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Prayers Turns Personal History Into A New Spanish-Language Chapter · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So what's up, everyone? My name is Prayers. Fantastic.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much. Before we dive into all the new stuff,
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: how are you feeling right now with a single, a video,
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: an EP, and a tour all lighting up at once?
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Man, I'm super excited. You know, it's been a minute
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: for me to get back out there, and it always
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: has to do with just timing and whenever, like, inspiration
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: really knocks at my door. Because I'm not really... I
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: don't do it because I'm racing against anything or because
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: I'm competitive or anything. It's just like, you know, inspiration came.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: The time was there. So I said, hey, man, let's
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: jump on this. It's like pretty simple with me. You know,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: it's just whenever I'm inspired to create because I don't
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: like to force things. So I'm really excited that that
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: moment has arrived for me in the form of this EP,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: you know, which was something that I wasn't really looking for. Um,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm always looking to be creative. It's it's,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: I think it's really in my, in my nature. Um,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: but this EP itself, it was something that just happened organically.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: I was at my friend's house, my friend, Alfonso and Chicago,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: and we were in his kitchen making something to eat.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: And then he decided to play me some beats and
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: I liked them. And then I started writing to those
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: beats right there. And then, and we wrote, uh, I
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: wrote those four songs. along alongside him and in that
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: in that day so wow it's like catching lightning in
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: a bottle so when it happens that way it's exciting
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: for me because i've been on the opposite side of
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: the coin where i'm in a big fancy studio um
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: you know and and i'm sitting there and and and
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: i'm have a deadline yeah and i have to produce
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: these things that feel like i'm under pressure you know
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: So when things happen naturally with no pressure, that's like
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: my favorite, you know.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: That's the best. That's the best. So, well, that's exactly
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: what I was going to say is that it sounds
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: like this wasn't forced. This truly came organically from you.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it did. Yeah, absolutely. Fantastic.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: And you've dipped into Spanish before, obviously, like on La
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Vida es el Sueño. I'm so sorry.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I have a couple of songs there. Thank you. Yeah, exactly.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: What makes No Tenga Calma feel different or like a
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: fuller commitment to writing in Spanish?
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: What makes it feel different? You know what? The thing
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: is that, like, it's kind of the same in the
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: sense I'm still writing I think the reason it was
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: so easy was because like, it's just a continuation of
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: the story that I've been telling over and over, whether
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: it's in English or in Spanish, but now I get
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: to tell it in Spanish. So the content's always been there.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Like there's a lyric that I, that I, that I use.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: And it's funny because there's a, there's a person that
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: left a comment on, on my Instagram when they were like, Oh,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: you lost me when you said, um, Mi padre es
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: el fuego, mi madre es la agua, which is my
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: father's fire, my mother's water. But if you know prayers
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: and if you know my work, you know that that's
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: a lyric from Young Gods.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: You know, so like I'm almost translating old material, but
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: into Spanish. But if you're not like a hardcore prayers person,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: fan you might it might go over your head and
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: you might not even understand like my lyrics or even
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: like the videos you know but like if you've been
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: around since the beginning to all of this makes sense
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: you know even the lyrics and also if you come
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: from mexican culture like a lot of the lyrics like
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: i posted something last night where it was like tu
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: banda favorita me hace los mandados But if you're Mexican,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: you understand where I'm coming from with that lyric. And
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: that lyric says, your favorite band runs my errands. But
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: the original lyric, it comes from Mexican culture. But some
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: people took it as an attack. But that's because they
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: don't understand that side of... Maybe they don't understand Mexican culture.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: So to them, it's just like they feel like, Oh,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: is he saying that my favorite band sucks? No, it's
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: just like I'm playing with things that like you'd have
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: to be there with me from the beginning to understand
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: even the new music because the new music is still
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: holding hands with everything that I've done in the past. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: I got that sense too. That's strange that that comment
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: of thought, that saying or that phrase about your mother
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: and your father being water and fire was lost on
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: them I can understand that. And you know, yeah.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: That's, they're like, Oh, you lost me with that. And
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, that's cause you're probably new to what
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: I'm doing and you don't understand, uh, you know, just
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: kind of like the magic behind my lyrics and the
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: duality of what I've always been wrestling with. You know,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: it's like, I'm still wrestling with, um, all these opposites,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: which is the genre that I created, right? Cholo goth,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: two different worlds, right? That I'm trying to be a
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: part of, but I'm not Cholo enough for the Cholos.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not goth enough for the goths, you know? So
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: I created my own lane and that's kind of, I've always,
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: since even before I was doing music, I've always wrestled
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: with identity. And, and I think it shows in my lyrics.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, even, You know, being born in Mexico City.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sorry, not Mexico City. I was born
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: in Mexico.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: In Cotija, Michoacan. My parents brought me to the U.S.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: when I was four years old. So those are two
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: different worlds, you know?
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: That I'm trying to be a part of. You know,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: I'm not Mexican enough for Mexico. I'm not American enough
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: for America. So it's like since the beginning, I've been
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: wrestling with identity, you know, and trying to find my place.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: So.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: it's always been there since I started doing music. So
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: if you're new to my music, you might not, you
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: might not understand where I'm coming from. You might think
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: that it's like a gimmick or, or I don't know,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: you might just fly over your head too, you know?
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, definitely. I definitely understand that for me. I'm loving,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: I've loved the goth culture since I was young. I
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: think what you're doing is so super cool. Like entwining music,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: those two cultures together is just incredible and truly unique. Yeah.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Is this single part of you leaning further into an
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: EP or album that's more Spanish forward overall, or does
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: it ebb and flow with each project?
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: I think it does with each project, but also like
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: it was. Again, it was organic. I was at my
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: friend's house. He's Mexican. He's Chicano like me. He grew
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: up in, I grew up in San Diego. He grew
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: up in Chicago. And I live now in the Midwest.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: So I was visiting my buddy. We were just in
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: his kitchen. And he lives in Pelson, which is a
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Mexican neighborhood in Chicago. We're just making some food. And
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: he was just like, hey, man, I made some beats.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: I made you some music. You want to check it out?
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: And I was like, yeah, play it. And he played
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: No Tengo Calma. But when he played No Tengo Calma,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: it was more electronic.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Right. And then I was like, hey, what's that little
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: sound underneath everything? Can you turn up the volume on that?
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: And that's where the little cumbia was. And I was like, hey,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: that's a jam. Like, why did you hide that? And
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: he was kind of like, well, I know you like
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: electronic music. I was experimenting. But then I was like,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: let me just turn that down and turn up all
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: the electronic stuff. I said, no, no, that's what I need.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: So turn that up. And because that song had that
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: cumbia beat in it, I think that's why I just
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: started doing my thing in Spanish. You know, I just
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: started going off the top of my head. So I
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: just started, you know, spitting lyrics. And then after that,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: I think that set the pace or the tone for
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: the second song, third song and fourth song. I was
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: already in that flow of singing in Spanish. So it happened.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: It wasn't like I went in and said, hey, I
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: want to do an EP in Spanish. Or I have
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: this idea. No, I had no idea. I wasn't really
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: even thinking about. I was thinking about eating. I was
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: just hungry. And then he was like, yo, let me
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: play you a beat. Which he did. And then I
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: was like, whoa, this is amazing. I'm inspired. And he's
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: super talented. Shout out to my boy, Alfonso. And he
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: has a band called Vinyl Palace. Check it out. They're dope.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: It's him and his wife. Super cool. But yeah, he
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: played me those four songs. And I was just like,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: I went in and I already had other music. Actually,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: I have other music that hasn't come out. And my
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: team was trying to put it all together. Well, let's
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: use those four songs from Chicago. Let's use this new stuff.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Let's make an album. And I said, no, it just
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: doesn't feel right. It doesn't. Well, I tried it and
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: I put everything together together and it just didn't. It
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: felt like it was all over the place.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: And I said, you know what, I feel like I
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: captured lightning in a bottle with these four songs in Chicago.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: And I just want to let that be. Yeah, let
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: it be just a four song EP. And then moving forward,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: I'll come out with new music and what people are
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: used to hearing from me like more. prayer-ish songs. Yeah.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: You know what I love about this new EP is
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: that it is different. It's still you, obviously you, but
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: it is different. I said to my husband, we put
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: it on and I'm like, I can dance to this.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: It's amazing. And your influence is really shine through at
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: the same time as well. And somehow it feels like
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: almost it all shouldn't go together, but it does.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, you know what? I did read a comment.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: I got a lot of positive comments, but always the
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: negative ones stick out. Out of like a hundred, it
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: was one. And they were saying, this just sounds like
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: so many different sounds. So, so many different types of
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: songs trying to like fit into one. And I was like, No,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: you know what it is. I think it's just something new.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: It's new. So, and I think when I first started
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: coming out with music too, it was new. Like I
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: feel like now 15 years later, prayers make sense now
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: because a lot of people are making music like I
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: was making back then they're making it now. So I think,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: you know, with this, no tengo calma and that sound
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: of music, I feel like it's again, new and And
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: people are probably, it's going to take a while for
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: people to kind of wrap their mind around it, you know?
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: I agree.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: I think people have probably taken a lot of inspiration
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: from what you're doing and that is creating your own
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: kind of sub genre, subculture. And yeah, I definitely agree there. Also,
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: does writing in Spanish change how you approach melody, phrasing
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: or emotion compared to writing in English?
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Ooh, that's a good question. don't know because i'm just
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: kind of like i don't know because i'm so used
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: to speaking both languages you know and i and it's
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: been so i mean i've been doing it my entire
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: life that especially when i'm with bilingual friends like we
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: just go between both languages that i i don't i
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: don't i don't know i i mean i i know
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: that i i had i'm able to tell I'm able
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: to use phrases that don't work in English, but work
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: really well in Spanish and vice versa, you know, and
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: vice versa when I do it. And when I, you know,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: like when I, from dog to God, doesn't sound that
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: great in Spanish, you know? Yeah. It just doesn't translate. So,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: so there's, there's, there's, I guess it goes both ways.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: I'm just, I feel, I feel lucky and grateful that
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: I can, you know do both.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah yeah that's super interesting yeah that's so cool my
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: um I have this is kind of veering off the
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: path but um my cousin we're part French and anyway
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: he moved to France to live over.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: There and he learned the language very uh really well
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: and he says he now dreams in French but obviously
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: speaks both French and English do you still dream in
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: Spanish or.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Do you No, I think, I don't know. I don't
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: dream that often. I wish I did. I think I'm
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: so tired. No time for dreaming. But I've had a
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: few dreams, I think, in Spanish. Maybe when I'm like,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: like when I'm in Mexico City and I'm experiencing life there,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: maybe it comes in. I guess it just depends on
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: where I am. That day. Because when I do dream,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: I think it reflects my day nowadays.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: You know, instead of, like, so much of, like, subconscious
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: thoughts that might be buried there deep.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: It's mostly, like, really whatever I was experiencing that day.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: I think so. I'm not sure. I haven't really thought
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: of it too much. Yeah, that's an interesting one. Think
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: of it now. Yeah, I will. I will. Let's see
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: tonight what happens. Yeah. Oh, that's cool.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: And was there a specific memory, relationship or piece of
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: your upbringing that really pulled this song out of you?
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: As you've already described, it just kind of happened organically,
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: didn't it?
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Well, the whole EP itself is kind of a bit
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: of a response, which is something that I kind of,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: I feel like not talking about it because, but I
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: also feel like I should address it because it's been,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: you know, people have been wondering about my old bandmate,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Dave Parlay, when I started with him. And this EP
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: is kind of a response to that moment in time because, yeah,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: What had occurred was that he left the band, but
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: he never gave me an answer to why he was
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: leaving the band. It was kind of cryptic. And he
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: just left, you know, he just left a message on
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Instagram saying I'm no longer part of prayers, et cetera,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: et cetera. And he painted himself a little bit as
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: a victim, you know, and it caught me off guard.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: I called him, texted him, emailed him, and he blocked me,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: no response. So there was never an answer or reason why.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: but he did leave some tracks with his new band
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: where he wrote some songs where he kind of was like,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: you know, talking shit about me, you know? And then
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: I was like, okay. So, but during that time I
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: had just put out the Cholo Goth album. So I
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: was more focused on that album, you know? And I
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: think when, but I knew that I wanted to respond
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: to those songs that he had written about me and
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: to that situation. And this EP kind of like is
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: that in a sense, because I had a moment where
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I wasn't like trying either. I think it was just
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: a seed that was buried in me. And it was
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: something that's, you know, also like I work, I don't
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: really like do things when people want me to do them.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: You know, I know that my audience and people were like, respond, respond, respond.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, sure, maybe. But if I do it,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: it'll be when I'm ready. It'll be at my time
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: and it'll be, When I feel like it's not when
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: the audience wants me, you know, because I think now,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: you know, because of social media, people want to throw
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: in their two cents or stick their nose in other
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: people's business. And they want to kind of like they
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: want entertainment. Right. So they want you to like give
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: them entertainment when they want it. And at that moment,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: I was like, man, I just put out my album
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Cholo Goth. So that's where I'm at in life right now.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: And not that that wasn't important, but I felt like
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: maybe let me let it let me cool down and
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: it'll happen when it happens. And then it just happened
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: naturally again. And in that kitchen in Pelson with my
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: friend Alfonso, he played me these beats. Those lyrics came
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: out and it was kind of like things that like
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I must have been. already kind of thinking about subconsciously
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: and something that like, I felt like, okay, maybe now
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: is the time. And you know, that stuff is dead already. Like, listen,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: I wish the best and I really, and I love
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: everything that we did together. And I think he's super
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: talented and he's great, you know, but, um, yeah, this
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: is just me kind of like, um, getting things off
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: my chest, you know, but it's not nothing to, um,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: I don't know, what's the word? When I listen to
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: them now, and all my music from the beginning has
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: always been that, right? It was my way of always
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: communicating with those that I can't communicate with in person. Definitely.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: You know, everything from Friends Are Poison to Young Gods.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Almost every song that is prayers has always been that. Conflict, betrayal.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: me trying to address certain things that I can't with
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: that person. So I'm still just kind of using music
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: like I've always have, which is just a way to communicate,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: you know, with people. So, you know, this EP is
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: kind of like dedicated to him and also to my haters.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: And I think all my music has always been that way.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: It's always just been me defending myself, you.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Know, Yeah, I think that happens naturally. You know, it's
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: not a pointed, maybe direct response to just that one
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: singular thing, but it's a culmination maybe of everything bubbling
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: under the surface, you know?
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: And I'm grateful because it's, you know, we have new
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: music and like all my music, you know, eventually like
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: I feel a certain way about it. And then like
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: the music allows me to kind of process things, process feelings.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: And it helps me kind of heal and get over things.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: And I've done that. There's certain songs that like when
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: I sing them now, I don't feel that way, you know, anymore.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: Interesting. Yeah.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: You know, which is funny. I just sing them because
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: the audience enjoys them.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: But I don't feel, you know, like like when I
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: sing from dog to God, I'm alone in this world.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: I don't feel alone anymore. You know, when I wrote it,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: I felt that way, you know. But now when I
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: sing it, I'm like, it's kind of not silly, but
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: it's silly to me. you know, because I'm like, well,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: I don't feel that way anymore. I have my family,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: I have my wife, I have my son, I have
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: my daughter, you know, like I don't feel that way anymore.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: But so eventually I have a feeling the same will
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: happen to these songs, you know, and every other song
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: that I've written, eventually you outgrow stuff, you know. Definitely.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: And I think that's something that is less spoken about
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: with musicians is that I think meaning can change for
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: songs definitely years after as well.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: Um yeah i think yeah i believe so and you
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: know also when i started i think you know a
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: lot of people like have asked me of like similar
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: questions about about some of the you know i have
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: songs that are kind of uh i guess controversial or
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: whatever but The thing is that like when I wrote
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: those songs, like I could say that I was probably
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: I was some of the early stuff, especially I think
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: I was more more of a cholo than I was
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: an artist. And now I think I'm more of an
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: artist than I am a cholo. Yeah, that makes sense.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: So I was when I first started, I was more
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: of a gangster than I was an artist. Now I
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: feel like I'm more of an artist than I am
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: a gangster.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Definitely, and that makes sense. So much has changed for you.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: As you said, look at your family, look at, yeah, everything.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely agree. And a lot of press describes
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: the Cholo Goth as an aesthetic, but for you it
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: sounds more like it came from lived experience. And is
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: there anything about that side of it that you feel
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: gets flattened or misunderstood when people write about it?
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: I don't read too much. I haven't. I mean, yeah,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: it comes, I mean, I guess it makes sense that people,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: you know, especially like, I still like, even I was
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: talking to a friend in Mexico city, I was there that, um,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: not too long ago. And she was kind of telling
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: me how, like, you know, the Cholo goth or the
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: thing that I'm doing, it's still kind of like a
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: weird thing for people to process. But she was like, listen,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: I come from California, same place as you come from.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: So I totally get it and understand it. But if
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: you don't come from that background or from that culture,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: it might seem like a gimmick or something, you know?
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: But like, it definitely is a lifestyle and it's a
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: lifestyle that I've lived for a long, I mean, all
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: my life, you know? I grew up, I joined a
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: gang when I was 13. I also grew up listening to,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: you know, dark wave, synth wave, post-punk, you know? So,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: and I never really, felt like because I'm this I
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: have to stop listening to that you know I've always
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: just remained myself and I mean I'm glad I did
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: because of it now we have this well not the
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: world needs it I don't know what the world needs
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: but at least on my behalf I have this thing
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: that I created you know it means a lot to
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: me you know I'm not going to say it doesn't
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: but it does I mean you know it's my my
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: my baby.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: It is. And I'm so glad that you embraced both
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: of those things and have brought to the world that simultaneously,
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: those things can both coexist at the same time. Even though,
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: as you're saying to someone who doesn't get it, maybe
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: they maybe shouldn't exist at the same time. But I
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: love that you're saying, no, this has been my lived
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: experience through both cultures and they can exist. I just
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: think it's, and you're not shying away from one side
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: or the other because you don't have to. Yeah.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think you have to. I mean, I don't.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: I think when you embrace who you are, you know,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: the world starts embracing you in return.
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, definitely. And what does the title, I'm going
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: to try so hard with this, Orethionis mean to you?
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: And how does it tie the tracks together thematically?
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, oraciones means prayers. Okay, I got it wrong. So, yeah,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, just, you know, on the surface, it's just that.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: But it also goes deeper than that, which is also
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: like me expressing myself, which I feel like prayers are
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: always kind of that, right? It's like you speaking, whether...
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: It is, you know, I think when people pray, they're
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: going through something, but not all the time. Sometimes they're
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: just being grateful. Right. So, um, because I'm, cause it's
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: prayers in Spanish and the EPs in Spanish, but also,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: you know, like the album cover it's, it's, it's me.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: paying homage to my, to my parents, you know, it's
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: a photo of my father, my mother, and myself when
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: I was doing my first communion, you know, so it
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: all kind of like, cause since it's in Spanish and
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: it really is the idea for this EP is from
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Mexico to the world, you know, cause everything that I've
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: done has been from California to the world. Yes. And when,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: when this EP came out in Spanish, it really just
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: took me back to my roots and reminded me of,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: of my parents also. So my parents, to me, have
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: always represented Mexico, you know? So I wanted them to
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: be a part of this EP, even if it's just
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: with that image. But also, you know, to me, everything
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: is kind of personal and always has been. And I've
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: always been really transparent and open about my art because it's,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: I mean, as we can call it art now, but
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: it didn't start off that way. Yeah. I just wanted
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: to celebrate my, my past, which is my parents. And
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: also to me, they they've always represented Mexico. And I
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: really wanted this project to, to have that, especially like,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: like I could have put it out here in the
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: U S but I really wanted them. I wanted to
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: build a team at Mexico and I wanted, you know,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: all the music videos, uh, my team, my management, all
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: of them to, to be Mexicans and to come from
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Mexico for this project for this EP. And it was
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: just important to me, you know? It didn't have to,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: but for me, it's just like, everything has meaning for me.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Everything that I do, like, I find meaning in things,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: even if there's no meaning in it. Like, I just,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: I will give it meaning. And this is kind of
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: what has happened with this project and with everything that
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: I've ever done. Everything has always been kind of like,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: whether it's spiritual, whether it's just like, you know, it's,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I think making... music and being able
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: to have an audience or people that connect with your music.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: I've always felt it to be like, like the closest
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: thing to, to magic, you know?
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: That's, that's amazing. And also very beautiful that you've decided to,
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: you know, incorporate your heritage like that. And like you
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: were saying, hiring people from Mexico and really making your
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: career around you, you know, making sure that you know
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: they're having a part in this I think that's really beautiful.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: Man yeah it is I mean it's it's I think
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it comes from just like the
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: political climate that we're in or where it came from
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: but I just think I've been going to Mexico a
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: lot lately and I couldn't go to Mexico because I
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: didn't have a green card for like many years And
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: I finally got, um, my U S citizenship, um, like
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: back in 2022 and I started going to Mexico and
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: I started falling in love with Mexico. Cause before that
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: I didn't really know Mexico. I only knew Mexico from
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: what I heard on the news or from other people.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: I never really like knew the culture, even though I
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: was Mexican. And once I started going, I was like,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Oh man, like I started feeling at home and I
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: started feeling like, um, um, I don't know, like I
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: started healing and in this really strange way, because I
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: think also I had that part of me that like,
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: didn't really feel like I was from here or for
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: that from there. When I started going to Mexico, I
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: really started connecting with my roots and seeing people that like, I,
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: you know, that are, that are my people, you know,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: and for my, my countrymen. And, um, it really helped
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: me in a lot of ways. So, um, I don't know.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: It's just, it was important for me to just kind
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: of like wave that flag, you know, and show that like,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: I can also be successful in Mexico, you know, that like,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: cause I think a lot of people are chasing the
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: American dream, you know? And I see that our Mexico,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: the Mexican dream is just as dope, you know? And
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: I see a lot of, a lot of people down there,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: like my partner who are like extremely successful, you know?
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: And there's a lot of people like, winning and coming
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: out of Mexico, you know, because I think sometimes the this,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: you know, a lot of people are like, oh, you
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: have to come to the U.S. to be successful. And
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: that's a reality for me, too. I love America and
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: I came to America and I've been really successful in America.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: And I opened up my first restaurant when I was 17.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: You know, I've had a lot of ups and downs.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: But a lot of the downs were always, everything's I've
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: always been my fault. You know, my success has been
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: because of me. And my failures have been because of me,
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: you know? So even the bad has been, I gotta
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: take responsibility for all the bad too. I can't just say, like,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: I think a lot of people like to blame outside
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: forces or skin color or stuff like this. And those
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: things are probably true in some aspect, but I've been
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: extremely successful in the US, you know, and I've had
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: a lot of success here. But I also want to
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: show the world that I can also be successful and
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: have success in Mexico, you know? Absolutely.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: And the spotlight needs to be on Mexico more, um,
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: and probably separate from the U S but anyway, that's just.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: My little way of doing it. It's my love letter
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: to Mexico. And it's just like, you know, I was
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: gone for so many years and I didn't understand it.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: You know, it wasn't like it was my decision to leave,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: it was like, I was four years old, and my
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: parents took me to Mexico, you know, so, I mean,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, my parents took me to the US, and
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: I grew up in San Diego, and grateful for those experiences,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: because also that shaped me, and molded me, and we
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: have Cholo Gath because of it, you know, like, all
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: of those things are important to who I am, all
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: of them, you know, like, everything is valued, and respected, and, like, embraced, like,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: my American side, my Mexican side. But right now I'm
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: experiencing my Mexican side, you know, and I'm experiencing really,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: really late in my life. You know, I'm 51 and
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: I didn't really get to go to Mexico until, you know,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: my late 40s. So it's really cool, you know. So
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: right now I'm excited. I'm inspired. And that's kind of,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: I think, why some of this art that I'm making
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: right now is showing that they're not just that, but like,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: I've always kind of like my music always comes from
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: my environment, from my life, from my experiences. I don't
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: really write music from like, you know, from my imagination.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: I don't really go, Oh, I watched this movie and
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: it inspired me. Let me write a song because of
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: this movie that I watched or this book that I read.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: It all really comes from real life experiences, like my
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: relationship with people, you know?
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah. yeah wow that well that was going to be
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: one of my other questions too was about inspiration but
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: you've just nailed it on the head that it does
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: come from your environment and your experiences at the time
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: so that's fantastic and i've only got about six minutes
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: so i have to be very quick here but um
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: uh how are you planning to translate these new cinematic
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: songs into a live set and what can longtime fans
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: expect that's different on this.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: Run Well, I mean, on this run, I mean, obviously,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: I'm always going to play some of my older songs
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: that people are really familiar with and like. I always
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: have to do that. And then, you know, I just
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: always play songs from every album. You know, I'll play
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: songs from SD Kill Wave, from Gothic Summer, from Young Gods,
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: from Baptism of Thieves, from Cholo Goth, and now from
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: this EP. And I always kind of, I have so
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: much music that I can always like switch my sets around.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: But for the most part, I mean, the show will just,
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: Be the same as always, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: visually they'll visually, I like to tell a story and
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: then also with sonically, you know, so it's just me
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: really celebrating and being present with my, with my audience,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: which to me, it's really important. I need them probably
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: more than they need me. And really when I go
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: out on tour and play shows, It's just because I
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: need some healing and I need to connect with my audience.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: And that's why I do it, you know, more than anything,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: just because it reminds me that I'm loved and that
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: there's people out there that like care about me and
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: playing live really fills my cup. So it's kind of
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: a selfish thing. It's a lot of times I'm just
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: out there because I just want to be seen and
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: be like I don't know, just connect with my audience,
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: you know, and dance together and sing together. And it's
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: super healing. It's like medicine for me to go out
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: there on the road, you know. But the shows will
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: be a lot of me just giving myself to them,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: you know. Like I've always said, like, I belong to
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: my audience. The only thing that they can't have is
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: my body because my body belongs to my wife.
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Everything else is theirs, my heart, my soul. Like I'm
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: just there for them, you know, as they are for me,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: but it's yeah. The shows, I think they're always also,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: it just depends on the audience too. You know, like
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: I always give it my a hundred percent, but if
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: the audience isn't like receiving the message or anything, it
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: is a little harder to kind of like keep, you know, it's, it's,
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: it's like a dance, you know, it's a give and receive,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: you know?
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: So yeah.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: But I always have a great audience. I think that
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: I've always received so much from them. And, yeah, I'm
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: just going out there to fill my cup, you know.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of people, though, that see
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: your music as something that is really important to them
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: as well. Don't forget that. I don't think you're being
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: too selfish there, as much as you say. And quickly
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: as well, do we think we could get an Australian
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: tour sometime?
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: Oh, I hope so. I would love that so much.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: I want to go to Australia so bad. Yes, we'd
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: love you here. It'd be amazing. I would love to
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: go there.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: I think it's time. I think we should try and
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: hopefully get that moving.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: That would be amazing. I would love that so much.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: That's definitely a country that I would love to visit,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: you know. Oh, fantastic.
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: We would absolutely love you here.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: And last one. Before I hang up, you know, my
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: favorite Australian is Nick Cave.
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: Oh. How amazing. I absolutely love his stuff. Nick Cave. Yeah.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: I love Nick Cave. Yeah.
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: Hell yeah.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: Favorite artist. I've always, if I was to have a career,
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: I'd like his career. That's like what I aspire to be,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: to have a career like his.
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: I was going to say, who would you love to
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: collab with? Obviously would he be?
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: Nick Cave for sure.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: Let's make that happen.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Let's do it. Let's do it.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: Imagine, imagine.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: Beautiful.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: And last thing, anything you want to say directly to
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: the fans who've been with prayers since the beginning, right
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: as this new chapter kicks off?
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: I just want to say thank you so much for
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: being in my corner, for being in my life, for
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: being supportive through the ups and through the downs. And
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: I know I've been a controversial figure and whatnot. And
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: thank you for sticking with me, you know, because I
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: know that like without you, what I do has no value.
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: Beautiful uh liva it's been an absolute pleasure um thank
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: you so much and we are so loving everything that
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: you've put out and hopefully we'll see you here soon
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: yeah thank you thank you take care see you man