RECORDS LiVE

Tamara: All right guys, welcome to my home. I cleaned things up very nicely for you today. We’re here with another RECORDS LiVE, which is a live music talk show. I’m Tamara, and we’re going to listen to some music with some friends. Let’s see who’s coming in today?

*Doorbell Rings*

Tamara: Oh my God, it’s José! José from Los Pedestrians. Come on in, man! Thank you for being here. All right, lets check out the first record.

Song Plays: Gorillaz, MF DOOM – November Has Come

Tamara: Okay, so tell me why you chose this first song.

José: So, when I was in fifth grade, I started to cut the yard, both my front and back yard by myself and my dad would give me like ten bucks every couple of weeks. I saved up and bought my first album, which was this one. And then this song introduced me to rock, hip hop, and MF Doom stuff.

Tamara: And at this time, were you interested in creating music at all? Or were you just like a music lover?

José: No, I wasn’t interested. I mean, I guess I didn’t have the equipment or anything. So yeah, I didn’t even think about making music yet.

Tamara: With this song, it is a mix of genres. Do you think that you took any influence into the music you make today or the music you’ve made before?

José: Yeah, definitely more so today. The music I make kind of takes blends from everything. So, if I make, you know, guitar chords and stuff that’s really rock influenced, and I’ll probably use a sample of like some hip-hop drums. So, it does influence me.

Tamara: You know, when I was a little kid, I was really afraid of the Gorillaz animation. It wasn’t good for me. Every time I saw it, I was like, this is terrifying.

José: Yeah, I showed my kids their music videos.

Tamara: Big fans or were they like “Nah.”

José: They like it, but now they say like, I forgot what song is, but in the animation they say ass or something, So yeah, my daughter learned what that is.

Tamara: She says ass now?

 José: Well, we tell her not to, but yeah. And she even tries rapping “Feel Good Inc.” So, it’s something like “ass cracks.” Yeah, so she says that.

Tamara: Yeah, that’s so funny. Do you think your kids are taking on music as well? Are you teaching them and do you want them to pursue music?

José: I want them to do whatever they’re down for. My daughter’s pretty strong willed. If I purposely try to teach her something like, “Come sit down and learn this,” she’ll reject me flat out. So I have to kind of pretend. I bought a piano and we were watching YouTube videos and I was like pressing the keys, watching like a little kid YouTube video like myself. And then she like slowly gravitated towards me doing that. So she’s into it.

Tamara: Okay. This next song is for people who love vocals. I didn’t know that this duet existed. This is like a very awakening experience for me to hear the song for the first time.

Song Plays: Michael Jackson Ft. Paul McCartney – The Girl is Mine

José: Yeah, I had this on my iPod.

Tamara: Oh, was it a nano?

José: Yeah. I fell asleep listening to this and it must have played like a million times. I would wake up in different parts of the song and it’s kind of weird.

Tamara: It’s so good, though. I feel like if I was any other musical artist, I wouldn’t do a duet with Michael Jackson because it’s just going to make me look like a bad singer. Was this one, you had your iPod nano so I assume this was a formative childhood song for you.

José: Yeah, my dad, when he crossed the border and got his first paycheck, one of his first purchases was the Thriller tape. He would just play it for Halloween. He would play Thriller and scare us just around the house. It was actually kind of traumatizing.

Tamara: Yeah, I hate Thriller.

José: But then I started to listen to the other songs on it. This one introduced me to Paul McCartney. And then I was like, “Oh, he has his own band?” when I was older. I guess that was The Beatles.

Tamara: Were you into the Beatles?

José: Yeah, big time. Yeah.

Tamara: Nice. Do you think this song holds a candle to The Boy is Mine by Brandi and Monica?

José: Is that why they made that song?

Tamara: Yeah. They have their own thing. It sounds nothing like this.

José: OK, OK. Yeah, I don’t know. I got to give it to this song.

Tamara: Do you think for you, Michael Jackson is a bigger influence or The Beatles?

José: I would say The Beatles. I think like this song just was like, maybe my dad liked it because it follows like that Mexican formula where it’s like the song and then they have that slow down and then they talk.

Tamara: Yeah, I love a talking part in a song.

José: Yeah, the talking part is good. Yeah, in older Mexican songs, the song will stop and then some dude will be like, “Why’d you leave me?”

Tamara: So dramatic. So good. When is the talking parts in your song going to happen?

José: I need to do something like that.

Tamara: You’ve got to come up with something so outlandish that people are like, “What did he say?”

José: Yeah, no, I sometimes want to, but then I don’t want my wife to think that I’m inherently speaking about us. Sometimes the lyrics are just, you know, from the perspective of something else.

Tamara: It’s fiction. It’s fiction. Well, this is a great song. Would you make anything similar to this? Or have you made anything similar to this?

José: I think I would love to. In the music I make now, that’s like my own thing, I sample stuff and I try singing more like this. But yeah, I mean, I would love to make any kind of music, honestly.

Tamara: Would you rather work with Michael Jackson or Paul McCartney if you had to collab with one of them? If Michael weren’t dead.

José: Yeah, I was going to say. I guess Paul McCartney, because like you said, I feel like with Michael I’d have to do like have to try and match…

Tamara: Everyone I know is seeing him right now, I’m like “Where is he touring?” Have you seen him live or no. Paul?

José: No. I don’t have much time left.

Tamara: Yeah, I’m like, “See him now.” He’s going to be he keeps on exploding. Have you seen those videos of him blowing up on stage? People have seen it. They have pyrotechnics. So it’ll be like “Paul McCartney exploded on stage today.” It’s really funny. Listen, watch that.

Tamara: Okay, this song we got a little bilingual going on.

Song Plays: José José – Almohada

Tamara: How did you hear this song for the first time?

José: Same thing. I think my dad just showed me a lot of music.

Tamara: I love that your dad influenced so much of your music taste. That’s really cool.

José: So, this song is like my go-to karaoke song? My family’s heard it like a million times.

Tamara: Is it a crowd favorite? Or people are like, “Oh, not this again.”

José: No, well, I think like for the crowd, it’s a crowd favorite. One time we went on vacation and we’re at a hotel and they were like, okay, karaoke night. And I sang this and the crowd was into it, but my family’s probably like…

Tamara: They’re like, “Oh brother, this guy stinks.”

José: Nah my dad was like, “Dude, I’ve shown you so many songs and you keep singing this.”

Tamara: That’s impressive though to be able to sing a full song in Spanish.

José: Yeah, it’s cool. Growing up, that’s what we were listening to.

Tamara: And since then I think you’ve made some songs on your own that have Spanish in them.

José: Yeah. I’m trying to incorporate that a little more just because sometimes some of the songs I make, the music itself doesn’t feel English to me.

Tamara: Do you think with your songwriting, it’s easier for you to convey like emotion and a message in Spanish or English?

José: Like I said, I think some of the chord progressions or the instruments call for a different emotion that sometimes English can’t convey. Like if I were to translate this song…

Tamara: It’s going to sound lame in English.

José: Yeah, he’s saying he wakes up and there is only his pillow. So, it just doesn’t sound as cool. So, some of the songs I make in Spanish and it just has that vibe more.

Tamara: And then with songwriting and collaborating with the full band, how is that process for you and how does it differ than when you’re writing on your own?

José: I guess for collaborating with the full band, it’s a lot more, I don’t know, I guess it’s kind of like a puzzle and you provide different sort of pieces. You can make your own thing and it’d be a cool puzzle, but then it’ll be something completely different when you add other stuff. And then like Luis, he’s my bandmate in Los Pedestrians. Not to sound cheesy, but he’s kind of like my musical soulmate, if you will. So, I think growing up in high school when we met and I’d make a song, I’d be like, “Oh, check this out.” And he’d be like, “That’s trash. Do this instead.” or something. Just blunt, but then it ended up being something I never would have thought of.

Tamara: I think you don’t need yes men around. You need somebody who’s going to be like, “Let’s try this instead.” So much better.

Tamara: This next one is in Portuguese. You don’t speak Portuguese, you just like the sound of it in a song?

Song Plays: Los Hermanos – Morena

José: Yeah, I like the sound of it. I think when it’s like sung, I understand because it’s similar to Spanish, but when they speak it, I have no idea what they’re saying.

Tamara: So, like a million years ago, you guys were in a band and you had your hiatus and you’re back now. So how is it being these little high school kids to being these adult men making music? How’s it changed?

José: It’s a lot different. Before when I was a kid, music was one of the last things on my mind. It was more like trying to be cool and stuff and I don’t know.

Tamara: Like “Girls need to like me. I got to go to the prom.”

José: Yeah. I had a lot of different experiences from that. And I feel like now that I’m older, it’s all about the music. We had a rehearsal and just like my situation with my kids, I was like trying to figure out how to make it work. One of my kids ended up going to the practice and just chilling. So, it’s a lot different. But I think it’s cool. Luis, was like kind of like, “Just because you’re 30 now and you’ve got a full-time job and house and kids doesn’t mean you can’t carve a little time for yourself.” And it doesn’t take a lot of time to do, you know, these little things that you love.

Tamara: What made it feel right to come back now?

José: I think just that. Just the need for the music. And then my dad inspired me a lot for music, but he also kind of influenced me, once you have kids and once you have a job, that’s it. Like, you go home and you do that. So it took Luis and my wife and that kind of support.

Tamara: Good. You had like good influences around you bringing you back to your passion. Yeah. Remind me, does your dad play any instruments or was he just like a big music lover?

José: He’s a singer.

Tamara: Nice. Do you guys do karaoke duets together?

José: Um, we’ve tried.

Tamara: I love that. So, tell me a little bit more about this song and what kind of like mood you go into when you listen to it?

José: Well this song, I guess, or this band just kind of showed me more jazzy chords and that kind of music style that I hadn’t really experimented with. I thought everything needed to be power chords and fast and heavy, but then it showed me that you could still make a cool melody.

Tamara: Yeah, it’s nice. I feel like it’s movie score kind of music. Like you’re just vibing. Like this is a main character’s best day off.

Tamara:  Okay, we’ve got our last track. Yeah, we’re almost done with the hangout. So sad. Okay, this one’s really good. It’s by NxWorries, which I learned how to pronounce today.

Song Plays: NxWorries – SheUsed

José: Yeah. This is Anderson .Paak and a producer, Knxwledge. Super sample based, but with singing. Very experimental. It’s kind of what I’m trying to do more for myself. Like Los Pedestrians are playing a show December 21st in LA.

Tamara: December 21st be there at the Moroccan Lounge!

José: The music that we have right now, it’s kind of like an accumulation of what 16-year-old me thought was cool… It’s funny cause some of our songs are super intricate. It’s got more distinct parts. And that’s what 20 something year old me and Luis wrote. Then we’ll still have our songs we wrote at 16. And I feel like, you know, we still need to put those out because they just sound good.

Tamara: I’m glad you don’t throw away the old songs. I feel like some bands are like, “We forget that we even released this. Don’t even speak to us about this.” I like that you’re like, “No, my childhood self deserves their moment. Their music deserves to come out too.”

José: There’s kind of like a funny progression there. Hopefully when we start to kind of get through this come back and start making new music we can do more experimental stuff,

Tamara: Maybe hone in on more of what present day Los Pedestrians are.

José: For myself, I make music on the side personally, you know, late at night when everyone’s asleep or early in the morning. It’s starting to sound more like stuff like this.

Tamara: Can you talk about like the first few tracks that you guys had recorded?

José: Yeah, we went to this studio in Covina called like Wood Sound Studio. We asked that guy how much it was to record. It was like $60 an hour or something. We’re like, okay, just give us one hour. We had $60 between all four of us at the time. We recorded everything in like 20 minutes. He was like, “You don’t want to hear that back?” We’re like, “We don’t got time to hear that back.” And yeah, that sounded horrendous. He was trying to mix it with the last like 15 minutes we had. And we were kind of like rushing him to finish it with the last 10 minutes left. He was like, “I’m trying to mix this thing.” I felt like a mobster like “Give me my tracks now!”

Tamara: And are those still available to listen to? Did you take them down?

José: They’re on Bandcamp. He burned them onto a CD and then we were all excited. We hadn’t heard it yet. We went in the car to play it. We’re driving away and everyone was like, “This is not good.” So we called the guy back and we’re like, “Why did you put this like robotic sound on my voice?”

Tamara: You’re so mad at this guy, like “Explain yourself right now.”

José: We had no idea what it meant to mix and record and everything. So, we didn’t understand this weird effect on my voice. And he was like, “Oh, it’s chorus.” We asked him to take it out.

Tamara: I love it. It’s good. It’s good lore for you guys. It’s a good story to share. So, besides your show December 21st, what can we expect from the band? What can we expect from you?

José: For the band Los Pedestrians, we should be releasing our first album soon. It’s a little different because it will be a compilation of what we made as kids re-recorded with more knowledge.

Tamara: It’s your little Eras tour like Taylor Swift.

José: Yeah. It’s not really necessarily like a them.Hopefully we have that coming out soon wherever you guys listen to music. And then for myself, I have some songs released on Spotify and stuff like that too. I go by Grave-Dad. I have like three songs on there. Yeah. So hopefully I have I have a lot more, but I just need to figure it out.

Tamara: This was amazing. Thank you for coming to my home today and listening to music.

José: Thank you so much.