Dead Venues: An Interview with raul garcia on his new ep “thank you”
Photo by David Fearn AKA Shitshow Dave
Interview by Iván Salinas
The first time I ever met Raul Garcia was in the North Hollywood Recreation Center park where we threw a pop-up zine event with our friend Rebecca Gross from Off Menu Press. She invited a few musician friends to bring their guitars and jam out at the pop-up. Raul showed up with his acoustic guitar ready to go as soon as we had set up our tables. It was the end of July, a warm afternoon with a gentle breeze from the nearby traffic so there was no hurry for the music to start. About an hour later, when we had a little crowd going, we sat on the grass to enjoy the sets. We were lucky enough to hear a couple of new songs Raul had been working on, they would go on to be included in his third studio EP, “Thank You,” which he released in the winter of 2021.
As a singer and songwriter from Mexico City, based in the San Fernando Valley, Raul’s musical style in this EP meshes his influences of 70s folk and psychedelic rock with groovy tropical rhythms and uplifting melodies. The careful arrangement of percussion, keyboards, and guitars contrasts his earlier work, traditionally composed of the standard rock sound of guitars and drums. Though each song feels more at peace, there are more layers of instruments in them, creating an upbeat easy listen that allows the keyboards and cosmic sound effects to harmonize during the bridge and intro/outro sections. As a result, they radiate a more somber tone, complemented by the beautiful artwork of L.A. artist Stephanie Godoy.
Cover art by Stephanie Godoy
To add to the mystical sound explored in this EP, Raul’s own songwriting is a main factor. Perhaps the most consistent element in his music, Raul’s lyrics are personal and brief. They are just vague enough to place the listener in a story that you feel you’re a part of, especially for his narrative in the second person. In “Bite,” the first track off the EP, he sings about controlling the urge to say more when it’s time to move on, “Gonna bite my tongue and mind my own life,” this is someone who’s come to terms with the difficulties in two sided communication with ongoing relationships in his life as he says, “you can find your way.” Whereas in “Would You Believe” the speaker reminisces on the past, “Strange as it seems I have no regret/Gonna think about it until I’m dead.” The fourth song, “Oven,” stands out as the most exhilarating tune, spicing it with a trumpet and a passionate vocal lead.
Raul’s first self-titled debut EP was released in 2017 with a grunge approach, recorded right after his college graduation. On the other hand, his second EP, “Grow” (2020) delivers a more mature set of songs that play off the influence of the 90s alternative scene of Rock en Español.
To talk more about the making of his latest EP we invited Raul to chat with us for our Dead Venues Series and share more about his recording process, and as an avid concert-goer we asked him about some of his wildest experiences.
Iván: Can you tell me what that process has been like for you to record your new EP over a year and a half?
Raul: It’s been a really fun involved process. The only way I’ve been able to do it has been with the help of a lot of dear friends. Some of these are songs that I’ve been playing for a long time. One of the songs I played tonight, “Whisper” was written with my friend Josh Abramovitz back in 2016 when I was still at CSUN. There were a bunch of song ideas that I had been bouncing around for a while. I’ve even played different versions of the songs. Then the pandemic happened and I was looking to do some recordings. Because of the pandemic, my friend Tyler McCarthy–who’s amazing at anything music-related–happened to be in town. We got together and recorded these songs. I had written the songs as you heard me play them solo, but they were not as well arranged with other instruments. Tyler’s a very inspirational person to me who just has that ear for musical arrangement and anything to do with making a record. So he helped me develop the songs into the form that you just heard, and I thank him dearly for it. It was a really lovely process that I hope to do many more times.
Iván: What was the timeline from recording demos to the finished product?
Raul: I started going to Tyler’s studio between July and August of 2020, and because I was working full-time in Burbank I was still commuting at the time. We would meet up two or three times per month up until February of 2021 when the mixing was done. After that, it was off to the races with everything else (like the artwork). The songs are also pressed onto vinyl so that was a whole interesting process… to figure out how to get the art photographed and edited. My girlfriend Brenda Lopez helped me with the layout for the files that needed to be sent to the pressing plant and my friend Josh Jalil helped me with some Photoshop editing of the photographs that Rafael Cardenas took of the paintings that Stephanie Godoy made for the EP art.
Iván: Do you collect vinyls? Was it something you grew up with?
Raul: I collect too many records. Yeah, it’s a gift and a curse. Way too much money spent on records during the pandemic. Shoutout to Record Safari and Amoeba Hollywood! I didn’t [grow up collecting vinyls]. I didn’t even listen to The Beatles till I was in college. I had a friend in high school that gifted me an album on vinyl and that was way before I even had a record player. It wasn’t until I was in college that I’d go to shows and see bands sell their albums on vinyl. I would go to the record store next to The Echo, which was called Origami Vinyl. That store then became Permanent Records, which is now something else... I also had a friend who I was in a band with that had a ton of vinyl and he lent me a ton of records to listen to. Besides that, I would go to my cousin Elly because he had a lot of music like Iron Maiden and Metallica on his iTunes. I had an iPod nano and I would unlock the ability to steal–I mean borrow– the music and listen to it. So I just had an iPod full of music I thought was cool and I think my record collecting stemmed from there later on. The seed had been planted and when I was finally able to buy the records, it was game over.
Iván: Was most of your upbringing in the San Fernando Valley? I understand you were born in Mexico City, which is where I’m from, too!
Raul: The very early part of my life was in Mexico City so between 1993–when I was born– through 1999 I was in Mexico City. We would occasionally visit some family here in Tarzana, California because they lived here before me and my family officially moved here, but to be honest the valley’s been home since I’ve been consciously aware of it.
Iván: Cool! You had most of your childhood years in D.F. during the 90s. Do you think that having been surrounded by two different environments impacted your music?
Raul: Yeah, definitely. I think for art ideas, my grandma is always bringing cultural things from Mexico. Like, there’s this really nice light blue color and she’s always like “you should use this for your art!” I think it’s Aztec blue (actually, Mayan blue). It’s a kind of light green blue. Yeah and you know also being a valley metal head I was into Metallica, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath… I was the little Led Zeppelin shirt kid.
Iván: You started listening to the classic stuff, more on the heavy side of things. Your first EP which actually has that blue color you were talking about, right? It has tigers on it?
Raul: Yeah! That’s my Mexican animal blanket that I photographed with my phone and then photocopied to make a collage
Iván: Dude, la cobija!
Raul: Exactly! I had a cobija that my mom was about to throw out and I was like, “No! What do you mean you’re gonna throw it out?!” I was looking for it to make the collage and my mom had already thrown it in the trash. So I took it out, washed it, took the pictures, made the collage and that was the artwork for the first EP I ever made right after college.
Iván: That EP has more energy into it and more of that ‘teen spirit’ than your sophomore record and even the songs from your newest EP. I like the grunge sound of it and even the mic you used in it, what mic were you working with? Cause it sounds vintage, you know.
Raul: I think it was just a couple SM-57 and SM-58s. We recorded it at my friend Josh Abramovitz’s house, and I would go over to his house and he had a little FocusRite interface. We just had two inputs and everything was approached in a ‘how can we do this?’ type of way. He has more knowledge on how to work with music software than I do so he helped me arrange a lot of stuff in there, but it was a lot of trial and error and like ‘oh this pedal makes this backwards noise that sounds cool.’ It was more of a hodgepodge of throwing things against the wall and seeing what stuck, which is a totally different approach from what we did this time around in the studio with my friend Tyler. With Tyler it was more about keeping the arrangements simple and finding specific things that would sound good in the arrangement of the recorded song.
I do also want to shout out the homies. It wasn’t just me and Tyler working in the studio. It was also my friend Josh Solomon who’s an amazing bass player, my buddy Alonso Figueroa who’s an amazing percussionist and drummer, my friend Paul Slater who shreds on the drums, and my friend Austin Drake laid down a trumpet solo in one of the songs… Also, Stephanie Godoy, thank you for being so down with making this artwork, it’s amazing! I’ll never forget it, I have these pieces of art hanging in my house that I’ll always treasure.
Raul Garcia and The Loved Ones from the “Thank You” EP release show at The Smell on December 4th, 2021. From left to right: Cesar Hernandez, Ryo Nakamura, Josh Solomon, Raul Garcia, Matthew Perez, and Sam Ramirez. Photo by Cesia Lopez.
Iván: I’ve noticed that you use a lot of acoustic guitar in your songs, as opposed to that first EP–which I guess is the 90s in you–I don’t want to just use the word “clean,” but for lack of a better word, I notice that acoustic style in your music.
Raul: Yeah, when I was in college I had to take classical guitar lessons to go along with the major that I was in, which was the music industry program at CSUN. I got this 40 dollar nylon-string guitar and because of school, I got super busy so I had to stop playing with my old band which was really sad for me. It did end up becoming a perfect moment though where any free time I had I would write songs with that guitar. To this day it’s the guitar I use the most so I feel like that particular guitar always finds itself in, or if it’s not that guitar, the spirit of it translates over, because you bond over a musical instrument, you know. It’s like Prince said in this one interview, “I always try to sneak my guitar in the mix.” I’m paraphrasing, but he had that special bond with the instrument that I admire. I think me and that nylon are like two sides of the same coin.
Iván: I understand you’re also surrounded by music all the time. You work in the music industry, does that influence you in any way in the process of making your own music? Has it become a way for you to collaborate with other musicians?
Raul: I would say work is pretty separate from it. I think I meet more people by just having an anchor date for a performance and finding people to play from there. Like going to shows and just asking a friend if they know someone who’s a drummer or keyboard player, that’s usually how I meet someone. I went to this show at a cafe in Long Beach and I met my buddy Matthew Perez who’s an amazing Jazz guitar player and musician in general. It was just a chance encounter. You end up sitting in front of this person and you say hello, you have a chat and then you hang out a couple of times and become friends. I have a lot of encounters like that that make me believe in the power of saying hello and it sparks a conversation and a friendship.
Iván: What are some of your fondest memories, or maybe not so fond, from the music program at CSUN?
Raul: I think it was a defining four years for me. I actually met Josh Solomon and my friend Christian Doboe at this event that their class from the music program was hosting at the Orange Grove Bistro at CSUN after I had graduated. On a side note, I also used to volunteer at Pehrspace and The Smell which is where me and Josh Solomon would see each other around before we officially met. We knew that we’d seen each other somewhere! Turns out me and Josh also had a lot of the same music teachers at Pierce College. Me and Christian ended up working a bunch of Golden Voice festivals together along with Josh Abramovitz and Paul Slater and that was a bit after I graduated… but it’s crazy that this one day that I just decided to go post flyers around CSUN for a show I was playing, I just happen to pop into this event at the Orange Grove Bistro and I meet these two very meaningful people in my life.
Iván: That’s awesome. Some of the most supportive people you’ll ever meet in your life show up very unexpectedly. I’m glad to hear you’ve had many of those encounters. Having played live at a number of different venues, what is a crazy experience you’ve had at a show?
Raul: There was this show at a place called Lot 1, rest in peace.
Iván: RIP!
Raul: It’s now a Monty’s burger place. Fuck Monty’s.
Iván: Fuck Monty’s!
Raul: I played there with an old band and there was this other band playing from Oakland, they were on a tour. We had just played our set and it was cool, but this Oakland band packed this tiny space that Lot 1 had and I remember being there in the crowd watching this band with my friend Stanley Jeong, who was the drummer of the band I was playing in at the time… all of a sudden we see a dude in this Mickey Mouse costume just walking outside. There was this big window where you could see out onto Sunset Boulevard from inside the venue and we just saw a random motherfucker in a legit Disneyland Mickey Mouse costume. One moment we see him outside and didn’t think about it that long, but then me and Stanley are like, “let’s crowd surf”, so we get picked up and are crowd surfing, and all of a sudden we see that Mickey Mouse guy right next to us on top of the crowd in that tiny tiny room. I’ll never forget that show.
Iván: Damn, goals. I want to say I’ve crowd surfed with Mickey Mouse. Did you ever find out who was behind the costume?
Raul: No, we never did. But shoutout to the dude in the Mickey Mouse costume. He was probably legit Mickey who came to crowdsurf from another dimension.
Iván: What have been some of your favorite live performances?
Raul: If anyone’s ever been to Grand Performances in DTLA, they do these free summer shows and Kamasi Washington did a show there in 2015. I want to say I saw everyone from my musical past and present there. Everyone I met in different eras of my life who were also music fans and/or musicians were there. It was this beautiful experience where Kamasi and his group united a whole city of musicians all in one place. To this day I haven’t seen anything like that. Eduardo Arenas also has a really great live show and Thee Oh Sees have one of the best shows I’ve seen around the city.
Raul Garcia playing live at the“Thank You” EP release show at The Smell on December 4th, 2021. Photo by: Iván Salinas.
Iván: Thee Oh Sees live is awesome. I got in the pit for their show when they played at Tropicalia in 2019, it was awesome. Do you get in the pit?
Raul: Not really, but I was working at Tropicalia Fest in 2019 and I snuck backstage during lunch break because I had this production pass… not sure if I was allowed back there… and I saw them kill it from backstage. Once my lunch was over and I was back at the customer service booth, I was your boy, the customer service/lost and found guy…if you needed something, I was there.
Iván: What were some of the items you received at the lost and found?
Raul: In the festivals I’ve worked at, I’m surprised at the amount of people that lose their brand new iPhones. It’s an insane amount of phones, but I don’t think there has ever been anything crazy that I’ve personally gotten… just a lot of lost phones, so take care of your shit people, that shit is expensive!
Iván: Hang on to your phone, people! Madi has a question: what do you order at a taco truck?
Raul: Al pastor. Three al pastor tacos. There’s this one place in Hawthorne (@tacoslosmixes). Brenda’s going to chuckle at this: her parents get these tacos at Hawthorne near The Forum and it’s the most amazing Al Pastor I’ve had in the city.
Iván: Shoutout to Hawthorne! And the Al Pastor Taco Truck.
Raul: This place destroys Leo’s. What about you guys, what do you usually get?
Iván: Our go-to is usually a quesadilla de asada for Madi and I get a quesadilla de chorizo con tres tacos al pastor or suadero if I’m in the mood. We’ll take you to our spot next time we hang out! Thank you for this wonderful interview, Raul.
You can buy the “Thank you” EP via Bandcamp or listen on all streaming platforms.
IG: @raulgarciayo