In this episode, Adrián Terrazas-González explores his early exposure to Central American traditional music in Chihuahua, Mexico, and his musicianship journey spanning from the flute to the clarinet and saxophone. The discussion highlights his fight against cancer, his stint with the Grammy-winning band The Mars Volta, and his artistic ventures in Los Angeles. Adrián elaborates on his multidisciplinary approach to music, his collaborations with international artists, and his dedication to teaching workshops globally. Marcus and Adrián also delve into creative processes, the role of imperfection in art, the inspirations drawn from notable philosophers, and the limitations of AI in capturing human emotion. The episode wraps up with insights into Adrián’s disciplined approach to music, his ongoing projects, and his philosophy towards overcoming adversity.
Episode Highlights:
06:01 Early Musical Influences
11:26 First Professional Gigs
13:53 Avoiding Substance Abuse
15:59 Growing Up in Chihuahua
33:41 Recording with The Mars Volta
40:41 Performing on Letterman
42:27 Childhood Memories and Influences
01:03:44 Winning a Grammy and Its Impact
Raised in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México, Adrián Terrazas-González grew up surrounded by the traditional music of Central America from Danzón, Boleros and Rumba, to Son and Mambo. Terrazas-González began developing his musical ability starting at the age of eleven. He was inclined to play the flute and the tenor saxophone with an understanding of classical music and a distinct attraction to jazz, and five years later chose to take on the clarinet. His grandmother, a “Danzón Nut” according to Terrazas-González, urged her grandson in that direction, but the young player was adamant towards a newfound paragon for himself: Hubert Laws. In May 2002 Terrazas-González was diagnosed with Cancer that spread to his stomach and abdomen, treatments included surgery and extensive radiation treatment to the stomach and abdomen. In 2004, he was declared cancer free and in the same year he joined the band The Mars Volta as a full-flesh member. From The Mars Volta (Earning his first GRAMMY in 2008) years to an Alternative Metal, and or a Chamber Music pad. Terrazas-González’s professional involvement with the music industry has continued to develop in Los Angeles, California leading T.R.A.M. one of the strongest lineups in music. This dignified and prolific musician collaborates with an eclectic number of international musicians, tours internationally on an intense and annual schedule, and endless collaborations, all the while teaching workshops to numerous school districts and universities around the globe.
Connect with Adrián here: @adrianterrazasofficial
Episode Transcript:
00:45
Acta Non Verba is a Latin phrase that means actions, not words. If you want to know what somebody truly believes, don’t listen to their words. Instead, observe their actions. I’m Marcus Aurelius Anderson and my guest today truly embodies that phrase. Raised in Chihuahua, Mexico, Adrian Tarraza Gonzalez grew up surrounded by the traditional music of Central America from danzan, boleros, rumba, tizon, and mambo.
01:12
He began developing his musical abilities starting at the age of 11. He was inclined to play the flute and thinner sax with an understanding of classical music and a distinct attraction to jazz. And five years later chose to take on the clarinet. His grandmother, a danzon nut as he would say, urged her grandson in that direction, but the young player was adamant towards a newfound paragon for himself, namely Hubert Laws. In May of 2002,
01:40
Tarrajas Gonzalez was diagnosed with cancer that spread to his stomach and abdomen and the treatments that he underwent included surgery, extensive radiation treatments for those areas. And in 2004 he was declared cancer-free and in the same year another victory for him. He joined the band the Mars Volta as a full-fledged member, an incredible band and we’ll talk about that. From the Mars Volta era where he won his first Grammy in 2008
02:09
He’s done that all the way from that to alternate metal, to chamber music. He’s doing all kinds of soundtracks now. His professional involvement in the music industry has continued to develop in Los Angeles, leading Tram, which is one of the power quartets out there, one of the strongest lineups in music. This dignified and prolific musician collaborates with an eclectic number of international musicians, tours internationally on an intense and annual schedule.
02:38
with endless collaborations, all the while teaching workshops to numerous school districts and universities around the globe. Adrian, I cannot thank you enough for taking the time. You’re incredible. And I’m sorry if I butchered some of those words. I apologize. But thank you for taking the time to be here with us. Man, not as much as going to butcher all this, every single English word in the next hour. I was going to say that usually when I’m…
03:08
station either in I lived in Los Angeles for more than 17 years and I moved to Austin Texas two years ago to Christmas and But I’ve been in Mexico City for the past two years Working on this video and the music for this video game for Xbox So I just want to upfront You know not apologize to your listeners for my extra spiciness in my
03:37
You know, and so usually I’m a little more eloquent on my on my pronunciation, but right now it’s going to be. Yeah, I mean, you know, yeah, man, I’ve been speaking Spanish, very little English for for the past few years. But yeah, man, don’t worry about it. The Rastas is a hard one because you have you have the rolling R plus the Z. It just means terrace.
04:06
That’s what it means. It’s a terrace, like a house. It’s a plural for terrace. And then Gonzales, you know, it’s like Speedy Gonzales, you know? Yeah, but don’t worry about it. Adrian is fine. And that’s how the guys go. But yeah, man, thank you for inviting me. I’m a big fan. Please. Thank you. So anyways, man, what do you want to know? I’m sorry I’m pounding coffee, but…
04:36
I’ve been doing, I’ve been pulling this from 3pm to 5am. I’m doing the writing for this video game because I had to do the finals for the Brazil platform and Xbox needs to be done by the end of this month and I’m mastering some of the other stuff for the same project. So I’m sleeping very little. So I’m…
04:59
Pounding coffee like a motherfucker. Man, get that coffee, get it in. And like I said, you’re so busy and yet you still agree to do this. So I’m honored by your time. I’m honored by this. If you would have told me this a year ago, I would have done it every other week. Every other week. No, man, I’m serious, man. I’m serious. I love talking to people like you, man. No, I love the conversations with you. So you’re ex-military, correct? Yes, sir.
05:30
All right. I was in the light infantry with 10th Mountain Light Infantry Division. And when we were preparing to deploy, that’s when I got injured and that’s when I went through all that stuff. And you heard my conversation with Lee, so you know that adversity that kind of binds us and how much it influences us as humans, but also it imprints on us as musicians. And I play the guitar, but I’m not a musician like you or Lee or…
05:58
anybody in your other bands, but I would love to know, was it Hubert Laws? Is that the musician that you heard where you said, I have to play the saxophone, right? Tell me about that experience. That’s a good question. That’s a great question because I’m a flautist primarily, not a saxophonist. So Hubert Laws is a flautist. His brother was a saxophonist, Ronnie Laws. So yeah, I was.
06:26
My inclination was to play orchestral flute, like he did. And I didn’t know much about him. I just, my grandmother will listen to a lot of the college public radio, because she loved classical music and dance song music. But you know, that’s pretty much what you listen to on the radio back in days. And obviously from where I’m from, I’m Tejan, host a bunch of tech smacks stuff and…
06:55
and Ortenio stuff and you know, you’re in the infantry, I’m sure you hear some of that stuff. Oh, yeah. With your comrades and, and, um, she not going to say bandai stuff. And, you know, but yeah, one of the flautists, I guess the radio guy love his plane or something because he will play a lot of his orchestral playing. He will play a lot with the New York Philharmonic as a soloist. And, uh, Hubelos was one of the first African American, uh,
07:24
principal plow just for orchestral playing. Wow. But he did a lot of jazz with his brother and Chic Corea and Stanley Clark. He did a Paul Jackson and Paul Jackson Jr. Paul Jackson Jr. I think he’s a guitarist and Paul Jackson is a bassist. During the fusion-ish area of jazz, you know, when Weather Report starts popping out of the, no, Yellow Jackets and so forth and so on.
07:52
But I didn’t know he was black. I just thought it was some German dude, you know, playing the shadow of the flute, especially Baroque music. That was my real love for music and was inclined to Baroque music. Until this day, I tried to break my year where I’m playing at least 40% of the year, some chamber concerts. And I do some clarinet, mostly flute.
08:21
and some classical playing of saxophone, a more legit playing, as we call it, of the academic world, you know? And so I started writing some more stuff for me to play either flute or saxophone, but my own orchestral arrangements. I actually did two of the tramps songs for chamber orchestra and saxophone, hoping they either toss in a habit of…
08:51
will fly to Mexico and naturally play the songs for the orchestra. But we know drums, which is kind of hard for me because I really love. Uh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can’t have metal without drums, but, uh, but the way I wrote them, it was, it worked, it works without drums. So yeah. So I asked my great, my grandmother to call the DJ at the college booth and, uh,
09:20
Yeah, the guy said, yeah, then get some black CDs and I’ll burn a bunch of music for him. Wow. And I got a bunch of classical and baroque music, mostly all flute performances by Huber Laws. And then he did burn a CD with Huber Laws playing with Chick, with Chick Corea. Chick Corea, wow. Yeah. And his brother playing bassoon and tenor saxophone. And I was like, that sounds great. So I got a flute.
09:50
from a pawn shop and I started sharing on that. I didn’t know what I was doing and I didn’t have a teacher. So I went to the library, got a figuring chart and like a children’s flute book for transverse flute, an orchestral flute that is. And yeah, I share on that. I will ask different musicians around the town, you know, how to do the embouchure on the flute and blah, blah.
10:19
And that’s it. I would just go to their music school and chat with the guys and they were taking lessons because I didn’t have any money for lessons. Yeah, so, you know, I would just chat with them and ask them, you know, hey, how you do this? How you play this? How you position F sharp? How you do this? So, you know, wasn’t the real way, the actual way to grab this instrument. And so that’s how I learned. And that’s how I learned clarinet and that’s how I learned saxophone, you know.
10:49
and all my instruments were gathered from pawn shops. So that’s it. And so I started, you know, I was very, very good by picking up the woodwind. It would that woodwinds make sense to me for some reason. It just made sense. So I will pick up a clarinet and I will be like, I just give me the finger and chart and two months later I was playing Tejano music with a clarinet. No, I’m not going to say I was the best.
11:18
but I did the gigs and I got paid for it. There you go, professional musician. There you go. Yeah. It’s actually my first professional gig, so-called professional gig was playing a Quinceañera. I was playing a Quinceañera with this band called La División, which is a wedding band. I will play clarinet and my tenor saxophone. Then I will go back home.
11:46
and pick up the flute as a… That was my legit instrument. That was my vision of me trying to be a solo instrument, a concert musician, so you know. And then the other instrument will be just fun. You know? The clarinet will be, I play norteno with this and I play a little bit of jazz. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just…
12:16
Learn the girl from Ipanema or Take Five or whatever. All the songs they want to hear on the wedding. I just remember I did play for a lobby bar of a hotel, one of my parents friends or something like that. So my mom and one of my aunts will go in and make sure I wasn’t drinking because I was 15. Oh, wow. Yeah, I was 15 playing with these older dudes. Wow.
12:45
which two of the other dudes who were doing more to just drink. So they want to just make sure, you know, I will get, I will get paid or, or, and then I was, I wasn’t doing any, any funky shit, you know? But, but, but, you know, but I didn’t drink or anything like that. I never been a drinker. Never been a drinker since I never been a drinker nor I never try any hard drug. I, uh, I still don’t know how.
13:16
what doing coke feels like. I still don’t know how, you know, doing amphetamines or whatever. I did try pot and I do, and I, and I do microdosing, but I never try any hard drugs. And I never been an alcoholic. I think I got, I got drunk like four times in my life. And I got, and I got tipsy twice because the only time I drink is when I cook for my girlfriend. Yeah. You know, but since I don’t drink, I get, I get.
13:45
You know, I drink a Guinness and I’m ready. I’m a shipwreck. Yeah. Fucking light-webber. I think that’s awesome because I believe that is what’s allowed you to continue to evolve and grow as a musician because how many musicians do we know from that scene where, again, we talked to Lee, like it literally almost killed him. Yeah. And we see a lot of people along the side of the road that were incredible or…
14:15
They had, you know, they kind of arrived and they did a good job and they had a couple of albums or whatever. And then they didn’t realize that that’s not sustainable or that it actually starts to have a detrimental effect on, again, your motor skills, like you can’t finger correctly if you’ve had too much or it’s crazy. And I think that that’s a part that people don’t always see in the music business. Yeah. It’s like Dr. Andrew Kuberman says.
14:41
It’s not just one thing then alcohol is good for you. Besides that it’s fun. Yeah. You know, that is good for you. You know, if you want red wine for antioxidants, I can name you millions of freaking fruits or vegetables that have antioxidants or just eating meat and you know, whatever. You know, but it is fun. I understand, you know.
15:10
I never understood it. I think it’s because my dad died of cirrhosis. My dad died because he was an alcoholic. He was a hard work alcoholic and he didn’t have the will to stop. So he died. He died, I think I was 28. I was coming back. We were coming back from a bullet tour from Japan. We did a full month in Japan. And when I landed…
15:35
I looked at my Blackberry, remember those things? Oh yeah, I remember those things. Yeah, and I had like over 30 messages saying, but I never had a relationship with my dad. I saw my dad, I had maybe four conversations with him, face to face and two on the phone. So two on the phone when I was in college. And that was it. And then when I got the call from my grandmother,
16:05
So, you know, I didn’t have that relationship. And then my granddad, my mother’s father was also a hard rock colleague, but he did stop. So he lived his last 20 years of his life sober. But by then, you know, he had lost my grandmother, he lost part of his wealth. And so it’s hard. It was probably very hard for a 50-year-old
16:35
guy than is sober now to start over and see that what alcohol did to him, you know. But again, it was, you know, and then my mother’s only brother, he did hardcore drugs, hardcore alcohol. So for me, it was, I was raised by my grandmother and now in a single mother. My mother’s first marriage was at my 15th birthday, was like almost on my 30th birthday. And she has a great
17:03
great marriage and from a solid dude, my stepdad is a great, great dude. But I got to see that when I was already a teenager. So I had 15 years of fucking chaos with dudes, you know, the only, the only solid dudes were the people at my great granddad’s ranch. Because my great granddad didn’t drink and the guy is working at the ranch or the farm. So, so that, that came in stability over like, Oh, okay. Those are the dudes.
17:34
work from 5 a.m. to freaking 5 p.m. hard work and then my grandmother will be like do your homework, don’t go to the bathroom, don’t leave the room, don’t leave the room until it’s clean, but all those things you know. Excellent. So yeah, so I guess I just did the math. Okay, A plus B gives you that. So I’m not gonna drink. So my first drink I was already in college, probably 21.
18:03
And see, I had a similar experience and it’s interesting where we can have something like that happen in our life. And for some people we understand that doesn’t make any sense. I don’t want to do that, but other people see it and they say, Oh, this is what a man’s supposed to do. And then they catch themselves sort of falling down that, but like I said, I don’t think you would be the success that you are had you tried to do those things. Or, or again, we see some of these issues that try to hold it together. But again, it’s.
18:33
it’s a matter of time they’re taking time bomb and then they eventually have to face it. I have even more respect for you now knowing that you’re doing this all with just a cold blood in your veins and not having to have to drink to get to that place. Well to be fair, I mean you probably read some musicians biography. Oh yeah. Have you read Beneath the Underdog? Oh man, I truly recommend it. It’s probably one of the most beautiful reading books.
19:01
It was written by Charles Mingus. And he’s, he’s out of biography. And if you put yourself in their shoes back in the early, you know, late forties, fifties, sixties, early sixties, then I’ll probably drink too. Yeah. I mean, it didn’t matter. You raised, man. It didn’t matter. You’re Mexican, white, black. It didn’t matter. Yeah. Man. Everybody had it hard. Yes. Everybody had it hard.
19:31
So anyway, there were a different breed of people for sure. Yeah. Everyone. And our parents are their kids, you know, they’re great kids. So, so I mean, you gotta, you gotta put things into perspective and, and, uh, I come from a very, very hard and hard environment, hard macho, you know, cowboy this and this and that, and it’s a lot, but it’s a lot of
19:59
a lot of narco stuff and sicario stuff. You know, it’s a lot of that because of the, Chihuahua, Mexico, my hometown is just four hours from the border of El Paso, Texas. And we have New Mexico, we have Las Cruces, New Mexico, and then you drive east, you will get Laredo, or you will get close to San Antonio. So it’s a lot of drugs coming in and out.
20:29
and you’re just in the middle of it. So it’s a lot of shootings every now and then, you know, it’s a lot of that. It used to be that way. It’s not that way anymore. Because the cartel had so much control back then. Yeah, but you know, I think they got smarter. So they just got through politics now. Back in the days, it was like cowboys and Indians, man. Yeah, there was more in the streets all the time. Yeah, exactly. So…
20:59
those type of environments, you know, they give you a perspective of how I used to be. And even though I had those type of hardship and I came from a single grandmother and single mother family who worked their asses off to somewhat provide for me, you know, as a child, I guess that’s why trying to find a job right away, oh, I can do this well.
21:24
You know, I just want to keep practicing. And then I got a little gigs here and there. And then I will like, Hey, I will buy this. Oh, I will buy a little groceries or, or, I mean, it wasn’t much, but then, you know, as a male figure, you know, I felt like I needed to do that, you know? Um, until my mother got married and then things got a little, a little easier. I said, I went on, but I, you know, I’m no one to be judging those.
21:53
Charlie Parker for dying of our heroin overdose or Jimi Hendrix for doing the same. You know? Yeah. No, I mean, I didn’t live that life and I didn’t want any, I don’t know. I’m not that type of dude and it’s for me, it’s easier to say no to things. You know? Yeah. It’s better to resist the bait than struggle the snare once you’re in it. Right? Yeah. I guess that’s why I think.
22:22
My grandmother was very, very, she was extremely strong woman. And she lived a very hard life. I felt like I didn’t have any, any excuses for me to not do the jobs or to do a job or to study or to do well in school or to, you know, even though I had, you know, I had it hard, I didn’t feel, I didn’t feel like I had it hard because my grandmother was like, Hey.
22:51
You had a roof on your top and you have food. What are your excuse? What’s your excuse? Do your fucking homework. It’s not that hard. Just we’re letting you live here, do your homework. Exactly. And exactly. But you can derail very easily too as a young man. But music, it was too fun. And I had so much fun transcribing jazz musicians.
23:20
I got very much into hip hop at a very young age. So I really loved how J.D. did things. And I used to love Biggie’s, I still do, Biggie’s old albums, how they were made. And so I will research who was doing the beats and when they do collaborations with Wu-Tang Clan. And I like, oh, you know, for me it was like a whole.
23:48
different world outside of classical music. So what I’m going with this is that I would just, music will be just one thing. It didn’t matter if it was me practicing Bach sonatas or transcribing how J. Dilla did beats, or transcribing or learning a Charlie Parker solo. And I think that that’s so powerful because people say, people claim that they’re eclectic. Yeah.
24:17
because they can play a diminished arpeggio over here and then, you know, something in E flat, but it’s not, it’s not exactly like what you’re describing is truly because I don’t think people understand classical music. Like a lot of times it’s very much like it’s in a box. You don’t have a lot of freedom. There’s a lot of technical prowess required to get to that place where you can execute to that skillset and you were influenced by that, but then you were able to bring the discipline of that by playing.
24:47
by ear to hear Charlie Parker, to understand what Coltrane was doing, like putting all those things together and being able to say, I can take the flat seventh of this, put it over this minor and now solo in this. And all of a sudden you get this beautiful jazz tone that would be sort of frowned upon in classical music. But you were able to do that.
25:17
You’re a master of this. So, but if I could ask you, what is your process like when you were looking back at those kinds of things where, because you just kind of go now, you don’t have to think about it, but if you could describe a process, what would that look like? Or how do you approach some of these things when you’re going into different genres of music or different inspirations for that performance? Oh man, that’s such a great question. I think to me it was…
25:47
Every time a friend, a colleague of mine, okay. I’m going to tell you the first time I played metal. Okay. It was these guys from my hometown. They used to be a Pantera cover band. Okay. That’s, that’s pretty heavy. That’s pretty heavy. I didn’t know shit about Pantera. You know, just like a lot of our, um, of our generation kids, we love Iron Maiden,
26:16
The covers were so fucking cool. They were like, I don’t know what the hell this is, but the vinyl covers were great. Like every album was like, but anyways, so that was my metal world. Like either Dio or Megadeth, I still love fucking Megadeth. I saw them like five years ago, but man, they’re so beautiful. But anyways, so this band will do it every now and then
26:46
metal songs reminiscent a little bit of the of Pantera-ish you know because that’s when that genre really came in like during the 90s it was yeah the early late 80s early 90s it was so heavy it was so in your face it just like punched you exactly because everybody was used to just like i say Megadeth or or Poison or Death Leopard things like that it’s like oh yeah that’s heavy metal and then Pantera came in
27:16
and Slayer came in and all those guys were like, whoa, hardcore guitar shredding riffs, super flashy drums were double, you know. The double bass going, yeah. I mean, I guess you can say the double bass was already in, but not like this. Not bass drum, not double bass drum playing in unison with guitar riffs. Not…
27:44
None of that. It’s like a machine gun going off. Totally. And I think Pantera and Slayer were some of those pioneers, you know? So they were doing their songs and I played little keyboards so that’s how I was playing with these guys. And then they told me, hey, you play saxophone, right? You’re like, yeah. Maybe a little saxophone on this thing would be great. I was like, sure, I’ll
28:13
So I would, you know, I’ll play the, I will learn the guitar lines on the saxophone. So we just try to figure out how to fit whatever I was, you know, with my, you know, with my little dexterity that I had already gathered throughout those first four years of me practicing and then just shedding on that. And I will just play and try not to, I didn’t know much harmony.
28:40
until I really started studying theory on my own at the age of 15. When I’m talking, I was 13, man. I was 12 when I was playing with these guys and I was trying to learn those lines. And I was like, man, the guitar and saxophone together sounds great. And we were out of tune for sure. We were out of tune. For some reason, I never played.
29:08
in unison with an electronic instrument. Those type of lines, for me it was just like Charlie Parker, this, bebop or classical lines, baroque lines or pageant, whatever, you know, what not. So I was like, man, this is fun, this is fun. So I would, every, I guess the word got out.
29:36
So every musician, every band will be like, Hey, I have a salsa band, you know, like, I never play salsa, but let’s go. But everything’s written, everything’s written, but they’ll be like, hey, solo on this section, solo. I don’t know, but kiss it in, you know, what kiss it in, I think you see, you know, so your ears start, you start doing a little ear training. Oh, I think that’s G and then playing the flute. So that’s when I started.
30:05
bring the flute into the gigs because it’s a lot of flute and salsa music. And then they will call me for Tejano things, you know, so I will play that. And then I remember this guy, they played at this other clarinet player who was much seasoned than I was at the time. He created his own little group and so he started writing his own
30:35
you know, incorporate my stuff in that. And if I heard something, you know, like, hey, maybe I should bring my clarinet and not play saxophone there and just play the clarinet with this, this and that, or maybe a little keyboard. So I was just very happy to be in that environment and for them to open the door to our creativity. I mean, I know the songs were, you know, were cheesy problems.
31:02
But it was a creative environment nonetheless. Yeah, and it feels like you just love music, you just love performing, you love the process of discovery. And so many musicians, like we get good, or not even good, but we get adequate in a certain style or genre. And then they don’t want to get out of that because they have to start over and look like an amateur or be out of tune. But you had no fear. You’re like, I’ll play whatever, like whatever’s there. Yeah, yeah. I’ll bring something to it.
31:33
Yeah, and I think that the thing was that I really wanted to fit into whatever they were doing. It’s like if somebody asked you to be in their barbecue, you know? Okay, if you ask me to go into your barbecue, into your house, you know, and you’re already grilling, you know what you’re doing, I’m not going to go and be like, hey, man, I think you should blah, blah, blah. You know, you’re like, hey, hey, hey, hey, wait a minute, dude.
32:02
Let me do my thing, but I can be like, hey, why are you cooking, man? I think I’m gonna do this, my seasoning, I’m gonna do my meats like that. I’m like, well, maybe I make a couple salsas and a guacamole, be like, hey man, I brought that and let me know how it fits, you know? Because that’s how I envision it. And you’ll be like.
32:29
Well, maybe that guacamole is too much, but the salsa worked. You know, but I’m just trying to add up and fit in whatever you’re trying to do. I’m trying to bring up our experience at that moment. You know, we respect because I knew I was being invited to the party, but I was in that leading. I was in doing this and that.
32:58
But I was throwing little balls here and there, like, hey, maybe we do this and this and that, it will help or it will work. And they will let me do it. Some people will be like, nah, no, just learn this line. That’s cool. But it will make me go freaking practice those guitar lines and be proficient about it.
33:27
And that was cool to me as well, man. I just wanted to be there and make that moment better and just to be part at the stage with him. That’s all, that’s all I wanted to do. And I think that translated throughout my years, because if it wasn’t with the Bulltown or… I remember the first time when I recorded Francis the Mute,
33:57
It was probably at its 90% to be completed. I think it needed some master, some editing, but everything was done. So I just went and did my saxophones, my flutes, my overdubs, and that was it. Some percussion, because most of the percussion was not. Like that album was all the percussion done by Lenny Castro.
34:26
was a master. Yes, yes, yes. What a freaking, I love that guy. And he was my master later on for the upcoming albums. But anyways, he told me, hey, do you mind if we fuck with some effects during your solo? I’m like, sure, man, what kind of effects? Like, I never put effects on any work then. I didn’t know that was possible. I mean, I knew it was possible because I love Miles Davis,
34:55
how he did shit with a wah on the Breaker Brothers, they will have like guitar pedals going into their horns, wah, and they will put wah-wahs or like super chifters. They can press it, make some more, yeah. Yeah, they will put through synths or facers, they will put the S90 facer into the horns, it will be like, oh, that sounds cool. So I knew that was a thing, but I never tried it.
35:23
And I was like, man, sure, man, what are you going to play? Well, maybe some echoes, maybe some this, this and that. I was like, well, can I hear while I’m playing? Like, sure. Like, well, what do you want? Let’s, you know, I just, I just start recording the solo and then, and then you can pick and choose. I was thinking, this was in New York, by the way. They flew me to the Avatar Records in New York. And I was like, yeah, if I can hear back whatever you’re doing.
35:53
Maybe, you know, I’ll be cool because I never done this before. I had already recorded my flutes. And when I played the solo in Cassandra, cause it’s two interventions, but it’s one solo that is like long, one saxophone solo that is long. Like, Hey, boy, you’re starting here and you end in, you’re not going to end here. Or I’ll let you know, or I direct you when you’re about to end your solo. All right.
36:21
So I was looking at him, one of the guys on the other side of the booth. So I stopped playing and I heard the echoes, the space echo. They were putting like, you know, the big rag space echo, they just start and all that. Oh, this is cool, man. It’s like, I’m hearing the bouncing of the horn and then at the end of the solo, boom, it just went dry.
36:50
And that’s when I was going nuts. Like, yeah. And then he just, I forgot to open my eyes to see what he wanted me to end. And when I opened my eyes, you know, the guy was like, I keep going, keep going. And that’s how I ended all the way to the guitar, play over the guitar riff. Cause you know, the, damn, they’re getting the guitar, they’re getting the guitar, we got a job, we’re going nuts, now we’re just going.
37:20
And then when I opened my eyes, I thought it was like, oh, he totally fucked the record up. I’m like, no, keep going. So that was it. So that solo was like, okay, so should I do it again? No, you’re done. That’s it. Really? Are you sure? I’m fucking, are you sure? Because I hated that solo. Yeah, man, I was like, I hate that solo, dude. I mean, I-
37:49
I played some lines, some cold train lines or whatever. But I was just fucking around to see, because I was happy that I was getting that feedback. Yeah. And they were like, yeah, that’s fine. That’s it. I mean, you want to do another pass, it’s cool. But we’re used to this. Yeah, like you can do all the passes you want, but this is what’s going on the album. This is going to go into the record, like or not. All right. So that was it. So.
38:17
So that was the first time I used pedals and I was, cool. So I called, when the guys asked me that night, they walked me into my hotel room. They were like, hey man, are you a drinker at your party? Do you do any drugs? Like, no man, no, no, no, I don’t. I mean, I hardly even drink, but I’ve never done any drugs. I was like, oh, okay, because two of the guys, they were trying to get.
38:47
get off some hard drugs and one of their bad members had just died due to an overdose, Jeremy. And so I like, no, that’s cool. So four months had passed. That was 2004. And then their manager called me like, hey, I think the guys…
39:13
Oh, my head already asked me if I want to be in the band. I was like, yeah, sure, give it a try. But when the manager called me and like, Hey, are you willing to move to Los Angeles? Are you moving to… It’s official at that point. It’s official. And this and that. And I’m like, oh, okay. Now I’m going to have an AYN number and this and that. So late 2004, I saw blow my shit. I grabbed my books, my records, my horns, and I moved.
39:43
on my Toyota to Los Angeles. And that’s it. And I played with the band. Until we started having problems. And right after we got the Grammy, right before we got the Grammy, we would start, everybody was, I think we were all fed up. And a couple of guys started doing shady stuff, legal shady stuff. And I’m sure I did some wrong shit as well. We were young and stupid in a rock band.
40:13
So that’s it. That’s when we stopped playing. The guys did a few more tours without me. And then I was supposed to go back on tour, but by then the economy was going to shit. When Obama went into, I don’t know if you remember, when Obama went into office, the economy was going nuts. Kind of like right now. Yeah. Yeah. I see a pattern forming.
40:41
And I was talking to you about before we hit record, I saw you guys on Letterman and the energy is just like palpable. I thought you guys are going to literally tear that studio down for real. Like even as they’re counting in, like you can feel it. Yeah. And then you come on and it’s just like, you’re just, it’s like you’re breaking out of jail. You’re just going and that power and that energy was crazy. And you were saying how.
41:10
You’re like, yeah, we were doing that two or three hours at a time. Like that was like what you’re. So it’s almost like you’re in a, like your chops were already incredible, but then once you’re there and now you guys are like really locked in and you guys are really tight now, this just takes the whole experience to this whole other level. Can you tell me about what it was like to, to be on Letterman? How did that feel? Did you feel like you had arrived at that point as a musician? No, I gotta tell you what I was thinking.
41:39
During the time Leatherman had a celebrity music guest with their band, with their house band. A music guest and then his two, his regular two guests, you know. So his band’s celebrity guest was Bruce Willis. And I was a big Bruce Willis fan when I was a kid. I used to watch all his movies, the die-hard movies. So I’m like, oh! So the whole time…
42:09
I was like, forget I was in the Leatherman show. I got to see Ruth Williams and say, what’s up? Oh yeah. I’m like, Ruth, dude, you don’t know. Every male figure I had around me, it was cowboy boots, cowboy hat. That’s it. I sent you some pictures of me as a kid with the horse. As a capaghetto. Yeah, as a capaghetto. And as a kid with my horse and my, most of the horses that they had around, they were my…
42:38
my godfathers because they all had ranch with bulls. But I never seen a movie where the guy had a fedora hat, you know, and then a ring, an earring, you know, and all in black or, you know, with a gold tee or this and that or, or, uh, you know, like eighties Bruce Willis, eighties, nineties, Bruce Willis was a different beast. Yeah. He was in, you know,
43:07
He was the man. Yeah, he was the man. Those type of figures, you know. So for me to see him with his harmonica singing blues, you know, it was just, it took me back to those movies which were, you know, they’re comfort movies. It’s like comfort food. Like in a cheeseburger, you know, you’re watching Die Hard, you know, it’s cheesy, you know, but it takes you back to those days, you know.
43:35
You can smell my grandmother’s food. You can, you have tamales and everything. Yeah. You can see my mom wearing her under a uniform and I went to the hospital. And, uh, so it gives it brings me back to all that. So going all the way, I mean, to be there at the Leatherman show was, um, yeah, it was a real, that thing went from, from all being in a van or, or one tour bus to now have four.
44:06
two or three tour bosses, having a big crew, managing being all over our asses all the time, and doing these types of interviews. During those years, we did the Henry Rollins show. Yes. Have you seen that one? That one was pretty… I haven’t, I’ll have to check it out though. Check it out because that’s a whole, we actually played the whole set. Wow.
44:35
The Henry Rollins show was a year or so before Leatherman. But that to me was even bigger than Leatherman. I love Leatherman, don’t get me wrong. And I know the importance of, the pop culture importance of being on that show. Yeah, but Henry Rollins was like a musician that was already, you already loved him. Yeah, and I loved Black Flag. And for me, Bad Brains and Black Flag, it was like, ah, that brought me back to high school.
45:06
in college. But yeah, to be there, that was the time where the band, we were getting along. We were getting along. You can see the egos popping up little by little, you know, because we were all starting getting deals with, I got my deal with Samson Technologies.
45:32
And then I got my frizzle with with Selmer Paris, which is a saxophone maker. And then the guys were, Omar got their deal with, with Ivanes guitars. And Juan got his deal with Fender and another. We all got everything for free. You want pedals? There you go. Yeah. And it’s all custom to the way you want it. Exactly. You have, you have your tags, you know, like. Customize and pedal boards for you. And you can talk to the.
46:02
When you get your sound guide asking, hey, this company really wants you to use their microphones, you know, they’re really into, you know, what you’re doing. And they probably hate it high and play, but they really wanted their microphones on my horn. Yeah. But, but yeah, so, so you can see that, you know, people get into magazines.
46:32
everybody getting hot girlfriends, you know, everybody started drinking a little more. You’re living the dream, right? Yeah, yeah, guys started drinking a little more, a little more. But thank God, I knew what was happening. It was very vivid for me. You know, it was me looking at my dad for the first time drunk as hell, me, he seeing my dad’s brother with a needle in his hand.
47:01
where this was going. So I start merging myself going back and only practicing flute. I didn’t practice saxophone. I didn’t shed Coltrane lines. I didn’t shed any of the Giuseppe Latif books or any of those things. I just went back, grabbed a bunch of, sight read a bunch of classical music and nothing but classical music. I did…
47:31
I just practice classical music on my flute. I will warm up on my horn on my saxophone. I will play a lot of bass clarinet. I’ve played a lot of bass clarinet during these years. But I went back and I shed on the flute. Like I was playing a flute concerto in a few months. And every time I went back to LA, I will go to my boys’ Muay Thai gym, and I will just share with them.
48:01
And I started running. And we’ll get the tour bus will hit the city. Usually we’ll get a lot of the time we’ll get there right before the venue opened. So we will get there and I’ll be like, just hit the espresso, the espresso machine and go run for a few hours. Nice. And see the city. It didn’t matter if we were in Europe, if we were in Japan, anything didn’t matter. I would just go and run.
48:31
I would go to the room, do the Taishun push-ups, you know, those things against the wall. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or practice my Muay Thai stance or something. I didn’t really get into Jiu Jitsu until I got married. I was married for a few years and I moved to San Diego. And one of my colleagues, he started teaching Jiu Jitsu. One of his sensei’s gyms.
48:59
So I told him, hey man, what’s all this fuss about Jiu-Jitsu? And I told him I did judo and I did taekwondo and I’ve been doing Jiu-Jitsu, I mean Muay Thai, but I really want to get into it. So he instructed me at one of the Logan parks in San Diego, Barrio Logan. You’ve been to San Diego, correct? I have, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know Barrio Logan, that area? Yeah, yeah. Yes, very close to the bay. Yes, yes. I mean.
49:29
The military, the Coronado Bay is right there. All the military bases are around that area, surrounded that area. So we used to get, get, get together at the park and he will be, you know, he will teach me drills and we will go and, and, uh, and that’s what I got hooked. So, so yeah, that’s what kept me, kept me from getting into that something that everybody was getting into and, and everybody started drinking a lot.
49:58
A lot of the band members were drinking a bottle of Don Julio every concert. Things like that. I’m not going to say who, but everybody knows who. But everybody knows. But for you also, before that happened, you had that, you had cancer, stomach cancer. Yeah. So that probably made you understand this is not something that I want to do. And let’s be honest.
50:26
I’m discussing earlier with your childhood and how, like imagine had you been drinking as a young man before you got that, like you may not have, you may not have made it. Yeah. Um, I was living a healthy life. I really, really always enjoyed sports and, and especially martial arts. So for me, it was easy because I, you know, what am I going to go to?
50:55
to my judo class in college, you know, drunk? No. Or if I really wanted to practice until five in the morning, because I had a fluid resettlement the next day or the next week, I’m pounding coffee. And I don’t have money to be drinking. You know, I need to pay my tuition and I need to, you know, and I need to do all this stuff to pay my bills.
51:25
I don’t have time to be drinking. So that was clear. So the cancer thing, I think, I don’t know. Like again, I look at my dad’s history, health history. So I don’t know if that side of my family has a history of cancer from testicular to maybe prostate to maybe stomach to anything. But I was going through a lot of stress because I was…
51:55
studying non-stop and when I’m about to do something and study and practice and yada yada, you know, I become a little too obsessed with that person, to that process. So for me it’s like, fuck it, I’m not going to sleep. I’ll sleep when I die, you know, that thing, that mentality. So I was like, okay, I need to study this for those courses and then I still need to practice four hours of flute, three hours of saxophone.
52:25
And then go play, play my gigs. And then I took it too hard. So I think I wasn’t eating well because I didn’t have money to eat well. So I would just do like a little oatmeal with some fruit. But two hours later, we’re eating cookies with a coffee, or a bagel, bagel and a coffee. That’s it. And then I will eat.
52:53
I will eat actually eat well at the gig. You know, if I was playing a salsa gig, they will feed us, they will feed the band. And I will say that was my meal of the day. So if you’re not sleeping well, if you’re not doing this, it doesn’t matter how young you are, man. Yes. You’re taxing your body heavily, you know? So I think that triggered maybe, I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. You need that. Yeah, exactly. So, so I don’t know. But the good thing is I was.
53:23
getting into lifting a lot of weights. So I was massive. I was just lifting heavy. So I had a lot of muscle mass on me. So I think I was over 240 pounds. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, you were jacked. I was jacked. Well, it’s easy for me because I’m 6’4″. I’m lean right now because I’m always…
53:51
on the mat, you know, or, and I do fast almost every day. Nice. Um, like for instance, I’m not going to eat until at the end of your show. And, um, so I’m very lean and I’m almost as heavy as I used to be then. Wow. But the way I train is, you know, it’s heavy. Then I was just late. Yeah. Wait, wait. Exactly. And I think that helped me a lot.
54:19
going through radiation and everything because I had a lot of muscle in me. I don’t know if I was, if I was very thin or if I was overweight, I don’t think I would have, I would have made it because it was, it was two months of heavy radiation and you don’t, you, I mean, you don’t keep anything because it was, it’s, it’s a straight to stomach. It’s like your lower stomach. So anything you eat comes out.
54:48
So I will be at seven in the morning at the oncologist office and then blah blah blah. They will take me to prep myself for radiation. That was seven in the morning so I’ll be out like around 10 a.m. Go straight to the… I drew myself the first three times. Then I will have friends drive me.
55:15
to the hospital because I will have to stop. I will start, you know, it will start getting worse and worse. So I will have to stop and throw up and then keep driving myself to my apartment. And my girlfriend at the time, she’s from Switzerland. She was from Switzerland. She passed away curiously enough of stomach cancer early this year, which was mind blowing. We became very good friends.
55:44
She moved to Australia. She had a beautiful marriage. But I never wanted to be that ex-boyfriend to always, you know. But I got a call from one of our college, ex-college buddies. And they told me the news. And so anybody’s doing that time, she used to go back home to Switzerland, to Basel, Basel, Switzerland, and work with her parents.
56:15
So my mom drove from Chihuahua and she will help me out. She’s a nurse, so she know what to do. But it was tough because from 10 a.m. all the way to, let’s say noon, I was hugging that thing. I was just throwing up. The toilet just giving it all up. I was just.
56:40
making love to the fucking toilet. Yeah. And then I will sleep like I will sleep for an hour or two and I will just pound water. And then I was like, fuck it. You know, I remember, I remember Lance Armstrong was, you know, one of his books said that he will, as soon as he will feel a little better, he will be just pounding water and either go to small runs.
57:09
or get on the bike on the stationary bike. I like, man, maybe maybe it’s not that hard. Or maybe once I feel good, you know, or if I feel a little energy after after my nap, I can go take a run. So I will, you know, I will console water and I will take little runs. And then I realized I could run for for an hour, and then two hours. And then my my mother will be waiting for me with a
57:39
with a pipe of water and we just chug that thing in it and then eat like a freaking animal. Yeah. Because I will, you know, I got everything that so after the second week, after my second week of local radiation therapy, that’s what I will do. Come back from therapy. Wow.
58:09
come back, eat, and then I will practice, study, read, whatever, and just get myself situated to do it for the next day. And that was two months. And then towards the end of the last month, fun enough, I will get calls to do…
58:31
out of town gigs. I will be like, hey, man, can you do this weekend in Austin, Texas at the Elephant Room? I’m like, let’s go. But I will still have the marks in my stomach because I needed to do my radiation therapy on Monday. The radiation therapy says from Monday to Friday. So I will have weekends off. And then they will fly me to San Diego to do a gig.
59:01
or an orchestral gig or whatever. So for some reason, man, the very end tag of my therapy, I started getting calls like a motherfucker. And one of those days was with the Volta. I was, the reason, I’m gonna tell you how we met, how I met the guys. I used to be the music director for our guitar player’s dad’s salsa band, Omar.
59:31
His dad, Marcel Rodriguez, he was a salsa singer and he got a salsa orchestra. So I used to be the director for his salsa orchestra. That’s how I met the guys. Wow. So the guys went to a salsa festival, like a street festival. They’re in Texas, you know, Paxo, Texas. They were like, oh man, let’s call this guy. He plays a lot of instruments. For them, we’re like, hey, he plays flute and saxophone.
01:00:00
That’s a lot of instruments. But in a salsa band, every saxophone player plays flute or every saxophone player plays clarinet for cumbias. But for them, it’s like, oh, this guy plays a lot of instruments, so bring him on. And when Ryan recorded Francis and Mute, I still had one week when I flew back from New York for my last Randy Aitcher therapy. Yeah. That’s insane. I’ve never heard of anybody, first of all, wanting to go for a run.
01:00:30
after throwing up for hours after having radiation, like most people are lucky to just be able to sleep at all. You’re going for runs for a couple of hours, smashing water like a champ, eating like a beast, and then doing out of town gigs on the weekend, you know, in your spare time. That’s the thing. Yeah, that’s the thing. The other thing was my oncologist wife was a nutritionist and a good one.
01:00:59
And she was like, I just tried to eat just meats and avocado. Don’t do tomatoes, don’t do, what is it called? Bananas or anything too acidic. Because all that stuff is acidic and it inflames you, right? Exactly, exactly. And I’m like, all right, all right. Salt, meat, avocado, that’s it, got it. All the oil on top of that, that’s it. And it was easy for me because I come from a ranchers,
01:01:29
background. So he didn’t meet all day. It’s all good. But the running thing, don’t get me wrong. The first time I went running, I think I lasted 15 minutes. All right. And then I, you know, by my ego was like, okay, I’m going to walk about the rest of the hour, you know, because I don’t know if you’ve been to El Paso, Texas, but it has a beautiful sun. The sun is right in your face. But it felt good, man. The sun, man.
01:01:58
I feel so good. I came back, drinking my water, and then I did it the next day, and then my body was like, I could probably run a little 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes. Man, by the end of that month, I was already running the hour, hour 50 minutes. And then before the therapy ended, I was running two hours, easily, easily. I lost a lot of muscle, that’s for sure.
01:02:27
but my stamina was off the roof. And I don’t know, I had very good people around me that time, during those years. But they say that you never know when the great opportunities knock on your door and you’re not, I told my students, practice like a freaking maniac and do your work like a freaking maniac because.
01:02:54
you probably are going to be sick. Your stomach, you’re probably going to have a fever or you’re going to have a stomach it. The first time they called you to play at the Carnery Hall or you play your first concert for 20,000 people. You know, you never know, man. You never know. You never know. And it’s not going to be the best day of your life. It’s going to be the best opportunity of your life, but it’s not going to be the best day of your life.
01:03:24
anatomically, what is it called? Yeah, physically, because physically, yeah. Yeah, because every opportunity has adversity that you have to pay to get there. Yeah. Yeah, but anyways, hopefully it is everything goes as planned and you feel great and that day is good and then That’s incredible. Yeah. So you go from that, just become an official member of the Mars Volta and then tell me what it’s like to win a Grammy. Tell me.
01:03:54
how it felt. Tell me, was it like, did it blow your mind? Did it just seem like it was natural? How does that feel? Fucking surreal, man. Because I got in the mail, the invitation to go into the Grammys. Like, and then I called my manager, like, Oh, what is this? I was very bad with emails. So I read your freaking email. So I look at the email, I’m like, Oh,
01:04:22
We are part of what we are being nominated for, you know, against these bands and, you know, for hard rock performances. And that’s it. After we come back from Japan, I think we have two days off and then we go straight to the Staples Center to the Grand Amis to do this thing. I’m like, all right, let’s go. And but I thought, you know, like, we’re going to go, you know, do this, do the rock star thing. And, and
01:04:52
and go home and that’s it. Drink a little, yada yada. Go to some parties, that’s it. And then they said, and the winner is Amorz Volta. I was like, are you fucking kidding? And then the whole time, the whole time I was like, oh, we gotta go to the stage. Okay, we gotta go to the stage to get our Grammys. But I thought, you know, oh, this is gonna give us one Grammy to the band. No, like.
01:05:20
I didn’t know that the band gets everybody gets the Grammy, you know, because you’re in the band, you know, like, so everybody walks like Metallica when they wander shit, they walk everybody, every member of the band walks with a with a statue. So they got me the statue like, what the fuck is this, man? And then I’m like in front of, you know, everybody in there like, you know, are you supposed to say something? I didn’t say shit. I just like looking around and like.
01:05:50
This is cool, man. And I was like about to say something, but everything is so, so quick. And I like, I’m going to say something stupid. I just, you know, I just didn’t say anything. I said a lot. I said a lot of to the press conferences. That’s when I spoke a lot. I couldn’t shut up about it. And sure that all every single, every single socks, God, and listen to that. And, uh, but the best part of it, the worst part of it was like, so
01:06:19
that it happened. The whole time I just felt that the work I’ve done, individually, I’m just being selfish right now. I’m just talking selfishly right now. That the work I’ve done, I’ve been doing. And then the sacrifices that I did, that my mom did, that my grandmother did, it was that, man. It was like, because I knew my mom was gonna be, you know.
01:06:48
She was gonna flip. And yeah, as soon as she found out, she got the news. She would like, she cried for two hours and this and that. So those things to me are for our parents and our family. And professionally they give you a certain entitlement in the business. I don’t know how much because like everything
01:07:18
You know, yeah. Well, yeah, man. I’ll tell you what, the best thing of that night was meeting Bibi King.
01:07:27
Because B.B. King was right behind him. Wow. Yeah, so you’re lined up as an artist to go to the press conference. And I look back and I see these two towers, these two big muscular dudes. And one of them was pulling a wheelchair. And it was B.B. King on the wheelchair. Wow. Yeah, because B.B. King was a diabetic. So he was having a lot of problems.
01:07:57
And I looked, I was like, man, I was about to tell you, I’m a big blues nut. I love blues, especially from that area. I was about to ask about a guitar player right now, but anyways, I saw BB King and I was like, oh, sir, man, blah, blah, blah, this and that. He was like, oh, you guys did beautiful kit. And he grabbed my hand.
01:08:21
And I didn’t wash my hands for a freaking whole year, man. I was like just kissing it and putting it in my fucking BB King. And I’m like, God damn. You know, and I like, you know, everybody was into their rock and roll, you know, mentality. I was just thinking about BB King the whole time. Yeah, it was cool. And I was cool. And after that, you know, just start getting more nominations and it becomes.
01:08:49
just a part of the job. I feel bad. I feel bad to say this because it’s not fair for the people that does not have a Grammy, because I won the Grammy. So for me, it’s easy to be like, oh, it doesn’t matter. Oh, I don’t wanna be that guy, because he does matter. And it does feel good. But it becomes very quickly just a part of the job. It’s just another thing of the job.
01:09:19
It’s just like, you know, like anything else, you know, like winning a gold medal in the Olympics. I don’t know if you ask anybody. Yeah, go ahead. I was going to say, or having a company approach you and say, we want to create a custom version of this instrument for you. I mean, I see Lee McKinney, you know, has that you have it and it’s like, yeah, it’s awesome. But at the same time, like you said, if you you guys have done the work for so long and you’ve. Yeah.
01:09:47
But it becomes part of the job. But I try not to think about it. Because I’ve seen colleagues that do think about it, that stop practicing. So I don’t wanna get into that. I don’t wanna be that. I don’t wanna be like, hey, I want this and this and that, so I’m good. It probably pushed you harder in some ways, right? It made you push even harder. Yeah, because a lot of your colleagues start calling you
01:10:15
A lot of your heroes start calling you to do some sessions and are like, I don’t want to fuck this up. So I better shed, you know, and you start getting into that frequency of playing, you know, and you start getting calls from Lee McKinney or Tosin Abahasi or like, hey man, I remember when Tosin, Javier and I got into the, got in a call and being like, hey, let’s get together.
01:10:45
to do an album and then we got together into my apartment in Los Angeles every day except for one day from month. We wrote everything and we recorded Tramp, the Tramp album, the Tramp Linguafranca in three days. Yeah. Geez. Yeah, we did two days, just us, and then Eric Moore recorded everything one day. And then it was, I guess you could say.
01:11:14
three and a half days because I did overdubs and editing with Javier. Yeah, so I played the percussion for the rest of the album. After Eric recorded his thing. So yeah, you start getting those calls, but a lot of your older colleagues stop calling you. You lose a lot of those, you can lose a lot of those if you’re not careful because they think they can’t afford you anymore. You see? Because it’s not…
01:11:43
I call him, I call that I remember calling Luis Guerra and be like, hey, man, how come you’re not calling me anymore for to do your sessions? He used to call me like once, at least twice a month to record for his movie scoring. Great writer, Luis Guerra. I did 18 and a half for Dan Mervis with him during the pandemic. And and I had to call him like. And he flat out told me, I cannot afford you, man. You have you’ve got Grammys now. You’re like, what do you mean?
01:12:13
Just pay me what you paid me for. It’s just a gig. It’s just a job. You know, but you’re a Grammy winner now. Exactly. I cannot. Yeah. Because legally you can, you can ask for more. So yeah, you lose a lot of those, a lot of your homies, you know, yeah. So anyways, when can you, like for instance, I’m not, you know, just like you say, you’re not a guitarist, you know,
01:12:43
To me, I love drawing and I like to write my memo. Obviously I write it in Spanish, but my memo. But I take a lot of joy because I know I have to research about things like that or about things I want to talk about. Right now I’m really into Dostoevsky. That’s Jordan Peterson’s fault.
01:13:12
But yeah, so I’m being written in all, I’m almost done. So once I finished the idiot, I’m done with Dustin Yovstie for a minute. Because that the, anyways, and Nietzsche. So anyways, you do all the research and I’m never gonna write like you, you know? Or like others, or like Jordan Peterson, or like all these other guys, you know? Of course not.
01:13:41
because that’s their niche, that’s their calling. But for instance, for you, for somebody then has to go through that process. Because I always, I’m very interested on how other people do their craft. Just like you, I’m assuming you do, that’s one of the reasons, one of the many reasons you do this type of podcasting and talk to people as, you know, such as Lee or.
01:14:10
or other philosophers or people, you know, within the sport or, or Jiu-Jitsu masters or what not. What will be the shedding? Like when you grab your guitar in writing for you, besides, besides reading a lot, besides going through your books or going back through, through, through research and onto whichever topic you’re, you’re trying to unfold. Yeah, there’s, I’m sorry. And there’s
01:14:39
Like you say, it’s kind of like with yours, there’s so much to it, but lots of times it comes down to trying to just perfect those first three sentences, that statement, almost like a hook, almost like you’re that rhythm. And now that sets the pace for everything else, but you can go back to it. You can write it down and you look at it and you’re like, that’s trash. But then you come back the next day and look at it and say, actually, that part’s not bad. And now you come back and you.
01:15:07
You kind of wordsmith that or if you can get in that groove and you can attack it for three or four hours and really do that deep excavation. But for me, lots of times it starts with maybe a thought or just an experience just like with this conversation we’re having. And then something comes from that and you jot it down, just like with the melody. If you don’t write it down, then you’re going to forget it. You think you’re going to remember it, but you won’t. No, it’s good. So I either write it down or I dictate it into my phone. That way I have it. And then if
01:15:36
Again, you get those subjects and now you can put those things together. So if it’s about adversity, if it’s about discipline, if it’s about humility, now they all kind of blend and they have that flavor and they dovetail. And then you just, for me, I just try to bleed onto the page and be as honest as I can because that to me, just again, Dostoyevsky, I mean, he’s writing from this place of just so much poverty and so much like suffering.
01:16:05
where Nietzsche, where he was just questioning everything, that’s where we learn the most. So for you, that’s why when I spoke to Lee, I loved how he was saying that adversity is what’s informed the way that he writes everything. And when you hear sugar on the blade, sugar on the needle, you can feel it down in your soul. Or just like when I was telling you, when I heard you playing with him, I can feel this emotion just dripping off of what you play. And that’s emotion.
01:16:34
And that’s something that you can never replace with AI. You can never replace with chat GBT. You can never replace with, because people, you know, will borrow your stuff or just rip it off, which is a compliment, but that’s to me is being able to convey that in a way that makes another human being really feel what I’m feeling. And I think that’s what you do with your music. And I think that’s why you’re amazing. Man, now that you mentioned AI, because I think what makes human art
01:17:05
so beautiful is that it’s imperfection. You see, like even if you play classical music, you’re gonna fuck it up. I mean, I can take James Galway’s flutgo churros, performances, recording sessions, and I can tell you every time he fuck up and it sounds beautiful. And it’s almost a perfect performance, you know? Do you think AI is gonna be able to replicate
01:17:34
Um, try to replicate that. It even if it, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You know, even if it tried or even if it did so, it would still be artificial. Yeah. And there’s something about like you say, doing it organically and naturally from the heart and whether people realize it or not, I think they can feel it. And I think that once they’re able to do that, that’s why your music, the music that we creates the
01:18:03
the writing that I’m trying to create, that’s the goal is to say, you know what? I’m human and I’m not perfect, but the imperfection is what creates the perfection in it, in my opinion. Right. It’s that beauty of that. Again, it’s like Japanese philosophy or jujitsu or anything. It’s like whenever you mess up on that arm bar, that’s when they started to learn Uma Palata. When you miss that and the guy rolls, now you’re learning to go back into that arm bar and now you’re flowing.
01:18:31
So just like with jazz, just like when you’re playing all these different styles, you feel it and you allow that momentum to build. And then you blend with it in a way that takes everyone to this direction, this place that they’d never been before. And it’s this incredible experience that everybody’s having in real time. And that’s where the humanity makes the music and everything that people write. So much more powerful in my opinion. Do you believe that certain, certain topics, certain things in life,
01:19:01
are so… how can I create… okay for instance if you get an idea of a topic you’re writing about and for some reason that idea seems useless because I don’t know maybe just it feels pointless useless or it doesn’t it doesn’t go anywhere but why is it that sometimes
01:19:30
the most simple ideas and so-called useless ideas are the more natural to navigate. I don’t know if I’m expressing this correctly, but I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like sometimes I have an idea, a melodic line, and it feels solid. If I listen to it at first hand, it’s like, okay, that’s it. But if I keep developing the idea,
01:20:01
In that particular moment, it doesn’t, it seems like it doesn’t want to go anywhere. It just wants to stay aesthetic and that, and that point in time. And that’s it. Don’t evolve. Don’t go back. Nothing. Just to be there. It’s like the idea is, is scared of evolution. And like you said, there there’s times when we have that lick or we have that passage or we have that thing, and then we walk away from it.
01:20:31
And then two weeks later, it hits and you come back to it. And now it’s like these pieces of the puzzle sort of fall together. Or you take these, like you said, these three areas that don’t connect at all. But then all of a sudden, if you either change the key or use something chromatic to connect them, now they mesh into this beautiful thing that you wouldn’t have gotten any other way. Yeah, I think that’s one of the most important things about let it go. Even though you’re doing the shedding.
01:20:59
Even though you’re there for your muse, you know, and working, writing, or whatever your trade might be. But sometimes I feel like you have to just let it go. Any theory, any technicality, you may be to create a part of, I don’t know, to create a method of writing or composing.
01:21:29
or if you’re trying to do a string quintet and the idea doesn’t go anywhere. I think sometimes it’s, you just have to let it go. You just have to let it go and be in that moment and just not think so much about rules, which is very hard for me to say because I’m very rule-oriented. I have to give myself parameters. What are my parameters? Like I need…
01:21:57
This is my melody, this is the harmony, the chord changes, this is the rhythm of the day, you know? And I can only work with, I wanna work and create, I create a great thing with just these patterns and see where it takes me. I feel like I work better and create better things. When I had let it go, at that moment,
01:22:24
When I finished the improvisation over, I don’t know how to say it, I said giant steps by Coltrane and I just let it go. I didn’t, you know, I just let it go. I feel like at the end of that moment I feel like I played like shit. And then I heard the recording and I was like, what the fuck? That was great. That was great. So obviously I wouldn’t be able to do this if I didn’t do the shit,
01:22:54
I get it, you know, I get it, but at one point, you should just let it go all the time or search for that spiritual avenue. Yes. You know, that spiritual avenue.
01:23:14
as part of your sherry. That’s it. It’s almost like you can be surgical with it and just unleash it. Because what you’re describing is you weren’t playing that music. That music was playing you. Totally. I’m not writing the words. The words are writing me and now it just comes out. And then you step away, you’re like, like you said, it’s the muse. It’s almost like you’re a vessel and it just comes out. But you had to have all that technical prowess, all that knowledge, all those gigs in Chihuahua or in New York getting a Grammy.
01:23:43
to give you the capacity to be able to convey it because otherwise it wouldn’t come out the way it did. Now wait, when you write in that type of environment it’s just like do you write on paper or you write on your type? My handwriting is horrible so I have to type it but once you’re there and you’re just kind of going for me all of a sudden you just step away and you look at and you say oh wow. Okay.
01:24:10
And that’s, it’s beautiful when it happens, but there are also days when you do it and you’re like, this is garbage, I’m garbage, I’m shutting my computer, nobody’s going to read my book, I’m a hack, I suck. And Steven Pressfield and Robert Greene talk about, they say every time they begin, like, I have that fear that nobody’s going to listen to this or nobody’s going to buy this or that this is shit. And that’s, that’s good because that keeps us honest and it makes us earn it every time we sit down. It probably feels great even if you’re writing it by hand or typing.
01:24:40
You’re not really thinking, you’re like literally…
01:24:44
Spelling everything. Spelling? Yeah, spelling everything onto your computer or the paper, you know? But I have to write 10 pages of shit before I get to that point. I have to write. Yeah. I mean, yeah. But once you’re there, it’s worth it. Yeah. I love it. Man, listen, I think this is a great place for us to put a bow on this. Yeah, man. Yeah, it’s flown by, I know. Where can I send people to learn about you? We can go to…
01:25:13
Instagram we can go to Spotify. Yeah, go to all that go to Instagram go to Spotify Apple music our label and one of my labels just put a lot of the playlist and there in Spotify and I think the playlist called this is Adrian This is Adrian Terrasa Gonzalez and then you can get a good chunk of it or You can just go to my Instagram and we’re working right now on the YouTube channel. Also you follow
01:25:41
Any of my other colleagues like Lee or animals as leaders guys or born with Cyrus guys. We’re good at throwing people out of each other and helping each other. So we’re a good group of like a little clan, like a little, like a little clique. So I love it. So yeah, man. So yeah, just go to Spotify and the shows there or what I’m going to do with the video game and this and that, you know? Perfect. And we’ll link all that in the show notes for everybody. So we can.
01:26:11
Give you all that. Thank you, brother. Thank you for the time. Marcus, thank you so much, man. It’s been a long, long waiting to do this. And we’ll do it again. We’ll do another one in the future. Hey, sound good? I appreciate you. You too, man. Thank you for listening to this episode of Acta Non Verba.
