WEBVTT - Alejandro Escovedo 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:15.956 Pushkin. 0:00:20.156 --> 0:00:23.916 Alejandro Escavito is a Texas born singer songwriter who comes 0:00:23.916 --> 0:00:27.396 from a rich family of musicians, including his niece Sheila 0:00:27.476 --> 0:00:31.676 e E. Of course for Escavito, Alejandro started out in 0:00:31.716 --> 0:00:34.436 the pioneering in San Francisco punk band The Nuns in 0:00:34.516 --> 0:00:37.556 nineteen seventy five. From there, he moved to New York 0:00:37.556 --> 0:00:40.076 and then eventually settled in Austin, where he started playing 0:00:40.116 --> 0:00:42.756 rootsy rock with bands like Rank and File as well 0:00:42.796 --> 0:00:46.836 as The True Believers. In March, Alejandro Escavito released his 0:00:46.916 --> 0:00:50.556 latest album, Echo Dancing, a retrospective of his career that 0:00:50.636 --> 0:00:55.716 spans five decades. Inspired by artists like Brian Nino and Suicide, 0:00:55.836 --> 0:00:59.876 Alejandro Escavito both reimagines and re records his previous work 0:01:00.036 --> 0:01:03.676 on this album. On today's episode, Bruce Hedlam talks to 0:01:03.716 --> 0:01:07.316 Alejandro Escavito about his late start in music, his upbringing 0:01:07.356 --> 0:01:10.196 in San Antonio and Huntington Beach, where he'd sometimes pretend 0:01:10.236 --> 0:01:13.436 to be Hawaiian to avoid Askacans, along with some great 0:01:13.476 --> 0:01:16.556 stories about his swings through Austin and San Francisco, like 0:01:16.596 --> 0:01:18.996 being on the bill for the Sex Pistols final show 0:01:19.676 --> 0:01:23.996 and what makes those scenes so special? Alejandro also discussed 0:01:24.036 --> 0:01:26.756 is why he's tried not to foreground his Chicano identity, 0:01:27.036 --> 0:01:29.316 even as it's been front and center, for better and 0:01:29.396 --> 0:01:34.916 worse through much of his personal life. This is broken 0:01:34.956 --> 0:01:37.196 record liner notes for the digital age. 0:01:37.356 --> 0:01:38.316 I'm justin Mitchman. 0:01:43.156 --> 0:01:46.556 Here's Bruce Hedlum's conversation with Alejandro Escovito. 0:01:47.996 --> 0:01:51.556 For people who don't know your well, they might even 0:01:51.596 --> 0:01:54.956 know your career, recording career starting in ninety two. 0:01:54.836 --> 0:01:58.476 Or so well, from my solo records, your solo. 0:01:58.236 --> 0:02:01.996 Records, But people who don't know your your pre solo work, 0:02:02.156 --> 0:02:04.516 I mean, you were in the La punk scene, the 0:02:04.556 --> 0:02:08.716 New York punk scene, you San Francisco, San Francisco punk scene, 0:02:08.756 --> 0:02:13.796 you open for sex Show, and of course you know 0:02:13.916 --> 0:02:18.476 you're a legend in Austin, so you've you've been part 0:02:18.516 --> 0:02:21.716 of all these great music scenes. So this new album 0:02:21.716 --> 0:02:24.756 Echo Dancing, you revisit songs not just from your own 0:02:24.796 --> 0:02:27.716 solo work, but before that. 0:02:28.236 --> 0:02:31.156 Yes, I went all the way back. I mean I 0:02:31.676 --> 0:02:35.556 recorded a Nun song. Yeah, a version of a song 0:02:35.636 --> 0:02:38.956 called Lazy which Jennifer used to come out and sing 0:02:38.996 --> 0:02:41.956 solo on piano, and we did a beautiful version. But 0:02:41.996 --> 0:02:45.196 we're saving it for When I went to Italy to record, 0:02:45.796 --> 0:02:50.876 I did eighteen songs and fourteen made the album and 0:02:51.156 --> 0:02:55.076 four are being held back for a covers record. And 0:02:55.116 --> 0:02:58.756 those songs were lazy. I did a Kevin Kenny song 0:02:58.796 --> 0:03:03.636 called Another Scarlet Butterfly. I did a song by Tom 0:03:03.636 --> 0:03:06.796 Waits called on the Nickel, and I did Leonard Cohen's 0:03:06.876 --> 0:03:07.956 Alexandra Leaving. 0:03:09.116 --> 0:03:12.276 I love Alexander Lee's So Beautiful Man, It's classic. That 0:03:12.316 --> 0:03:14.876 was from that. The ten songs, Yeah, I can't remember 0:03:14.916 --> 0:03:18.596 that record. Great record, one of my favorites of all time. Yeah, 0:03:18.676 --> 0:03:19.716 I just love that record. 0:03:20.036 --> 0:03:23.916 So anyway, we did those and I'm working on collecting 0:03:23.996 --> 0:03:27.516 now all the songs I'll be doing for a covers record. 0:03:27.956 --> 0:03:29.796 I know I'm going to do a Scott Walker song 0:03:30.516 --> 0:03:32.756 called Duchess. You know, do you know the song? 0:03:32.836 --> 0:03:34.636 I don't know thet so on. 0:03:34.796 --> 0:03:40.156 I think, and you know things like that. A songwriter 0:03:40.236 --> 0:03:43.996 out of Austin or Texas called Will Johnson. I'm doing 0:03:44.116 --> 0:03:46.796 one of his. I'm doing a John Doe song, you know, 0:03:46.916 --> 0:03:47.516 things like that. 0:03:47.756 --> 0:03:52.196 That's great, But why why revisit these songs? Now? What 0:03:52.356 --> 0:03:55.516 was going on that you wanted to look back on 0:03:55.556 --> 0:03:57.796 some of your own work, and we record it. 0:03:57.956 --> 0:04:00.836 Honestly, I think that ever since, you know, I was 0:04:00.836 --> 0:04:05.196 stricken with a disease in about two thousand and three. 0:04:06.276 --> 0:04:10.156 It was it was a hepatitis C. They told me 0:04:10.156 --> 0:04:12.076 I had a year to live if I didn't get 0:04:12.076 --> 0:04:15.956 a liver transplant, and it was a very dire time. 0:04:17.236 --> 0:04:19.396 Two years of not working, you know, and I'd been 0:04:19.476 --> 0:04:22.996 hitting the road hard all my life, you know, and 0:04:23.036 --> 0:04:25.356 so it gave me a chance to really kind of 0:04:25.396 --> 0:04:31.716 sit back finally and reflect. And in doing so, I 0:04:31.756 --> 0:04:34.436 thought so much about the bands that i'd been in, 0:04:34.476 --> 0:04:38.156 the Nuns rank and file, especially Judy Nylon here in 0:04:38.196 --> 0:04:41.516 New York, and everything I learned along the way. And 0:04:41.556 --> 0:04:43.596 so the next album I made, I co wrote with 0:04:43.716 --> 0:04:47.556 Chuck Prophet, and it was the story of all those bands. 0:04:47.596 --> 0:04:51.876 It was called Real Animals. And it seems that from 0:04:51.956 --> 0:04:54.356 that point on it's been a matter of just kind 0:04:54.356 --> 0:04:58.556 of kind of looking back at how to tell the story, 0:04:58.636 --> 0:05:01.516 you know, continue to tell the story. And I just 0:05:01.556 --> 0:05:06.556 felt that at this point, I'll be seventy four next year, 0:05:07.716 --> 0:05:10.756 it was a good time to to really kind of 0:05:10.836 --> 0:05:13.476 just go back and play around with these songs, you know, 0:05:13.476 --> 0:05:15.596 because I've never felt like, you know, the thing about 0:05:15.596 --> 0:05:19.316 making a record is once you record that album, by 0:05:19.356 --> 0:05:22.076 the time the record's released, let's say six months later 0:05:22.196 --> 0:05:26.676 or so, you're already on to new things. You're singing 0:05:26.676 --> 0:05:30.316 those songs differently. They might even be arranged differently. You've 0:05:30.316 --> 0:05:33.676 decided that instead of a full band, maybe this song 0:05:33.716 --> 0:05:38.116 only requires you know, cello and violin or something or piano, so, 0:05:38.436 --> 0:05:42.236 you know. And they had done a tribute album for 0:05:42.396 --> 0:05:46.916 me when I was ill. It was called Porvida, and 0:05:47.716 --> 0:05:50.196 Calexico had done a version of a song called Wave. 0:05:51.076 --> 0:05:53.636 And when I got on the plane to go to Italy, 0:05:54.156 --> 0:05:57.836 I began to listen to that record just for inspiration. 0:05:58.956 --> 0:06:04.796 And suddenly my intention had shifted from going to Italy 0:06:04.916 --> 0:06:11.596 to make a completely improvised record to re revisiting these 0:06:11.596 --> 0:06:16.276 older songs like John cale had done, like Colexico had done. 0:06:16.636 --> 0:06:19.516 That record had thirty two artists. Licinda had been on it, 0:06:19.676 --> 0:06:22.556 you know, Steve are a lot of great people. Ian Hunter. 0:06:23.756 --> 0:06:25.596 So I went back. I thought, this is cool man, 0:06:25.716 --> 0:06:29.596 you know, let's go back. And I already had started 0:06:29.636 --> 0:06:32.596 to work with the song sensitive Boys is just a 0:06:32.636 --> 0:06:37.196 piano piece, and so when I got to the recording 0:06:37.196 --> 0:06:41.636 studio in Italy. We began with the Sensitive Boys and 0:06:41.676 --> 0:06:46.236 then Wave, the Glexico version kind of or inspired version. 0:06:46.036 --> 0:06:48.516 I should say, So you were covering cover versions of you. 0:06:48.796 --> 0:06:50.756 Yeah. 0:06:50.916 --> 0:06:53.836 I want to ask you in particular about bury Me, 0:06:54.156 --> 0:06:57.636 which was a standout on your first solo record, Ryot Gravity. 0:06:59.276 --> 0:07:01.516 You did that in the nineties when you were I 0:07:01.516 --> 0:07:03.316 think you were around forty when you disd your first 0:07:03.316 --> 0:07:07.756 solo outs. Yep, so you mentioned you were You're just 0:07:07.796 --> 0:07:10.316 you're about to turn seventy four. Where were you in 0:07:10.436 --> 0:07:13.516 that when Gravity came out and you were singing bury 0:07:13.596 --> 0:07:14.596 Me for the first time. 0:07:16.956 --> 0:07:20.836 My life has been a lot of tests in my life. 0:07:21.276 --> 0:07:25.916 I've been tested and at that point, my wife had 0:07:26.196 --> 0:07:31.796 committed suicide and I was raising a nine year old 0:07:31.836 --> 0:07:37.196 and a six month old girl, two girls, and it 0:07:37.276 --> 0:07:43.676 was just a very difficult time and the burden of 0:07:43.716 --> 0:07:47.716 that grief and working through the grief. The only method 0:07:47.756 --> 0:07:51.756 I really had outside of therapy was writing songs, you know, 0:07:53.316 --> 0:07:56.556 and bury Me was kind of like this almost kind 0:07:56.596 --> 0:08:03.236 of like an expression of saying, I wish that had 0:08:03.276 --> 0:08:07.276 happened to me instead of you. I wish the roles 0:08:07.276 --> 0:08:11.756 had been reversed, you know, and to be buried with, 0:08:12.876 --> 0:08:16.196 you know, the lies I've told and a rusted sword 0:08:16.396 --> 0:08:20.196 and my bully suit and my favorite picture of you. 0:08:21.396 --> 0:08:27.596 We're all kind of like things, you know, symbolized a 0:08:27.596 --> 0:08:30.476 lot of the things that were happening with me at 0:08:30.476 --> 0:08:33.436 the time. And yet at the same time, I had 0:08:33.476 --> 0:08:36.716 no choice but to raise my children, you know, so 0:08:37.196 --> 0:08:38.276 it was tough. You know. 0:08:38.516 --> 0:08:40.316 Do you think your children got you through that? In 0:08:40.356 --> 0:08:40.836 some ways? 0:08:40.996 --> 0:08:45.076 Absolutely? You know, it was probably the only thing that 0:08:45.196 --> 0:08:49.156 got me through that, you know, because it wasn't you know, 0:08:49.596 --> 0:08:53.116 nothing was working other than that, you know, you know, 0:08:53.196 --> 0:08:56.836 like alcohol. I mean, obviously I threw myself and I 0:08:56.876 --> 0:08:59.276 was drinking too much and stuff, but the main thing 0:08:59.356 --> 0:09:02.356 was just taking care of the kids and making that happen. 0:09:02.996 --> 0:09:06.716 What's that like to revisit that song? Now? How did 0:09:06.796 --> 0:09:09.076 you How did you want to record it this time? 0:09:11.236 --> 0:09:15.036 I just wanted it to be rougher, you know, just 0:09:15.116 --> 0:09:18.796 kind of more honest, more, you know, a little more 0:09:18.836 --> 0:09:23.476 primitive version of the song. And you know, it started 0:09:23.516 --> 0:09:27.636 out as kind of like a blue blues he kind 0:09:27.636 --> 0:09:31.156 of almost like a country blues thing, you know, And 0:09:33.636 --> 0:09:35.756 I remember that when you know. 0:09:35.716 --> 0:09:37.036 I'm going to ask you if you can show me 0:09:37.076 --> 0:09:39.476 what the country blues going to do? That? All right, 0:09:39.556 --> 0:09:40.156 that's okay, But. 0:09:41.716 --> 0:09:48.556 You know, at that time bury me was actually when 0:09:49.236 --> 0:09:53.956 Rick was producing Johnny Cash's records, the solo records. You know, 0:09:54.956 --> 0:09:58.876 they actually that song got thrown into the pile of songs. 0:09:58.916 --> 0:10:01.196 It didn't make it, but it was one of the 0:10:01.236 --> 0:10:05.676 songs that you know, I threw it for that. I 0:10:05.716 --> 0:10:07.996 would have loved to have heard Johnny Cash sing that song. 0:10:09.156 --> 0:10:10.876 Yeah, it might have been a little lower than your version. 0:10:12.196 --> 0:10:15.316 Most likely you wanted it. You say you wanted it rougher. 0:10:15.396 --> 0:10:18.916 That's a pretty dark song originally and pretty. 0:10:18.676 --> 0:10:21.676 Start kind of like a symphonic thing about it. There 0:10:21.716 --> 0:10:23.556 was something just kind of like you know, with the 0:10:23.596 --> 0:10:26.276 synthesizer and stuff like that, you know, and now I 0:10:26.356 --> 0:10:28.716 just kind of wanted like to be a little kind 0:10:28.716 --> 0:10:29.996 of just tougher a little bit. 0:10:30.156 --> 0:10:34.116 You know, I'm interested. Do you have your children listened 0:10:34.116 --> 0:10:34.396 to it? 0:10:35.196 --> 0:10:35.476 Yes? 0:10:35.836 --> 0:10:36.436 What did they think? 0:10:36.476 --> 0:10:38.676 You know, It's funny because my kids were the first 0:10:38.756 --> 0:10:40.996 ones to hear my songs during that period of time 0:10:41.836 --> 0:10:46.396 gravity thirteen years with these hands, those first kind of 0:10:46.436 --> 0:10:49.876 trilogy of that period of time, which was like, you know, 0:10:50.076 --> 0:10:54.996 obviously guilt Gravity was the darkest one. Thirteen years was 0:10:55.076 --> 0:10:59.636 kind of like a more kind of melancholy look at 0:10:59.796 --> 0:11:04.476 what had happened, you know, and then with these sounds 0:11:04.596 --> 0:11:08.476 was kind of like coming out of this phase of grief, you. 0:11:08.436 --> 0:11:12.116 Know, living when you recorded the Boston album, So were 0:11:12.156 --> 0:11:13.436 you working at home at that point? 0:11:13.596 --> 0:11:16.236 I was working at Waterloo Records. I was a record 0:11:16.236 --> 0:11:16.836 store clerk. 0:11:17.316 --> 0:11:18.516 Are you kidding? I didn't know that. 0:11:18.716 --> 0:11:20.116 Yeah for many years. 0:11:20.196 --> 0:11:23.196 Yeah, okay, would you take your breaks and pull up 0:11:23.196 --> 0:11:23.636 a guitar? 0:11:25.796 --> 0:11:27.956 You know. It was funny because when the record came out, 0:11:27.996 --> 0:11:29.196 I was selling my own record. 0:11:31.596 --> 0:11:33.956 Anybody came in and said, man, whatever's playing, just take 0:11:33.996 --> 0:11:35.196 it off, hey. 0:11:35.476 --> 0:11:37.876 And of course I'd also accept the returns when they 0:11:37.916 --> 0:11:38.236 came in. 0:11:38.636 --> 0:11:38.916 Yeah. 0:11:39.156 --> 0:11:40.356 No, not really, but. 0:11:41.596 --> 0:11:44.236 I'll bet you kicked up a fist. You grew up 0:11:44.276 --> 0:11:47.516 in a musical family, yes, sir, Yeah, your father was 0:11:47.556 --> 0:11:48.836 your father full time musician? 0:11:49.236 --> 0:11:52.396 No, he was, he was. He thought of himself as 0:11:52.436 --> 0:11:55.716 a crooner, had sang in big bands in the thirties 0:11:55.756 --> 0:11:59.036 and forties and also had worked and you know, my 0:11:59.076 --> 0:12:02.116 father was born in Mexico in Salt Deal nineteen oh 0:12:02.116 --> 0:12:04.676 seven he was born and crossed the borders when he 0:12:04.756 --> 0:12:07.716 was twelve looking for his parents, who had moved on 0:12:07.796 --> 0:12:12.116 into Texas to find work. So he sang in work 0:12:12.236 --> 0:12:16.156 camps and played guitar a little bit and sang I love. 0:12:16.476 --> 0:12:19.836 My father loved rock and roll, aroun chettas and big 0:12:19.876 --> 0:12:22.516 band music. That was this thing. And my mom was 0:12:22.556 --> 0:12:26.076 more kind of cultured and sophisticated. She had grown up 0:12:26.556 --> 0:12:29.476 in San Marcos and graduated from college there and then 0:12:29.556 --> 0:12:32.916 went to work at the Pentagon in Washington, DC as 0:12:32.916 --> 0:12:36.476 a secretary. And so she went out and saw you know, 0:12:36.836 --> 0:12:40.436 jazz and you know comedians. She told me she saw 0:12:40.516 --> 0:12:43.676 Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce and all those guys, you know, 0:12:43.756 --> 0:12:46.396 that kind of thing. So, yeah, she was hipper and 0:12:46.476 --> 0:12:49.356 my kind of very sophisticated, beautiful woman, really kind of 0:12:49.396 --> 0:12:53.596 starlet beauty, you know. And so I had those two 0:12:53.716 --> 0:12:56.636 kind of things always playing in my head, you know, 0:12:57.236 --> 0:13:01.076 big band music and more orchestrated kind of you know, 0:13:01.196 --> 0:13:04.556 big band music on my mom's side, sophisticated jazz. And 0:13:04.596 --> 0:13:07.916 then she came in my first Winton Kelly record, you know, 0:13:07.996 --> 0:13:15.476 and like my dad was really into ronchetta's and conjuntos 0:13:15.476 --> 0:13:16.356 and things like that. 0:13:16.956 --> 0:13:19.156 You know, is that where you get your love of strings? 0:13:19.196 --> 0:13:23.396 You've always had such great strings. 0:13:22.996 --> 0:13:26.036 That and I think that also two records were my 0:13:26.116 --> 0:13:29.716 templates when I first started went Sola Were a Street 0:13:29.716 --> 0:13:33.356 House was by Lou Reed and Paris nineteen nineteen by 0:13:33.916 --> 0:13:38.036 John Klee, And those two records kind of gave me 0:13:38.756 --> 0:13:43.996 the idea. And also Ronnie Lane's record and Slim Chants, 0:13:44.356 --> 0:13:47.756 because Ronnie was living in Austin and so I played 0:13:47.796 --> 0:13:50.796 in his band and it was a big string band, 0:13:50.796 --> 0:13:55.236 but mostly like violin, more like fiddle and mandolins and 0:13:55.316 --> 0:13:59.036 banjos and acoustic guitars and stuff, but really cool. It 0:13:59.076 --> 0:14:01.996 was so great to learn from Ronnie. You know, I 0:14:02.076 --> 0:14:04.276 loved Ronnie. I was a big Faces fan. 0:14:05.516 --> 0:14:07.596 When you were a kid. Was that your taste like 0:14:07.636 --> 0:14:10.156 British Invasion? That kind of music? 0:14:10.796 --> 0:14:14.596 My taste of music began with Elvis and the Big Bopper. 0:14:15.756 --> 0:14:18.836 I love Solomon Burke and Fats Domino was a hero 0:14:18.956 --> 0:14:19.436 of mine. 0:14:20.596 --> 0:14:21.516 Were you a piano player? 0:14:22.156 --> 0:14:24.156 No, I was not a musician. 0:14:25.196 --> 0:14:28.076 I mean everybody in your family was a musician. People 0:14:28.236 --> 0:14:31.476 who know you know your brothers were in jazz bands, 0:14:31.516 --> 0:14:37.316 big bands, Your niece is Sheila E from Princess Great Band. Yeah, 0:14:39.236 --> 0:14:40.836 but you didn't play till much later. 0:14:41.316 --> 0:14:43.116 I didn't start playing until I was twenty four. 0:14:43.396 --> 0:14:45.396 What happened? Your dad gave you a guitar when you 0:14:45.436 --> 0:14:45.836 were young. 0:14:47.196 --> 0:14:50.236 I had a guitar very early. I took it apart 0:14:50.276 --> 0:14:53.636 to paying it, gave it to me, never put it 0:14:53.756 --> 0:14:57.156 back together. Have My brother picked it up, my younger brother, Haavier, 0:14:57.196 --> 0:14:59.036 who was a much better guitar player than I am, 0:14:59.076 --> 0:15:01.596 and he picked it up and he really took to it, 0:15:01.636 --> 0:15:04.556 and you know, he was kind of more into the guitar. 0:15:04.756 --> 0:15:07.636 But I was a surfer. I was a baseball player. 0:15:08.676 --> 0:15:10.716 I loved surfing. I was you know, we grew up 0:15:10.756 --> 0:15:12.156 in Huntington Beach, California, and. 0:15:13.236 --> 0:15:15.116 You were born in San Antonio, right, and then moved 0:15:15.116 --> 0:15:15.756 to California. 0:15:15.996 --> 0:15:19.916 We moved when I was seven, six or seven, and 0:15:19.956 --> 0:15:23.276 we lived in Orange County, first in Orange, California, and 0:15:23.276 --> 0:15:25.996 then Huntington Beach. 0:15:26.436 --> 0:15:27.876 What was the surfing scene like then. 0:15:28.636 --> 0:15:31.676 It's a very different surfing scene. It was not an 0:15:31.756 --> 0:15:35.556 integrated or diverse surfancy. 0:15:35.956 --> 0:15:36.196 Yeah. 0:15:36.436 --> 0:15:40.436 It was purely kind of you know, Anglo white, chalky 0:15:40.556 --> 0:15:43.916 kind of guys. You know, and the Mexican kids and 0:15:43.956 --> 0:15:47.556 the surfers always battled. So I was somewhere in the middle. 0:15:47.876 --> 0:15:51.756 I had long air and surf like my hero David Nueva. 0:15:52.276 --> 0:15:57.796 So the surfers thought I was Hawaiian. He passed his Hawaiian, 0:15:58.276 --> 0:16:00.476 so I would be Hawaiian in order not to get 0:16:00.476 --> 0:16:05.476 my ass kicked from time to time. So yeah, that's 0:16:05.556 --> 0:16:06.556 what you know. 0:16:07.876 --> 0:16:10.916 I'm thinking every Mexican at the border now should just 0:16:10.956 --> 0:16:11.876 be yeah, I'm Hawaiian. 0:16:12.916 --> 0:16:14.676 That would be a good one. I think that would do. 0:16:14.796 --> 0:16:16.916 That would do that. I think you figured it out. 0:16:17.116 --> 0:16:21.076 Yeah, so yeah, that was the deal. And uh and 0:16:21.116 --> 0:16:25.036 then there was a great record store on Main Street 0:16:25.036 --> 0:16:29.916 in Hunton Beach. This older hippie guy took a liking 0:16:29.996 --> 0:16:32.036 to me and would turn me onto records, you know, 0:16:32.636 --> 0:16:37.716 and he was really he was an anglophile. So Yardbirds, 0:16:37.756 --> 0:16:43.236 pretty Things, Kinks, all those great records, you know, Lord 0:16:43.396 --> 0:16:48.596 Sutch and you do these odd things. And he turned 0:16:48.596 --> 0:16:50.756 me on to my you know, when the Roxy music 0:16:50.836 --> 0:16:53.996 album came out and all the Mantahope records, you know 0:16:54.076 --> 0:16:57.116 from Wildlife from the very first one, turned me onto 0:16:57.556 --> 0:17:01.116 all the Bowie, all the t rex All that stuff 0:17:01.156 --> 0:17:05.556 came to him, and I just became mesmerized by that 0:17:05.676 --> 0:17:08.036 music and that look and that style. 0:17:08.396 --> 0:17:10.516 What was it about the music that grabbed you so much? 0:17:10.596 --> 0:17:12.236 The guitars, yeah. 0:17:12.076 --> 0:17:16.436 The loud ronson and guys like Jimmy Page I loved 0:17:16.516 --> 0:17:20.116 and you know Keith, of course, you always love Keith. 0:17:20.156 --> 0:17:22.636 You gotta love Keith. You know, he's just the greatest 0:17:22.716 --> 0:17:25.836 rhythm player, you know. And so I took a real 0:17:25.956 --> 0:17:29.476 liking to end the clothes, you know, and the fashion 0:17:29.676 --> 0:17:30.476 was a big. 0:17:31.956 --> 0:17:35.796 Did you have any growing up? Did you like Mexican 0:17:35.876 --> 0:17:37.356 music growing up through your father? 0:17:37.556 --> 0:17:40.036 You know, It's funny because the punk rock was a rebellion. 0:17:40.316 --> 0:17:42.196 A lot of people thought rock and roll was basically 0:17:42.236 --> 0:17:46.916 a rebellion against your parents, right, But I mean I 0:17:47.076 --> 0:17:49.916 personally did not have anything against the music that my 0:17:50.036 --> 0:17:52.276 parents listened to. I loved it. You know. It was 0:17:54.076 --> 0:17:57.596 familial and it was warm and it felt like home, 0:17:57.716 --> 0:18:00.516 you know. So every time I hear that kind of music, 0:18:00.636 --> 0:18:03.956 I think of my parents and being younger at the 0:18:03.956 --> 0:18:06.196 house where my parents would dance at the drop of 0:18:06.196 --> 0:18:08.156 a hat, you know, they just start and my dad 0:18:08.156 --> 0:18:10.156 would sing to my mom all the time, you know. 0:18:10.276 --> 0:18:11.156 Oh, it's amazing. 0:18:11.276 --> 0:18:13.636 Yeah, like in a restaurant. We'd be in a restaurant 0:18:14.036 --> 0:18:16.316 and so you built out this tune to her, you know, 0:18:16.436 --> 0:18:19.516 this love song and everyone would clap after it was cool. 0:18:19.716 --> 0:18:20.396 That amazing. 0:18:20.516 --> 0:18:20.916 Yeah. 0:18:20.956 --> 0:18:22.516 And was he a guitar player as well? 0:18:23.156 --> 0:18:25.596 My father was a guitar player, but a very rough 0:18:25.676 --> 0:18:28.996 guitar player. Like, yeah, I took after my dad. 0:18:29.396 --> 0:18:31.996 Yeah. Now you went to San Francis. I just so 0:18:32.116 --> 0:18:34.796 I get this right. You were interested in film, you 0:18:34.796 --> 0:18:35.716 were a big film buff. 0:18:35.796 --> 0:18:38.556 Well here's yeah. So then when you know the new 0:18:38.596 --> 0:18:43.556 wave German, new Wave, French, new wave, Italian neo realism, 0:18:44.356 --> 0:18:46.476 I took to that, right, So we wanted to be 0:18:46.476 --> 0:18:50.636 a filmmaker. I wasn't playing guitar. I was checking out 0:18:50.636 --> 0:18:53.276 every band I could, buying every record, I could, reading 0:18:53.316 --> 0:18:58.196 every Enemy Sounds, Melody Maker out, I could Cream Rolling Stone, 0:18:58.196 --> 0:19:03.276 all that, just totally, you know, just digesting everything, you know. 0:19:04.316 --> 0:19:16.236 And then we decided to run away, my girlfriend and 0:19:16.236 --> 0:19:19.796 I from Hollywood where I was living. This is after 0:19:19.836 --> 0:19:23.076 seeing the Dolls and the Stooges and Patty Smith for 0:19:23.156 --> 0:19:26.556 the first time, and you know these great bands Roxy 0:19:26.756 --> 0:19:30.076 and Mott and you know Slade and you know, just 0:19:30.236 --> 0:19:36.396 incredible music. And we decided we'd run away to San Francisco, 0:19:37.476 --> 0:19:39.756 and we took off one night hitch high to San 0:19:39.796 --> 0:19:43.836 Francisco from Hollywood, and it was there that my friend 0:19:43.876 --> 0:19:46.196 and I were going to make a movie about the 0:19:46.236 --> 0:19:49.836 shittiest band in the world. And since we thought we 0:19:49.916 --> 0:19:52.276 looked so cool, we thought we'd play the band because 0:19:52.316 --> 0:19:55.996 we couldn't play, so we'll be the band in the movie. 0:19:56.556 --> 0:20:00.956 And that band became the Nuns, and then the Nuns 0:20:02.556 --> 0:20:05.876 you know, by it, I don't know, it just kind 0:20:05.876 --> 0:20:08.196 of happened to take off in San Francisco. It was 0:20:08.236 --> 0:20:11.996 a good time. Punk rock embraced us, and we weren't 0:20:12.036 --> 0:20:15.756 really punk rock. We just couldn't play, you know. And uh, 0:20:15.916 --> 0:20:18.476 but we looked cool and we seemed to fit into 0:20:18.476 --> 0:20:21.716 the scene and we became a big band in San Francisco. 0:20:22.676 --> 0:20:25.996 But we never toured or anything. You know. You say 0:20:26.036 --> 0:20:30.836 you warmed up for show at Winterland. 0:20:30.436 --> 0:20:33.076 Yes, So what was that like for you? 0:20:33.236 --> 0:20:35.916 It was like it was like a circus gone bad, 0:20:36.156 --> 0:20:39.716 you know, Yeah, like suddenly the elephants or stampede and 0:20:39.716 --> 0:20:42.796 then the animals have been cut loose from the cage's Yeah, 0:20:42.836 --> 0:20:45.476 it was crazy, you know, it was. It was a spectacle. 0:20:46.316 --> 0:20:48.236 It wasn't rock and roll. It was a spectrum. 0:20:48.276 --> 0:20:49.476 Did you like their music? 0:20:49.916 --> 0:20:53.396 I loved the sex Mistles the first the forty fives 0:20:53.436 --> 0:20:55.036 were great. Yeah, the album was great. 0:20:55.196 --> 0:20:55.596 Yeah. 0:20:55.636 --> 0:20:57.756 I loved them, But they weren't a band anymore by 0:20:57.756 --> 0:21:00.916 the time they got to Frisco. They were They weren't 0:21:00.916 --> 0:21:02.596 playing together or anything. Really. 0:21:02.796 --> 0:21:04.756 Yeah, And did you think of yourself as a band 0:21:04.756 --> 0:21:07.356 by that point? You started as a non band, yeah, 0:21:07.516 --> 0:21:08.196 came the band. 0:21:08.356 --> 0:21:13.316 Yeah. And then shortly after the sex Mistle show, you know, 0:21:13.476 --> 0:21:15.956 Sid came to our house that night, hung out with us, 0:21:16.036 --> 0:21:18.836 and then we said, you know, he invited us to 0:21:18.836 --> 0:21:24.436 go to London, and then we went to New York. 0:21:24.516 --> 0:21:27.156 We came to New York to play and that was 0:21:27.196 --> 0:21:27.836 seventy eight. 0:21:28.156 --> 0:21:29.956 That was that at his urging or you just did 0:21:29.956 --> 0:21:30.636 that on your own. 0:21:31.356 --> 0:21:32.796 I'm sorry, it wasn't We. 0:21:32.716 --> 0:21:35.076 Had Sid Vicious suggested you go to New York. 0:21:35.596 --> 0:21:38.276 We were ready to go somewhere and New York was 0:21:38.316 --> 0:21:40.516 the only place that we felt comfortable. 0:21:40.636 --> 0:21:41.956 Did you like Sid Vicious? 0:21:42.276 --> 0:21:45.276 Yeah, he was great, It's great. He was sweet man. 0:21:45.636 --> 0:21:47.516 He was a good kid. He loved rock, and roll, 0:21:48.196 --> 0:21:52.076 and the problem I think was more that he became 0:21:52.116 --> 0:21:57.076 a caricature and that character caricature killed him, you know. 0:21:58.196 --> 0:22:01.636 But I don't think that, you know, he was he 0:22:01.716 --> 0:22:05.676 was kind of pushed in that direction, you know, by management, 0:22:05.836 --> 0:22:07.796 by fans, you know. 0:22:07.916 --> 0:22:09.676 But I don't know. 0:22:10.396 --> 0:22:11.516 It's a strange story. 0:22:11.916 --> 0:22:13.476 So what was New York like for you? Then? 0:22:14.796 --> 0:22:17.876 You know, I never wanted you know, like in high school, 0:22:18.156 --> 0:22:20.116 people were always I want to go. I can't wait 0:22:20.156 --> 0:22:24.076 to go to Paris and you know, London and wherever, 0:22:24.196 --> 0:22:29.316 you know, And I just wanted to come to New 0:22:29.396 --> 0:22:32.356 York because the Velvet Underground were from New York, the 0:22:32.436 --> 0:22:34.996 dolls were from New York, the Young Rascals were from 0:22:35.036 --> 0:22:38.316 New York, you know, and all the great doop of 0:22:38.596 --> 0:22:41.716 the fifties was from New York, it seemed. And I 0:22:41.836 --> 0:22:44.916 just really wanted to come. And for me, it was 0:22:44.956 --> 0:22:48.236 we moved to Chelsea. We lived a rock and roll 0:22:48.356 --> 0:22:49.116 dream kind. 0:22:48.956 --> 0:22:51.316 Of you know, what was the Chelsea like at that point? 0:22:51.596 --> 0:22:54.316 It was still kind of like it was in the 0:22:54.356 --> 0:22:57.156 sixties and stuff. You know, there's still a lot of characters. 0:22:58.196 --> 0:23:01.436 Charles James, the great clothing designers still lived there, lived 0:23:01.436 --> 0:23:05.036 there for years, never paid rent, you know, standing would 0:23:05.116 --> 0:23:10.836 let him get by for whatever favors. To Francesco Scavulu, 0:23:10.876 --> 0:23:14.556 I think out a studio downstairs and just all these 0:23:14.596 --> 0:23:17.156 great people in and out, you know. And I met 0:23:17.196 --> 0:23:22.516 so many great people, you know. I met Ki Kid, 0:23:22.556 --> 0:23:24.556 Creole and the Coconuts. So he hang out with the 0:23:24.596 --> 0:23:26.796 same people that I hung out. So there was a 0:23:26.836 --> 0:23:30.356 big studio apartment that this woman lived in and she 0:23:30.396 --> 0:23:34.036 would host like, you know, little soirees during the day 0:23:34.076 --> 0:23:35.956 and all these people would come over. It was great. 0:23:36.476 --> 0:23:39.356 It was you know, it was all everything I had 0:23:39.396 --> 0:23:44.636 thought about when I watched Warhol films and yeah, Midnight 0:23:44.676 --> 0:23:47.916 Cowboy and whatever. You know. It was a dream kind 0:23:47.916 --> 0:23:48.876 of come true. You know. 0:23:49.316 --> 0:23:52.476 Yeah. Not a lot of people watch Midnight Cowboy and say, wow, 0:23:53.036 --> 0:23:54.196 no I want some of that. 0:23:54.516 --> 0:23:57.796 Well, you know, the kind of band that we were 0:23:58.156 --> 0:24:00.316 and the kind of people were kind of lent them 0:24:00.636 --> 0:24:02.556 lent themselves to that. 0:24:02.756 --> 0:24:04.636 Okay, what kind of what kind of people were you? 0:24:05.876 --> 0:24:10.436 Uh? We were fuck ups with guitars. Yeah, you know, 0:24:10.516 --> 0:24:14.276 we really were. We had no future, as they say, 0:24:14.836 --> 0:24:20.716 you know, we we were just kids who I personally 0:24:21.036 --> 0:24:22.716 was different than the rest of them. Of course, We 0:24:22.716 --> 0:24:27.076 were all different, but you know, we dabbled in drugs. 0:24:28.196 --> 0:24:31.156 You know, we were we were heathen like you know, 0:24:32.636 --> 0:24:37.276 and you know we're from San Francisco. San Francisco in 0:24:37.276 --> 0:24:40.396 those days was pretty wild. You know, it's Babylon. You know. 0:24:42.316 --> 0:24:44.796 We'll be right back with more from Alejandro Escavito. 0:24:45.116 --> 0:24:45.836 After the break. 0:24:50.076 --> 0:24:52.876 We're back with more from Alejandro Escavito. 0:24:54.276 --> 0:24:56.956 So was there one point in which you thought, I 0:24:56.996 --> 0:25:00.916 want to make music that's going to last. I want 0:25:00.956 --> 0:25:02.116 to get past this. 0:25:03.236 --> 0:25:05.676 It didn't happen until my daughter Maya was born and 0:25:05.716 --> 0:25:08.276 I was living in Austin because when I moved to 0:25:08.316 --> 0:25:14.236 Austin said, I wasn't surrounded by like performance artists and 0:25:14.276 --> 0:25:17.516 fake jazz and this and that. I was surrounded by 0:25:17.916 --> 0:25:24.156 hardcore songwriters right Towns, Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Jimmie Dale, Gilmour, 0:25:24.676 --> 0:25:27.596 Joe Eely, Butch Hancock and one of the greatest of 0:25:27.636 --> 0:25:31.876 them all. You know, just these amazing songwriters. 0:25:31.996 --> 0:25:34.036 You know, were you going out and seeing them at night? 0:25:34.116 --> 0:25:34.796 Did you know them? 0:25:34.876 --> 0:25:37.756 Oh? You could see them in a backyard Towns at 0:25:37.756 --> 0:25:41.156 a barbecue. You know. It was that kind of place, 0:25:41.316 --> 0:25:44.636 you know, and I just soaked it in. I just 0:25:44.876 --> 0:25:47.636 really loved it. You know, I was home. I was 0:25:47.676 --> 0:25:52.996 back in Texas. I was surrounded by these incredible genius 0:25:53.036 --> 0:25:57.916 songwriters and they took to me. And you know, my 0:25:57.996 --> 0:26:01.356 first solo tours with Joe E Lee around Texas and Oklahoma, 0:26:02.276 --> 0:26:05.596 and I watched him every night because solo, he was 0:26:05.596 --> 0:26:08.556 one of the greatest performers I've ever seen. What made 0:26:08.636 --> 0:26:12.396 him so great just his delivery, the way he you know, 0:26:12.876 --> 0:26:15.876 he rocked, and yet he could play the most tender 0:26:16.956 --> 0:26:20.876 ballad and he sang so beautifully. He was just such 0:26:20.916 --> 0:26:24.836 a great presence. You know, he's like Bruce. He's like 0:26:24.836 --> 0:26:28.796 a cowboy version of Bruce. You know, he was our Bruce, 0:26:28.916 --> 0:26:29.116 you know. 0:26:29.356 --> 0:26:32.196 Yeah, and for the kids at home, that's Bruce Springsteen. 0:26:34.396 --> 0:26:37.036 Yeah yeah, You've been on stage with them quite a 0:26:37.036 --> 0:26:39.476 few times, I think, yeah, yeah. 0:26:39.316 --> 0:26:42.076 Yeah, we saw Little Stephen last night. That was cool. 0:26:42.356 --> 0:26:42.756 Was that right? 0:26:42.836 --> 0:26:43.116 Yeah? 0:26:43.196 --> 0:26:48.556 Yeah, he was at Jesse's trip. So yeah, yeah, and uh, 0:26:48.636 --> 0:26:53.956 you know, and so being in Austin and having my daughter. 0:26:54.916 --> 0:27:00.796 I remember when Maya turned one, I turned thirty one, 0:27:01.796 --> 0:27:04.076 and I decided at that point, I remember it was 0:27:04.116 --> 0:27:06.836 it was kind of traumatic birthday for me. I smoked 0:27:06.876 --> 0:27:09.276 too much pot and kind of wanked it off, and 0:27:09.316 --> 0:27:11.436 it's kind of like, you know, left the party and 0:27:11.516 --> 0:27:13.956 kind of, you know, walking down the street wondering what 0:27:13.996 --> 0:27:17.116 the fuck, you know, what's going on? You know. But 0:27:17.236 --> 0:27:19.716 I decided that at that point that I was going 0:27:19.756 --> 0:27:23.756 to get serious about writing songs, you know, because I'd 0:27:23.796 --> 0:27:29.796 always written short stories and screenplays and treatments, and so 0:27:29.916 --> 0:27:32.116 I'd always written, and I always had this idea that 0:27:32.836 --> 0:27:36.876 songs should be like many movies, you know, and so 0:27:36.916 --> 0:27:38.556 that's what I set out to do. 0:27:39.276 --> 0:27:41.516 How did you do that? How did you sit how 0:27:41.516 --> 0:27:43.796 do well, maybe you didn't sit down. How did you 0:27:44.076 --> 0:27:46.036 say one day, I'm going to write, I'm going to 0:27:46.036 --> 0:27:49.076 write different kinds of songs. What what happened? 0:27:50.476 --> 0:27:52.836 I wasn't being included in the band I was in 0:27:52.876 --> 0:27:56.596 at the time was Rank and File. There were two brothers, 0:27:56.676 --> 0:28:01.156 very talented songwriters in Great August. But I wasn't being 0:28:01.356 --> 0:28:04.436 like encouraged to do anything other than to be in 0:28:04.476 --> 0:28:07.356 the band as a rhythm guitar player. There's no Body 0:28:07.476 --> 0:28:08.276 My Fault. 0:28:08.196 --> 0:28:11.036 Old Austin City clip and yeah, yeah, you see the brothers, 0:28:11.076 --> 0:28:13.636 and then there's this I'm there for a very very 0:28:13.636 --> 0:28:15.116 handsome guy with the guitar. 0:28:16.876 --> 0:28:20.556 And so I wasn't. But I was never we were 0:28:20.596 --> 0:28:23.276 never encouraged as like a band, like let's work on 0:28:23.356 --> 0:28:25.876 this song as a band, you know, let's be a band. 0:28:26.396 --> 0:28:29.396 And yet we had always kind of promised ourselves that 0:28:29.396 --> 0:28:31.196 that's what we were going to be, you know, it 0:28:31.276 --> 0:28:35.516 was a band. And so at a certain point when 0:28:36.996 --> 0:28:42.396 the Brothers, we were playing with Loan Justice in California, 0:28:42.476 --> 0:28:45.756 and Loan Justice was starting to blow up, and we 0:28:45.836 --> 0:28:49.676 hadn't made our second record yet, and it did fairly well, 0:28:49.716 --> 0:28:51.836 but it wasn't blowing up like Loan. 0:28:51.796 --> 0:28:54.676 Justice was, you know, yeah they had that first album, really. 0:28:54.476 --> 0:28:57.916 Yeah, And so the brothers kind of started to look 0:28:57.956 --> 0:29:02.436 at pinpoint reasons why this wasn't happening, and I was 0:29:02.476 --> 0:29:06.276 the most obvious choice. So they got I wasn't good 0:29:06.396 --> 0:29:09.076 enough as a guitar player. I wasn't playing country guitar. 0:29:10.236 --> 0:29:12.516 I was playing a Les Paull Junior and a Marshall 0:29:12.556 --> 0:29:15.596 House attack, you know, and so like they're going, you know, 0:29:15.716 --> 0:29:19.756 it doesn't fit, and so I said, well, I'm not 0:29:19.876 --> 0:29:21.756 that and I don't want to be that, and so 0:29:21.796 --> 0:29:24.676 I went off and I remember all the way back 0:29:24.716 --> 0:29:30.796 from California. I drank a bottle of whiskey and I 0:29:30.916 --> 0:29:34.396 listened to Foggy Notion by the Velvet Underground over and 0:29:34.596 --> 0:29:37.076 over and over, and that's the only song. I listened 0:29:37.076 --> 0:29:40.116 to the all the way home for about twenty hours, 0:29:40.156 --> 0:29:42.636 you know, and I said, this is what I want 0:29:42.636 --> 0:29:46.796 my band to sound like. And I got home and 0:29:46.836 --> 0:29:50.036 I called my brother Javier, and Javier, at the time 0:29:51.396 --> 0:29:56.636 was working in a restaurant washing dishes. I said, I want, 0:29:56.796 --> 0:29:58.876 let's do a band, you know, let's make a band. 0:29:59.556 --> 0:30:01.476 We were going to ask Nicky Beat of the Widows 0:30:01.476 --> 0:30:03.796 to be our drummer, and we had all these plans. 0:30:03.956 --> 0:30:06.956 It took Halveer a year to get to Austin, but 0:30:06.996 --> 0:30:10.676 when he did, we started the True Believers and that began. 0:30:11.076 --> 0:30:13.236 Javier had all the songs, but I started to write. 0:30:13.396 --> 0:30:16.756 You know. The first song I wrote was this I 0:30:16.876 --> 0:30:20.396 was like already thirty two maybe. And the first song 0:30:20.436 --> 0:30:23.316 I wrote was the Rain Won't Help You when It's over. 0:30:24.716 --> 0:30:27.756 And then I wrote five Hearts Breaking and all those 0:30:27.796 --> 0:30:30.676 other songs that ended up on my solo record. 0:30:31.036 --> 0:30:35.876 Yeah, how did were you the kind of person you 0:30:35.916 --> 0:30:38.116 just made yourself sit down every day and I'm going 0:30:38.156 --> 0:30:40.956 to write or no, when it was when the spirit. 0:30:40.636 --> 0:30:45.676 I'm wait, too lazy for that, Yeah, I wait. You 0:30:45.716 --> 0:30:49.316 know it's funny because when I did start to write, 0:30:49.876 --> 0:30:52.836 they just flowed out like a waterfall. Man. It was crazy, 0:30:52.916 --> 0:30:55.276 you know. It was like a title wave of songs. 0:30:55.316 --> 0:30:58.276 I could sit anywhere we'd be late night, just hanging 0:30:58.316 --> 0:31:01.876 out after hours, and pick up a guitar and the 0:31:01.916 --> 0:31:02.716 song would come out. 0:31:03.196 --> 0:31:05.956 Would you immediately write it down? Did you know from chord. 0:31:06.036 --> 0:31:09.596 I lost a lot of songs. Oh yeah, but you 0:31:09.636 --> 0:31:11.356 know a lot of them did stick with me and 0:31:11.596 --> 0:31:12.876 they became those albums. 0:31:12.956 --> 0:31:15.876 You know, well, those are some pretty good songs to 0:31:15.916 --> 0:31:16.356 start with. 0:31:17.116 --> 0:31:19.556 They're not bad, no, some of them, Okay. 0:31:19.436 --> 0:31:22.636 Not at all. The first song you put on this album, 0:31:22.876 --> 0:31:26.316 on your new album, yeah, of songs is John Conquest. 0:31:26.396 --> 0:31:28.116 So I wanted you to talk a bit about that. 0:31:28.676 --> 0:31:30.476 Well. John Conquest was a song I do with my 0:31:30.556 --> 0:31:33.876 band Buick McCain. We were out of Austin and we 0:31:33.916 --> 0:31:37.876 were just a very loud, kind of southern version of 0:31:39.356 --> 0:31:44.836 the Dolls or something, and there was a critic there, 0:31:45.596 --> 0:31:49.516 rock music critic, I should say, journalists by the name 0:31:49.596 --> 0:31:53.316 of John Conquiz He's from England, but he only loved 0:31:53.316 --> 0:31:56.716 country music and stuff and he loved. Prior to me 0:31:56.756 --> 0:31:58.836 and making my first soulo record, I had a big band, 0:31:59.356 --> 0:32:02.316 fifteen pieces. It was the Yell Hundreds or other orchestra, 0:32:02.476 --> 0:32:06.276 you know, So I had backup singers, keyboard, is horn, 0:32:06.396 --> 0:32:08.956 section three, two drummers. 0:32:09.196 --> 0:32:11.876 Do you make that work as a working musician, And. 0:32:12.116 --> 0:32:14.236 Well, that's what I would do with man. I would. 0:32:14.276 --> 0:32:18.916 I would set up a gig and I'd say, then 0:32:19.196 --> 0:32:23.516 just send out, call up my friends, We're going to 0:32:23.596 --> 0:32:25.756 play at the Hole in the wall. Ten I got 0:32:25.756 --> 0:32:29.356 a gig. Come you know, it's no rehearsal. We're all 0:32:29.356 --> 0:32:32.196 going to improvise. When we got on stage, these players 0:32:32.196 --> 0:32:35.316 were amazing. They were the best, the best jazz players 0:32:35.356 --> 0:32:38.756 in town, the best Latin percussionists in town, you know, 0:32:39.356 --> 0:32:42.996 best guitar players. I had all kinds of really wonderful musicians. 0:32:43.676 --> 0:32:49.156 And these counts would show up sometimes fifteen, sometimes five, whatever, 0:32:49.236 --> 0:32:52.236 you know, and I would just start playing little riffs 0:32:52.236 --> 0:32:55.556 and you know, like gravity falling down again. That song 0:32:55.676 --> 0:32:57.476 was totally improvised as a song. 0:32:58.156 --> 0:33:01.796 Really yeah, I mean, you've always got good riffs in 0:33:01.796 --> 0:33:03.476 your songs. I don't think of you as like a 0:33:03.596 --> 0:33:06.836 jazz guy particular, No not, but you know you can 0:33:06.916 --> 0:33:07.836 you can kick it off. 0:33:08.716 --> 0:33:13.556 Yeah, yeah, yeah, just simple. It was all very simple. 0:33:14.076 --> 0:33:16.716 Those songs were like, you know, like I always thought 0:33:16.716 --> 0:33:19.036 of them like nursery rhymes. You know. I thought that 0:33:19.116 --> 0:33:21.516 was really important to kind of get these like you know, 0:33:21.596 --> 0:33:24.996 like Eno put a Straw on her Baby, you know 0:33:25.116 --> 0:33:27.556 that that song of ENO's. You know, I just love 0:33:27.556 --> 0:33:30.636 it because it's a it is a nursery rhyme, you 0:33:30.676 --> 0:33:32.636 know it really I think it's an old Welsh or 0:33:32.636 --> 0:33:37.916 something necessary. But I just loved it. And and that's 0:33:37.996 --> 0:33:40.076 kind of like what I wanted to do with my songs, 0:33:40.116 --> 0:33:42.036 you know. I just wanted to tell stories. And then 0:33:42.076 --> 0:33:44.556 as I started to write more, I realized this was 0:33:44.596 --> 0:33:46.916 a way for me to really kind of make that 0:33:47.236 --> 0:33:48.956 movie but with music. 0:33:48.756 --> 0:33:54.076 You know, and your songs are very very visual. Yeah, 0:33:54.156 --> 0:33:56.636 I mean I think you know, one of my favorites 0:33:56.676 --> 0:34:01.916 of yours is of course Swallows or San Juan. Yeah, 0:34:02.036 --> 0:34:03.516 can you tell me a bit about that song. 0:34:03.676 --> 0:34:07.076 I wrote that with Chuck Prophet and we were making 0:34:07.756 --> 0:34:10.476 Real Animal, Yeah, and we and I told him the 0:34:10.476 --> 0:34:13.036 story when I was a kid, the school trip was 0:34:13.036 --> 0:34:16.156 always the San Juan Capistrano, you know, to watch the 0:34:16.196 --> 0:34:19.596 swallows return to San Juan, right, And so we were 0:34:19.596 --> 0:34:21.756 talking about and I told him that I had once 0:34:22.876 --> 0:34:26.396 drawn the fountain where all the swallows would come to 0:34:26.676 --> 0:34:29.316 and and it went on an award at some little 0:34:29.476 --> 0:34:32.756 art show and on into the beach, and so we 0:34:32.836 --> 0:34:35.316 took it from there and he had he had the 0:34:35.876 --> 0:34:37.956 roll in the mud and the clay, which I loved. 0:34:38.796 --> 0:34:42.556 Yeah, it's such a I mean, people know the story 0:34:42.596 --> 0:34:45.116 because it's an old expression, return like the swallows to 0:34:46.156 --> 0:34:50.276 San Juan Capistrano, But it's such a different song. It's 0:34:50.316 --> 0:34:54.076 such a like a lot of your songs. It's about 0:34:54.756 --> 0:34:57.996 a lot of your songs. It's about departure and trying 0:34:58.036 --> 0:35:01.236 to come back and wondering whether you can come back. 0:35:02.236 --> 0:35:04.796 That song was about trying to get back to the 0:35:04.916 --> 0:35:09.276 roots of what we loved, you know, guitars and and 0:35:09.396 --> 0:35:11.516 rock and roll. You know, that was seemed to be 0:35:12.316 --> 0:35:14.476 somewhat fading at the time, you know, at least in 0:35:14.516 --> 0:35:17.276 our eyes, you know, But. 0:35:17.356 --> 0:35:19.516 It hasn't picked up much since. I would say that. 0:35:19.796 --> 0:35:22.156 I'm sorry, rock and roll hasn't picked up too much 0:35:22.196 --> 0:35:23.076 sense either. 0:35:24.196 --> 0:35:26.196 There's a lot of young bands out there that are great. 0:35:27.116 --> 0:35:34.116 Star Crawler I love, they're amazing. Henry Cash and his 0:35:34.316 --> 0:35:36.956 group is just incredible. Errow, you know, the singer, and 0:35:38.076 --> 0:35:41.076 they're just amazing. I love their energy. There's a band 0:35:41.356 --> 0:35:44.716 and I'm gonna de Spits. I think they're called It 0:35:44.836 --> 0:35:49.756 from Austin, and they're also managed by my manager. But 0:35:49.796 --> 0:35:54.196 they're young girls who just I mean, they're vicious. Man. 0:35:54.276 --> 0:35:57.276 They're so good, and they've got the energy and the spirit. 0:35:57.436 --> 0:35:57.636 You know. 0:35:58.236 --> 0:36:01.836 Do you do you think the radio or sort of 0:36:01.876 --> 0:36:05.356 broader culture is going to come around to that music now? 0:36:05.356 --> 0:36:08.076 I don't believe so. I think that now we have 0:36:08.156 --> 0:36:16.676 become so separated from humanity. It seems like, you know, 0:36:16.796 --> 0:36:22.556 the beautiful parts of humanity, the expression that that music 0:36:22.636 --> 0:36:25.756 gave us at one point, I don't hear anymore. Maybe 0:36:25.796 --> 0:36:28.876 it's because I don't have those ears anymore. I'm not twenty, 0:36:28.916 --> 0:36:33.436 I'm not fifteen sixteen listening to Dylan records and Tim 0:36:33.476 --> 0:36:37.916 Harden records and Tim Buckley records and you know that 0:36:38.036 --> 0:36:42.316 kind of stuff. But I just I don't know. I 0:36:42.396 --> 0:36:44.036 just don't feel it like I used to. 0:36:45.636 --> 0:36:50.276 Your career really went through the nineties up to Man 0:36:50.356 --> 0:36:54.836 under the Influence, which is just a great, great album, 0:36:55.396 --> 0:36:57.836 and you do a few songs from that on this record. 0:36:57.876 --> 0:36:59.676 Can you tell me about the making of that record, 0:36:59.676 --> 0:37:02.036 because that was just before you got sick. 0:37:02.036 --> 0:37:04.036 Right, that was the last record I made before I 0:37:04.076 --> 0:37:04.676 became ill. 0:37:05.916 --> 0:37:09.556 We had you known you had happy Titus? 0:37:09.796 --> 0:37:15.556 No, not adopts see at that point? Now, okay, oh 0:37:15.596 --> 0:37:21.156 maybe you know it's maybe I did. Because the way 0:37:21.356 --> 0:37:28.756 what happened was I was touring extensively and I suddenly 0:37:28.756 --> 0:37:33.876 came home was very, very tired, just exhausted and nauseous. 0:37:33.956 --> 0:37:36.676 I couldn't. I We're touring with Jimmy Dale Gilmore on 0:37:36.756 --> 0:37:40.076 the West Coast, and one night after we had been 0:37:40.076 --> 0:37:44.596 in Boulder, Colorado, we saw Paul Westerberg and Patty Smith 0:37:44.636 --> 0:37:49.196 at some radio conference in Boulder, and then drove all 0:37:49.236 --> 0:37:53.996 the way to baff In, Alberta. And I was sick 0:37:54.116 --> 0:37:57.916 all the way. And when I got to baff I 0:37:57.916 --> 0:38:01.556 couldn't play the gig. And I never not, you know, 0:38:01.676 --> 0:38:03.356 I was not that kind of guy. We played no 0:38:03.436 --> 0:38:07.516 matter what. And then we got to Vancouver and I 0:38:07.556 --> 0:38:09.676 tried to play it. I only lasted a few songs 0:38:09.716 --> 0:38:11.516 and I went to a friend. A friend took me 0:38:11.556 --> 0:38:14.316 to his doctor, and at that time they didn't really 0:38:14.356 --> 0:38:16.556 know what epsey was, you know, they called it non 0:38:16.596 --> 0:38:18.796 A and m B. But he didn't even say that 0:38:18.956 --> 0:38:22.116 at that point. He just thought that I was exhausted 0:38:22.156 --> 0:38:25.236 and took so I canceled the next gig. We made 0:38:25.276 --> 0:38:27.876 it all the way down to the coat down to 0:38:27.956 --> 0:38:31.356 San Diego, down the coast, and when I got home, 0:38:31.396 --> 0:38:34.196 I was very ill and my friends told me I 0:38:34.236 --> 0:38:36.876 should go see a friend of his who would he 0:38:36.956 --> 0:38:41.116 thinks it could help me. And he told me that 0:38:41.156 --> 0:38:44.516 he thought I had something wrong with my liver. And 0:38:44.556 --> 0:38:46.676 I went to this old Mexican doctor on the East 0:38:46.716 --> 0:38:49.156 side who told me, you're just getting old, he said, 0:38:49.236 --> 0:38:52.636 you know. But they did blood tests, you know, And 0:38:53.916 --> 0:38:56.156 I remember it was like the next day after the 0:38:56.196 --> 0:38:57.796 blood tests that the nurse called me and said, the 0:38:57.836 --> 0:39:01.516 doctor really needs to speak to you now. And he's 0:39:01.516 --> 0:39:03.236 the one that told me I had non A and 0:39:03.276 --> 0:39:03.516 on B. 0:39:05.436 --> 0:39:08.516 You said, at least I'm not cure, at least now. 0:39:08.796 --> 0:39:11.676 Now now you'd be taking drugs and you'd be fine. 0:39:11.956 --> 0:39:12.716 Yeah, oh good, No. 0:39:12.956 --> 0:39:15.796 So but you were on so you got on the 0:39:15.836 --> 0:39:17.076 list for a New Liver. 0:39:17.716 --> 0:39:21.076 I never did, really, I did not want to go 0:39:21.076 --> 0:39:24.996 to that route. So I thought there was alternatives. And 0:39:25.036 --> 0:39:28.436 what I did was I found Tibetan medicine. I found 0:39:28.436 --> 0:39:31.676 a group of monks that were traveling through Houston, and 0:39:31.716 --> 0:39:33.556 I went to see him. They had a doctor with them, 0:39:34.396 --> 0:39:38.236 and right away, you know, Tibetan doctors, they take your pulse, 0:39:39.076 --> 0:39:42.836 they read your tongue, and they read your urine. And 0:39:43.396 --> 0:39:47.076 he told me, because you don't have cancer, and don't 0:39:47.116 --> 0:39:48.956 be afraid, you're going to make this. You know, you're 0:39:48.956 --> 0:39:51.356 going to make it through this. But I was very 0:39:51.396 --> 0:39:55.556 weak man. I got really sick, you know. And then 0:39:55.636 --> 0:39:57.916 when I went to my and then he introduced me 0:39:57.916 --> 0:40:02.196 to another Tibetan doctor, doctor Dekey, and she kept me 0:40:02.236 --> 0:40:06.356 alive for years through Tibetan medicine. I couldn't take the 0:40:06.836 --> 0:40:11.516 interfere on anymore. It was killing me. Yeah, and a 0:40:11.636 --> 0:40:13.116 Tibetan medicine kept me alive. 0:40:13.396 --> 0:40:14.196 What was the treatment. 0:40:14.796 --> 0:40:17.876 It's a it's a very you know, various like these 0:40:18.356 --> 0:40:22.116 little brown medicine balls kind of like that looked like 0:40:22.356 --> 0:40:25.436 mud dirt. They got a little straw they got they 0:40:25.476 --> 0:40:30.316 have minerals and even some precious stone in them sometimes, 0:40:30.316 --> 0:40:32.436 you know, and stuff, and I would take those and 0:40:32.556 --> 0:40:34.596 meditate and it was a practice. I did the medicine 0:40:34.636 --> 0:40:35.836 Buddha practice, you know. 0:40:36.876 --> 0:40:38.356 And then how long did that take for you to 0:40:38.356 --> 0:40:39.076 feel better? 0:40:40.676 --> 0:40:46.196 I'd say it took It took a little while, because 0:40:46.916 --> 0:40:51.316 you know, when you take herbs, they don't work like 0:40:51.796 --> 0:40:54.636 Western medicine. It's not immediate. It takes a while to 0:40:54.676 --> 0:40:57.116 build up in your system. And it did eventually, and 0:40:57.156 --> 0:41:01.956 I was able to go back on the road and 0:41:02.156 --> 0:41:06.756 just keep myself alive but not drinking, take it, trying 0:41:06.796 --> 0:41:07.996 to take care of myself, you know. 0:41:08.716 --> 0:41:11.676 And your Western doctors at that point, were they opposed 0:41:11.676 --> 0:41:11.916 to this. 0:41:12.236 --> 0:41:15.196 No, they were fine as long as I was getting better. 0:41:17.116 --> 0:41:21.316 So my doctor was a wonderful doctor who has supported 0:41:21.356 --> 0:41:24.996 me ever since I met him because of hepsie, but 0:41:25.716 --> 0:41:28.476 comes to all my shows, you know by its all records. 0:41:28.636 --> 0:41:29.396 He's a great guy. 0:41:29.476 --> 0:41:32.036 That's what you want out of a doctor. So what, 0:41:32.156 --> 0:41:33.716 how's your liver now? Is it okay? 0:41:33.876 --> 0:41:34.516 It's fine? 0:41:34.836 --> 0:41:35.076 Wow? 0:41:35.676 --> 0:41:37.316 I mean it's not a brand new liver, it's not 0:41:37.356 --> 0:41:41.356 a young man's liver, but it's yeah, but it's it 0:41:41.436 --> 0:41:42.716 keeps me upright, You. 0:41:42.676 --> 0:41:46.236 Know, after this last break, we'll be back with the 0:41:46.236 --> 0:41:54.756 rest of Bruce Headlam's conversation with Alejandro Escovito. We're back 0:41:54.796 --> 0:41:55.996 with the rest of the conversation. 0:41:57.076 --> 0:41:59.756 After you got sick and you came back, you started 0:41:59.756 --> 0:42:02.516 making albums with, you know, some of the people who 0:42:02.556 --> 0:42:05.516 really influenced you. You did an album in two thousand 0:42:05.556 --> 0:42:09.756 and six with John Klee, who you love first from 0:42:09.876 --> 0:42:12.996 What the Velvet Underground? Yeah, what was that like? 0:42:13.436 --> 0:42:17.116 You know, I still get kind of giddy of thinking 0:42:17.116 --> 0:42:22.316 about it because it was John sent in one of 0:42:22.316 --> 0:42:25.516 the first songs on the tribute record, the port View 0:42:25.556 --> 0:42:27.796 of the record. He's send in a song called she 0:42:27.836 --> 0:42:29.756 Doesn't Live Here Anymore in. 0:42:29.756 --> 0:42:30.556 A beautiful song. 0:42:30.596 --> 0:42:33.636 Oh my god, what a version he did. And so 0:42:34.596 --> 0:42:36.756 we were doing a tribute to Sterling Morrison, who I 0:42:36.796 --> 0:42:42.356 also knew from Austin, and Sterling had passed away, and 0:42:42.396 --> 0:42:44.956 we were doing like a memorial permit one of the 0:42:44.996 --> 0:42:49.996 South by Southwest conferences, and John came and I got 0:42:49.996 --> 0:42:53.156 the string section together for him, and we did Paris 0:42:53.236 --> 0:42:56.516 nineteen nineteen, We did Sister Ray, and we did all 0:42:56.516 --> 0:42:59.916 these cool songs, you know, And when we were doing 0:42:59.916 --> 0:43:05.276 a sound check for that gig. I said, I heard 0:43:05.316 --> 0:43:08.436 you have a studio at your home. He goes, no, 0:43:08.556 --> 0:43:12.116 I got rid of studio. And I said, well, why'd 0:43:12.116 --> 0:43:14.236 you get rid of your studio? Goes, I hate musicians. 0:43:14.236 --> 0:43:19.476 He said, oh that's cool, you know. I said, well, listen, 0:43:20.476 --> 0:43:22.956 would you help me make a record? And right away 0:43:22.956 --> 0:43:26.916 he said yes. And I had known John from playing 0:43:26.956 --> 0:43:28.876 with Judy and Island here in New York, you know, 0:43:28.956 --> 0:43:33.076 because we were managed by Jane Friedman like John was, 0:43:33.116 --> 0:43:36.876 you know, and we would play a lot of gigs together. 0:43:36.956 --> 0:43:39.156 But at that time John was a very different person, 0:43:39.316 --> 0:43:42.516 you know, and he was kind of well, he was 0:43:42.836 --> 0:43:46.396 intimidating to me, you know. He says, big man with 0:43:46.436 --> 0:43:49.756 a big voice, drinking brandy and just being kind of wild, 0:43:49.876 --> 0:43:53.956 you know. And I didn't really get close to him 0:43:53.996 --> 0:43:56.036 in those days. You know. We'd go over his place 0:43:56.156 --> 0:43:58.196 and stuff, but I was always just going to fly 0:43:58.316 --> 0:44:01.596 on the walk on a kid, you know. And then 0:44:01.996 --> 0:44:04.996 when I asked him we had a gig in La 0:44:05.276 --> 0:44:07.636 and I went to La, he said said yes, said 0:44:07.636 --> 0:44:10.156 we had a meeting, and he told me I want 0:44:10.156 --> 0:44:12.036 three things from you. I want you to sound strong, 0:44:12.836 --> 0:44:15.436 as inspired as you ever have been. And I want 0:44:15.476 --> 0:44:17.996 you to go as deeper than you've ever been about 0:44:18.036 --> 0:44:21.236 this record, you know. And so the first song I 0:44:21.276 --> 0:44:23.836 wrote was that song of Vita's Lullaby about my mom 0:44:23.876 --> 0:44:27.116 and dad. My dad died during that course of COVID, 0:44:27.196 --> 0:44:31.036 you know, and even though I had been you know, 0:44:31.236 --> 0:44:35.676 studying Buddhist script and preparing myself for a lot of things, 0:44:36.756 --> 0:44:39.196 when my father passed away, it was devastating, you know. 0:44:40.356 --> 0:44:42.316 And so I wrote that song about them because they 0:44:42.316 --> 0:44:45.196 always danced, as I told you earlier, and so a 0:44:45.316 --> 0:44:49.156 Vita's Lullaby is about him dancing with her somewhere else, 0:44:49.236 --> 0:44:52.396 you know, some another place was your mother. She was 0:44:52.436 --> 0:44:52.836 still alive. 0:44:52.956 --> 0:44:56.716 Her, she was still alive, okay, but my dad was. 0:44:56.756 --> 0:45:01.156 You know, a huge influence on me. So that was 0:45:01.196 --> 0:45:03.076 the first song I wrote. And then the other songs 0:45:03.076 --> 0:45:05.556 were all followed suit you know. They were all kind 0:45:05.556 --> 0:45:07.316 of about that experience. 0:45:06.836 --> 0:45:11.116 You know, and I did did He He liked the songs. 0:45:11.436 --> 0:45:14.436 He liked the songs. He thought you'd gone deeper. 0:45:16.796 --> 0:45:22.516 I think that, Uh, at the time, it seemed like 0:45:22.556 --> 0:45:25.356 a you know, at the time, it seemed. 0:45:25.036 --> 0:45:27.156 Like it surprises me. He said that, because I think 0:45:27.196 --> 0:45:31.796 of him as such a not a songwriter about feelings. 0:45:31.796 --> 0:45:36.156 He's such an intellectually intimidating figure. 0:45:36.516 --> 0:45:38.756 Oh John, Yes, yeah, absolutely, so. 0:45:38.716 --> 0:45:40.396 It surprises me that he did say no, you need 0:45:40.436 --> 0:45:41.236 to go deeper. 0:45:41.636 --> 0:45:44.076 And you know what was funny is that, you know, 0:45:44.156 --> 0:45:46.876 I told you I had been kind of intimidated by him, right, 0:45:47.356 --> 0:45:50.076 but when we made the record, he was like an 0:45:50.076 --> 0:45:53.076 older brother. It's like I always felt like I had 0:45:53.116 --> 0:45:55.756 his arm around my shoulder, going, you're cool, you know, 0:45:56.116 --> 0:45:58.316 is this what you want? You know, give me more 0:45:58.316 --> 0:46:02.076 of that, you know. And the record began very differently 0:46:02.156 --> 0:46:04.956 for us because like where you Are was a piano 0:46:06.316 --> 0:46:09.916 and I was sitting near with my acoustic and start playing, 0:46:10.236 --> 0:46:13.476 and he would he would respond to whatever I was playing, 0:46:13.476 --> 0:46:15.556 you know. He's such a great improviser, you know, So 0:46:16.956 --> 0:46:19.036 we wrote, we wrote like that, you know, and the 0:46:19.076 --> 0:46:20.996 record was recorded like that. At first, it was just 0:46:21.036 --> 0:46:23.836 piano and acoustic guitar and my voice, you know, and 0:46:23.876 --> 0:46:26.596 then we built the album all around that, you know, 0:46:27.276 --> 0:46:30.076 which is kind of backwards for making records. Usually it's 0:46:30.116 --> 0:46:32.916 like you get the rhythm section down and you get 0:46:32.996 --> 0:46:35.636 the band down, and then the singer goes in and 0:46:36.196 --> 0:46:39.036 re records his vocals. A lot of times, you know, whatever, 0:46:39.076 --> 0:46:42.396 and you put everything else on top of that. But 0:46:42.516 --> 0:46:44.996 this was different, and it was a really interesting way 0:46:45.036 --> 0:46:46.476 to work, and I loved it because it was so 0:46:47.156 --> 0:46:51.956 I needed that kind of support system because I was 0:46:51.996 --> 0:46:58.596 still very, very shy, and I still had a lot 0:46:58.636 --> 0:46:59.076 of fear. 0:46:59.596 --> 0:47:03.196 You know, really hepatize because you were you were fifteen 0:47:03.276 --> 0:47:05.556 years into your solo career at this point. What was 0:47:05.596 --> 0:47:06.636 the what was the fear? 0:47:08.836 --> 0:47:14.876 I had the feeling that you know, Bobby Newarth once 0:47:14.956 --> 0:47:18.076 told me, he says, as artists were all just afraid 0:47:18.116 --> 0:47:20.636 that someone's going to suss us out to be hacks, 0:47:20.756 --> 0:47:23.676 you know, and I think I'm still living with that. 0:47:23.796 --> 0:47:25.916 You know. I'd grown up in an environment which was 0:47:25.956 --> 0:47:35.076 never very you know, the confirmation wasn't there when I 0:47:35.116 --> 0:47:39.076 was a kid. You know, I was never told I 0:47:39.076 --> 0:47:44.316 could do anything, you know, and the school system was 0:47:44.356 --> 0:47:48.436 such in those days that you know, they even changed 0:47:48.436 --> 0:47:51.916 my name. They wouldn't pronounce my name. I was Alex 0:47:52.076 --> 0:47:55.556 for many years, and I hated it just because the 0:47:55.596 --> 0:48:00.116 teacher refused to, you know, even try to pronounce my 0:48:00.196 --> 0:48:03.956 name Alandro, you know, and me represented everything that was 0:48:03.996 --> 0:48:08.196 wrong with society, and you know, the racial thing. 0:48:08.516 --> 0:48:12.236 Were there a lot of Mexican kids in your class. 0:48:11.436 --> 0:48:15.876 Not a lot, but some, yeah, yeah, And so you know, 0:48:16.676 --> 0:48:19.836 Mexican kids were always and black kids and poor white 0:48:19.876 --> 0:48:22.996 kids were always just kind of led to the machine shop, 0:48:23.076 --> 0:48:26.596 the woods shop, you know, just to be worker aunts, 0:48:26.636 --> 0:48:30.756 you know. And so we were never encouraged to be lawyers, 0:48:30.916 --> 0:48:38.956 doctors and such so you know it, or filmmakers or filmmakers. 0:48:38.636 --> 0:48:42.756 And that's why these dreams were so important. 0:48:42.276 --> 0:48:45.916 You know, were those dreams your parents supported? 0:48:46.476 --> 0:48:47.716 No? 0:48:47.716 --> 0:48:50.276 Now why was that? Because your your parents sound like 0:48:51.956 --> 0:48:54.076 your father sounds like such a romantic figure. 0:48:54.236 --> 0:48:57.076 And I think because my brother, my older brothers had 0:48:57.156 --> 0:49:01.476 been musicians and they saw what you know, they would 0:49:01.476 --> 0:49:04.436 go to their shows, but my brothers played in supper clubs. 0:49:04.516 --> 0:49:07.316 You know. It was that time, you know, yeah, sixties, 0:49:07.716 --> 0:49:13.116 early sixties, like fifties. So they loved, you know, my 0:49:13.156 --> 0:49:15.756 brother they love of course, they adored my older brothers, 0:49:15.876 --> 0:49:19.236 you know. And I was a seventh kid out of thirteen, 0:49:20.276 --> 0:49:22.156 so I was kind of lost in the shuffle. I 0:49:22.196 --> 0:49:26.076 was kind of an invisible kid and just never seemed 0:49:26.076 --> 0:49:28.956 to be able to do anything that impressed my parents. 0:49:29.036 --> 0:49:29.316 You know. 0:49:30.596 --> 0:49:33.636 Did that change you mentioned your father died. It really 0:49:33.716 --> 0:49:36.596 changed really when he died, was he he. 0:49:36.596 --> 0:49:39.636 Was supportive, you know. And when I played on the record, 0:49:39.716 --> 0:49:42.596 you know, I did this record, We've made this play 0:49:44.196 --> 0:49:46.716 called by the Hand of the Father, which was a 0:49:46.716 --> 0:49:49.316 story of five different men born in the turn the 0:49:49.356 --> 0:49:52.876 century in Mexico and chronicles their journey across the border 0:49:52.916 --> 0:49:56.076 and all the things they did to work and support 0:49:56.116 --> 0:49:58.276 their families and such. You know. When the album was 0:49:58.276 --> 0:50:00.916 finally finished and I had my brother Pete, I wrote 0:50:00.916 --> 0:50:02.836 a song for him to sing on the record, you know. 0:50:05.036 --> 0:50:07.316 And when I finally played the album, my dad had 0:50:07.316 --> 0:50:09.796 this little boombox he would always listen into, you know, 0:50:09.876 --> 0:50:11.516 and he was kind of put it in the corner 0:50:11.556 --> 0:50:13.436 and he just turned the chair around from all of 0:50:13.516 --> 0:50:16.236 us and he just listened to the album and he 0:50:16.276 --> 0:50:18.916 played it all the way through, turned around and I 0:50:18.996 --> 0:50:22.276 was watching him listen, you know, checking him out. He 0:50:22.356 --> 0:50:24.396 turned around, just kind of smiled, and then he hit 0:50:24.436 --> 0:50:26.756 play again and listened to it all one more time, 0:50:26.836 --> 0:50:29.876 all the way through, and then he turned around and 0:50:29.876 --> 0:50:31.676 told me, he says, you finally got the beat right, 0:50:31.796 --> 0:50:37.356 he said, So that was that was a big compliment 0:50:37.436 --> 0:50:40.596 for him, you know. So yeah, you know, it wasn't 0:50:40.676 --> 0:50:43.796 like I think my mom only saw me play maybe 0:50:43.836 --> 0:50:45.036 once or twice, you know. 0:50:46.196 --> 0:50:47.796 Did they But they support us. 0:50:47.836 --> 0:50:51.276 I mean they helped us, gave it. They helped the 0:50:51.316 --> 0:50:53.996 true believers get their first van, you know, to tours. 0:50:56.476 --> 0:50:59.876 But I didn't have that like, you know, that push 0:51:00.956 --> 0:51:03.476 or that kind of reckoning that you're an artist and 0:51:04.196 --> 0:51:06.676 you know you're free to go to move on and 0:51:06.716 --> 0:51:08.116 do what you want to do. You know. 0:51:08.676 --> 0:51:12.796 It a struggle, which is interesting because you've done just 0:51:12.996 --> 0:51:16.236 so many interesting things in your career. A couple of 0:51:16.316 --> 0:51:19.436 years ago, you revisited the idea of crossing the. 0:51:19.396 --> 0:51:21.716 Border with the crossing. 0:51:22.076 --> 0:51:25.716 Yeah, with the Crossing, and then released a Spanish version 0:51:25.716 --> 0:51:29.076 and there's Italian songs on it. You've done. You seem 0:51:29.196 --> 0:51:35.036 quite fearless, and I would have guessed you'd have had 0:51:35.076 --> 0:51:37.276 parents saying the whole time, you can do anything, you 0:51:37.316 --> 0:51:39.156 can do anything. Where does that know? Where does that 0:51:39.196 --> 0:51:40.396 come from? 0:51:40.756 --> 0:51:44.996 Defiance? I think more than anything, you know, there was 0:51:45.036 --> 0:51:46.876 always a sense that I wasn't going to be told 0:51:46.916 --> 0:51:50.116 what to do, and that I wasn't going to be 0:51:51.396 --> 0:51:54.836 pigeonholed into any sort of box. You know, I wasn't 0:51:54.996 --> 0:51:59.356 just a Chicano. I wasn't just a Mexican American, you know. 0:51:59.396 --> 0:52:01.636 I didn't want to be defined by race and culture. 0:52:02.436 --> 0:52:05.676 You know. I wanted to be my own person. And 0:52:07.676 --> 0:52:13.156 I think that the fearlessness just comes from which is 0:52:13.316 --> 0:52:17.036 a wonderful little gadget to have in your toolbox if 0:52:17.036 --> 0:52:22.596 you're a musician. You know, just came from wanting to 0:52:22.796 --> 0:52:24.756 do I heard it all, like you know, it was 0:52:25.196 --> 0:52:28.116 a broad spectrum of things that I drew from, you know, 0:52:28.796 --> 0:52:33.636 from Mexican music to the Velvet Underground to you know, 0:52:34.596 --> 0:52:38.876 Coltrane to Smoking Robinson to it was all there, you know, 0:52:39.636 --> 0:52:41.476 and I ate it all up and I wanted it 0:52:41.556 --> 0:52:44.876 and how can I make this work? And I wasn't like, 0:52:45.236 --> 0:52:47.196 you know, because I started so late. I wasn't like 0:52:47.196 --> 0:52:50.916 a musician's musician or anything, you know. I could barely 0:52:50.956 --> 0:52:54.796 play guitar. I learned to write songs by basically taking 0:52:54.836 --> 0:52:58.756 apart Dylan songs and Ian Hunter songs and John Kale 0:52:58.836 --> 0:53:05.956 songs and just kind of reconstructing them, you know. But 0:53:06.156 --> 0:53:10.756 all those guys that I admired were fearless in my eyes, 0:53:11.116 --> 0:53:16.956 Lou Reed, John Klee, Judy Nylon, you know, from Judy. 0:53:17.036 --> 0:53:19.636 I learned so much about just being able to stand 0:53:19.716 --> 0:53:22.716 up and say this is me and this is what 0:53:22.756 --> 0:53:24.636 I do. And I'm proud of what I do, and 0:53:25.116 --> 0:53:26.396 you know, take it. 0:53:26.436 --> 0:53:28.356 Or leave it, you know, Can you do that now? 0:53:29.276 --> 0:53:31.796 Yeah? Yeah, I'm not afraid anymore. 0:53:32.236 --> 0:53:34.916 No, was there a time that changed. 0:53:39.516 --> 0:53:42.476 It took a long time. Man. You know, it's funny 0:53:42.556 --> 0:53:44.676 to say that now, because, like I just told you, 0:53:44.716 --> 0:53:47.916 I'm going to be seventy four, but I was maybe 0:53:48.076 --> 0:53:50.396 fifty or so when I finally learned how to say 0:53:50.436 --> 0:53:55.716 no to people. Oh really, you know I always wanted 0:53:55.716 --> 0:54:00.276 to kind of like you know, you know, I had 0:54:00.276 --> 0:54:05.796 this therapist. He told me his his thing was based 0:54:05.836 --> 0:54:09.236 on l Ron Early l Ron Hubbard and Buddhism as 0:54:09.276 --> 0:54:14.676 a Buddhist right, but it was truth seeking, right. And 0:54:14.716 --> 0:54:17.156 he says, you know, I feel like taking you by 0:54:17.156 --> 0:54:18.956 the call and just throwing you up against the wall 0:54:19.036 --> 0:54:24.556 right now. I said, lie. He goes, because you lie, 0:54:25.876 --> 0:54:28.676 you won't tell me the truth. I said, I don't lie. 0:54:29.516 --> 0:54:32.236 He goes, why you lying? I go, I don't lie. 0:54:32.956 --> 0:54:36.276 He goes, why are lying? I go, Well, you know 0:54:36.356 --> 0:54:39.036 it's something I started to break down, you know, well, 0:54:40.236 --> 0:54:42.436 and it came down to like, I don't want to 0:54:42.476 --> 0:54:47.236 hurt other people's feelings, right, And he goes, well, you know, 0:54:47.276 --> 0:54:51.436 the responsibility is not yours, you know, it's theirs. The 0:54:51.516 --> 0:54:55.756 truth is there for them to digest in whatever way 0:54:56.036 --> 0:54:58.396 they're going to. They could be hurt, they could be 0:54:58.436 --> 0:55:03.076 pissed off, be angry at you, but that's not your problem, 0:55:03.196 --> 0:55:08.636 you know. And I took those words to heart. M hmm. 0:55:10.156 --> 0:55:12.276 You know, you grew up number seven in a family 0:55:12.356 --> 0:55:16.396 of thirteen, you you probably learned to get along. 0:55:17.436 --> 0:55:20.516 You have to. There's no other way. You know, my 0:55:20.596 --> 0:55:23.396 brother lived. You know, we were in bunk beds and 0:55:23.796 --> 0:55:27.796 sleeping on the floor and wherever, you know, in the car. 0:55:27.956 --> 0:55:30.716 If your brother was bugging you, I'd go I sleep 0:55:30.716 --> 0:55:33.596 in the backyard or whatever. You know. Yeah, so like, yeah, 0:55:33.716 --> 0:55:37.436 you know, it's like it was a tight fit thirteen kids, 0:55:37.436 --> 0:55:41.076 and you know we didn't all live together at one time, 0:55:41.156 --> 0:55:43.556 but there was always a lot of kids, you know, sure, 0:55:43.716 --> 0:55:46.796 and my dad and mom were did their you know, 0:55:46.836 --> 0:55:51.196 my mom and dad because of their interest in culture 0:55:51.596 --> 0:55:54.676 and music, they love bars and they'd love to go 0:55:54.716 --> 0:55:57.996 out dancing. So like growing up, we spent a lot 0:55:57.996 --> 0:56:00.316 of nights out in the car, locked up with our 0:56:00.316 --> 0:56:04.596 pajamas on while they went into these dance halls in 0:56:04.996 --> 0:56:10.596 Texas and people fighting and making love and you know 0:56:10.796 --> 0:56:13.516 whatever against the car the kids wake up. I was 0:56:13.556 --> 0:56:16.916 the oldest usually and trying to calm down my brothers 0:56:16.916 --> 0:56:21.436 and sisters, you know, until they came. Yes, it's an odd, 0:56:21.676 --> 0:56:22.516 odd childhood. 0:56:23.076 --> 0:56:27.796 Yeah. You then worked with Tony Visconti, who of course 0:56:27.836 --> 0:56:33.836 did a lot of those t rex Owie those albums. 0:56:33.876 --> 0:56:36.276 What did you what did you get from him? 0:56:37.196 --> 0:56:40.356 I'll tell you his story it. So initially I was 0:56:40.396 --> 0:56:44.796 supposed to work with Glenn John's and Chuck and I 0:56:44.956 --> 0:56:48.036 chuckoff and I went out to he lived in Ec 0:56:48.116 --> 0:56:54.036 de Provence, and we went out and visited him as 0:56:54.156 --> 0:56:58.556 villa that he lives in, and we spent some time 0:56:58.596 --> 0:57:02.876 with him. But we didn't see on what was the 0:57:02.956 --> 0:57:09.116 record should be, and so we decided not to worry 0:57:09.676 --> 0:57:13.436 with Glenn, and I called up being Ralphine, who was 0:57:13.436 --> 0:57:16.276 ahead of am I and Blue Note at the time, 0:57:17.316 --> 0:57:19.036 and told him, you know, I don't think this is 0:57:19.076 --> 0:57:24.236 going to work. And so, you know, it's funny because 0:57:24.236 --> 0:57:27.316 then the record company was telling me that we didn't 0:57:27.356 --> 0:57:29.316 have the songs. But we had written every song that 0:57:29.396 --> 0:57:32.036 was on the album. We had that album in tuck. 0:57:32.076 --> 0:57:36.236 We thought we thought we were ready, and so they 0:57:36.276 --> 0:57:38.636 told me that no, we don't hear it, and you 0:57:38.716 --> 0:57:41.236 need to go back and write. So I called up 0:57:41.236 --> 0:57:45.196 Being Hunter and Ian Hunter said, well, come on out, 0:57:45.276 --> 0:57:47.076 show me your songs, you know. So I came out 0:57:47.116 --> 0:57:48.836 here and was. 0:57:48.756 --> 0:57:50.476 That the first time you'd ever met him or had 0:57:50.516 --> 0:57:51.156 you known him before? 0:57:51.236 --> 0:57:55.036 I met him before, yeah, because he was also on 0:57:55.076 --> 0:57:59.756 that Portfitlio record, the tribute record. So and we listened 0:57:59.756 --> 0:58:01.556 to all the songs and it was amazing. You know. 0:58:01.596 --> 0:58:04.956 We'd go down to the basement and I would plan 0:58:05.036 --> 0:58:09.876 the songs and he would He would is basically say 0:58:09.916 --> 0:58:13.556 these are great songs. And so the only lesson that 0:58:13.676 --> 0:58:16.316 he said I need to tell you is that just 0:58:16.356 --> 0:58:18.356 don't let the record company fuck with you, you know. 0:58:19.116 --> 0:58:21.516 And he taught me this other trick about when they record, 0:58:21.636 --> 0:58:23.636 like how to hold the mic and really perform thing. 0:58:24.556 --> 0:58:28.516 And and so then Ian said, well what about Tony? 0:58:28.916 --> 0:58:32.476 I said, oh man, that would be amazing. So Tony 0:58:32.516 --> 0:58:38.036 flew out to Chicago and saw sound check and didn't 0:58:38.036 --> 0:58:40.196 realize that we were kind of rocked more than we 0:58:40.556 --> 0:58:43.036 you know, was on records, you know. So he loved that, 0:58:43.356 --> 0:58:45.516 you know, says we want to make we should make 0:58:45.516 --> 0:58:47.716 a rock and roll record, you know. And we had 0:58:47.756 --> 0:58:52.756 the songs and we went out recorded the studio in Lexington, Kentucky, 0:58:52.996 --> 0:58:55.716 and I just loved it, man, and it was great. 0:58:55.756 --> 0:58:59.716 And so we made three records together. We made Real Animal, 0:58:59.796 --> 0:59:05.556 Street Songs and Big Station together and you know, like 0:59:05.876 --> 0:59:08.436 Street Songs of Love was written in front of an audience, 0:59:08.556 --> 0:59:13.356 you know. In Austin. We took on a residency of 0:59:13.356 --> 0:59:17.836 two months. So we'd play like every Tuesday night. I'd 0:59:17.876 --> 0:59:21.156 call the band in. I'd have a verse or chorus 0:59:21.556 --> 0:59:25.956 titles sometimes, and we took Austin Motel was our green 0:59:26.036 --> 0:59:28.876 room across the street. We went back over and I'd 0:59:28.916 --> 0:59:31.436 come out and play what little I had to the audience, 0:59:31.476 --> 0:59:35.516 first acoustically, and then David, my guitar David Pokingham and 0:59:35.556 --> 0:59:37.356 my guitar player would come out and we do together. 0:59:37.836 --> 0:59:39.716 Then the band would come and we'd jam on it 0:59:39.756 --> 0:59:41.876 a little bit and then to play the rest of 0:59:41.916 --> 0:59:43.876 our set songs we knew and stuff. But we'd always 0:59:43.876 --> 0:59:46.116 got kind of do like two or three ideas a 0:59:46.156 --> 0:59:50.476 week right, and so then the audience began to build, 0:59:50.836 --> 0:59:53.276 and South Austin was really hip at that time. It 0:59:53.356 --> 0:59:56.156 was really cool. So I started to kind of take 0:59:56.276 --> 0:59:59.716 characters that were happening things, situations that were happening around me. 1:00:00.116 --> 1:00:03.236 Those became the songs, and by the end of it 1:00:03.276 --> 1:00:06.876 we had a full album. Tony came, We did pre 1:00:06.916 --> 1:00:11.796 production for a week. Then Tony played with us on 1:00:11.836 --> 1:00:14.876 the last of those Tuesday nights. We got in the van, 1:00:15.596 --> 1:00:17.876 went on a month long tour, ended up at the 1:00:17.876 --> 1:00:20.836 door of the studio in Lexington, and I swear we 1:00:20.836 --> 1:00:23.756 were so tight man. We just played that album just 1:00:23.876 --> 1:00:24.196 like that. 1:00:24.356 --> 1:00:26.716 Well, this is what I mean by fearless. You get 1:00:26.796 --> 1:00:29.316 up in front of an Austin crowd and just say 1:00:29.516 --> 1:00:32.316 here's a fragment, and yeah, you're gonna watch they watch 1:00:32.396 --> 1:00:32.836 you build. 1:00:33.036 --> 1:00:33.436 Yeah. 1:00:34.036 --> 1:00:38.436 Is it important to have an audience that will that 1:00:38.516 --> 1:00:41.396 will join you in something like that? Could you've done 1:00:41.436 --> 1:00:43.916 that in New York or a different place or was 1:00:43.916 --> 1:00:44.516 that Austin? 1:00:45.036 --> 1:00:47.716 I think that's an Austin thing. People always told me 1:00:47.756 --> 1:00:49.956 that the kind of things that happened in Austin don't 1:00:49.996 --> 1:00:55.196 happen anywhere else. You know, in those days especially so 1:00:55.276 --> 1:00:57.076 I think part of it was that, you know, Austin 1:00:57.116 --> 1:00:59.756 was always such a community that supported its artists in 1:01:00.116 --> 1:01:04.076 whatever fashion, you know. I mean, Joe Eally made one 1:01:04.116 --> 1:01:07.916 of the first kind of techno country records ever, you know, 1:01:07.996 --> 1:01:10.316 and people loved it, you know, high Res I think 1:01:10.316 --> 1:01:13.916 it was called. But you know, so like they've always 1:01:13.996 --> 1:01:16.916 been accepting of every transformation that I went through. 1:01:17.476 --> 1:01:20.476 That's amazing. Yeah, I do want to come back to 1:01:20.556 --> 1:01:23.076 one thing you mentioned, which is you didn't want to 1:01:23.116 --> 1:01:28.196 just be known as a Chicano, a Mexican songwriter, and 1:01:28.276 --> 1:01:35.036 it is true in this in the music business, certainly. 1:01:35.116 --> 1:01:37.396 I think of Lost Lobos, which is a band that 1:01:37.436 --> 1:01:42.236 can do almost anything, but they're always called the Chicano 1:01:42.316 --> 1:01:46.636 band from East La. Do you think it's it is 1:01:46.716 --> 1:01:50.796 limiting in this business if people that when people see you, 1:01:50.876 --> 1:01:53.076 they go, oh, well, we know what this is. 1:01:53.556 --> 1:01:56.436 When my album with These Hands came out on Raiko disc, 1:01:56.636 --> 1:02:01.276 you know, they were pushing all the radio promoters were 1:02:01.316 --> 1:02:03.956 pushing for my record to be played on the radio. 1:02:04.676 --> 1:02:08.476 The response from most of the radio people was we 1:02:08.596 --> 1:02:11.676 already have one Mexican band, we don't need another, which 1:02:11.756 --> 1:02:14.516 was Los Lobos. We can't pronounce his name, how do 1:02:14.516 --> 1:02:18.636 you expect us to play his music? You know? So yeah, 1:02:19.236 --> 1:02:21.196 you know, and I didn't want to change my name, 1:02:21.596 --> 1:02:24.076 you know, as I told you. You know, in my 1:02:24.116 --> 1:02:26.116 song is there's a lot of reference to my name. 1:02:26.276 --> 1:02:29.436 It's weird, but not my name. But so you know 1:02:29.516 --> 1:02:32.876 the name, you know, especially on the Crossings, there's that 1:02:33.036 --> 1:02:36.676 scene with Texas Ranger where the ranger says, what kind 1:02:36.716 --> 1:02:38.796 of we back name is that? What kind of spick 1:02:38.916 --> 1:02:42.516 name is that? And that really happened to me in 1:02:42.596 --> 1:02:46.036 Eagle Pass, Texas, you know, where I was introduced to 1:02:46.076 --> 1:02:49.916 a gentleman who was the next Texas Ranger and I said, 1:02:50.676 --> 1:02:55.116 my friend said, uncle John, this is Alejandro said, what 1:02:55.236 --> 1:02:57.116 kind of spick name is that? You know? 1:02:58.236 --> 1:02:59.956 So how old were you when that happened? 1:02:59.956 --> 1:03:05.796 Oh? I was in the True Believers. Yeah, so those 1:03:05.876 --> 1:03:12.156 kind of things have always to me, you know, and 1:03:12.196 --> 1:03:14.676 I didn't want to change my name. I'm proud of 1:03:14.716 --> 1:03:18.636 my culture, proud of my race, I'm proud of my lineage. 1:03:18.676 --> 1:03:23.276 I'm proud of you know, my family, you know, but 1:03:26.036 --> 1:03:28.356 my family has you know, if you were to do 1:03:28.356 --> 1:03:31.636 documentary on the Escovedo family, man, it's all over the place, 1:03:31.836 --> 1:03:36.836 you know, And I think we owe that to my 1:03:36.916 --> 1:03:41.036 mom and dad really the music. And my mom was 1:03:41.796 --> 1:03:43.996 so in the movies and films. She would take me 1:03:44.036 --> 1:03:47.316 to see films all the time since I was toddler, 1:03:47.436 --> 1:03:50.676 you know, so I was constantly being dragged to films. 1:03:50.716 --> 1:03:53.276 You know. She loved Marlon Brando, she loved James Dean, 1:03:53.316 --> 1:03:55.956 and she loved Montgomery Cliffs. So we would go see 1:03:55.996 --> 1:03:58.716 all those movies all the time. And she loved books, 1:03:58.756 --> 1:04:02.436 and you know, we were reading you know, Hemingway and Steinberg. 1:04:02.516 --> 1:04:05.556 She loved those guys, so we read those very early on. 1:04:06.156 --> 1:04:09.436 And it was because of her, you know. So as 1:04:09.436 --> 1:04:12.876 difficult as my relationship with my mother was, I owe 1:04:13.756 --> 1:04:16.716 the world probably, but I certainly wasn't going to be 1:04:16.796 --> 1:04:21.676 defined by because I'll be honest with you, I'm not 1:04:21.716 --> 1:04:25.476 really in the Chicono world. I'm not accept you know. 1:04:26.156 --> 1:04:28.916 They don't buy my records, right, they don't come to 1:04:28.916 --> 1:04:33.236 see me play. And yet in my eyes, I have 1:04:33.356 --> 1:04:38.636 spoken as much about the chicon experience as anybody has, 1:04:38.716 --> 1:04:42.116 you know. But yet, because I don't sing in Spanish 1:04:42.156 --> 1:04:45.276 and I love the Stooges as much as I. 1:04:45.196 --> 1:04:47.836 Love very eclectic taste. 1:04:47.956 --> 1:04:50.276 Yeah, so you know, we got to play. We got 1:04:50.276 --> 1:04:54.236 asked to play a salsa festival because of my name 1:04:54.876 --> 1:04:57.636 in San Jose, California. And the first song we did, 1:04:57.636 --> 1:04:59.916 because we knew that we weren't there they, we knew 1:04:59.916 --> 1:05:02.036 they had made a mistake. We played I Want to 1:05:02.076 --> 1:05:03.836 Be Your Dog for about fifteen minutes. 1:05:05.676 --> 1:05:07.036 That'll show them. 1:05:06.956 --> 1:05:10.156 Yeah, that'll show. Of course it lost. You'll never do that. 1:05:10.636 --> 1:05:13.076 Yeah, they're gonna make the check out to Alex That's 1:05:13.076 --> 1:05:15.996 what they're gonna do. All right. This was just such 1:05:16.036 --> 1:05:18.636 a treat and such an honor. Thank you so much. Well, 1:05:19.156 --> 1:05:21.716 everybody should listen to this album. It's just and it's 1:05:21.756 --> 1:05:25.316 a great primer on your early days and it'll drive 1:05:25.356 --> 1:05:28.036 all people back to those great albums. So thank you 1:05:28.116 --> 1:05:28.476 so much. 1:05:28.556 --> 1:05:30.356 Well, I appreciate you having me thinks. 1:05:30.076 --> 1:05:34.516 Oh no, no, an absolute joy you go. I wish 1:05:34.516 --> 1:05:36.956 it were mine. I would live in here if I could. 1:05:38.156 --> 1:05:41.156 Thank you so much. And when you successfully resisted playing 1:05:41.156 --> 1:05:45.876 the guitar the whole time, thank you. See that's power, 1:05:46.476 --> 1:05:47.556 all right, Thank you again. 1:05:50.436 --> 1:05:50.836 Thank you to. 1:05:50.796 --> 1:05:53.396 Alijandro Escavito for talking about his career and a bit 1:05:53.396 --> 1:05:55.996 about the making of his new album Echo Dancing. You 1:05:55.996 --> 1:05:58.236 can hear all of our favorite tracks from Aleandro Escavito 1:05:58.316 --> 1:06:00.596 on a playlist in the show notes for this episode, 1:06:00.916 --> 1:06:02.956 and be sure to follow us on Instagram at the 1:06:02.996 --> 1:06:06.076 Broken Record pot. You can follow us on Twitter at 1:06:06.156 --> 1:06:09.636 Broken Record. Broken Record is produced by Leo Rose, with 1:06:09.796 --> 1:06:13.316 marketing help from Eric Sandler and Jordan McMillan. Our engineer 1:06:13.436 --> 1:06:17.836 is Ben Tolladay. Broken Record is a production of Pushkin Industries. 1:06:18.196 --> 1:06:20.996 If you love this show and others from Pushkin, consider 1:06:21.036 --> 1:06:25.396 subscribing to Pushkin Plus. Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription 1:06:25.476 --> 1:06:28.676 that offers bonus content and absolute listening for four ninety 1:06:28.756 --> 1:06:32.996 nine a month. Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple podcast subscriptions, 1:06:33.796 --> 1:06:36.396 and if you like this show, please remember to share, rate, 1:06:36.436 --> 1:06:38.196 and review us on your podcast app. 1:06:38.556 --> 1:06:41.356 Our theme music's by Kenny Beats. I'm justin Richmond.