South Texas Entertainment Art Music
STEAM
MAGAZINE
JOHN GARZA BAND
ReverbNation Spotlight
A Q&A with John and Stan
By Tamma Hicks, STEAM Mag
STEAM How did you get into music?
JOHN Funny story, pretty musical family I come from a big family I’m the 7th child out of 8, so that big of family they kind of keep everybody entertained, the radio was always going. My older brother, Larry Garza, was pretty intense musician in his own right. For me he was a guitar and vocal idol of mine, and he was my brother. To me he was the next best thing to John Lennon that I’ll ever have and I mean bottom line is I wanted to be him when I grew up. He create a lot locally and kind of never really got his dew, life happens and it did to him in a weird way, but it didn’t take anything away from his charisma, he’s a very charismatic guy. Very good looking, kind of had that Kris Kristofferson look about him. He was a real funny guy and I really admired his personality so it wasn’t this band or that band or whatever, I mean I definitely have all those influences, but I think the reason I have such a love for music and performing has everything to do with my big brother.
STEAM Are you still really close?
JOHN Unfortunately, he is not with us he passed away quite some time ago.
STEAM I’m sorry.
JOHN No, that’s ok; we’re talking right? But before that happed he got to see me perform, to witness that I won a Grammy, and that I traveled and performed all over. I got do everything that he truly wanted to.
STEAM Ok, so you brought it up. When did you get nominated and win your Grammy, you were really young weren’t you?
JOHN Yes, I was in my mid 20’s (laughs) That was the Chris Perez Band. Chris as you may know is Selena’s widower. He and I co-founded the band and I fronted it. There was a lot happening all at once and to be real honest it was a big explosion of talent that came onto the scene; Ricky Martin made his blow-out crossover, Christina Aguilera, Britany Spears, and Eminem we all hit the scene at the same time and it was sink or swim and it wasn’t an easy surf (laughs) We survived and did our thing in and out of the studio for about 15-years. We got to play with Santana, Mana, Better than Ezra, and a lot of others in a wide variety of venues.
STEAM Stan, tell me about the guys in JGB.
STAN Kelly our guitar player is a cancer survivor and another reason for a charity emphasis. He has been through a lot and it does him, and us, good to give back. John is just john. I think being awesome comes natural to him. Our drummer Pete is one of the nicest individuals I have ever met. I have to work hard at it just be almost OK. But hanging with such a good group of guys had to help, right?
STEAM What inspires the music you write?
JOHN To be honest inspiration is in the eye of the writer. Some people have formulas, but I don’t. I do the lion’s share of writing, but this is a band and a band effort is what we do. Any of us can bring in a song and we’ll all work on it; total collaboration. This is a good group pf people!
STAN Our wives let us indulge out passion for music and if we can touch a sick kid. Make someone smile or raise a few bucks for a charity it makes it a worth wile hobby. I guess this is our "card night" which is fine most of us aren't very good at cards anyway.
STEAM Do you have a CD/songs recorded? Are you planning on going into a studio?
STAN All our music is free to our fans. Our app on iTunes or Android is probably the easiest way to keep up with the songs we have out. Some are professionally done at Loop Studio; others we may throw together ourselves and release or come back to later to redo if they feel like they need.it
JOHN Once we finish our current project we’ll be able to do more shows. We just want to make sure fans have the ability to take something home from a show.
STEAM What are your plans for touring?
JOHN We play at festivals all over, but it’s been about a year since we had a show here in Corpus Christi.
STAN Most of the gigs the band does has a community or charity tie in. The band members are all dad's and have busy lives but can find the time to share their love. Most of our timed is spent at Dylan Ely’s Loop Studio under engineer Roman Gardiner, he is a great help.
www.reverbnation.com/johngarzaband
https://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Garza-Band/182534751827893
