecilia has such great stage presence and their lead singer Marisol Hernandez better known as “La Marisoul” has such powerful vocals, it is hard not to be mesmerized by the experience that is their performance. 

After the show, I went to the back part of Lowbrow where the band was sitting and Marisol was still shaking with adrenaline from the show. Before even asking the band about La Santa Cecilia, I asked them what they thought of la frontera, considering that this is not their first time in El Paso.  Marisol was quick to say that for her (when growing up) El Paso had always been el paso. “When I was young, I don’t know how my mother did it, she was a single mother, but each year she would manage to take us to her rancho, which is in Coahuila and we would always pass by here driving. We would carry blankets, clothes and more in our car all the way from California to El Paso and then from El Paso to Juárez to visit family. We have always passed by here, but only briefly. Siempre era de pasada. Now with the band, it is awesome to be able to get to know the city and it’s people.  Growing up I always thought of this place as somewhere de paso.” She mentioned that now that she is grown up, she knows that El Paso isn’t just a ciudad de paso and that it has its people, communities and a rich history. “Traveling with La Santa has allowed us to meet the crowd, the people and start a relationship you know?” 
 
It is that connection that the band has with their fans that led me to ask how La Santa Cecilia keeps their flow and dynamic going considering they have put five albums in the last six years! “We love traveling and we love the road. In these times where music has changed so much, our “bread and butter” is traveling. It is being a touring band. We aren’t a band that plays on the radio. We are a band that works hard and travels from place to place playing our music and selling our merchandise.  It’s our way of life. From our first demo to our first album with a major record label, it doesn’t matter. We love playing, writing and recording.” Marisol made it a point to say that this is what the band loves to do and it’s the reason why they keep on going and from the band’s reaction, they all agreed. “We work for it, we are inspired, and we want to play new music. We live on the road,” she said.  
 
Pepe (accordionist and requinto), added that, “this (the band) has been our longest relationship. We have been playing as a band for about ten years now and we are musicians that work in la calle. Boleros and this type of music is part of our schooling. We are looking forward to the next fifty years.” Additionally, Marisol mentioned that she met Pepe when she was fifteen years old during the time she played with some viejos on la calle de Los Olveros in Los Angeles. “Last year we celebrated our ten years as La Santa Cecilia and we felt that it was important to address in this album, this love and tradition of this specific music and our roots.”
 
As Marisol finished saying that last part, I mentioned that the title of this new album they are touring for, “Amar y Vivir” really caught my attention. Amar and vivir are two simple words, but are very complex in feeling, which led me to ask them why they chose to name the album, “Amar y Vivir”. Marisol said,“”Amar y Vivir” is one of the songs on the album written by Consuelo Velázquez. She is a singer/songwriter from Mexico and damn, those lyrics basically sum up my desire to live and love. It makes me want to work hard, to live and to love, do what I like, and chase my dreams. We decided that was a good name for the album because that’s how we feel, especially now more than ever. I hope people listen to that song because it’s so beautiful; it’s my anthem for life right now. Good vibes to all.” 
 
To conclude this lovely interview, I asked La Santa Cecilia what music means to them specifically. “For us, music has given us a reason to live. A reason to be the way we are. We grew up listening to music. It gave us our identity. So many musicians before us have inspired us. Music lets us tell our stories about where we come from, our experience as bi-cultural people, and it helps us search for who we are. We always keep searching. We are in this path and hope it doesn’t end.”
 
I want to thank La Santa Cecilia for a wonderful evening from the bottom of my heart. It was such a lovely interview! Go follow them on Instagram and keep up with what they have going on: @lasantacecilia

A few days ago I got to talk to The Cuckoos, a psych/funk-rock band from Austin, Texas. The Cuckoos are currently made up of Kenneth Frost, Dave North, Eric Ross, and Cole Koenning. In 2017, they released a self-titled EP and in February their first single of 2018, "Heartbreak Paradise", was released as the current four-piece that they are. They recently played eight shows at SXSW and they have toured places including Mexico and the United Kingdom. For those of you that have not heard The Cuckoos, their music is very reminiscent of the 60's however, they have had a recent transition to more "modern" sounds, which is a mix of modern music and music from the 80's and 90's. Their recent single, "Heartbreak Paradise", reminds me of a mix of David Bowie, Scissor Sisters, and a touch of modern pop-rock. It truly is great!

In a recent call with The Cuckoos, I asked the band how they started. Kenneth responded by saying that the band originally started in 2014 between a drummer and himself and that Dave was at the second show they ever played and that they "stole him". Kenneth added that Dave and him have stuck the longest and that later on Dave brought Eric and Cole on board. "All the guys are very talented. It helps that all of us have different tastes in music as well." I then asked the band why they chose to play this kind of music and their reasoning behind it. Psych/funk is an interesting genre in itself and it makes for a great combination. Kenneth said, "when I started the band, I was very influenced by the 60's. That was the music I was obsessed with at the time. However, I got sick of that. I didn't just want to be a psych/funk band, I wanted to do more rock. There are some more 90's sounds now to our music. I feel like with our new material it is more representative of us, especially in our live shows where we now play whatever we want." Kenneth also mentioned that all band members have different tastes in music, which explains their recent transition and change in music. "We recently play things we have learned over the years." They added that they have been listening to a lot of jazz and The Mars Volta lately, which is all part of their evolution in genre, taste and sound. 

As we talked more and transitioned to a different subject, I asked the band about their latest single "Heartbreak Paradise" and what inspired them considering that the name itself is an oxymoron. It is unusual to see the word heartbreak next to paradise and that is when Kenneth explained that he wrote that song after getting out of a four-year relationship. "I got a lot of good songs out of it." He added that part of the inspiration of the song came from the fact that a lot of people want to fall in love, but don't want to go through the heartbreak. I think the song does a great way of conveying that. It has a great beat and it is very catchy as well!

After digressing a bit more and towards the end of the interview, I asked the guys about their experience and thoughts on SXSW since they are a band from Austin and they said " it's like another day, but with more traffic. Being from Austin makes it more fun for us. It's a 20 minute drive!" They did add that that there is a common misconception to what SXSW is. "It's more of the industry people and there are a lot of private shows. It's not that much of a festival and it's better to play unofficial showcases especially for those bands that are not from Austin." Following that statement, the guys talked about the places they have toured and want to tour in the near future. They plan to work on new material this year so they can go on tour some time in the near future. Stay tuned!

I want to thank The Cuckoos for their time. To follow up with what they are doing and have going on, follow them on Instagram: @thecuckoos 
 

This band known as Villains Kiss has been around since 2011 and "since its inception, the project has counted with the participation of several local musicians throughout its evolution." Currently, the band is made up of David (singer/synths), Robie (bass), Thomas (drums), and Andres (guitar) and they are promoting their latest single Dance Is All I Want To Do from their soon to be announced EP "Every Shape But Triangles". The single is set to be released on April 21st and there is yet a date to be determined for the EP.  For those of you that have not heard Villains Kiss, it's "pretty poppy" and it is definitely synth pop. Super fun!

While talking to David about the band, he mentioned that in 2011 he started this project with his friend Dee. However, he feels that Villains Kiss is more solid than ever with his current band members. I asked him why he chose that name for the band and he mentioned that his friend Dee thought of it and it "just stuck." He told the story of how it started: "So the way this started is that I have been writing stuff since High School and we started working with what we had. One day we were throwing ideas around and we both liked it (Villains Kiss). It originally contained an apostrophe, but we took it off because people kept misspelling it in general."

However, when our conversation went back to the new material itself  he mentioned that Thomas helped him with a lot of the mixing on this new EP. As I continued talking to David, he mentioned that his new EP "Every Shape But Triangle" is about change. "The songs are about relationships. It has heartbreak themes, but it is essentially a story about change." The single Dance is All I Want to Do is "a party song yet the message is sad. The song is basically a commentary on modern day society. We are constantly trying  to numb ourselves in some way." David then added that there was a time in his life where he was trying not to be sober himself, which is why the song came out the way it did.. 

The music video for Dance is All I Want to Do  is set to be released on April 21st, but as someone that has already seen it, all I can say is fantastic! In the video there is a man with a white rabbit mask and it's something reoccurring throughout the video. Clearly representing the euphoric state in which this man is in.  As a final question I asked David why they chose a white rabbit and have that be the logo for this song considering that white rabbits can be symbolic of many things. He mentioned that apart from being a reference to the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland and his friend Pablo Martinez helping him design it, "the story follows the guy purchasing the first mask in an alley. It has a happy expression, and once he puts it on, he is transported into a different “world” where things are more mysterious and interesting. That’s supposed to be the drugs kicking in. Once he starts dancing, his mask eventually falls off, which puts him back in the “real world". Underneath his happy mask, a second one is revealed and he has a grimace, to represent coming down from the trip and being sober and sad again. He decides to take more, and the third mask is the one with the X’d out eyes. It’s a crazed expression and represents an addicted state where we are not in control of it anymore and can’t seem to stop." David also added that it's represents the state in which he wrote the song. He felt that it was a time in his life where he felt he lost a little control over himself.  After watching the video, I can definitely agree that it portrays that sentiment and it's made so well. I encourage everyone to go check it out once it's released!

Villains Kiss hopes to to a Texas tour so stay tuned. Go check them out on all their social media! Follow them on Instagram to see what is going on: @villainskiss