It's kind of like when Selena Quintanilla got it.
I'll tell you what, Man, she'd put a lot of these crazy girls who are out on the radio right now to shame. She was a big influence too, Man, believe it or not, doing the crossover thing.
On playing with Carlos Santana:
It's like living a dream, He's real deep, real spiritual. He's all about the light, about God. All about spreading positive messages to people and being positive. He's about Latinos rocking and crossing over to the American side of music, porque somos Americanos tambien. He's also about breaking down barriers. He tells us that he's passed down the torch to us. "You guys are next." We don't really know what to say other than that means a heck of a whole lot and we'll do our best to keep rocking and carrying the message of love, the message of God and the message of life. It's a blessing for us to have the talent we have and it comes from Dios. We're strong believers in Jesus Christ. He died for our sins and we believe in God Almighty, the Alpha Omega. Without any of that belief in our lives we know we wouldn't be any where near where we are in our lives.
On the pasing of Nelson Madela:
God rest his soul. He was inspiration to the human race and had a lot of insight about the things we can do and the choices we can make as people.
On going to Japan:
You’d think they’re Chicanos. They eat a lot of rice!
The people are very genuine. They have great intention. They have a lot of respect for people and for their country as well. They would always tell us “Thank you for your hard work!” A lot of respect over there, Man, and a lot of saki!
On Enrique Garza and Los Falcones (Their Dad's former band):
For what they did, they were innovators, Man, there were like rebels, what they did. We grew up with that, Man. My Mom also played conjunto music. My Dad was a bajo sexto player, my Uncle was accordion, my Uncle that passed away in '84 was the drummer. It was all brothers in that band just on my Mm's side of the family. Music was a big part of where we came from. We didn't, Los Lonely Boys didn't have much of a choice. We just carried on the tradition. It was because we wanted it Bro',
Quien es el mayor?
It's Henry, Bro'.
So that's why he's Henry, because your Dad's Enrique.
Simon, Bro'. We've got two sisters, Carrie, then Henry, then my sister Christy, then me then Ringo, Bro'.
On playing with their Dad's heroes Ronie Milsap and Willie Nelson:
Ronnie Milsap was a big influence of our Dad's. Our Dad loved his music along with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, Jr. and Hank Williams, Sr. When he was playing conjunto music with his brothers, he was trying to mix country music with conjunto sound. They were trying to do something that hadn't ever been done yet, kinda like what Doug Sahm did with Texas music. It was ahead of its time when they were doing it. Ronnie Milsap, you couldn't help but love they guy's voice. We grew up listening to it as well as his piano playing, the way he arranges his songs. We were just living our Dad's dream when that happened.
Donde fue eso cuando grabaron con Ronnie Milsap?
It was in Nashville, Bro'. We were like in awe of him and we didn't want him to see us smoking cigarettes, but when he came out he was smoking a cigarette and we were like, "Oh wow!", we thought he would really take care of his voice. He said, "You guys probably shouldn't do this" and we were like, "Well Man, we smoke," I'm not saying that it's a good thing, but that really put him in a place that we could see that he was human, he said, "I don't want the Devil to be looking down on me for smoking now," and we were like, "Your just as human as we are!"
On going to Kuwait:
Yes we did, carnal, to support the men and women who get out their and are out on the front lines for us every day. When we got there we said, "Signs us up!" They said, "No, guys we need you guys to keep rockin' ". We had a primo who was a Marine who was there in 2001 when it was all going down. His Humvee blew up they drove over a land mine. His name is Sgt. Robert Garza. He became the best recruiter in Dallas for the Marines. He even put us in touch with the Dallas Cowboys and he was part of their official Color Guard once. He was really honored to do that, especially at Cowboys Stadium. We're just thankful to all our men and women who do that, we were just honored to go over there and play for them. Somebody flew them a bunch of mesquite wood and we had a little pachanga with them, it was really nice.
On helping different charitable organizations through Solid Ground:
We're always trying to do something, Bro', to give back to the community. we were approached to help out the battered women's association, we've done a lot for The Children's Miracle Network, the children's hospitals, there's a lot of different non-profit organizations we donate guitars to and we've given time to. It's not all about fame and fortune, it's about doing the best with what we've got, because God has blessed us with this talent, I mean there's a bigger reason than just making money, I mean don't get me wrong, Bro', we all gotta pay our bills, Carnal, but there's something way more important than just having to pay a bill, Cool, Like letting a kid know that there's something that if you believe in yourself and you want to do something in life to make a difference, you CAN . You don't have to have a million dollars to do that.
On the song Heaven:
The truth is, a lot of people don't know the truth, Bro', the truth is Heaven to everybody, all the biggest record labels, nobody liked it, Bro'. NOBODY! Even people in our own camp would say, "What are you some kind of gospel band?" We're not saying that we fit into the mold of what a Christian band or a gospel band is, but we are believers and if God tells us to write this song, we're gonna do it. We really don't believe that the true effort comes from how we sit around and try to create, Bro', it comes from a dream, al of a sudden you wake up in the morning and you're being given these lyrics that talk about something other than making a dollar or this girl looks good here and we're gonna go party there. I mean don't get me wrong, we all like to have a good time, Que no? But the focus for Los Lonely Boys music, Carnal, has been trying to better ourselves as people and trying to spread that message, especially, to the youth of America. There's a lot of **** out there that gets these kids lost, Bro', and it's really sad to see, it's sad to know that there's young people that don't have a dollar to their name and they're living in the barrio and they're coming up hard in the streets, driving these cars with big rims, wearing these clothes that cost way more that they should and the focus is on that rather than, "How can I better myself?" How can I BE myself? What can you do that makes YOU YOU? A lot of it's out there, Man, corrupting young minds.
It's a lack of respect for authority.
You see even on things like the Disney Channel you see things where these kids are disrespecting their parents and making the parents look like idiots and all of a sudden these children are super smart and got it all figured out and the mom and dad look like morons. It looks like they don't need authority, they don't need guidance, but I'm telling you right now Carnal, I've got my own children and they do need it, because if they don't have it, Bro', this world is lost. The children are our future, Bro', the children are the future of this world. You hear people say we need something behind for our kids. What we NEED to do is leave better kids for the future of living, Bro'. Don't get me wrong Carnal, there is hope in this world and the place we call home. It's there. I see it a lot. I see it in our nephews and in our children. It's easy to get caught up in that web that's being spun by those deadly spiders. It's also easy to show them to spin their own webs.
We're looking forward to Revelation.
Have you guys heard any of it yet?
No, absolutely not, Bro'. What can we expect?
The world goes around about a man falling in love with a woman and a woman falling in love with a man and being able to procreate and make new life to continue on, that's what the whole thing about leaving a legacy comes from. You build a legacy.
There's a lot of really good songs. The title say a lot about the album and how songs come to Los Lonely Boys. It doesn't happen in one day, two, days, a month... It takes time for these songs to be revealed. If your listening, if your heart is open, it's gonna be revealed to you, you know? God reveals everything to you. We're not just trying to get people to believe what they don't want to believe, because God tell us you can't force that. But we live by example. Songs are revealed by Dios. With this record, we have the ability to cross over mainstream media, because there's a few songs on there that they sound like they've got that kind of pop feel, but it's still rock. There are some ballads, the first song that's actually coming out is called Don't Walk Away. That song is about a ruca not believing and not trusting her man that he's faithful. It's basically the guy telling the girl, "Look, I love you Baby. I do everything I can to please you and to keep you happy and to show you that I love you, but all you do is turn around and say that I'm doing it for somebody else. I can't tell you what to do, I got nothing else to prove, 'cuz you never believe a word I say all I can do is ask you not walk away to what the guy's saying is one of the best things that has ever come into his life.
That's awesome, Jo Jo. Are you gonna sing it or is Henry?
I'm singing that song right now, Bro'. It's the first song that's coming out. Then there's Dream Away which is about not giving up on your dream. If you stop dreaming, your basically stuck in time like a statue. It's like you were telling me you can't believe you're interviewing people like Loverboy and the way you feel about talking to me right now, it's like look, it all didn't just happen, you worked for it, it was a dream, it was something that you wanted to come true and Dios is listening, He's watching and he gives us what we ask for.
How beautiful.
A lot of people are like, "i didn't get the blessings the way I asked for them," Yes you do, they don't always come in the way that YOU see them that YOU would've expected them to look like. Your prayers get answered.
There's songs like There's Always Tomorrow. That song's about someone's outside. "hey, dad, will you come throw the ball with me outside before it gets too dark?" and the dad's like, "We'll do it tomorrow as soon as the first light comes," and then all of a sudden, the dad doesn't wake up or the son doesn't wake up, Bro'. It's like take the moment while you got it, take the opportunity when you have it. It's a matter of taking that opportunity while you got it and do what you can with it, because if you wait 'til tomorrow who SAYS there's tomorrow, and if there is no tomorrow for you, what did you leave behind? What type of faith and belief, what is your legacy?
Ringo wrote a song for his kids. It's called The Greatest Ever. Every parent feels that way about their kid. If you listen to this song and you've got kids, Bro', even if you don't have kids, you can look at the children that you do know, you know that there's nothing greater than seeing life repeat itself.
There's a song called Give a Little More.
The first song that came out was Blame it on Love. It was based on all the things that love brings. The good and the bad because people go crazy with love, they go crazy in love.
We can't wait for this record to be released. It already came out in Japan and they've been playing a lot of the new tunes here in our hometown, Bro'. They've been playing it non-stop in the Top 40 radio station.
There's also songs like Can't Slow Down and Rule the World, it's about that you have a momentum if you keep it moving at a steady pace, you're gonna succeed. You're gonna pass what you need to pass by and you're gonna stop when you need to stop. Rule the World is about ruling your own world, basically doing what you can to better yourself in any and every way you can.
This album, we're very proud of it. It's gonna open some eyes and ears and open people's hearts, Bro'.
On Henry's accident:
I don't know if you know, but we nearly lost Henry this year. He fell in an orchestra pit. It was really gacho, Bro', It was a big eye opener for the familia. I mean, I say it like this all the time. If we don't have Henry Garza the man, the person, we don't have Henry Garza the guitar player. He's doing a lot better now Bro', a LOT better. We've been off a lot this year because of the injury. He's doing really good now and we're very, very grateful to Diosito that Henry's back up and jamming again. Hopefully he gets strong and stays strong because it was really scary to the family to nearly lose Henry like that. Very horrific.
Como le hace para tocar .13 gauge strings?
Years and years of playing. It's funny you ask that because people ask to pick up his guitars and he's really possessive with his guitars, he treats them like they're his ladies, but when they do, they try to get on them and they're like "What the heck?!? I can't even bend the strings!", he's like, 'Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you I play with .13's!',
One of the big influences of that was Stevie Ray Vaughan, because of the tone that they give, it's that Texas tone, Bro'. If you ask me .13's are for babies, Dude. I play them bass strings, Bro', I don't even know the gauges, but I know it feels like I'm playing a quarter inch bolt or something (Laughs!).
What kind of a bass do you play?
I used to play a Hohner, butthey stopped making them and my brothers got me a really nice Tobias bass I really wanted and I've been on it ever since.
These genuine Mexican American musicians from San Angelo are legit.
Los Lonely Boys want to thank the members of their crew for all that they do and how they fit in the overall scheme of things when it comes to Los Lonely Boys playing live.
"We wouldn't be able to do what we do every single night if it weren't for these guys, major props go out to our techs, our road crew, our sound guys and everyone who helps us, we're a team. We just happen to be the faces of the team, but a lot goes on behind the scenes which is just as important."