From Alt-Indie to Tejano, How Los Juanos are Reconnecting with their Tex-Mex Roots to Pursue New Sounds<br/>

The southside of San Antonio at times has been described as a world within itself. Easily identifiable by its fusion of North American culture and Latin heritage, it often segregates itself from the rest of the city with its burning chicano pride and “puro” lifestyle.

Planting their Tejano roots at the crossroads of Fair Ave. and Nopal St. — amongst the bustling of VIA buses bouncing on potholed streets, the faded hand painted signage on colorful taquerias, fluorescent laundromat lights, wire-fences and the echoey halls of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church where we stand — Baldemar Esquivel and Miguel “Werito'' Guzman nurture lush new latin sounds with their band, Los Juanos.

On their own, Baldemar and Werito are alternative indie moguls, finding success as pop experimentalists building sonic worlds of their own nostalgic accord. But they each sought out ways to reconnect with their Mexican-American backgrounds and pay homage to their predecessors.

For Guzman, his multicultural musical ancestry plays a huge part of his identity. He was born from a mariachi father and tejano singer mother that met while performing together at the Arneson River Theater and now operate a mariachi school together on Fair Ave. In his solo project, Werito would code-switch his lyrics in order to combine his native tongues while also using varying scintillating rhythms representative of his background.

“I’m always trying to look for ways to connect my culture and my understanding of cultural music to a more modern landscape,” Guzman said. He consulted his cousin, singer-songwriter Vanita Leo, and looked to California to find inspiration from bands like The Marias, Chicano Batman and Los Retros. Ultimately he felt disillusioned that nothing like that was happening here in Texas. He decided to take matters into his own hands to try and combine the Mexican and Spanish flavors he grew up with, and blend them with a more modern, indie alternative production.

Initially Esquivel hadn’t quite deciphered how to intermingle his biculturalism into music, but felt heavily inspired by 70’s Spanish pop and 90’s Tejano and held a deep longing to do so.

He recalls how moved he felt listening to artists like Selena, Laura Canales, and Steve Jordan.

“I'm in the shower listening to music and deadass I start crying. I get lost just fantasizing and imagining I’m covering that song on stage. And I’m like, ‘Oh shit, why don’t I try to make that stuff?’” Esquivel laughed. “My motivator was wanting to get out of fantasy land and just do it.”

Despite their long history of acquaintance, the fraternizing of these two artists began as a serendipitous accident. Esquivel first became aware of Guzman’s musical talents after seeing him perform at his elementary school talent show when he was seven years old. Later on the two of them befriended each other while on their high school swim team discussing their interests in music. Esquivel was the one who introduced Guzman to Garage Band after showing him a cover he had recorded of Weezer’s “Sweater Song” on his iPod. However, it wasn’t until nearly ten years after graduating high school that the duo began to collaborate.

About a year ago Esquivel uploaded a video to his Instagram where he was fiddling with an accordion. Guzman saw it and messaged him, unassumingly asking when he would start a Tejano band. Esquivel poshastily responded with a demo he had in the works and asked Guzman to collaborate. The two then embarked on a journey to create a new strain of Tejano music under the pseudonym, Los Juanos, a shortened variant of their original idea to call themselves “Los Marijuanos”.

By definition, Tejano music combines Mexican Spanish vocal styles adopting dance rhythms from Czech and German genres – particularly polka or waltz. It utilizes instruments such as accordion, guitar or bajo sexto. But Los Juanos liquifies that definition for a more fluid approach, which one of Esquivel’s friend’s christened as “Dream-jano”.

“We came to this weird realization that Tejano is the alchemation of modern and American influences and a lot of the stuff we grew up listening to. What we were doing at that point, either mixing bolero and hip hop or reggaeton and samba was for us in theory, Tejano.”, Guzman said.

To attain their unique sound, Los Juanos recruited Eddie Longoria on Guitar and accordion, Richard Ramirez III on keys, and Melecio "Mel" Sanchez on the drums. Part time players include La Paz's Justin Davidson on keys and Jay Lopez on Drums.

Bearing cowboy hats and boots, Los Juanos customarily open up their shows with a nod to each others bedroom pop roots, by playing a spanish rendition of Baldemar’s Maybe.

“That one’s about being sad and just getting lit about it, you know what I mean, feeling shame and drowning it out in alcohol and getting high. The usual Thursday night.”

Their first single, Cien Novias, released December of last year, is a bright and effervescent tune affectionately inspired by a seemingly infinite rotation of wigs donned by a friend of Esquivel’s. “I made a joke to her. Whenever we hang out it's like I’m with a different novia.”

La Niña Influyente is set to be released on Nov. 11 and is a modern day corrido norteño, a type of song that Guzman says “tell a story or either they have a moral lesson or they have an M. Night Shyamalan twist at the end.” It is heavily inspired by David Lee Garza’s Mujer Liberada, but rather than being about a young girl that runs away from the constraints of home and finds death, Los Juanos, present a less ominous story about a girl consumed by her social media image and the faulty judgements in her relationships derived from that obsession.

Only a year into this project and they’ve not only grown a hefty fan base in San Antonio, but have reached northways to Austin and down south to the Rio Grande Valley, as well.

“We would love to run with the momentum that we feel like we’ve built up so far and eventually put out a full length album and see where that takes us,” Esquivel said.

Los Juanos Local Music Recommendations:

Kassandra Ayala (@mstambourinekass)- “that’s another reason why i’m trying to work with her more so that way we can work on stuff and get her on stage again. She’s really amazing” -Baldemar

[MaRK.] (@markloveskittens) - “he was the first person to interview Los Juanos, just a good all around homie. Really talented bedroom producer” -Baldemar

Sloth (@slothbandsa): “they’re fantastic, incredibly tight live. they're the band that I wanted to be when I was in high school” -Miguel

Jeanz: “shoutout Jeanz” -Miguel

BABY AZTRO (@babyaztro): Phenomenal rapper his beat selection is crazy, very much a student of the game. You can hear a lot of that east coast influence. i’m a big fan. -Miguel

Guzman agrees and adds “It just felt like the response was overwhelmingly positive and people want more. It's been motivating us to work harder and give it the attention it deserves and that people want results from.”

The band promises a handful of new releases, including a song called Intenciones and a joint tune with local singer-songwriter, Kassandra Ayala, titled Pienso Algo Grave. They hope to join forces with more local talent and perhaps one day open up for some of the legendary artists that have helped shape their sound, such as David Beck’s Tejano Weekend, Santiago Jimenez Jr., David Lee Garza, and Jay Perez. They don’t dismiss any other genres or strains of musical talent throughout the city, though. They also have a deep admiration for heavy metal and hardcore bands.

“I love the stereotype of the Deftones fan but everyone gets lit to mariachis and it's the best of both worlds,” Guzman chuckles.

You can catch Los Juanos opening for Volcan this upcoming First Friday Nov. 4 at Brick at Blue Star Arts Complex.

In the meantime, the duo stop for some quick photos in front of the church, laughing and buoyantly reciting lyrics from the film Nacho Libre, lightly bantering about their former religious affiliations and commutes to school through the southside, a testament to their lightheartedness and frolicsome amiability.

Check out Los Juanos at major streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.

To keep up with Los Juanos check them out on Instagram